"For 2,000+ Mile Round-Trip Drivers Only!" (Part V)

[Pooh's World]

Hey all! DH and I are in a pro/con situation. We currently have plane tickets to travel from RI to FL but wondering if we should drive.
If we decide to cancel and flights and drive we would be looking at leaving early Friday morning (7ish) and staying overnight in NC. We would be looking to then leave NC around the same time Saturday morning to put us in WDW between 5 and 6 assuming quick stops to pee and grab some chicken nuggets for the kids.
Thoughts? Does this sound reasonable? We aren't planning on roap dropping or anything so rolling into a park on Sunday at like 10 wouldn't matter to us too much.

Why are you thinking of switching to driving?

 

[ShannyMcB]

Why are you thinking of switching to driving?

I'm not a fan of flying to start with. But more so I am concerned about our daughter and the mask situation (yes I know wdw just changed their policy) and I am nervous in a stressful situation she is going to fight the mask. If we get kicked off a flight we're screwed and will lose out on a day where if we drive...well....can't kick us out of our car right?

 

[mamabunny]

I'm not a fan of flying to start with. But more so I am concerned about our daughter and the mask situation (yes I know wdw just changed their policy) and I am nervous in a stressful situation she is going to fight the mask. If we get kicked off a flight we're screwed and will lose out on a day where if we drive...well....can't kick us out of our car right?

It's all about you and your family's comfort levels, and tolerance for time in the car together.

Our family long ago found out that we prefer a slower pace for road trips; we plan for about 400 miles per day, and we don't like to drive either before sunrise, or after sunset, and we like to have time in our schedule to stop if something catches our eye. We take leisurely lunches on the road, and tend to roll out of the hotel no earlier than 9 am, only because we hate fighting someone else's rush hour almost as much as rush hour at home!

That's my family. I know folks who would literally rotate drivers all day and night, stopping only for food, gas and/or potty - and if they got a jackpot, all 3 at once LOL - and then arrive at Disney, and if you didn't take your chance to sleep in the car? Too bad for you, because we are going on to have all the funs! Personally, I don't like that commando-style touring in any way, shape, or form, and while I could see it for an emergency (we have to get cross country because X has happened, and we can't get flights) that's not how I want to spend my vacation!

Now... I had to miss my September trip *last* year, bc pandemic (I have multiple health issues, so if/when I am cleared to travel again, I will most likely be *that* person who is still wearing a mask, regardless) and I had to miss my beloved January trip *this* year because I had emergency surgery. So... If you told me right now that I could go to Disney World, and all I had to do was get in the car and drive? There would be a mamabunny-shaped hole in the front door where I skee-daddled right into the car and was gone! LOL 1201 miles one way? No Biggie Deal LOL

 

[OKW Lover]

If we decide to cancel and flights and drive we would be looking at leaving early Friday morning (7ish) and staying overnight in NC.

If you leave RI about 7-ish, you'll run into a lot of commuting travel (I'm assuming you'll take I-95) as you go through several cities. It would also put you at NYC about 10-ish which is still going to be heavily traveled. Not that there is anything you can do about it other than leave earlier/later but just wanted to be sure you were factoring in the traffic in your plans.

 

[LadyBeBop]

Actually, your plan sounds reasonable. As long as you time it so that you reach NYC after morning rush hour and DC before evening rush hour, you'll be fine.

Where are you stopping in NC? And about what time?

I'm not a huge fan of driving overnight. But if you start a few hours earlier, like say 5 AM, the kids will sleep for the first few hours before waking up. The downside....you'll hit rush hour in either NYC or possibly Philadelphia. The flip side....let them stay up past their bedtimes the night before, and they'll sleep in the car until 9 or 10. Again, the downside...it may be hard to get back into a regular sleep routine. Besides, the night before a Disney trip, I could not sleep anyway.

Tablets with pre-loaded games and movies are great. However, each kid should have their own tablet. I don't think a 9-year old will want to watch Cinderella, while I don't think a 3-year old will want to watch Star Wars.

Snacks in the car is a must, so you won't get that "I'm hungry" cry right after you gassed up. And when you stop, everyone goes to the bathroom. And I mean everyone. Even if one doesn't have to go, they all go.

I know there is a chance of a meltdown by your daughter. But otherwise, how is she with masks? Do you think she'll keep it on if she knew she wouldn't get to WDW if she didn't?

 

[ShannyMcB]

I know there is a chance of a meltdown by your daughter. But otherwise, how is she with masks? Do you think she'll keep it on if she knew she wouldn't get to WDW if she didn't?
[/QUOTE]

Hard to say. She is a learning delay so you cant just explain to her the reasoning behind it.
Sometimes she is ok with it sometimes she is not. A melt down and refusal on a plane could result in us having to deboard and that would start a domino situation. A meltdown and refusal at wdw seems to be par for the course and expected and I would hope handled with a bit more care because that happens under the best of circumstances.
I am probably overthinking everything at this point

 

[ddluvsdisney]

Hello my friends, just an update for the people following along on this incredibly journey. Today, after five days of looking for our Florida dream house, we are under contract!!!!! It’s in a Gated, Golf community. Big salt water, covered heated pool in the backyard that faces the golf course. 12’ ceilings, cathedral and 9’ ceilings throughout. Fingers crossed no major issues with the home inspection.
We are well on our way to finally, after 30 years becoming permanent Florida residents.View attachment 591789
View attachment 591789

Congrats on the beautiful house!! I love how its not right on top of your neighbors, and on a golf course. That would be right up my DH's ally. We need to find a golf course community right near the ocean so we'll both be happy. Lol
Sorry I didn't get to meet up with you this past week. It was a short trip and I ran out of time. I met up with my niece who's in the CP after being sent home last year bc of COVID.

 

[thegash35]

Hey all! DH and I are in a pro/con situation. We currently have plane tickets to travel from RI to FL but wondering if we should drive.
If we decide to cancel and flights and drive we would be looking at leaving early Friday morning (7ish) and staying overnight in NC. We would be looking to then leave NC around the same time Saturday morning to put us in WDW between 5 and 6 assuming quick stops to pee and grab some chicken nuggets for the kids.
Thoughts? Does this sound reasonable? We aren't planning on roap dropping or anything so rolling into a park on Sunday at like 10 wouldn't matter to us too much.

We drive from NYC to Florida each year. If you leave at 7 you're going to get jammed up in NYC commuter traffic. Even though many people are still working remotely, a lot of people who are commuting are choosing to drive instead of use public transit. Roads are a mess in and out of the city ESPECIALLY on a Friday when people are taking off for their weekend homes.

I'd recommend leaving early enough to get through CT, NYC and DC at times that are not major commuting times.

We usually leave around 3AM from NY. If you did the same that should get you through NYC metro and DC metro traffic without much issue. Be warned that as others have stated I-95 around fredricksburg can be no fun. This year we are going to try going via the Chesapeake Bay tunnel/bridge and bypass VA completely.

For our first drive our kids were 6 years old and the biggest wildcard was how they'd be in the car. Fortunately they were amazing. My wife made activity binders for them, we packed breakfast for the car along with plenty of snacks. Our first rest stop was because I had to go and not even the kids LOL. Stopped for fast food lunch and then went to Cracker Barrel for dinner in Santee where we stopped overnight.

This year we are driving straight through without stopping so wish us luck. Good luck with your drive as well.

I recommend Waze to be alerted of things like police speed traps. Set your cruise control to 70-75 and you should be good. At times of heavy traffic the apps won't help too much with re-routing because all the main roads plus alternatives are bound to be jammed up most of the time.

I prefer driving to flying because I'm a nervous flyer and the drives have become as much a part of vacation as going to the parks. We've grown to really enjoy them.

 

[ddluvsdisney]

We drive from NYC to Florida each year. If you leave at 7 you're going to get jammed up in NYC commuter traffic. Even though many people are still working remotely, a lot of people who are commuting are choosing to drive instead of use public transit. Roads are a mess in and out of the city ESPECIALLY on a Friday when people are taking off for their weekend homes.

I'd recommend leaving early enough to get through CT, NYC and DC at times that are not major commuting times.

We usually leave around 3AM from NY. If you did the same that should get you through NYC metro and DC metro traffic without much issue. Be warned that as others have stated I-95 around fredricksburg can be no fun. This year we are going to try going via the Chesapeake Bay tunnel/bridge and bypass VA completely.

For our first drive our kids were 6 years old and the biggest wildcard was how they'd be in the car. Fortunately they were amazing. My wife made activity binders for them, we packed breakfast for the car along with plenty of snacks. Our first rest stop was because I had to go and not even the kids LOL. Stopped for fast food lunch and then went to Cracker Barrel for dinner in Santee where we stopped overnight.

This year we are driving straight through without stopping so wish us luck. Good luck with your drive as well.

I recommend Waze to be alerted of things like police speed traps. Set your cruise control to 70-75 and you should be good. At times of heavy traffic the apps won't help too much with re-routing because all the main roads plus alternatives are bound to be jammed up most of the time.

I prefer driving to flying because I'm a nervous flyer and the drives have become as much a part of vacation as going to the parks. We've grown to really enjoy them.

I agree with all of this. We used to leave between 3 and 4 from SE MA. Sometimes it just didn’t matter when we left it would be a mess. Just prepare for the worse.
we started driving straight through about 5 years ago. We go often and drive usually once a year.
Our halfway stopping point was usually Fayetteville NC. Good luck!! I have grown to enjoy the drives as well.

 

[dvczerfs]

Congrats on the beautiful house!! I love how its not right on top of your neighbors, and on a golf course. That would be right up my DH's ally. We need to find a golf course community right near the ocean so we'll both be happy. Lol
Sorry I didn't get to meet up with you this past week. It was a short trip and I ran out of time. I met up with my niece who's in the CP after being sent home last year bc of COVID.

Oh that’s ok, I’m sure you will be down again. Lol My brother and sister-in-la w were down with their kids and grandkids this week and we had dinner last night at Paddlefish. After we were done eating, my sister in law asked what we were doing after this, my wife said going home and put my pjs on. Lol. It’s was 8:30 already. Lol
It has gotten a little easier seeing people with things opening up but family and friends come down and they are on vacation, they make plans, try to cram as much in a possible and pay a small fortune to be here and with DW and DD working ( I will be to as soon as we are settled in the house), we don’t have mouse keeping and we have stuff going on…… so we understand.
Its funny, friends will text me the dates they will be here, days, weeks even a year ahead of time. I don’t remember where I parked at the Publix ten minutes ago. Lol

 

[Cynner]

Our drive is 950 miles one way - can we join in anyways?

My absolute life saver for this drive is the Virginia Flex-Pass Ez-Pass. We live in Maryland but still registered for the VA Ez-Flex pass. This lets us switch to HOV for the VA HOT Lanes around the DC beltway and down 95S. We can literally leave during evening rush hour and zip past all the traffic in VA. We've left here at 5pm and arrived in Orlando at 6am (actually not recommended - Nothing is open! Very empty Disney Springs. Though, we did this over Christmas 2019 and went straight to Hollywood studios for rope drop - that was kinda cool. (and yes, got RotR passes).)

My husband now works and we can't do the straight through the night drives. He used to switch his sleeping schedule for 2 days before we'd go. Now we're likely to get up at 3/4am and start driving from Frederick MD. Our first drive at this time will be Sept 30 Need to check and see what time we'll be passing through everywhere to plan for local Rush hours.

We've done this drive a dozen times in the middle of the night - we do Annual passes every 3 years and drive down every opportunity we get.

 

[yaya74]

Our drive is 950 miles one way - can we join in anyways?

LOL.. I am not the host but as a guest, I welcome you to the party with open arms.

 

[dvczerfs]

Well my friends, I think I really need to hand in my 2000 driving thread card. Next week I have to go back to Pennsylvania to take care of some things and I was kicking the idea around how to go. Drive, which sounded nice, or just drive to Sanford, park in long term parking for four days, fly up and back and be done with it?
Money wise was the same so………….. I don’t even want to admit it…………

decided to fly again. Lol

 

[Cynner]

We usually leave around 3AM from NY. If you did the same that should get you through NYC metro and DC metro traffic without much issue. Be warned that as others have stated I-95 around fredricksburg can be no fun. This year we are going to try going via the Chesapeake Bay tunnel/bridge and bypass VA completely.

I would not take 301 - it's a local with lights and has local traffic and gets stupid during evening rush hour and the late evening. The bypass for 95 is to take 81 down, but that's way out of your way.

I recommend Waze to be alerted of things like police speed traps. Set your cruise control to 70-75 and you should be good. At times of heavy traffic the apps won't help too much with re-routing because all the main roads plus alternatives are bound to be jammed up most of the time.

DC is a heavy Waze use town. So it gives tons of quick updates and advice. When the first option fills up, it gives you the 2nd pretty quick. We also report cops all the time!
We also have serious lead feet around here. 65-70mph is the speed limit except around the beltway itself. Going 10 over the speedlimit in the left lane is going to get someone up your butt pretty fast. We tend to cruise control at 15 over. Stay under 20 over, as that's reckless driving

 

[yaya74]

This year we are going to try going via the Chesapeake Bay tunnel/bridge and bypass VA completely.

Please do share how that route goes upon return. Wish you luck on the straight-through drive. My family did it on our northbound leg of driving during our recent trip. Thank goodness that we only drive down once per year...
Have a good trip!

 

[Cynner]

I've built out a Yelp 'Drive to Florida' Collection for places near I95 in the $ to $$ range. (Yes, I put Bo-jangles in there as we don't have them up here -
We've not stopped at all of these yet, our super early/middle of night drives have limited that. One good thing about starting at dawn is we'll be able to hit some of these breakfast places up north!
Craig's Place in SC is amazing deli sandwiches. Reuben was to die for.
Flo's Kitchen in NC was awesome - and the locals know it, it's packed, with a drive through line out to the street. Super tiny place, home made everything.
ZZQ in Richmond was also great for lunch/dinner on our way home (lets be honest, no one wants to cook when they get home after that drive).

Link to my collection:
https://www.yelp.com/collection/pOTYHP1RmdSdGFqSmcxPmw

Anyone have anyplace that is a 'Must stop' on the road?

 

[yaya74]

Anyone have anyplace that is a 'Must stop' on the road?

Buc-ee's

 

[cgdisney]

Hi all, first time driving from Boston area .Hoping to leave early Saturday morning ( around 5). Looking for advice on a good midway stopping point and recommendations for a clean, safe place to stay. planning on getting to WDW on Sunday late morning. Thanks in advance

 

[ddluvsdisney]

Hi all, first time driving from Boston area .Hoping to leave early Saturday morning ( around 5). Looking for advice on a good midway stopping point and recommendations for a clean, safe place to stay. planning on getting to WDW on Sunday late morning. Thanks in advance

We have driven from MA many times. I wish I could say you’ll be there by Sunday late morning. Do you know where you’ll be stopping for the night? We used to make it to Fayetteville NC. That was the furthest we could make it in one day (with traffic ) which is what of course slows you down.

 

[thegash35]

Hi all, first time driving from Boston area .Hoping to leave early Saturday morning ( around 5). Looking for advice on a good midway stopping point and recommendations for a clean, safe place to stay. planning on getting to WDW on Sunday late morning. Thanks in advance

To make it to Disney by late morning you will need to drive as far as you can get to Florida on your first day. Leaving from NYC we have stopped in both Santee, SC and Savannah, GA depending on the year. From Savannah it is about 4.5 hours. By late morning I assume you mean around 11AM. If so then you'd need to be on the road from there around by 6:30 AM. That gives you around a 16 hour drive on day 1 without traffic. (That's about the same as our entire drive from NYC...we always do the return trip without stopping, so it's doable esp. if you can split up the driving and the other driver(s) sleep during their breaks).

You don't say where you are staying, but if you are staying on site do not expect your room to be ready early. This was even a "problem" back in 2019 before COVID due to housekeeping shortages. Prior to 2019 our rooms were always ready early. In 2019 the room wasn't ready until after 4pm (which is the official check in time). If you're going to the pool when you arrive pack your pool stuff in a separate bag so that you can change by the pool. If you're going out to dinner that night then you'll also want to have your change of clothes for dinner packed in case your room isn't ready by the time you need to get ready for dinner.

We always stay in Hampton Inns - they are clean, reasonably priced and well maintained.