Driving from Mississauga and booking hotels on the way?

[SandraC]

Hi all! It's pretty much a done deal that the next trip will be a driving trip. I've looked at hotels in Wytheville, Va and Charlotte, NC. I would like to pre-book hotels, but what if it snows and we don't make it to our hotel? What if we want to drive farther? How can you tell I'm new at this LOL! THANKS! S

 

[abbyndrewmom]

I don't recommend booking hotels, we have driven many, many times and only had a problem once on our last trip which was in the summer late on a friday night. If you don't pre book you can pick up the state coupon books and save quite alot on hotel rates. What we have done in the past is call around dinner time and make sure the hotel is not sold out. by then we have a pretty good idea how much father we want to drive and the hotel will know what it's occupancy rates are and lots of times they will let you hold a room even if you tell them you have a coupon.

allison

 

[DisneyLisa]

We pre-booked our stays for our trip in July. As Allison said, we couldn't find a place to stay last year on a Friday night & it was terrible so we didn't want to take a chance this year. We stayed at Hampton Inns & they have a 6 pm - same day cancellation policy. So if we knew by 6 pm that we weren't going to stop there, we called the 1-800 HAMPTON # & cancelled. We did that on the way down. We had Orangeburg, SC booked for our second night & as we got closer we realized we would be there too early & decided to drive right thru to Daytona Beach. So I cancelled the Hampton & booked the Hilton (joined Hilton Honors before our trip which includes Hilton & Hampton Inns).

The Hilton is a great hotel to stay at Sandra if you're still planning to stay a night in Daytona. We got a rate of $99 US & it included a breakfast credit of $11/each for the next day (so room was only $55....great price). Great pool & beach location. Rooms were great & huge (including a fridge & microwave).

If you're not travelling at a peak period or day, you'd probably be OK not pre-booking.

 

[Gdoody]

We have had similar experiences booking hotels. Busy weekends ? e.g. long weekends ? I would recommend booking. I had to drive until 3:00 AM on labor day weekend one year because I did not book. Other nights should generally not be a problem. There are two ways of booking most hotels ? 1) book the room ? do not put a credit card down, and the room reservation will automatically cancel at 6:00 P.M., or 2) put a credit card down, and they will hold the reservation late for you. The problem here is if you cannot make the stop, and do not cancel, your credit card will be charged. We are leaving on Aug 22, and as of right now I have no plans to book any hotels, as the long weekend falls between our 2 weeks. If I have any problems with this I will post a follow up when I get back.

 

[PoohBWV]

Sandra, I like Disney Lisa's way of doing this. I would book, but then be sure to cancel if you decide you can't make it. One time we stopped in Ocala for the night and had to try three different hotels before we finally got the last room at a Comfort Inn. We had been driving for 19 hours at that point and it was not fun. If you book with a major chain, like Hilton etc., and you need to cancel the reservationist should be able to book you into another hotel down the road when you cancel your original ressie.

 

[wee-haggis]

Why would anyone want to drive to WDW (wasting up to 4 days......wear and tear on car...and your brains....kids whining in the back......rising US gas prices.)?
Is it really that much cheaper?
With all due respect,if some of you can obviously afford to stay at Hilton and Beach Club Hotels,then I would guess that a 2-1/2 hour return flight would be well within your means.
I suppose some of you may enjoy driving(I can't possibly imagine anyone enjoying that drive!).
Hope I did'nt offend anyone....but I honestly can't understand why anyone would want to do that!.....

 

[PoohBWV]

wee-hagis: First let me say welcome to these boards. In answer to your response about driving - we find that if their are two or three of us going, flying is the way to go, but the last time we went their were six of us. Definitely saved money by driving. We drive straight through, so no hotel expense and with 3 or 4 people driving, it's not too bad. It's also a grea way to see the US. I love driving through Tennessee and Kentucky, the mountains are beautiful.

 

[PhotobearSam]

We drove in October and stopped at a lot of cool places on the way down and back. It was just me and my fiance but we saw it as an adventure. We stopped at Hershey's Chocolate World and South of the Border. On the way back we stopped in Daytona, Columbia SC and the Luray Caverns VA.

We had a great drive and saved tons of money. We had a cooler, great music and a sense of adventure. We also didn't need to rent a car for the 2 weeks we were there. I like having my own car. We got to do Non-disney things and ate off-site to save on the cost of food. We also visited the Disney Outlet stores.

I think I actually prefer driving. It gave us a lot of time to talk and we felt very close. The Mountains are beautiful too.



I hope this answers your questions wee-haggis.

 

[wee-haggis]

Yes...I can appreciate everyones personal opinions.
To each their own!
I should have stressed that my opinion is obviously not the only one.
The bottom line is that I hate driving(i guess thats a good enough reason right there),but another equally important factor is that we can only afford to go fo 1 week.So, for obvious reasons driving is out of the question.Our kids are 9 and 11 and although they are good kids,they would be bored to tears sitting mile after mile on (what for the most part)is not very scenic or interesting (please don't jump down my throat for that last comment....I do realize that there will some nice scenery and interesting places along the way,but for the most part.....mmmmm..I don't think so).
In closing,my most favourite thing about taking a winter break down in Orlando is the fact that at 8am I'm standing in snow up to my elbows and at 11am I can slip on my shorts and t-shirt.
To drive through the northern states in snow,sleet and slush cannot be pleasant.
Anyway,I've rambled on for long enough.
JMO

 

[SandraC]

Of my six WDW trips, 5 were flying. We enjoy flying. Economically, we can easier afford to fly next trip, that's never been the issue. We are planning to drive next trip for many reasons. Having spent one of our summer vacations driving to Ohio this year, we totally enjoyed the driving experience. My kids were angels both ways. I loved getting up early and not rushing to the airport. We had such a wonderful time in the car. Dh and I even remarked how we could have driven further once we arrived in Cincinnati. Having personally met so many Canadian DISER's who drive and shared their experiences, we chose to drive next trip. I thank all the wonderful folks who so nicely and politely gave me wonderful information about driving to WDW.

wee, you might like to continue your driving vs. flying conversation on the Debate Boards where they would be welcome.

I would like to return to my original post of booking hotels on the way to WDW.

I have looking at several hotels on www.expedia.ca in Wytheville and Charlotte. This is, with expedia.ca you need to book with a credit card. I would rather book without, but use the 6pm cancellation. That seems to be the norm at most hotels. I was thinking of booking Hampton Inn near Wytheville and Charlotte ~ anyone done this? Thanks, SandraC

 

[Gdoody]

Sandra,

Watch the refund policies on Expedia. I think that once you book, it is a locked in non-refundable reservation.

 

[SandraC]

Hi G! YIKES! Thanks for the heads up on expedia! I think I will get all the info I can on the internet, then call the hotels directly, that way I think they'll wave the credit card hold. BTW ~ thanks a bunch for the great driving info! I like your I79, I79 plan ~ it gets us to Ormond Beach! Thanks! S

 

[abbyndrewmom]

Sorry Sandra,

I want to make one more point on flying versus driving.

My FIL works for US Air so we have always had the ability to fly very inexpensively. However we also enjoy the drive the adventure and most importantly having our own car when we arrive so in the past we have done both depending on where we are driving. Dh and I both love to travel and see new places we even drove across the country to Las Vegas one year with a 3 yera old and a 9 month old. For us flying was something we did when we didn't have the time to drive.

However this all changed last year when we were in the Orlando airport ready to come home about 9:30 am last year September 11th. Now we will not fly if we can drive. You can not even begin to imagine what a horrible situation this was to be in, having this major crisis going on and having no idea when we might be able to get out. Originally we were told 4-5 hrs and to wait in the airport we said no way and got rescheduled on a plane for the next day, we went back to the rental car place and got one of the last cars and found a hotel by the airport that we really thought we would be staying in for one night. Well it was 5 days later before we got out and 3 trips to the airport where we returned the car dragged all our luggage to the gate only to be told that the person at USAir we had just checked with was wrong and we would not be flying today (on the last day it was due to a Hurricane.) If we had our own car we could have been home in 2 days, yes we probably would've had to wait at the border but I would have preferred to be there rather then in Orlando. The added expences really add up especially since dh has his own business and was having to pay extra staff costs to keep it open.

Now I know you will say what are the chances of this happening again, but we never expected it to happen the first time and will not be caught again if we can help it.

Allison