Road trip advice Illinois to Disney

embracejg

Mouseketeer
Joined
Aug 8, 2017
My girlfriend and I have decided to take advantage of our new extremely fuel-efficient hybrid and drive from the Chicago area to Disney/Universal in November.

Seeing as the drive is an estimated 18 hours, we'll be splitting it up over two days, but not as an even split; preferably something like a 12-hour drive the first day and a 6-hour drive the next day so we can spend most of the second day in our Orlando resort and recharge before hitting the parks.

Anyone done this same route before? Where would be a good point to stop for the night? And generally any road trip advice would be helpful, this is the longest one I've ever done.
 
We just did the same thing for the 3rd year in a row with our hybrid from SE Iowa. Starting with a full tank, the roundtrip gas was $126. Idk if you would be taking the same route as we did once you hit a certain point but I would strongly suggest you get through Atlanta before you stop for the night!! Traffic is terrible at most times of the day BUT, we went through at 11pm this time and drove straight through without traffic backups. All the rest of the times we have went through, we were stopped dead on the interstate for quite a long time. We stayed in Macon, Ga and then drove the last 5-6 hours to Disney the next day. Our bacic route was South to St. Louis - Marion, IL - Paducah, KY - Nashville, TN - Chattanooga, TN - Atlanta, GA - Macon, GA (stop for the night) - Disney. We had an offsite hotel for 1 night when we arrived and checked into our Disney resort the following day. I always filled up on gas when we stopped to eat or used restrooms....never know when you might get caught in traffic or hung up because of an accident. Good Luck!!
 
Haven’t done that route but have done many road trips including coast to coast a few times.

Different things work better for different people but my style includes leaving as early in the morning that you can stand.

Minimize stops by packing drinks snacks.

Use rest stops for bathroom breaks as opposed to getting off an exit which can sometimes take longer than necessary.

Exit the interstate only for combined gas/fast food stops and make them quick.

Make a reservation for a hotel (reservation is a must- nothing worse than driving from hotel to hotel that are fully booked) where we expect to be around 6pm or so. Not much later. Why not push through and go longer? Personally I think long drives are deceptively exhausting. Even if you feel great it saps energy for a day or two. An early-ish stop gives you time to rest, have a decent dinner somewhere, maybe a swim, watch a movie in the room or something - basically start enjoying your vacation.

Day 2 again start early and don’t plan too much for arrival day. For Disney we might plan some pool time, dinner and then just a couple of hours in a park. Get to bed early because you will need the rest after all of those driving hours the past two days.
 
My fam is all about Valdosta, GA. Honestly we usually just drove all night and got to Disney in the morning, esp. when more than one party member can/will drive, but you are estimating 2 more hours of drive time (I would estimate at least an hour more on top of that). We fly now, but Valdosta has been used in the past. That way you are still in Georgia, but ready to cross into Florida. If you did Valdosta, it would put you 3 hours out from Disney, so that may not be within your parameters. We just always liked to at least make it through Atlanta on the first drive day.

As for the rest; road snacks. lol Plan to stop all at once for restroom, food, and gas to keep exiting to a minimum. Decide ahead of time if whoever is driving wants/expects their navigator to stay awake or not... that can cause some friction if the driver always feels they are doing all the heavy lifting for 18 hours while passenger sleeps and just wakes up for breaks. Walk around on your breaks to help circulation and keep back pain away. We always like to stop for a sit down meal (often at Cracker Barrel) for a break from the road.

Atlanta will be your main traffic point, decide when you want to be going through it, and how you want to do it (we drove straight through in the middle of the night, usually).
 
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My fam is all about Valdosta, GA. Honestly we usually just drove all night and got to Disney in the morning, esp. when more than one party member can/will drive, but you are estimating 2 more hours of drive time (I would estimate at least an hour more on top of that). We fly now, but Valdosta has been used in the past. That way you are still in Georgia, but ready to cross into Florida. If you did Valdosta, it would put you 3 hours out from Disney, so that may not be within your parameters. We just always liked to at least make it through Atlanta on the first drive day.

As for the rest; road snacks. lol Plan to stop all at once for restroom, food, and gas to keep exiting to a minimum. Decide ahead of time if whoever is driving wants/expects their navigator to stay awake or not... that can cause some friction if the driver always feel they are doing all the heavy lifting for 18 hours while passenger sleeps and just wakes up for breaks. Walk around on your breaks to help circulation and keep back pain away. We always like to stop for a sit down meal (often at Cracker Barrel) for a break from the road.

Atlanta will be your main traffic point, decide when you want to be going through it, and how you want to do it (we drove straight through in the middle of the night, usually).
The last three Summers, I have thought about Valdosta but since I am the only one driving, I thought that was a bit too far but I like that idea. We have stayed twice in Macon and once got as far as Perry, Ga. You are dead on about getting past ATL on day one and going thru as late as you can.
 
We are a couple hours south of you near Springfield, and we drove a few years ago. I suggest getting south of Atlanta on your way down and north of Nashville on your way back.
We actually spent a few hours in each city because I said we were never driving again, so probably not visiting those cities again.
It broke it up pretty well, and IF I drove again, it’s the plan I would stick to.
(I was the only driver, so that’s what made me want to fly)
 
We've done this drive many times (Pleasant Prairie, WI)...we always stay in Forsyth, GA on the way down and Louisville, KY on the way back. That gives you about the 12/6 hours split you're looking for and gets you through ATL before stopping on the way down.
 


Thanks for the great advice, everybody! Consensus seems to be clear: get through Atlanta on the first night. The driving days will be a Saturday and Sunday, and I had hoped Atlanta traffic wouldn't really be present on Sunday morning, but why risk it?

We will be splitting the drive. I think if I had 3 or more potential drivers in the same car, I'd try going straight through.
 
Pack your food and drinks, rest only to pee. I drove down from Connecticut a couple times and leave early day one around 3 am, stayed at Disney Hilton Head Island then continued on the next day. If you can make it to Atlanta, you're good. But pick a hotel you can cancel and if you need to pull over and just rest earlier, then do it. Better to be safe on the road. Safe travels and have fun.
 
We drive from WI, and if we do a stop off we usually try to hit Valdosta, GA. There is a nice Hampton Inn there with free breakfast. I would travel as long as you can though, because even 5-6 hours the next day seems like a lifetime after you have been in a car all day the day before. We never book a room early, just stop and see if there is any availability and never had a problem. Be sure to get out and stretch at gas fill-ups and if you need additional stretching the waysides are very nice (except Indiana). Throw some snacks in the car and enjoy the trip!
 
We drove from WI two years ago. I won't be doing that again but make it past Atlanta on your drive down. You won't want to be in the car for 6+ hours on the second day when you just want to be in Disney World and are sick of the car.
 
I've taken the advice to make it to Macon on Day 1. Getting up at 3am to start the drive strikes me as a bad idea. I'd like to stick to my normal sleep schedule before such a long drive.

Valdosta would be nearly 15 hours from our starting point. I'm not that concerned about cutting my Day 2 drive down to 3 hours since we're not going into any park that day. It'll be straight to the hotel and we likely won't leave the hotel grounds for the rest of the day.
 
I've taken the advice to make it to Macon on Day 1. Getting up at 3am to start the drive strikes me as a bad idea. I'd like to stick to my normal sleep schedule before such a long drive.

Valdosta would be nearly 15 hours from our starting point. I'm not that concerned about cutting my Day 2 drive down to 3 hours since we're not going into any park that day. It'll be straight to the hotel and we likely won't leave the hotel grounds for the rest of the day.
Sounds like a good plan. Enjoy!
 
We have driven this route many times, the latest being in June. We left Wisconsin super early in the morning, like 2:00 am to be sure to avoid Milwaukee and Chicago traffic and the timing worked wonders. We made pit stops along the way but stopped for the night in Cordelle, GA. This made the drive to Orlando the next morning only about 4 hours or so. Even though "traffic" may not be bad due to timing, we did run into a lot of construction areas so be aware of that.
 
We drive from Georgia to Central NJ twice a year. Google maps says its a 15 hour drive, it usually takes us 17-18 hours and that's driving it in one day and hauling it. Only stopping for gas, bathroom breaks and quick eats (never a sit down meal). We've left early in the morning and late at night. In my experience it seems there is more traffic and accidents in the morning and more construction when leaving in the evening. When it comes to the traffic, accidents and construction and you find yourself at a stand-still, make sure you have gas in your car. We usually never go below a half tank. We use Google maps and it has been a life saver when it comes to road construction, accidents, and general traffic. We live about 45 minutes to an hour from ATL, and I agree about the traffic in ATL, it's a nightmare. Traffic in ATL starts around 6:30 a.m. and it downright terrible by 7 a.m. and then starts again around 3:30 p.m. It's not just ATL, it's the surrounding Perimeter as well. Our drive from GA to FL is supposed to be about 5 1/2 hours, but we haven't been able to do it in less than 7. That's leaving early, on rode by 5:45 a.m. and traffic in general from GA to FL not so bad. Again, just stopping for gas and NO FOOD. If it's a holiday, your drive will be longer. Once driving to FL around Easter, the worst traffic we hit was in FL. Bumper to bumper most of the way. That time it took us 9 hours to get there that time.
 
We drive from Deerfield, IL and we stop in East Ridge, TN. ( The Marriott Fairfield Inn - easy on and off the expressway and theirs a Cracker Barrel right across the street ). Georgia feels like it never ends but once you get into Florida it flys by.
 
We live in the southwest suburbs and have made the drive several times. I highly suggest leaving early enough on Saturday to avoid traffic on 80/94 in NW Indiana if you plan on taking I-65 down through Indiana and going through Atlanta either LATE Saturday night or super early Sunday morning. On our last trip, Atlanta traffic added 2 plus hours, and that was a Saturday midday. We usually stop for the night around Chattanooga. And I second having a reservation. On our way there and way back, people were begging for rooms at the front desk, but they were all booked.
 
We've done this drive many times (Pleasant Prairie, WI)...we always stay in Forsyth, GA on the way down and Louisville, KY on the way back. That gives you about the 12/6 hours split you're looking for and gets you through ATL before stopping on the way down.

I second the Forsyth, GA motion. Exit 187 and 186 have La Quinta, Hampton Inn, and Holiday Inn Express. The area is super-safe because the state police academy is in Forsyth and most cops from out of the local area stay at those hotels.
 
I've done a similar drive a couple of times. The first leg of our journey is from southern Minnesota to family near Ottawa which is west of Chicago. Then from Ottawa we head down through Bloomington.

I don't know that time of day matters as much with Atlanta as it used to. I've been through on busy days during busy times and shot straight through the city in the HOV lane with no slow downs. They key is staying in the HOV lane. The bigger variable seems to be in the outer suburbs. Keep Google Maps navigation on and it will route you around any major slow downs as you approach or exit the city.

My favorite experience on that route was to take an easy day from IL to KimbalL, TN which is just shy of Chattanooga. We got there around 6pm. That put us through Atlanta mid morning of the next day and Orlando around 8pm. Given the choice, I'd rather drive TN and GA in daylight and the long straight stretch of central FL at night. I never plan anything for arrival day because it makes the whole day stressful and disappointing when inevitable delays occur.
 
We did this route growing up. Our target was always Valdosta, GA which was about 13 hours although anything past Atlanta was a win.

If you're anywhere near Chicago I would have a hard time justifying driving over flying with only 2 people though.
 

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