Driving CT-WDW Tips!

[Paul Rodgers]

Hi Everyone! To eliminate the $1200+ airfare bill, we have decided to drive down/back for our vacation in August. Our current plan is to leave at 6:30PM on a Friday night, drive through the night, stop for breakfast in the morning wherever we end up, and then arrive to POFQ around 2:00PM on Saturday. It's a 16 hour drive, and then factoring in stopping for gas and snacks when need be. We're not doing parks that day though we do have a dinner reservation at Narcossee's.
Doing the driving will be my cousin and I, (22 & 19) while the 13 and 16 year old are in back. They'll most likely sleep a bulk of the trip. We're taking my (newish) Kia Forte which is excellent on gas mileage.

This is the first time that any of us have driven on a trip this long. Any tips, words of wisdom, advice would be greatly appreciated! Should we change the time we're leaving/arriving? We figured the 6:30pm departure to avoid most of the Friday night New York traffic. Should we get to WDW earlier?

 

[mrocco90]

Hi! We are driving from CT in June and plan on leaving around 630 pm. Im nervous because we never made this far of a drive before. I’m looking forward to reading any advice you get.
What are your plans for coming home? I’m thinking of leaving Disney around 6pm and driving for as long as we can until we need sleep and then get a hotel for the night.

 

[sponica]

My aunt used to drive down from CT, and I think she usually ended up stopping overnight in the carolinas (but she works in auto insurance, and gets super risk averse to drives longer than a certain amount of time)

 

[Paul Rodgers]

Hi! We are driving from CT in June and plan on leaving around 630 pm. Im nervous because we never made this far of a drive before. I’m looking forward to reading any advice you get.
What are your plans for coming home? I’m thinking of leaving Disney around 6pm and driving for as long as we can until we need sleep and then get a hotel for the night.

For driving home, we are planning on having lunch at Disney Springs around 12:30pm (ADR for The Edison) and leaving from there probably around 2:00PM. We'll stop for a late dinner and then arrive back home (we're in the Danbury area) hopefully around 9AM-10AM. I also don't have any ideas for anything fun to do on our way back. We certainly don't want to stop anywhere lengthy on the way but the way home will certainly be longer than the way there and I'm looking for a way to break it up.

 

[WillandJennB]

Hey all!
While not from CT, our drive from OH is about the same amount of time (16 hours). I (DH) have driven down or back multiple times since 2011. There are a few things I would suggest that work for me:
1. Break the trip up. In essence, dont 'wing' it and marathon the drive, stopping only when you need to. Decide on preset stops; such as gas, food, bathroom, and rest stops. This breaks up the drive into segments and you're not rushing to find someplace to fill your gas tank in a completely unfamiliar area. Directions are your friend

2. Dont assume you're "good" just because you dont feel tired. Especially after midnight, take longer breaks, even if your not feeling tired. Get out of the car, walk around, stretch, etc. If you push it, you may hit your 'wall' and not realize it.

2a. Have someone to talk to/interact with other than an additional driver (who should be resting when not driving). This is good because this person can help you judge how tired you may be. If you have been talking and telling stories for the last 3 hours then suddenly stop, you may be in need of a rest/driver switch.

3. Car games are FUN! As dumb as they are, do the license plate game or other activities that keep you active and looking around. This will keep your mind active during the overnight hours.

4. Pay attention to weather and plan alternate routes, including stops. On roads you are unfamiliar with, you do not want to get caught in a severe storm, especially if you have been driving for an extended period of time.

5. Plan rest time when you get to WDW. Driving 16 hours (even 8 hours broken up) is going to take a toll on your body. Plan to visit the pool or a well deserved nap once you are checked in.

6. On the drive back, get a full nights sleep the night before you leave. You may want to be out late, enjoying your last day in WDW, but being fully rested will benefit you on the way home.

I use Google Maps for my planning and Wase and Google Maps for GPS while driving. Those are my suggestions. Good luck on your drives!

 

[WillandJennB]

As I drove into work this morning and watched people imitate NASCAR, I thought of an additional tip: Be patient. This is a long drive. Speeding or driving recklessly is not worth it to arrive an extra 20-30 minutes early or worth the potential meeting with the local constabulary (or the cost ).

As for driving home, my personal recommendation, is to leave in the morning and get home around 2-3 AM. The biggest thing for me with this is that you end up doing a majority of the driving during the day. You'll still have a good 5-6 hours or so of night driving, but its better than having to drive all night long and fighting the fatigue of having been up for approx 24 hours by the time you get home.

 

[OKW Lover]

Depending on where you are in CT, and if you are doing I-95 or the "inland" route, you may want to leave later than 6:30, especially on I-95. As you may know, the I-95 stretch from SE CT down past Washington DC is very congested and by leaving later you'll give the rush hour traffic time to dissipate. OTOH, if you are doing the inland route (I-84 to I-81 to I-95) then traffic is less of an issue.

 

[Paul Rodgers]

Depending on where you are in CT, and if you are doing I-95 or the "inland" route, you may want to leave later than 6:30, especially on I-95. As you may know, the I-95 stretch from SE CT down past Washington DC is very congested and by leaving later you'll give the rush hour traffic time to dissipate. OTOH, if you are doing the inland route (I-84 to I-81 to I-95) then traffic is less of an issue.

Currently my map (Google Maps/Roadtrippers) has us taking 84 to 87, then switching to 95 over the George Washington Bridge, and following 95 down. Should I leave earlier? I definitely don't want to arrive to our resort later than 2:00pm/2:30pm on Saturday. I wouldn't dare hit 95 through Norwalk or Stamford anytime on a Friday. We're coming from the Danbury area anyway.

 

[sponica]

Currently my map (Google Maps/Roadtrippers) has us taking 84 to 87, then switching to 95 over the George Washington Bridge, and following 95 down. Should I leave earlier? I definitely don't want to arrive to our resort later than 2:00pm/2:30pm on Saturday. I wouldn't dare hit 95 through Norwalk or Stamford anytime on a Friday. We're coming from the Danbury area anyway.

I wouldn't take the GW if you paid me. I'd follow 84 to 87 to 287 to the Garden State Parkway then pick up the turnpike, if I wasn't taking the inland route. I'd also leave mid morning that Friday and spend the night in NC. If you do it in one fell swoop, being in Narcossee's is the last thing you may want to do.

 

[huskies90]

With several dozens of trips from CT to FL in the last 15 years, I have made the drive to FL exactly once. I will say it was a memorable experience but I am not sure I would ever do it again. Not that it was bad, just that flying is so much easier and with time = $$ and all, i can't justify driving. But I wouldn't rule out doing it again in the right circumstance. To give you an idea how memorable this trip was, I am typing this from memory:

We did it in 2009 with 2 drivers. Kids were young then and I set up my 3 row SUV so that each had their own row/bed with the luggage creatively fitted in between. They loved it because they slept most of the way. We left the Danbury area after work at around 4PM with me driving. We did hit some traffic thru NJ but it wasn't too bad (Tappan Zee bridge) and while we hit some NY rush hour traffic, we missed the Philly, Baltimore, DC traffic which can be equally bad. We stopped for dinner and then switched drivers near the DE border. My wife drove though DC and we switched back drivers at about 1AM in Northern VA. I took the grave yard shift to Savannah GA where we stopped for breakfast at about 8AM. We made it to WDW at about 2PM and went to the Magic Kingdom. Wife/Kids were fine. I was a bit loopy.

Here are some things I did/learned:

-- There was an i-95 exit guide I bought that told you what was at each exit. This came in handy for planning where we wanted to stop. I had ranges of exits and general ideas but did not have anything booked. I did have hotels in my back pocket in case I decided I wanted to stop.

-- I was hyped up on M&M's and Diet Dr. Pepper for the graveyard shift. However, lots of Dr. Pepper means alot of bathroom breaks. Keep that in mind.

-- Traffic on the graveyard shift on I-95 was light. Going through Southern VA, NC and SC are by far the worst parts of i-95 because it is mostly 2 lanes and trucks go like 90 MPH. So lighter traffic made the drive easier and I was able to make great time.

-- I am a part time musician so i am used to being up and driving well into the wee hours. That and the excitement of heading to Disney made the drive down much easier.

-- So even though Google maps says 17 hours, it was more like 22 with stops, traffic etc.

-- Coming back was a totally different experience. We spent the day in the parks and left around the same time - 4PM with the plan to duplicate the drive back. Without the excitement of heading to Disney, it was much more difficult to stay awake and those last few hours before sunrise were very difficult. I thought about pulling over in a rest stop to sleep but some of those rest areas were pretty scary!! If I did it again, I would plan for a stop on the way back. Once the sun came up and we stopped for breakfast, the rest of the trip was OK.

Have fun with the trip. Think of it as an adventure!!

 

[mom2missmous]

Hi Everyone! To eliminate the $1200+ airfare bill, we have decided to drive down/back for our vacation in August. Our current plan is to leave at 6:30PM on a Friday night, drive through the night, stop for breakfast in the morning wherever we end up, and then arrive to POFQ around 2:00PM on Saturday. It's a 16 hour drive, and then factoring in stopping for gas and snacks when need be. We're not doing parks that day though we do have a dinner reservation at Narcossee's.
Doing the driving will be my cousin and I, (22 & 19) while the 13 and 16 year old are in back. They'll most likely sleep a bulk of the trip. We're taking my (newish) Kia Forte which is excellent on gas mileage.

This is the first time that any of us have driven on a trip this long. Any tips, words of wisdom, advice would be greatly appreciated! Should we change the time we're leaving/arriving? We figured the 6:30pm departure to avoid most of the Friday night New York traffic. Should we get to WDW earlier?

We used to drive to Florida from CT regularly when the kids were younger and actually found it easier on all if we left real early in the am (think 430 or so maybe earlier -been a few years so can't remember exact time) and only drove until we hit the south Carolina/Georgia border( stopping for a few hours then to get off road and quick nap) .We would usually make Orlando by noonish the the next day ( ie leave sat am arrive disney early afternoon sun). Even if we were only off the road a few short hours it made a world of difference -for us at least.
In addition, we stopped about every "state' for bathroom leg stretch usually in the rest areas . We also packed our own 'picnic lunch " including breakfast so we could eat as we wished. Kids had their own personal small coolers with selected snacks to munch on ( with the main meals coming from the family cooler lol)
We usually took the upper state new York/Penn route which took us through the Delaware River Gap but kept us away from NYC and the beltway around DC. Put a few more miles on trip but was less stressful(for us at least-did the lower route a few times and hated it- less tolls the upper way too-lol.)

 

[Paul Rodgers]

So we have changed to leaving around 4:00PM on Friday but still following I-95 south. Do you suggest taking a route other than 95, the more inland route? We want to be quite direct and take the quickest route there, but if we are going to end up sitting in six hours of traffic on 95 all the way down through DC, we might want to rethink it. Alternatively, I could also leave earlier than 4:00PM. The main reason I'm looking to drive through the entire night is so that non-drivers can just sleep through the night.

 

[Glenn&Sharon]

From CT you can take I84 over to PA then I81 south to I77 to I95. No major cities and all decent roads. We're in NE PA and while Google says I95 is shorter, I won't get on 95 between Boston and Washington if I can help it.

 

[OKW Lover]

We're in NE PA and while Google says I95 is shorter, I won't get on 95 between Boston and Washington if I can help it.

Agree - I-95 may be shorter in miles but probably not when measured by time. At the least, I-95 is more aggravating.

 

[DSLRuser]

leave at 6:30PM on a Friday night, drive through the night, stop for breakfast in the morning wherever we end up, and then arrive to POFQ around 2:00PM on Saturday. It's a 16 hour drive,

That is exactly how we do it. 16 hour drive, but we try and leave around 5pm. this gets us to disney around 10am and we do a character breakfast at cape may cafe. We have over 16 of these drives now over the years. Driving at night is the only way to go.

going home only the timing is different. we spend the day at the pool and leave around 2pm....gets us home early in the morning.....we all go to bed for a few hours, then wake up at noon ready for normal life.

 

[Thrillhouse]

I've done the drive from Philly to WDW twice. We leave around midnight and drive straight through taking shifts (my wife works 3rd shift as an RN so she's good with the overnight shift), getting there around 3pm for checkin. We do Disney Springs that night and then parks starting the next day.

The way back is usually rough. Last time we decided to stop at Williamsburg VA since it's only about 30 min off 95. Did Colonial Williamsburg the next day and then continued home from there in the afternoon.

 

[greg9x]

Have made the drive from Maryland a few times, only a couple straight through. It's tiring driving straight through, even with a couple rest breaks. It is even more tiring driving over night if none of the drivers are on a night schedule, and since you are all on the younger side need to keep that in mind. In the middle of the night with nothing to look at except headlights and taillights it's very easy to nod off. But it is better traffic wise... still might hit some delays though. On straight through drives have always arrived dead tired, and really takes a day to get back to normal... things aren't 'fun' until rested.

Also you are putting 4 of you plus luggage and snacks/cooler etc in the car ? That's some cramped room for that long a trip.. (although my family of 5 made cross country trips in a Chevette when I was a kid, that was super cramped....but kids are more flexible and that was when no one wore seatbelts so we could lay down).

I get saving money, but if could would plan hotel stops 1/2 way... it makes the trip much more enjoyable.

Otherwise, make sure your car maintenance is current for the trip.

 

[Paul Rodgers]

That is exactly how we do it. 16 hour drive, but we try and leave around 5pm. this gets us to disney around 10am and we do a character breakfast at cape may cafe. We have over 16 of these drives now over the years. Driving at night is the only way to go.

going home only the timing is different. we spend the day at the pool and leave around 2pm....gets us home early in the morning.....we all go to bed for a few hours, then wake up at noon ready for normal life.

Where do you come from? What part of the US? Does I-95 mess you up at all?

 

[DSLRuser]

Where do you come from? What part of the US? Does I-95 mess you up at all?

STL......64 > 57 > 24 > 75 > turnpike

 

[Paul Rodgers]

Have made the drive from Maryland a few times, only a couple straight through. It's tiring driving straight through, even with a couple rest breaks. It is even more tiring driving over night if none of the drivers are on a night schedule, and since you are all on the younger side need to keep that in mind. In the middle of the night with nothing to look at except headlights and taillights it's very easy to nod off. But it is better traffic wise... still might hit some delays though. On straight through drives have always arrived dead tired, and really takes a day to get back to normal... things aren't 'fun' until rested.

Also you are putting 4 of you plus luggage and snacks/cooler etc in the car ? That's some cramped room for that long a trip.. (although my family of 5 made cross country trips in a Chevette when I was a kid, that was super cramped....but kids are more flexible and that was when no one wore seatbelts so we could lay down).

I get saving money, but if could would plan hotel stops 1/2 way... it makes the trip much more enjoyable.

Otherwise, make sure your car maintenance is current for the trip.

One of the reason's we want to get there so early is so that we can rest the remainder of that Saturday before actually beginning our vacation on the Sunday. We do have a dining reservation at GF that night though. Between the two drivers, we've both driven long nights and weird hours, so I'm not entirely concerned about the drifting off part, but we're definitely going to have to make sure that we're super awake and everything. We've both (already) taken that full Friday off from work in hopes to sleep fairly late.
We're putting the four of us in one car, with our luggage in the trunk (hatchback). Normally when we travel we only bring carry-ons so I'm not entirely concerned about where to put luggage. I don't think we are planning on brining a cooler. We're planning on stopping about every fours hours (expect for when we stop to eat breakfast at iHop in Georgia, so we can always get some snacks, empty out the garbage. The car will probably be a mess 20 minute into the ride anyway knowing us, haha.