Nuts?! Or just LOVE to Drive.... About This Page:

[ladytikibird]

Hey All, my husband and I are going to drive to Orlando due to flight costs. (We are both couriers 24/7/365 and are used to driving) We have done the drive once before in 2010, before we were married, and are looking into trying it again for our upcoming trip in April. The first time we made the drive we had to stop in Atlanta for a cousins wedding so we had rest time....this time, we only have about a day to make the drive. We are leaving from Baltimore MD and driving straight through. Any tips that would make the ride easier, more fun, and just....different then the norm. Love to hear about some of your drives to the Mouse and what suggestions you might have....
*Hugs & Pixie dust*
Lady Tiki Bird

[RobinKay6573]

crazy? hardly! I can do 14 hours straight through but the 19 hour drive was a bit much for me. Even with one overnight stop. one thing that does work for me is to sleep until 2 am and leave around 230 or 3. By the last few hours of the trip when im tired I dont have to drive in the dark.


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[feonag]

If you enjoy driving go for it. It is too far for us (24 hours straight) plus we have 2 kids so no way are we driving. I actually wish we lived closer so driving was an option for us. Have fun!

[hyprmut]

I like the drive all night idea, as those trips were my favorite runs when I did courier work. Plan your stops so you have time to move and stretch, not just gas and go. The driver will last longer that way. Pull over if you get sleepy: tired drivers are as dangerous as drunk drivers. Find a good audible book. Harry Potter would almost last the entire trip...

As professional drivers who don't have to keep a log book you probably know all of the above tips.

Have fun!

[Teresa]

I'm not a fan of all night driving, unless you're used to being up all night. Makes you too tired, and there are a lot of trucks on the road.
I'm a huge fan of leaving very early in the AM, driving a few hours, stopping for breakfast, driving about 6 hours, stopping for lunch, driving a few hours, stopping for dinner - and then - there you are!!

I don't think you're crazy at all. I love driving and don't mind the drive to WDW at all. My kids don't do well, so we usually fly.

Make sure you get out and walk around every few hours (we stop to get a meal or get a snack or coffee, or gas, and always walk about and stretch). Drink plenty of water, and you'll be fine.

[2Peanuts]

We are just a little south of you in VA, but we like to take an overnight for our drive. Not only do we have kids, but it's also helpful for us not-so-young-parents. I personally like having had a good night's sleep and then arriving around lunchtime at our resort. It makes for a leisurely check-in process and sometimes, we can even get into our rooms a bit early. If not, we can safely stash our luggage with the hotel and then explore a park without feeling totally wiped out.

If you like the idea of an overnight, you might want to check out the Jacksonville Airport area. Lots of hotels near I-95 and the following morning, you would have a short 3-hour-ish drive to the Mouse.

In the end, I guess it depends on how refreshed you feel after a long stint of driving. If you're really tired, that first day may be a total drag. But if you're heartier than me, you'll probably like getting the drive over with & starting your vacation!

As for fun things to do --- books on tape would be my recommendation. Or podcasts. You can download all the Passporter podcasts to get some new tips & ideas for your trip! I personally love listening to Wait! Wait! Don't Tell Me because they always make me laugh. Unfortunately, we can't listen to books or podcasts when driving to WDW because the kids take over our sound system with the Chipmunks, Disney movies, & Baby Einstein.

Have a great time, whatever you decide!
Carol

[Charlie97]

This last trip we took, we were pressed for time. We drove over 24hrs from S. TX to Orlando. If it is just 2 adults, that's a walk in the park, as opposed to the 2 teens and 2 kids under the age of 6 that we had. Just take your necessary breaks and enjoy the ride. Most people prefer to drive at night which I feel is better with kids. With no kids, I prefer travel during the day so that I can enjoy the scenery. Pre-Elizabeth (our 1yr old), Rae and I would take weekend trips to the hill country and always talked about anything and everything. Nowadays, Rae spends the time in the back watching Tangled, Pocahontas, and Mulan.

[DVC_Don]

I make the drive from Upstate NY to the Orlando area and back every year. I break it up into two overnights. I stop in Richmond to visit with an old Disney boards friend and Savannah, Georgia. I rather enjoy the trip when I'm by myself as I stop off to visit various sights and museums along the way. I don't like after dark driving as the odds of a deer strike go way up.

[Coop]

We like to drive. We use it as a decompression - switching from work mode to vacation mode. DH and I love to talk and sing - he makes CD's for the trip. We do the trip over 2 days. It would be a 20 hour trip straight through and though we COULD do it, we would rather stop for the night. No sense in being exhausted and taking your first couple days at Disney to recover is our thought. We drive on the first day for about 14 hours -stopping for food, gas, potty breaks and stretching before getting to a hotel in southern GA. Then we have about 6 hours the next day.

[chillepepa]

I drive from Denver all the time. It is 27 hours. I have to do it in two days. The first day i usually do about 14hrs, stopping in Nashville TN or Jackson MS depending if I take the northern route or the southern route, then the 2nd day is not so bad with under 10 hrs.

I load my ipod up with audio books and get caught up on a lot of reading. We bring trivia card games, I love the logo games because we keep an eye out for them a long the way. Plus we play the license plate game see if we can get all 50 states. One year I did put french on my ipod and learned french on my drive!

[MsPeggySue911]

I hate driving.
I don't like road trips. We are 12 hours from Disney and have driven it before but I won't ever make that drive again if I can help it. Flying is not that expensive when you factor in your gas and your wasted time.

[ladytikibird]

Originally Posted by MsPeggySue911

I hate driving.
I don't like road trips. We are 12 hours from Disney and have driven it before but I won't ever make that drive again if I can help it. Flying is not that expensive when you factor in your gas and your wasted time.

I can understand that and everyone has their own preferences. My DH and I looked deeply into flights and from where we are coming, the cheapest we could find for the week AFTER Easter was 375$ per person. For the total drive we are only using 325$ worth of gas we know after doing it once before. Also we have family who live in Northern Florida and Mid-state Georgia and friends in South Carolina, so we thought driving would be a good option to visit family as well. The comparisons are great enough to make driving worth our while. I appreciate the input and will keep looking at flights, perhaps there is a sale I missed along the way.
*Hugs & Pixie Dust*
Lady Tiki Bird

[Simmonsx6]

We are a family of 6, we have made the drive to Orlando 7 times now. The kids complain, but they sleep about 11 hours of the trip! They are 15,17,20,22 now. It was more comfortable for them when they were younger, now there's less sleeping room due to them being older,but we still have the same routine. My husband starts his vacation the day we are leaving so he can sleep late, he is up for work at 3am so he could never work the day we leave. We leave home(Poconos)around 5 pm,drive a few hours, go through a drive-thru for a late dinner, kids put on a movie and by 11 there all asleep. With leaving home at 5 pm we get to our destination around 12-1:00. Have lunch, then check into our hotel. My husband is the type of person that can do this, he doesnt require much sleep and is used to alot of driving. I offer to drive but he said he couldnt sleep anyway I take the wheel around the end of Georgia.

[thenewsmiths]

I agree that loading up the iPhone with podcasts and audiobooks helps the time fly by.

[lmkenfield]

We love to drive to Disney when time permits - which it has for our last 4 trips. The first 2 times were from Richmond, VA and we stopped at my parents house in Savannah on the way down. Then we drove from Ft Riley, KS last March and from Davenport, IA in December - managed to swing through Savannah for the March trip. We always time the drive so that we are just outside of Disney (within an hour or so) the night before our resort check-in. Then we get up early the next morning and head over to the resort to check-in, drop our bags and head off to the park of our choice :-)

The kids watch movies and my hubby & I get the chance to talk about stuff that we seem to never have time for at home. Retirement plans (life after the Army), where we want to go next (if the Army lets us have our choice), the next big vacation we want to take - where do we want to go, what do we want to see/do....all those sorts of things that never seem to make it in to day-to-day conversations :-) We also find driving a nice way to start the decompression into vacation because we are usually going a thousand miles an hour right up until we fall in bed the night before we hit the road!! It helps us start slowing down.

We are heading back to Disney in February - just the two of us and because I don't have the extra leave to cover the 4 days of driving (2 there and 2 back) - we are flying this time! And it helps that I found super cheap tickets from Air Tran!!

Enjoy your trip!! And I'm sure that family will love seeing you as you make your way to the Mouse!