Road trip advice Illinois to Disney

First of all, everyone pointing out about ATL traffic is cracking me up. Secondly, they're right. Its terrible. We live a little ways north of Atlanta and when we're headed south we generally try to get to Atlanta no later than 5:30 am so we're out of it before rush hour. That said, when you're about an hour and a half out of the city start watching traffic on waze or whatever navigation you use. Depending on what it looks like you may want to stop before you get in the city and get up early the next day. I've been from one end of Atlanta to the other without really having to go less than the speed limit and I've had it take a little over 3 hours to get through. Stopping north of Atlanta isn't ideal but be open to it just in case. Marietta and Kennesaw have some decent hotels of you do have to stop.
 
I don't live in your part of the world but I love planning road trips. I just gooogled your trip and found if you go though Birmingham it adds about 30 miles to the trip. everyone says Atlanta is bad. got that way.
 
I don't live in your part of the world but I love planning road trips. I just gooogled your trip and found if you go though Birmingham it adds about 30 miles to the trip. everyone says Atlanta is bad. got that way.
On our trip this Summer, we drove via the Birmingham route on our way home and we found it much better than our previous Atl and Nashville route. We will be driving the Birmingham route both ways on our next trip.
 
Chicago northsiders here! We have done that drive many, many times. We always left at 3 or 4 AM and stopped in Macon, GA for the night about 10 or 11 PM. One year traveling with my brother and his family, he really wanted to drive straight through! :crazy: We just could not drive anymore and ended up in Macon for the night.
 


Chicago northsiders here! We have done that drive many, many times. We always left at 3 or 4 AM and stopped in Macon, GA for the night about 10 or 11 PM. One year traveling with my brother and his family, he really wanted to drive straight through! :crazy: We just could not drive anymore and ended up in Macon for the night.

Wow, it really took that long? We were planning on leaving around 6 or 7 AM and being in Forsyth, GA by 8PM or 9PM (we'd rather not stop for long breaks). Keep in mind this is a Saturday so hopefully that means less traffic.
 
Wow, it really took that long? We were planning on leaving around 6 or 7 AM and being in Forsyth, GA by 8PM or 9PM (we'd rather not stop for long breaks). Keep in mind this is a Saturday so hopefully that means less traffic.

Our road trips were either with young kids or my mom, both need frequent bathroom breaks and stops to stretch their legs. :tiptoe:
 
We've done the trip a number of times. We prefer 57 to 65 and, as others have said, really try to make it to the Hampton Inn in Valdosta.
 


I just gooogled your trip and found if you go though Birmingham it adds about 30 miles to the trip. everyone says Atlanta is bad. got that way.
We've done the trip a number of times. We prefer 57 to 65 and, as others have said, really try to make it to the Hampton Inn in Valdosta.

Would you mind explaining this route to me and how it affects travel times? Looking at maps, I feel like I-65 takes me too far west where I'm then driving through the Florida Panhandle rather than the more direct I-75 route through Atlanta.
 
The reason you'd go through Birmingham is indeed to miss Atlanta, and yes, that changes your route through Florida if you go that way. It adds a bit of time/distance, but avoids Atlanta. My family has done the Birmingham route, but most of the time, we can time Atlanta where it's not bad, so we just go that way.

And, yes, the I-65 route would take you toward Mobile if you stayed on it, but you exit it somewhere around Montgomery, AL I believe... but still avoid Atlanta.
 
Would you mind explaining this route to me and how it affects travel times? Looking at maps, I feel like I-65 takes me too far west where I'm then driving through the Florida Panhandle rather than the more direct I-75 route through Atlanta.
If we assume either way you choose (thru Atlanta or Birmingham) you go the same way until you hit near Nashville, mapquest says it is 30 miles longer and an hour and a half longer to go through Birmingham from Nashville to Disney. We drive from SE Iowa and have went through Atlanta and it is terrible. We come to a dead stop multiple times and it wastes a lot of time. We did time it this year so we drove through ATL at midnight and we went thru without issue. On the way back, there would be no way to go through that late so we decided to try going thru Birmingham and it was great. It was a lot better. On paper it took longer but figuring in all the ATL congestion and stop n go, I think it was a wash time wise. We will be driving the Birmingham route both ways in the future.
 
When we go to Florida we always go the Birmingham route. You take I-65 to Montgomery and then take I-85 to exit 9 (taylor road) down to route 231 which is all four lanes but you do have some small towns you go thru. Dothan can be a little busy. You end up at I-10.
 
Would you mind explaining this route to me and how it affects travel times? Looking at maps, I feel like I-65 takes me too far west where I'm then driving through the Florida Panhandle rather than the more direct I-75 route through Atlanta.

One of the great forums on here for ways into WDW is the Camping forum, since routes are so important when pulling a travel trailer, or driving a RV. This route was discussed there last summer in detail, here's bama_ed's description of the Birmingham route;

As for route, you will want to take I65 south from Nashville through Birmingham to Montgomery then divert to Highway 231 south towards Dothan, AL (my first gas stop at the Flying J there), then Hwy 231 south into Florida, hit I10 headed east, and proceed to I75. Going that route, you pick up I10 at mile marker (mm) 130 and get to I75 at mm 298 (Tallahassee around mm 200). There is a whole lot of practically nothing between Tallahassee and I75.
 
Ok, so what do people here suggest?

My existing plan was to be passing through Atlanta around 8pm on a Saturday before stopping for the night south of Atlanta.

Will the Birmingham route actually save me some time or will the Atlanta-area traffic late on a Saturday be light?

Keep in mind I'm really only concerned about time, not miles. My hybrid's MPG is a thing of beauty.
 
I’d go thru Atlanta later than 8 if I were you. We went through around midnight and had no issues and stayed in Macon.
 
Why not stop before Atlanta? Like Chattanooga? Going through early in the morning with be better than 8 pm on a Saturday.

also, going through Birmingham would be swinging too far west for me.
 
Its really not bad drive we drive from kansas city so its mostly the same route. We normally stop between chatnooga and north Atlanta (if we stop)
 
I’d go thru Atlanta later than 8 if I were you. We went through around midnight and had no issues and stayed in Macon.
Why not stop before Atlanta? Like Chattanooga? Going through early in the morning with be better than 8 pm on a Saturday.

Based on the initial advice I got in this thread, my goal was to get through Atlanta on the first day and stop around Macon. I want to do most of the driving on the first day, not split it in half.
 
We left Central Missouri for one trip, hope was to just go as far as we could, with my wife and I taking turns we were able to make it to Valdosta just north of the GA/FL border. I was exhausted, but made for an easy drive into WDW the next day.
 
We left Central Missouri for one trip, hope was to just go as far as we could, with my wife and I taking turns we were able to make it to Valdosta just north of the GA/FL border. I was exhausted, but made for an easy drive into WDW the next day.

Someone had suggested making it to Valdosta earlier in the thread. That would mean about a 14.5 hour drive on our first day from our starting point vs. about a 12 hour drive that we're planning on. We didn't want to overextend ourselves.

A 5- or 6-hour drive on the second day is fine by us. We have no plans to go into the parks on the day we arrive.
 
@embracejg it was a long haul for us too, but once I get in a groove for driving I'm good to go. The funny thing is I remember playing football with my wife at a gas station around 2AM, and other things on the drive down. I honestly don't remember the drive back at all. Enjoy your trip, and drive!
 

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