From Chicago to Disney...

[Unity]

So this May me and my family are going to be going to Disney World and this time we're going to be taking a car - a first since 2007 for us three. We're in the prep stage right now and was wondering if there was any tips: specifically for hotels and a place to stop about 14 hours from Chicago in the trip (we plan to stop for the night and then resume the trip in the morning.)

Any recommendations from my fellow Chicagoians?

 

[Monoxide]

Well not Chicago, but from Wisconsin.
When we went, go to Loves and make spreadsheet of all Loves on your preferred route. Include time, distance and exit for all them.
Will take some time to do, but then you will always know where a clean bathroom and safe fuel stop is.

Also south Georgia has a Buccees.(sp) gas stop. Check them out if you have never been. Not sure of the exit.

As far as a travel stop, Chatanooga is our halfway point so you would be looking somewhere after Atlanta. We usually push to Valdosta and stay at a Super 8 right off the highway.

 

[macraven]

I have driven from north of chicagoland to Orlando 4 times

I always timed it to avoid going thru Nashville late afternoon due to their traffic

Only had one accident there being rear ended

I always stopped for a room near the tail end of area near Valdosta.

Not a bad drive the next morning to reach Orlando next day

 

[redboat45]

We try to make it to Valdosta if possible so that we only have to go about 3 hours the 2nd day. Anywhere south of Atlanta is good though.

Book the hotel online even if you are booking it from the parking lot of the hotel. It is always cheaper!

 

[KrazeeK120]

We’ve driven from central IL several times and have always stayed at the country inn & suites in Chattanooga, right off the highway.

 

[MM1102]

I second both the Love's strategy and the Buc-cee's stops. There is now one north of Atlanta at exit 310 and one just south of Macon at exit 144. The area around the southern one (Warner Robins/Perry) has worked well for us as an overnight stop (Hilton Garden Inn) as we've traveled from Indiana to the Orlando area.

 

[Disneylvr1971]

Drive from WI here, when we stop over we also try to stop over in Valdosta.

 

[artinlife]

Well not Chicago, but from Wisconsin.
When we went, go to Loves and make spreadsheet of all Loves on your preferred route. Include time, distance and exit for all them.
Will take some time to do, but then you will always know where a clean bathroom and safe fuel stop is.

Also south Georgia has a Buccees.(sp) gas stop. Check them out if you have never been. Not sure of the exit.

As far as a travel stop, Chatanooga is our halfway point so you would be looking somewhere after Atlanta. We usually push to Valdosta and stay at a Super 8 right off the highway.

One thing I can say about Loves is that they have very clean bathrooms. LOL! I have done three round trips from Chicago to Florida and can attest to the fact that there are some really gross bathrooms in the various gas stations on the way.

 

[sam_gordon]

I agree with getting the exits of the Love's & Buccees.
I also agree with trying to get south of Atlanta before stopping if at all possible. Obviously the further south you get, the less you have to drive the next day.

 

[artinlife]

I drive straight south out of Chicago on 57 as I always pick the most aesthetically pleasing route (I am an artist). 65 in Indiana is a very ugly drive. This latest trip, last month, took me straight south to Paducah on down thru Tennessee into Mississippi and then over to the Gulf at Mobile. It took me 4 nights as I stop at antique malls and various 'roadside attractions' on the way. It is the journey as well as the destination.

 

[HerRoyalHighness]

We were going to drive then found it actually a little cheaper to fly (from Louisville) compared to gas, rental car, parking (Swan just raised it)...but I had my plan made. If you can get south of Atlanta it's a much easier drive. Our stopover was going to be in Tifton. Were going to be leaving around 10:30/11am so if you left earlier than that, with the additional drive from that area, you should be able to make it by dinner and then just have a 3-4 drive in the morning

Try this planner. https://trips.furkot.com/

I used to utilize Microsoft Streets & Trips (went away several years ago). This is the best one I've found so far.

 

[artinlife]

So this May me and my family are going to be going to Disney World and this time we're going to be taking a car - a first since 2007 for us three. We're in the prep stage right now and was wondering if there was any tips: specifically for hotels and a place to stop about 14 hours from Chicago in the trip (we plan to stop for the night and then resume the trip in the morning.)

Any recommendations from my fellow Chicagoians?

Get the app Hotel Tonight. Register your credit card and you are good to go. When you get near an area you would like to stay at just fire up the app. You will have 5 or 6 hotels/motels to choose from at all price points. I use this on road trips and it doesn't disappoint.

 

[Nick6300]

We just made the long trek from IL to WDW end of Dec., early Jan. It was just the 2nd time we've driven since we moved here in 2016, but we also moved up from Tampa and we're long time Michiganders who used to drive to stay at Fort Wilderness.

Atlanta has been our high priority to avoid during busy hours. Even if it meant stopping at a rest stop for a nap so that we can drive through Atlanta late at night or very early am. We've lost a lot time in the past stuck in traffic at both 75 through Atlanta, and the detour, and avoid it all cost.

We also appreciate Love's stops, and typically decent gas prices. We use gasbuddy to check around for gas prices, close to exits. We found on this last trip GA in generally had the lowest prices, was surprised to see GA prices much lower than KY and TN. We were also able to use Kroger fuel points in GA.

While we too, like to pick Chattanooga for a motel stay. This is a good proximity point to WDW, and the prices are generally decent for both motels and gas. This past trip, we drove through. Stopping a few times as needed at rest stops, sometimes a few hour naps, and switching drivers. Don't know that we could do that every time, but we did get there quicker and had more park time.

We decided to pay to rent a car this time. I think it was maybe $35-$45/day for a 40 mpg compact, new car. We both have newer cars, didn't want to rack the miles, and I was bit worried about car dings at those tight WDW parking.

We had a good trip, except that given the time period, we experienced ice/snow once we hit IL on the way home. And if it wasn't more of a last minute planning thing, we would have gotten decent flight prices and not had to drive. Our flights would have been way above the norm and about $2k for 2 of us round (Christmas).

 

[Disneyfan754321]

We drove from KC, we made the trip fun along the way. The kids liked eating lunch in Metropolis, IL. We also stayed over in Chattanooga, TN but we decided to spend the extra money and stayed in a train car at the Chattanooga hotel. ( that was advice from disboards) Staying North of Atlanta is a good plan so you dont end up driving through at the wrong time.

 

[Mrs.AMC]

We drove from KC, we made the trip fun along the way. The kids liked eating lunch in Metropolis, IL. We also stayed over in Chattanooga, TN but we decided to spend the extra money and stayed in a train car at the Chattanooga hotel. ( that was advice from disboards) Staying North of Atlanta is a good plan so you dont end up driving through at the wrong time.

Sadly, the train cars are no longer hotel rooms. Maybe they'll bring them back one day. They were fun to stay in, we even did as locals when we'd do a concert at Track 29 and didn't want to drive after
We do however, have many new boutique hotels here in town that have much taller ceilings than the train cars did LOL

As for driving through here, beware of our rush hour too. For whatever reason, even though we are small I24 will back up horribly along the ridge cut due to the numbers of trucks that can't maintain speed up the hill. Even with our major downtown employer still working from home it's pretty bad. It will back up from I75 all the way to the bend at Lookout Valley starting oh, about 4:30, till about 5:30 or so. It moves it's just slow as heck. Thankfully they've pretty much finished construction at the 75/24 split so that's much better now.

 

[Gr8t Fan]

As for driving through here, beware of our rush hour too. For whatever reason, even though we are small I24 will back up horribly along the ridge cut due to the numbers of trucks that can't maintain speed up the hill. Even with our major downtown employer still working from home it's pretty bad. It will back up from I75 all the way to the bend at Lookout Valley starting oh, about 4:30, till about 5:30 or so. It moves it's just slow as heck. Thankfully they've pretty much finished construction at the 75/24 split so that's much better now.

Thanks for the update on rush hour and the construction near the 75/24 split. We're hoping to make the trip mid-June if I can get the time off from work. We used to make the drive from Chicago 3-4x a year, but haven't driven since 2019.

 

[Mrs.AMC]

Hopefully folks can stop running in to each other too. Dang it all if they can't seem to stay in their own lanes. One morning this week 2 cars slammed in to each other heading up the ridge and caught fire, shut down all lanes headed east for a couple of hours. And that was heading away from town. The wrong direction for morning rush. I will never understand why it's so hard to avoid hitting another driver when you are driving straight down the Interstate

Thanks for the update on rush hour and the construction near the 75/24 split. We're hoping to make the trip mid-June if I can get the time off from work. We used to make the drive from Chicago 3-4x a year, but haven't driven since 2019.