drive from PA - Hilton Head stopover

[mickeyandme]

We are considering driving from PA next year to Disney. We were considering a stopover at the DVC Hilton Head REsort. Anyone make this kind of drive that can share details? How long until Hilton Head, then how many hours from there to OKW? Also, how far off the beaten path is the DVC Hilton Head? If anyone has driven from this area, could you advise a better overnight place? We have never driven before but are considering it next year. Thanks in advance for all your suggestions!

 

[Zimbubba]

From NC PA it is a good 12-13 hour venture to HH...depending on traffic. We usually do not go that far in one day. It is quite a distance and time to be in the car for that long.

 

[crazyaboutdisney]

we drove from buffalo, ny to hh last year in 16 hours. Best to travel in early am because of constuction. From hh to okw is about a 5 hour drive. Our ride home from hh to buffalo took 19 hours, constuction, detours and an accident (not us ) were to blame. We are going to hh again next summer and will be driving again. Plan to leave around 2 am, hopefully kids will sleep. We do take 2 days for the drive. HH ia about an hour from route 95.

 

[GrammieMame]

It's about an hour from I-95 to HH. That's 2 hours extra added to your trip. If it's only an overnighter, I'd stay at a highway motel. You might try Savannah; it's much closer to the highway.

 

[vernon]

Different part of PA but from Pittsburgh it took us about 12-13 hours. Because of my flight times into Pitts, we left about 5.00 in the evening and drove about 6 hours , got a cheap motel by the roadside. Then finished the journey the next day. We spent 3 nights at HH , which was a GREAT break. Out of choice I'd rather have theay type of break on the way home to relax after rushing around the parks but on that trip it wasn't possible.

Mapquests driving directions and estimated times of journey we found to be very accurate.

HH has some really nice facilities and it's worth spending the time there to use the resort IMHO.

 

[mickeyandme]

Thanks for your suggestions. We are still in the planning stage. Maybe we will make Hilton Head a separate adventure!

 

[Towncrier]

We made the drive to HH from I-95 (Hardeeville) in about half an hour. A couple of years ago we decided to spend two nights at the HH DVC on the way down to WDW. This year we just opted for a couple of rooms at the Hardeeville Days Inn. We did drive over to HH just to walk around in the evening, but didn't feel that it was worth it to stay at HH unless we could commit more time to a visit. Our two night stay really didn't give us a chance to fully appreciate all that the HH DVC has to offer.

BTW - I would NOT recommend the Days Inn at Hardeeville. It's nice enough, but the parking lot was all torn up. The restarant inside the hotel is closed. There is no free continental breakfast even though one is supposed to be provided. And my DW nearly broke her neck when she slipped down the steps into the pool.

 

[Denine]

We will be doing this from NE Ohio in January. We usually drive straight through to Jacksonville (14 hours) and spend the night there. But, since it is winter, we decided to break up our trip more equally. We leave very early in the AM, so we should be able to have the afternoon at HH. We are doing this both ways and it is costing us 6 points per night. Hard to find a motel that cheap.
I will post about our experience in January.

 

[KarenB]

We did this in March. We had breakfast at OKW. In five hours we were at HH DVC. We spent the night and it took us exactly 12 hours from HH to our driveway. It was a nice stopover, but we love HH and it was just a "tease"!! We wanted to stay


We went back to HH for a wonderful week this past June!

Karen

 

[JudithM]

I am really curious about something - do you folks ever stop for gas, rest rooms, to eat or to stretch? I cannot believe the amount of time most people are saying it takes to Hilton Head from the north.

 

[Denine]

There are only 2 of us. We bring all the essentials. I have an iron bladder. So we stop when DH has to go and we usually get gas at that time. I get out of the car to stretch.
We stop for lunch at a rest area to eat sandwiches I made at home. We take as long as we need then we are back on the road.
We love to drive.

 

[Fenceman]

Our last trip to HH took just under 11 hours from NE Ohio. We did leave at 2:00am in the morning so our 3 children would sleep during most of the trip and made great time. I would not recommend HH for a quick stopover to WDW unless you were going to spend 3 nights or more. There is so much to do, 1 or 2 nights does not due it justice.

I second the thumbs down on Hardeeville Days Inn. We also stopped there on the way to WDW. Our first room stunk. The second had wet carpet from the air conditioner. The third was rough but we were to tired to compain any more. The pool was dirty and I would'nt let the kids swim in it.

 

[KarenB]

Fenceman..I agree about the stopover in HH. Even though we did it in March, I would not want to do it again....only because like you said, there is TOO much to see and do!!!!! The place it too beautiful to stop just for a night's sleep!

Karen

 

[Debbie H]

We leave Hanover and can be in Savannah in about 11 hours. It's not a bad drive albeit the trucks on I-95. They really like to get on your tail even though you are going over the speed limit! We enjoy the trip down. We almost always drive so we know it quite well. I'm not sure if I would want to stop in HH though. It depends if you are going to stay any length of time. I'd rather hit Ga and have a 5 hour drive the next day. We always go back in one day and it takes us roughly 15 1/2 to 16 hrs.

Debbie

 

[mickeyandme]

Thanks to all of you for your advice. Debbie H, You are not too far from us. We live right outside of Scranton. We have definitely decided to not stay overnight at Hilton HEad. I can see now that I would not want to just do a sleepover at such a great place. So it will be a separate trip. But I think we may try the drive to Disney. We have taken the Autotrain a few times and have flown a few, but I think we need to try to drive to see how it is. It would save us some money.

 

[Lesley]

Iron bladders? LOL....my dh has been banned from drinking iced tea on our next trip because he stops so often!

Anyway, we made it to Walterboro (about an hour to HH) in about 13 hours with numerous stops on our first driving trip...and that was counting about 1 1/2 hours at Cracker Barrel for breakfast (it was Sunday...big mistake!)

We are in Se PA...about an hour from Philly or Wilmington.

 

[Towncrier]

Walterboro. Our favorite stopping place. There used to be a mom-and-pop ice cream and sandwich shop that we frequented. When it closed, we stopped going to Walterboro and now drive the extra few miles to Hardeeville. That way we can drop the kids and grandma off at the motel after eatting dinner at the Crippled Crab and head over to Hilton Head for a quick look see (and a trip to the Disney Catalog outlet store).

 

[Lesley]

That does sound like a good plan! I've stayed at the same Comfort Inn in Walterboro twice, about 12 years apart, and it had really gone downhill...though it wasn't terrible. I'll have to remember Hardeeville if we ever do the trip that way again. At this point it looks like we'll be moving to SC soon....Columbia. One of the first things I'll have to do after settling is to check out HH and that outlet store!

 

[CWD]

We have family in Savannah Georgia (very close to Hilton Head) and make the drive from Columbus OH, in about 11 to 12 hours. That is minimal stops (Gas and Restroom) driving around 70 mph. We stopped at HH the last time down to spy it out for possible future trips and made it from I95 to the DVC resort in about 30-40 minutes. This was labor day weekend.

 

[TBesore]

Here is a good story for you from some brand new vacation club members. We just completed a nine day vacation at the Polynesian resort, driving both ways from the Cleveland area. We had airline tickets booked, but cancelled them in favor of the drive. On the way home, we decided to make a stop at Hilton Head, having never been there before. We knew of Disney's Hilton Head resort from various mailings, but had forgotton about it until we happened to drive by the place during our road trip diversion on the way home from Orlando!

We decided to stop by the sales office for a tour and found ourselves talked into staying overnight for only a hundred bucks or so. Well, that's all they needed to do to get us signed up as vacation club members. We had never stayed in this type of Disney accommodation before. What a treat. Of course, they put our family of three into a two bedroom villa for impression value.

Well, we signed on the bottom line, with the opportunity to cancel if we do not like the details. I cannot imagine anyone buying a vacation club membership on the sole merits of the sales presentation. The presentation was long on dreams and short on detail of the member rules, regulations and legal documents. But then again, I am a lawyer and am critically interested in such things. I will review the papers when they arrive and also browse through this website for some inside information before making the final decision.

Anyway, sorry for the long reply, but I found the diversion to Hilton Head to be well worth a stop on the way home, to get one final breath of Disney on an otherwise depressing trip home from vacation until next year.