For those folks driving!

So in May my best friend and I are driving from Indianapolis. We will be stopping in Valdosta, GA on the way down and then heading to Disney the next morning. So about 12 hours on day one and 3 hours on day two (though we are mentally adding time on that day one trip to account for bathroom and stretching breaks). Day one will be a long trip (starting out at 4 or 5 AM). What sort of snacks/meals do you all bring with you? We would rather not stop for food if at all possible or at least for the majority of the trip (so can grab fast food for lunch and will for sure get dinner when we arrive at the hotel area). Thanks!
 
So in May my best friend and I are driving from Indianapolis. We will be stopping in Valdosta, GA on the way down and then heading to Disney the next morning. So about 12 hours on day one and 3 hours on day two (though we are mentally adding time on that day one trip to account for bathroom and stretching breaks). Day one will be a long trip (starting out at 4 or 5 AM). What sort of snacks/meals do you all bring with you? We would rather not stop for food if at all possible or at least for the majority of the trip (so can grab fast food for lunch and will for sure get dinner when we arrive at the hotel area). Thanks!

My family likes to bring along those peanut butter filled pretzels as they are usually pretty filling. DW swears by bananas, too, as she feels it's environmental to throw out the peeling and returning it to nature while going 76 MPH down I95. Once either she didn't throw it far enough or the wind hit it or something, but the next gas stop we noticed it was still clinginig to the back door.
 
Hi all! Thinking of driving to WDW the end of August next year. We will be coming from NJ, right across from Philadelphia. Where is the best place to stop to spend the night? What time is a good time to leave? I have heard people leaving in the middle of the night or waiting until late afternoon. We plan on leaving on a Sunday, spending the night somewhere, arriving in Florida on Monday at some point and spending the night with family in Orlando. We would check in on Tuesday. TIA!
I'm from the philly suburbs (bucks county) and I leave this Friday right at rush hour, waiting for my daughters school day to end. I'm not looking forward to traffic between Philadelphia and D.C. at that time but we are going to stop at some point get a place and finish the drive on Saturday. We don't check in to the poly till Sunday so we have a little extra time, but I would like to be in Orlando Saturday night. If I remember I'll update
 
I'm from the philly suburbs (bucks county) and I leave this Friday right at rush hour, waiting for my daughters school day to end. I'm not looking forward to traffic between Philadelphia and D.C. at that time but we are going to stop at some point get a place and finish the drive on Saturday. We don't check in to the poly till Sunday so we have a little extra time, but I would like to be in Orlando Saturday night. If I remember I'll update

Yes, please update when you can! Have a safe trip!!
 


I'm from the philly suburbs (bucks county) and I leave this Friday right at rush hour, waiting for my daughters school day to end. I'm not looking forward to traffic between Philadelphia and D.C. at that time but we are going to stop at some point get a place and finish the drive on Saturday. We don't check in to the poly till Sunday so we have a little extra time, but I would like to be in Orlando Saturday night. If I remember I'll update
Have a safe trip! I am a little farther north than you are and I know what you mean about the traffic between Philly and DC. We avoid it at all costs and usually jump on I-95 below DC . You might want to keep an eye on the I-95 exit guide for exits that are closed on your way down . I know that I saw a few in Georgia that were still closed today.
 


Ok so we started driving at 4:40 pm on Friday and drove till 1 am and stopped for the night we made it to Wilson North Carolina. Let's see how we do tomorrow.

Sounds like you are making good time!! Hopefully you will make it there around the time you are anticipating! Safe travels!
 
Ok so we started driving at 4:40 pm on Friday and drove till 1 am and stopped for the night we made it to Wilson North Carolina. Let's see how we do tomorrow.

How was the traffic between Philly & DC at that time of the day? We always feel like once we're past Richmond, it's clear sailing but the traffic in Wilmington, Baltimore, DC, & Richmond can be horrendous at times (and non-existent at others).
 
How was the traffic between Philly & DC at that time of the day? We always feel like once we're past Richmond, it's clear sailing but the traffic in Wilmington, Baltimore, DC, & Richmond can be horrendous at times (and non-existent at others).
Between Philadelphia and Washington it was bad after that great nothing really slowed us down we got here around 7 o'clock last night and checked in to the poly this morning
 
Sounds like you are making good time!! Hopefully you will make it there around the time you are anticipating! Safe travels!
Boo we are back home now, so we left the poly some where around 10:30 to 11:00 am on Saturday morning and drove straight through, we got home in a suburb just north of philly at 3:40 am on Sunday. It was a great trip
 
So in May my best friend and I are driving from Indianapolis. ... What sort of snacks/meals do you all bring with you? ...

We like to make sandwiches, like tuna or PB&J, and bring fruit, like tangerines, grapes or whatever is in season. Cookies and candy for quick hit energy. Most important is COLD drinks. Good for fighting fatigue. Pack a cooler with ice and water, soda, juice.
 
So in May my best friend and I are driving from Indianapolis. We will be stopping in Valdosta, GA on the way down and then heading to Disney the next morning. So about 12 hours on day one and 3 hours on day two (though we are mentally adding time on that day one trip to account for bathroom and stretching breaks). Day one will be a long trip (starting out at 4 or 5 AM). What sort of snacks/meals do you all bring with you? We would rather not stop for food if at all possible or at least for the majority of the trip (so can grab fast food for lunch and will for sure get dinner when we arrive at the hotel area). Thanks!

We usually have Dew or Dr. Pepper, trail mix (dried fruit, nuts, M&M's. I like to mix the Tropical fruit & nut mixes.), peanut butter crackers or pretzels in the car. We stop at drive-thru places and eat there.
 
We like to make sandwiches, like tuna or PB&J, and bring fruit, like tangerines, grapes or whatever is in season. Cookies and candy for quick hit energy. Most important is COLD drinks. Good for fighting fatigue. Pack a cooler with ice and water, soda, juice.

We usually have Dew or Dr. Pepper, trail mix (dried fruit, nuts, M&M's. I like to mix the Tropical fruit & nut mixes.), peanut butter crackers or pretzels in the car. We stop at drive-thru places and eat there.

Thank you both for your insight. We want to be sure to have enough food for the drive down since it is not a drive we are experienced with and don't want to risk getting into an area without many options (I have food allergies and restrictions so have a small set of fast food choices that are okay). We will be driving during breakfast and lunch, aiming to get into the hotel we are staying at overnight about 5 or 6 that evening. We already know where we will be eating that evening. We have a trip planning session in a couple weeks so can discuss it a bit more.
 
Here's another few ideas for long trip planning.
1. I subscribe to "The Next Exit", an online database of businesses at each exit of the Interstate Road System. I can easily look up rest areas, food, gas, drug stores etc. along my drive. It's not very expensive for a year, just $10. They have a print book option too.
2. Use Google Maps and pick various intersections along your route - zoom in and take note of restaurants and gas stations.
3. Use Gas Buddy to find best priced gas but it's tricky to look ahead on your route. Look on a map to find the town names ahead and search by town name. Sometimes you zoom past the exit before you figure out the gas situation there!
 
Hi all! Thinking of driving to WDW the end of August next year. We will be coming from NJ, right across from Philadelphia. Where is the best place to stop to spend the night? What time is a good time to leave? I have heard people leaving in the middle of the night or waiting until late afternoon. We plan on leaving on a Sunday, spending the night somewhere, arriving in Florida on Monday at some point and spending the night with family in Orlando. We would check in on Tuesday. TIA!


also thinking of driving from Gloucester County, NJ in August. I want to do a lot of night driving so it is when our two kids (6 and 2) will be asleep. DH doesn't want to drive at night.... ugh not sure what we are doing. But don't want to arrive exhausted either. I'm thinking maybe leave around 3 am on Thursday night and drive 12 hours to Charleston, SC and visit some family (but stay in a hotel) then leave around 7 am the next day (Friday) and arrive around 1 or 2. We don't check in until Saturday but might stay off property on Friday. But, if you are adding in 2 hotel stays it's almost the cost of flying.....
 
also thinking of driving from Gloucester County, NJ in August. I want to do a lot of night driving so it is when our two kids (6 and 2) will be asleep. DH doesn't want to drive at night.... ugh not sure what we are doing. But don't want to arrive exhausted either. I'm thinking maybe leave around 3 am on Thursday night and drive 12 hours to Charleston, SC and visit some family (but stay in a hotel) then leave around 7 am the next day (Friday) and arrive around 1 or 2. We don't check in until Saturday but might stay off property on Friday. But, if you are adding in 2 hotel stays it's almost the cost of flying.....

We have a 16 hour (without stops) drive to Disney from the Philly area. We do something similar to what you're thinking about doing. We leave around 5:00 a.m. and drive to Savannah, GA usually arriving by about 6 or 7:00. We get dinner after checking in to the hotel there. We get a good night's sleep and hit the road by 7:30-8:00 a.m. and we're usually parking our car at our resort by noon. We spend a few hours at Epcot that day but don't over do it. We once again get a good night's sleep and hit the ground running the next morning. We also occasionally do a 2-night stay drive on the way down -- leaving home around 10-11:00 in the morning and driving 6 or 7 hours. The next morning we try to be on the road by 8:00 and drive until we're about an hour or two away from Disney. The next morning we go out for a nice big breakfast and then head to our resort by late morning. It does add more cost if you're spending 2 nights on the road, but for us, it's still way cheaper than flying because we have 5 kids (though 2 of them are now adults and off on their own...but we're still a party of 5) Whenever I think about flying, I start adding up all the "extra" costs associated with that (airport parking, baggage fees, etc.) and even for 5 of us we're looking at well over $1,200 to fly. Driving (even with 2 hotel nights on the way down and 1 on the way home) has never cost us more than $800...and that was back when gas was over $4.00/gal.

I know you didn't ask, but if I was in your situation, if you didn't want to do a 2-night stay on the drive down, I'd leave early Friday morning and meet up with your family for dinner (assuming they're available) either at a restaurant or at someone's home. Hang out with them for 2 hours over dinner and then continue driving to the Savannah area so you have a shorter drive in the morning. You could still be in Savannah by 8 or 9:00 that night and get a good night's sleep before leaving around 8:00 in the morning and arrive at your resort around noon.
 
Hi, we're planning our trip for next month and considering driving a new route this time. We're in central NJ and we typically take the NJ Turnpike/95 all the way down, but we're thinking of going out to 81 and taking that down to 77, then picking up 95 down south. Anyone from Central Jersey done that route in the past? Pros and cons?

Thanks!

We are thinking of this route also. I absolutely HATE the DC area; came through that way in March, and it was horrible! With all the construction, express lanes, etc. I do not do well with all the congestion (we are from a rural area with horse and buggies :) ). Does anyone have any experience? On Mapquest, it looks to be about the same milage....
 
We are thinking of this route also. I absolutely HATE the DC area; came through that way in March, and it was horrible! With all the construction, express lanes, etc. I do not do well with all the congestion (we are from a rural area with horse and buggies :) ). Does anyone have any experience? On Mapquest, it looks to be about the same milage....

It will depend on where you're coming from. We're in very rural SE PA (north of Philly) -- no "city" traffic around here, either. To take the Route 81 route adds about 60 miles and an hour to our trip. We just suck it up and follow I-95 the whole way (using the beltway around the cities). We also take advantage of the HOV lanes and EZPass express lanes in the DC area which helps to keep us out of the heavy traffic. We try to leave home by about 5:00 a.m. (or a little earlier if everyone has insomnia due to the excitement of leaving for DW) on a weekend so that we're through DC before traffic starts to build. Ironically, we seem to have far less traffic coming through DC on the way home -- when we hit it around 9:00 on a weekday morning. Just don't go through there at 4:00 on a Friday afternoon....

We've made the drive down I-95 seven times -- so in 14 trips through the DC area we've only had 2 times that we've lost more than about 15-20 minutes of time in that area (according to the estimated arrival time on our GPS/Waze/Etc. Not worth adding an extra hour to our trip (not including any potential delays on that route) for us. But we do know plenty of people around here who prefer to take the 81 route to avoid the traffic even though it adds more time and mileage to the trip.
 
It will depend on where you're coming from. We're in very rural SE PA (north of Philly) -- no "city" traffic around here, either. To take the Route 81 route adds about 60 miles and an hour to our trip. We just suck it up and follow I-95 the whole way (using the beltway around the cities). We also take advantage of the HOV lanes and EZPass express lanes in the DC area which helps to keep us out of the heavy traffic. We try to leave home by about 5:00 a.m. (or a little earlier if everyone has insomnia due to the excitement of leaving for DW) on a weekend so that we're through DC before traffic starts to build. Ironically, we seem to have far less traffic coming through DC on the way home -- when we hit it around 9:00 on a weekday morning. Just don't go through there at 4:00 on a Friday afternoon....

We've made the drive down I-95 seven times -- so in 14 trips through the DC area we've only had 2 times that we've lost more than about 15-20 minutes of time in that area (according to the estimated arrival time on our GPS/Waze/Etc. Not worth adding an extra hour to our trip (not including any potential delays on that route) for us. But we do know plenty of people around here who prefer to take the 81 route to avoid the traffic even though it adds more time and mileage to the trip.


For us, we are in central PA. According to Mapquest, it actually is almost the same milage. I really think I'm going to try to talk my hubby into it.
 

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