I am also planning a trip from NJ to WDW. The DW and I drove once before on our honeymoon with one stop along the way somewhere in NC as well as a stop in Jacksonville to visit some friends. Otherwise we would have just gone straight to Orlando from NC.
This time around, however, we have a couple of extra passengers. Namely the DD (5 years old) and the DS (20 months old). Both have flown down with us, but this will be the first attempt at driving since '93. So, we decided to take it easy and planned 2 stops along the way down. The first stop is in Emporia, VA at a Hampton Inn, and the second is at a Holiday Inn Express in Savannah, GA.
The way I picked both of the above hotels is via AAA's web site. The have a great travel planning tool (Triptick?) that allows you to enter your planned trip as well as the destinations along the way. In addition to directions and mileage, it will also list for you points of interest for each destination including lodging!
AAA uses a diamond rating system (versus stars) on a scale of 1 to 5. I was looking for minimally 3 diamond hotels which is what I selected.
As to which hotels use card keys and interior corridors, I guess the only way to know for sure is to call the hotel. But at least with the rating system, you have some idea as to the quality of the hotel.
Tal