Tips on Driving from Massachusetts

[WeLoveEeyore]

We are scheduled for Fort Wilderness in our pop-up camper. It is myself, my husband, and our two boys (ages 10 and 7). We have never driven that far before and are planning to try to do the trip in 2 days. We are thinking drive to SC, stay over night somewhere, then have a shorter drive the next day to Disney. Any thoughts from those who have done the trip from up here in the Massachusetts area?

 

[Krisu]

We are driving from Ct. and will be staying at a KOA in Pointsouth, SC. I-95, exit 33. It's more than half way for us, probaby 300 to WDW. Check the KOA website and see if it works for you Where in MA. are you driving from?

 

[MAC3]

Hi,

WE have done the drive twice but always stayed in a hotel. But 2 areas that I can tell you are very nice are Chester, VA also Lumberton, NC. Depending on how far your family can make it. It's a good haul and a very comfortable area for families. PLaces to eat ect...
I also found Pooler, GA a very friendly place! Although we just eat didn't stay overnight. JMHO

Not sure however if they have camping facilities so you may want to check that out in advance.

Wish you well, enjoy your vacation!
The MacBrayne Family

 

[welovemickey]

We make the trip every year in our pop-up with our three boys (12, 8 and 4). We find it easier to make the drive in one shot. We leave our house around 2pm and I drive until late at night while DH sleeps. He then takes over and drives the night. In the morning we switch over again. We're usually at FW by lunchtime the next day. Although we're a bit tired for the first day, it works better for us because the kids are asleep for a good part of the trip.

Feel free to PM me with any other questions. Have a wonderful time!!!!

 

[NHMickey]

Welcome to the DIS.... We live in NH and drive down to Ft Wilderness every year.... We try and get at least to the second exit in NC as that is half way. But the hardest half. We leave at night so we can get by NYC and DC befor rush hour traffic hits....

 

[cdorval]

Just drove back on August 26. We've made this trip 4 times from western mass. Have 3 boys, (on one occasion we brought a 4th) ages 5 to 9 our first time, now 11 to 16.. On our last trip to WDW we left at 10:00pm on a Tuesday, great time to leave, no traffic. Stopped at a rest area between Washington DC and Richmond for a 2 hour power nap (I can't sleep in a moving car) and we were off again, made it to Hilton Head, SC by 5pm on Wednesday night spent two nights on the beach(great price with coupons). Hilton Head is only 5 hours from WDW. We have a van with VCR and can hook up a video game system to it which is EXTREMELY helpful. On our first two trips we didn't have this so I put togather a surprice trip packet for all the boys(special snacks, small lego toys that they could make in the car, coloring books and crayons, I even broke down and purchased game boys - need the lights with these, yeah it was a little costly but WELL WORTH IT. If the boys got restless a new surprise came out of the bags. Its a long time in the car for little people. Be sure to make plently of small stops on this trip (we stop about every three hours). Don't push yourselves off the road and in a ditch is no way to start a vacation, be flexible on when you can arrive and when you are going to stop, weather and traffic can make a BIG difference on the amount of driving you can get in. Leaving at night was the best thing we did, kept the kid busy all day. DH took a long nap before we left so was well rested. Kids slept most of the first 10 hours of the trip.
HAVE FUN - DRIVE SAFE!

 

[HuckFinn]

Definitely do not try to do this in one shot. Fatigue is a very dangerous thing, especially on a highway as as busy and fast as I-95. We drive this route often, with a motorhome, and find it to be about a good day and a half from just above Washington, DC. If you are planning to stay in the pop-up on the road, a great place to stop is South of the Border, at the NC-SC line. It's cheap, well-maintained, and kind of a wierdly fun place to stop.

 

[jenny2]

We just returned a few days ago from towing our trailer from central Mass to FW.

We left at 9pm on a Saturday and drove till 4am. We pulled into a rest area and napped for 2 hours, then back on the road again. We'd stop about every 2 - 2 1/2 hours or so (both my kids are still in diapers and one is nursing) and got to SOB around 6pm on Sunday. It was really inexpensive ($22/night for full hookups, $3 was refunded if you returned the card for the swimming pool they give you so it's really only $19/night). The sites are clean and level, and with it being off season it was really quite empty. We left at about 10 the next morning and got to FW at 7:30pm. We've made much better time when we drove the car because while towing DH never went above 60mph.

On the way home we stopped at a Flying J to sleep for a bit. I felt safe because there were lots of people around, but boy was it ever noisy!!