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

[ddluvsdisney]

We just arrived home after a one nighter at the BWI's Innkeeper's Cub. Since moving to Florida, our hour-long drive reminds us of our 46 round-trip NJ-WDW drives.

So who are the next members of this site who are considering a move to Florida?

All the best!

We will eventually be retiring to FL. I wish it could be sooner rather than later. We’ll see.

 

[dvczerfs]

We are home. We departed the Boardwalk Saturday morning at 3am, stopped at the Speedway gas station across the street, they have Dunkin Donuts coffee!!! Got gas and headed out.
At that time of day, Orlando and Jax is a breeze. Seen 2 state troopers the entire way home and they were with break downs in Virginia.
We pulled in at 7pm, that was a 16 hour drive which is one of the quickest we have ever done. We hit one little construction project which we slowed for for about 5 minutes, other than that, traffic was light.
That trip we were concerned about not one but three different hurricanes/ systems blowing around close to Florida but turned out to sea.
Weather the entire two weeks was excellent!!! Three days we had a five minute drizzle and that was it, just heat and sun!!!
Thanks again BC for the great night on the boat with you and your wife, we had a blast. We may do it in February for our 35 anniversary (maybe a bit chilly) but keep your calendar open for next September!!! Our turn !!! We may have a special guest with us, nothing in stone yet but the kid maybe joining us the second week of next Septembers trip. She seen and heard all about the fireworks cruise and wants to do it. I'm figuring she can be the server on the cruise.lol
Anyway, great weather driving home, no traffic and when driving can't ask for anything better.
We did go 4/95/26/77/81/78. Just easier from where we live. I watch the weather for our February trip, I got stuck in the mountains once in the winter, never again. Lol

 

[BC1836]

Our favorite WDW entrance is the West Way route. For a few miles, unlike other WDW entrances, it's just a tree and bush lined roadway until you reach Coronado Springs. Limited traffic most of the time.

All the best!

 

[BC1836]

We will eventually be retiring to FL. I wish it could be sooner rather than later. We’ll see.

EYA [Estimated year of arrival]?

All the best!

 

[BC1836]

Tonight's Orlando CBS-TV station reported an accident at MM128.8 on I-4: the car went off the interstate and fell 50 feet. Be careful on I-4 as the construction continues for the next several years.

All the best!

 

[justreading]

Tonight's Orlando CBS-TV station reported an accident at MM128.8 on I-4: the car went off the interstate and fell 50 feet. Be careful on I-4 as the construction continues for the next several years.

All the best!

Based on all the advice given in this thread about the troubles with I4 (accidents, construction, and the danger about non-locals stopping for gas) I now use 429 and come in Western Way. Just a little more sane. That's why I also drive the 'inland' route instead of 95. I feel the little extra time is worth it.

 

[dvczerfs]

Based on all the advice given in this thread about the troubles with I4 (accidents, construction, and the danger about non-locals stopping for gas) I now use 429 and come in Western Way. Just a little more sane. That's why I also drive the 'inland' route instead of 95. I feel the little extra time is worth it.

I4 in Orlando with the construction is insane!!! I hit it in the wee hours of a Saturday morning and nobody around and the lane changes, crossings is just nuts. I drive 35k for work every year in the north east so I’m comfortable driving on narrow high speed lanes but holy cow! Crazy!!!
I found heading east is a bit more easier. Again, it’s 3am but it seems they built new east bound lanes and are working on the the old east and west bound side.
The only reason I’m thinking that is because if you look to the right heading east, everything is closer then before. The building that will never be finished is right up against the highway now. The road also seems smoother and newer.
If you don’t hit this area in the middle of the night, I would avoid it.

 

[BC1836]

You will enjoy the Skyliner, with its wonderful views, especially over Caribbean Beach. We rode it yesterday, from Epcot to HS.

Remember: Be extra careful when driving on I-4. Sadly, the fifth construction worker died on the I-4 project a few days ago.

All the best!

 

[BC1836]

You will enjoy the Skyliner, with its wonderful views, especially over Caribbean Beach. We rode it yesterday, from Epcot to HS.

Remember: Be extra careful when driving on I-4. Sadly, the fifth construction worker died on the I-4 project a few days ago.

All the best!

Just happened: bus crash on I-4; all westbound lanes closed at Orange Blossom Trail.

 

[justreading]

Just happened: bus crash on I-4; all westbound lanes closed at Orange Blossom Trail.

Wow! It pays to stay off of I-4! Such tragedies!

 

[babesboo99]

We are coming from NY and i was wondering if anyone rents cars and if so do you rent for the whole trip or just rent for the drive down and drop off then pick up for the way home? Is it easier we leave in 3 weeks and i still am unsure what to do any help would be great

 

[disneysteve]

We are coming from NY and i was wondering if anyone rents cars and if so do you rent for the whole trip or just rent for the drive down and drop off then pick up for the way home? Is it easier we leave in 3 weeks and i still am unsure what to do any help would be great

We always take our own car so I can't speak from personal experience. I can say, though, that part of driving down is so that we have our own car while we're there to get around. On the rare occasion that we fly down, we always rent a car while we're there. Doing Disney without a car just isn't something we ever want to do. We've done it a couple of times and have sworn to never do it again. So if for some reason we decided to rent a car to drive down, we would keep it for the whole trip and then drive it home.

 

[BC1836]

Biggest I-4 driving concerns in the construction zones: uneven road surfaces (contributing cause to the recent bus crash) and temporary lane changes.

All the best!

 

[Salohcin83]

We are coming from NY and i was wondering if anyone rents cars and if so do you rent for the whole trip or just rent for the drive down and drop off then pick up for the way home? Is it easier we leave in 3 weeks and i still am unsure what to do any help would be great

If you aren’t driving down in order to have your car there, the break even point for driving over flying (unless very peak flight costs) once you add in gas and lodging didn’t work for us from New York. Once we factored in not paying for a rental car it did. That said traveling with 2 year olds for that long wasn’t fun anyways.

 

[deedeew80]

Need some help with drive time please! We are headed to Florida, not WDW unfortunately, on Wednesday. We are going to Niceville, FL. According to my gps, it’s a little further than Disney. We drive to Disney in November 2018 and we enjoyed it. We will be driving again next year. Anyway. We are driving from NJ. We don’t like driving over night, so we prefer leaving early morning. Originally my plan was to leave by 7am to avoid rush hr in DC. But that will probably put us getting to our destination pretty late, after midnight. But if we leave earlier, we will then get stuck in that morning rush hr traffic. What does everyone think? We want to drive straight through, or at least get as close as we can before stopping for the night. We will have our two kids, 9 & 7. Thanks for any help!

 

[nono]

Need some help with drive time please! We are headed to Florida, not WDW unfortunately, on Wednesday. We are going to Niceville, FL. According to my gps, it’s a little further than Disney. We drive to Disney in November 2018 and we enjoyed it. We will be driving again next year. Anyway. We are driving from NJ. We don’t like driving over night, so we prefer leaving early morning. Originally my plan was to leave by 7am to avoid rush hr in DC. But that will probably put us getting to our destination pretty late, after midnight. But if we leave earlier, we will then get stuck in that morning rush hr traffic. What does everyone think? We want to drive straight through, or at least get as close as we can before stopping for the night. We will have our two kids, 9 & 7. Thanks for any help!

Hmmm, any way that you can leave Tuesday night and get south of DC and get a room? Then get on the road by 7a on Wed? Not exactly driving straight through, but eliminates getting stuck in DC.

 

[deedeew80]

Hmmm, any way that you can leave Tuesday night and get south of DC and get a room? Then get on the road by 7a on Wed? Not exactly driving straight through, but eliminates getting stuck in DC.

That is something to think about. I will talk to the husband! Thanks for the idea!

 

[amcnj]

Need some help with drive time please! We are headed to Florida, not WDW unfortunately, on Wednesday. We are going to Niceville, FL. According to my gps, it’s a little further than Disney. We drive to Disney in November 2018 and we enjoyed it. We will be driving again next year. Anyway. We are driving from NJ. We don’t like driving over night, so we prefer leaving early morning. Originally my plan was to leave by 7am to avoid rush hr in DC. But that will probably put us getting to our destination pretty late, after midnight. But if we leave earlier, we will then get stuck in that morning rush hr traffic. What does everyone think? We want to drive straight through, or at least get as close as we can before stopping for the night. We will have our two kids, 9 & 7. Thanks for any help!

Not sure which part of NJ you are leaving from, but my drives started about an hour and ten minutes from the Delaware Memorial Bridge. I depart around 2:30 am, and pass DC around 5:30 am. Depending on stops, weather and traffic, I reach the Orlando area 5:30-8:30 pm that same day.

I believe the DC rush hours are 6-10 AM and 3-7 PM.

 

[deedeew80]

Not sure which part of NJ you are leaving from, but my drives started about an hour and ten minutes from the Delaware Memorial Bridge. I depart around 2:30 am, and pass DC around 5:30 am. Depending on stops, weather and traffic, I reach the Orlando area 5:30-8:30 pm that same day.

I believe the DC rush hours are 6-10 AM and 3-7 PM.

We are about a half hr from the DMB. On our last drive we left at 4am but didn’t hit rush hr traffic because it was the day after Thanksgiving and I guess most were off work. We might have to just leave earlier I guess in order to get ahead of that traffic.

 

[mac_tlc]

Looks like I’m about 1,500,000 views late to the party! We are in CT and have done the drive about 15 times—— a rookie compared to some .

We have never driven straight through, always stop one day each way. Southbound , we would leave at 3 or 4 am, stop near Hardeeville SC, then leave at 7 to get to WDW around noon. Have also used the Amtrak auto-train a few times in one direction depending on time of year. Northbound we leave Orlando about 7am and stop in Emporia Va, then another 9 hrs home on day 2.

Six years ago we bought a house in Orlando, near the airport, right off 417. That changes our timeline a bit, and we now stop near Florence SC the first day. We don’t need to worry about check-in times anymore!

We usually drive twice a year, but fly for our shorter trips. Next drive will be January 2020.

Certainly have seen an increase in traffic and speed over the years. Our worst experience was driving the week between Christmas and New Year——- never again.

mac_tlc