Best route to drive from SW Ontario to WDW?

[morrik5]

Got our TripTik in the CAA store today We are leaving from London Ontario crossing in Niagara Falls and then it's i79-i77-i95.
The lady at CAA said only 27 min longer than to cross in Sarnia and take i75 to i79 in WV.
Our stopover is in Columbia SC.
She showed us all the construction around Detroit, so we decided to go the other way.
Also got a few maps and guidebooks.
Thanks everyone for the tips!

Haven't yet decided which way to go on the way back. We plan to take 3 days to drive back and either stop in places like Savannah GA, Myrtle Beach SC or Smoky Mountains, TN.
Still trying to decide. Might go back to CAA to get another TripTik for the return trip once we decide on a route, but was also told that we ca go into an AAA store in Orlando and get it there.

That's the route we're going down instead of I75 from Sarnia and we're coming from Oshawa, Ontario. We love our CAA Disney specialist and have made a great friendship since our last trip 3 years ago, I would use the same rep to do your return trip back.

 

[HappilyEverAfter80]

That's the route we're going down instead of I75 from Sarnia and we're coming from Oshawa, Ontario. We love our CAA Disney specialist and have made a great friendship since our last trip 3 years ago, I would use the same rep to do your return trip back.

For us i75 is a little more direct than the route we will take, but this time we wanted a more scenic drive.
Crossing on Rainbow bridge v. Peace bridge adds maybe 15 min (assuming no delays on either) but I really prefer Rainbow as it's so scenic right by the Falls. Also no commercial traffic. I get anxious crossing on a bridge besides big rigs.. if I have to I have to... but I really don't like heights or bridges
What month are you doing the drive?
2 more weeks for us!

I will probably go back to CAA to get the route done for the return trip as soon as we figure out which way we'll take... I didn't want to waste paper not being sure today.

 

[morrik5]

For us i75 is a little more direct than the route we will take, but this time we wanted a more scenic drive.
Crossing on Rainbow bridge v. Peace bridge adds maybe 15 min (assuming no delays on either) but I really prefer Rainbow as it's so scenic right by the Falls. Also no commercial traffic. I get anxious crossing on a bridge besides big rigs.. if I have to I have to... but I really don't like heights or bridges
What month are you doing the drive?
2 more weeks for us!

I will probably go back to CAA to get the route done for the return trip as soon as we figure out which way we'll take... I didn't want to waste paper not being sure today.

We are going in April and truthfully have never crossed in our 35' RV towing an SUV at the Rainbow Bridge, usually selecting to cross at Fort Erie. That crossing is getting to be time consuming and like you said, has lots of commercial traffic. And we'd go the extra distance to Sarnia before crossing in Detroit again - that crossing is ridiculous and confusing (to us).

 

[HappilyEverAfter80]

I agree, prefer to cross in Sarnia or Niagara Falls (Rainbow). Peace Bridge has always been busy when we crossed and I'm with you on Detroit. Just avoid it.

 

[Trinity88]

We're driving down in a few weeks from Waterloo ON. Planning a 2 day drive. We're going through Buffalo, then PA/WV/Carolinas, etc. I think we'll stop in Charlotte for the night on the way down, or may push on to Columbia (another hour and a half), depending on how the day has gone. We're leaving at 5am, hoping to hit the border before 8am (peace bridge) and Pittsburgh mid morning, after rush hour. Someone on the DIS mentioned the app "iExit" and I've already gotten lots of use out it just planning where we might stop. It shows what's at every exit throughout the US (fuel, food, lodging).

I'm now trying to figure out where we should stop for the night on the way back. I'm hoping to get 12ish hours in the first day.

 

[FigmentSpark]

We've gone as far as Beckley on the first night home. We usually take 2.5 days there, but push home in 2.

 

[petunia]

Sorry about all the questions..as we are first time drivers..but if we take the Virigina/Carolinas/Georgia route, and do the drive without stopping over night (from GTA east area) are most of the stops for washroom/gas/food safe/decent places off the highway? Any areas to avoid?

 

[HappilyEverAfter80]

We're driving down in a few weeks from Waterloo ON. Planning a 2 day drive. We're going through Buffalo, then PA/WV/Carolinas, etc. I think we'll stop in Charlotte for the night on the way down, or may push on to Columbia (another hour and a half), depending on how the day has gone. We're leaving at 5am, hoping to hit the border before 8am (peace bridge) and Pittsburgh mid morning, after rush hour. Someone on the DIS mentioned the app "iExit" and I've already gotten lots of use out it just planning where we might stop. It shows what's at every exit throughout the US (fuel, food, lodging).

I'm now trying to figure out where we should stop for the night on the way back. I'm hoping to get 12ish hours in the first day.

We are driving from London Ontario and plan to stop in Columbia SC for the night.
Also plan to leave at 5 am and push the first day with one stop for dinner.
We also debated on stopping in Charlotte but decided that we want a short drive the next day
We are taking longer on the way back, but plan to do a bit of sightseeing.

I bought the Next Exit book... wish I knew that was an app for that

 

[Mike2023]

Someone on the DIS mentioned the app "iExit" and I've already gotten lots of use out it just planning where we might stop. It shows what's at every exit throughout the US (fuel, food, lodging).

Very cool app. Thanks for mentioning it, should come in handy trying to find a place to stop on the fly.

 

[morrik5]

We are driving from London Ontario and plan to stop in Columbia SC for the night.
Also plan to leave at 5 am and push the first day with one stop for dinner.
We also debated on stopping in Charlotte but decided that we want a short drive the next day
We are taking longer on the way back, but plan to do a bit of sightseeing.

I bought the Next Exit book... wish I knew that was an app for that

Do you purchase a roaming plan when you are outside of Canada? That's what's hindering me from this app unless I would use it with free wi-fi at one stop for the next stop... I wish they would include in the book at least, which direction the gas pumps face at stations for those RVers travelling and towing something too big for some locations.

 

[Mike2023]

Do you purchase a roaming plan when you are outside of Canada? That's what's hindering me from this app unless I would use it with free wi-fi at one stop for the next stop... I wish they would include in the book at least, which direction the gas pumps face at stations for those RVers travelling and towing something too big for some locations.

I have a Freedom (wind) plan that includes US data roaming. Before we switched to wind we used to use https://roammobility.com and swap out our SIM cards when we crossed the boarder. This of course only works if you have unlocked phones.

 

[HappilyEverAfter80]

Do you purchase a roaming plan when you are outside of Canada? That's what's hindering me from this app unless I would use it with free wi-fi at one stop for the next stop... I wish they would include in the book at least, which direction the gas pumps face at stations for those RVers travelling and towing something too big for some locations.

We are with Rogers and they offer "roam like home" which is $5 per day in the US to use the phone as you would at home. It switches on for us automatically, but I would call to make sure you have it.
We will do that on the way down and back, and just wifi once at Disney.
I need to be able to use the phone gps (don't always trust the one in my vehicle) and will possibly use the app, but I have the next exit book too.
The book does tell you the direction of the amnenities.

 

[morrik5]

We are with Rogers and they offer "roam like home" which is $5 per day in the US to use the phone as you would at home. It switches on for us automatically, but I would call to make sure you have it.
We will do that on the way down and back, and just wifi once at Disney.
I need to be able to use the phone gps (don't always trust the one in my vehicle) and will possibly use the app, but I have the next exit book too.
The book does tell you the direction of the amnenities.

As we don't use a lot of mobile data in Canada, we have my husband's Pay-As-You-Go phone from Rogers which builds the balance if you don't use it. That way if we need to make a call, we do not have to worry about how long we talk. This came in handy in 2007 when we spent the first Christmas/New Years away from our adult children while we were in Hawaii. Guess we'll be using a lot of wi-fi with my phone which cannot add the "roam like home" feature.

 

[Cheerio]

Our last trip we drove from Whitby, ON to Orangeburg SC it took us 17 hours, but we had some wicked weather and made quite a few stops. We used waze on the road for traffic and the hotels.ca app to book hotels as it billed in CAD and I hate surprises.

 

[morrik5]

Our last trip we drove from Whitby, ON to Orangeburg SC it took us 17 hours, but we had some wicked weather and made quite a few stops. We used waze on the road for traffic and the hotels.ca app to book hotels as it billed in CAD and I hate surprises.

We're from Oshawa Cheerio and have our stops, gas and campgrounds all planned out before we leave, with reservations made and paid beforehand if we are staying at a KOA.

 

[RevKjb]

We are going down mid-August and at this point we are undecided if we want to fly or not.

We have done the drive before with short stops, but always in under 24 hrs. The exact driving distance from our house to WDW is about 18 hrs. The route we have taken before is all the way down i75, crossing in Sarnia, ON into Michigan which is only about 1hr from our house.

This time we will have only 2 drivers DH and I, and we hope to stop somewhere for the night.
We hope to do something like this: Leave really early in the morning the first day, drive 12-14 hrs with a stop for dinner about 5 pm. Stop for the night around 9 pm and leave early morning the second day, arriving in WDW around lunch time.

Has anyone done a drive like this? More importantly has anyone done the drive using routes other than i75. We know i75, but it's so boring....
I read somewhere that a much more scenic drive is to go through Virginia, The Carolinas, then Georgia.
When I Google the directions, i75 comes up first, but i77 to i95 is also an option, only adding about 100 miles from our house and still crossing in Sarnia.

If the route you used is i75 I still would like to hear about it, best place to stop for the night etc?
Like I said we have always driven non-stop, but this year we plan to take longer.

Thanks in advance fellow Canadians

Never done the i75 as we cross at Buffalo (1 hr drive) and do the Pennsylvania, Virginia, Carolinas and Georgia. Love the scenery and stops. ( in May we did two nights on the road with a stop in Savannah for the ghost tour) . Getting there is part of the journey!

 

[TJLLWDW1]

I've driven to Disney three times...we take the Peace Bridge crossing to I90 around Lake Erie...south on I79 to I19..to I77...driving about 12 to 14 hours depending if stopping for a sit down for food and plus all the bathroom breaks along the way...Stopping at Mooresville North Carolina for the night ...then an easy 9 hour drive down I77 to I26 over to I95 and then I4 into Orlando.

 

[morrik5]

In April we plan to cross at Fort Erie, travel I90, I79, I77, I95 to I4. Hope to stay the 1st night in Sutton, WV and then Richmond Hill, GA the 2nd night. Total mileage for us is 1344.6 miles to the Fort. The first 2 days will probably be about 9 hours driving with gas and food stops in between and the last day 5 hours not including one gas stop. This is probably the typical route a Canadian from Southern Ontario drives unless you cross at Sarnia or Windsor.

 

[pigletto]

We were due to fly out early Saturday morning from Buffalo. There are seven of us. Three of us will be staying behind and driving out after a funeral for someone very dear to us. It's been a terrible few days, and we are just trying to change plans now to make sure it all works out.
My 20 year old dd and her boyfriend, and my brother and his girlfriend will go with the original plan and fly out Friday morning. Dh and ds13 and I will go late Saturday afternoon. We are going to rent a van in Buffalo and return it to MCO when it's time to come home. We can't drive our car because it's not big enough for the whole group of us, and everyone else is under 25 and it would cost too much to rent their own car.

So I will give this thread a good read in the morning when I am not so weary but just offhand, does anyone know a good point to stop about 8 hours from Buffalo? We figure we will drive from about 3pm to 11pm and then grab a quick nights sleep and do the rest of the drive bright and early.

Thank you for your help.

 

[HappilyEverAfter80]

We were due to fly out early Saturday morning from Buffalo. There are seven of us. Three of us will be staying behind and driving out after a funeral for someone very dear to us. It's been a terrible few days, and we are just trying to change plans now to make sure it all works out.
My 20 year old dd and her boyfriend, and my brother and his girlfriend will go with the original plan and fly out Friday morning. Dh and ds13 and I will go late Saturday afternoon. We are going to rent a van in Buffalo and return it to MCO when it's time to come home. We can't drive our car because it's not big enough for the whole group of us, and everyone else is under 25 and it would cost too much to rent their own car.

So I will give this thread a good read in the morning when I am not so weary but just offhand, does anyone know a good point to stop about 8 hours from Buffalo? We figure we will drive from about 3pm to 11pm and then grab a quick nights sleep and do the rest of the drive bright and early.

Thank you for your help.

So sorry for your loss

We are on our final leg home doing the drive from Orlando to London, Ont.
I would say if you want to drive about 8 hrs you could stop in Beckley, WV.
It's about 7 hrs from Buffalo NY but you have to factor in border crossing and stops for gas etc - it will probably take about 8 hrs to get to Beckley.

If you wanted to push a bit further you could try for Winston-Salem, NC.

We stopped in Columbia SC on the way down and Rock Hill SC on the way back, but we left a lot earlier than 3...

Would probably aim for Beckley in your situtation.

If you have any questions let me know.
Overall it's a beautiful drive especially through the Virginias and NC.