Road Trip to WDW!

Scottwdw

Scottwdw

Member
For the first time I will be driving to Walt Disney World this weekend (Sept. 5th & 6th). ; My daughter, Ally, is heading down to Orlando to work for the Mouse. ; She will work as a seasonal in hopes to becoming a full-time employee in the near future. ; See made a lot of contacts as an intern last Fall which has been a real help in getting her interviews and such. ; Wife and I are crossing our fingers!

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Ally is the one behind the steering wheel when she was 15. ; :)

So, having already taken one daughter to North Dakota in the dead of winter this year, this should be a piece of cake, right? ; Any advice for Dad here as we embark on a 20 hour and 1,200 mile trek? ; Anyone living along the Carolina coast who can give me a heads up on the weather and road conditions during my trip? ; Anyone with experience driving down I-95 during or after a hurricane in case Earl decides to go ashore?

If you wish to follow what is sure to be an interesting, if not entertaining, trip, I'll be sending out pics and comments on my Disney Twitter feed @Scottwdw.

If we get to WDW as planned, I will be eating pizza in Italy on Sunday night and visiting both Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios on Labor Day. ; Flying home (thank goodness!) on the 7th.
 
Well, I'll say good luck. ; Fiona's right behind Earl. ; As for I-95....it shouldn't be much of a factor, but you should check the reports before you get past Richmond. ; You may want to take a slight detour around the coast via Charlotte NC before heading back down to 95. ; But 95's pretty far inland until you get to Georgia. ; Which isn't in the impact zone.


And if you do stay on 95, ignore South of the Border.
 
Good luck with the the drive. ; My family drove to WDW on our last two trips. ; Dad and I split the drive into 3hr shifts to make it easier. ; We take 81 to 77 to 95 since we've found 81 and 77 to be a much nicer drive than 95. ; That's probably not an option for you since it will probably add a couple of hours to your drive.
 
We joked about driving to WDW for our trip in October, but after out trip to/from Frisco, TX (a 3.5 hour trip) Nancy was insistant it wouldn't happen despite the SIGNIFICANT cost savings.
 
"Grumpwurst" said:
We joked about driving to WDW for our trip in October, but after out trip to/from Frisco, TX (a 3.5 hour trip) Nancy was insistant it wouldn't happen despite the SIGNIFICANT cost savings.
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I'm flying for my October trip. ; I would rather get there in 3 hours than the 20 it is going to take us. ; I am calling this her re-positioning cruise to get her car down there. ; She didn't want to do the drive alone and I'll get some park time with the new camera. ; After driving to North Dakota, should seem short. ; ;D
 
I dont have any advice for you as far as the possible storm since I have never had to deal with any of that. ; My experience (about 13 drives to FL in the past 10 years) has been the DC area is a mess. ; The only way we avoided it was to leave at midnight and drive through it around 4 am. ; I ditto the South of the Border, dont bother to stop. ;

There is a book called Drive I95 you could find at a local B&N, it tells you every gas, food and lodging for every exit from Mass through Georgia along I95. ; It allows you to choose what you might want to eat and where you might want to stay over. ; It realy helps with those choices.

Good luck!!!
 
I forgot about the Beltway around D.C. ; But they finished the new Woodrow Wilson Bridge since I lived there, which hopefully eased some congestion along that bottleneck. ; Still horrible traffic though.
 
The bridge it great! ; It is actually Northern VA that we have had issues with of late. ; until you get to about Exit 140 or so, I think Stafford. ; Once I clear there I feel that I am home free as far as traffic goes (accidents not included).
 
If it was an 8-9 hour drive, we'd do it because our kids tend to sleep that much and in theory we could do it at night swapping drivers so we could get cat naps. ; But, with it being 20 hours, Kai gets a bit like a caged animal if you leave him in his car seat too long
 
go 81 south at least as far as 66, east to va 17, that puts you out on 95 at fredricksburg, far enough south to have a shot at avoiding dc traffic, if the storms are along the coast, then go to 77 and out through columbia sc to 95, i've done every variation of this trip possible, both to disney and chasing racetracks up and down the east coast, my beloved modifieds used to appear as far south as sc and as far west as indianapolis raceway park. i've done the trip to orlando via harrisburg pa, to va as above, it's only 42 miles longer, and that's 42 minutes at highway speed, or less, which can easily be eaten away in bawlmur/dc area
 
"gary" said:
it's only 42 miles longer, and that's 42 minutes at highway speed, or less, which can easily be eaten away in bawlmur/dc area
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If going 81 to 77 only adds 42 minutes, I suggest going that way for sure. ; The only time that I've hit good traffic around DC is between Midnight and 4:00am
 
Charlotte, NC to Orlando is a solid 8 hours. ; I-77 to I-26 to I-95. ; Not a bad drive. ; We have done it numerous times over the past few years.
 
I have made this drive numerous times Scott. ; DC can be a bear if you hit it at the wrong time. ; Since you are traveling over a holiday weekend, it could be bad. ; I like the idea Gary put out there to take 81 to 66 to 17 and then get 95 in Fredricksburg. ; I have gone this way when we lived in Winchester, and from there we would make it in 12 hours, straight through, with only gas stops.
 
Thanks for all the tips and advice. ; Looking like 81 to 77 to 26 to 95. Heard from Carol (Cruiser's wife on Tagrel.com) who told me this about road construction around Jacksonville, FL:

Another tip, if you want to avoid all the construction at Jacksonville, FL take highway 9A at exit 362A. It’s a bypass which runs east of the city and it’s much shorter than the I-295 bypass to the west. It’s good road, as good as I-295 and gives you a very nice look at Jacksonville harbor. 9A rejoins I-95 at exit 337.
 
Sounds good to me - I'd agree with the 81 to 77 etc recommendation - avoids the DC mess, Charlotte doesn't really get that bad unless there's an accident cog at rush hour, Columbia's smooth, 26 is almost empty, then back to 95 for the run south through GA where you don't really hit anything. ; Jacksonville can be messy - the I295 loop and Ronald Reagan extension (the one currently called '9A' may also be called the Ronald Reagan Memorial...note that this is actually just the eastern loop of the I295 beltway - it hasn't yet been Federally designated, but once it has, it'll be known as I295E) is a good option. ; Can't do much about I-4...just hope! ;
 
I am making the drive the weekend after you Scott. ; I was going to go all the way on my own, then thought about the Auto Train. ; I should be tweeting shots from the train on the Sunday afternoon the 12th. ; I thought that since it wasn't much more for me to make the trip that I would give it a shot. ; I am really looking forward to it.
 
I generally will take 9A around Jacksonville. ; Not a bad drive, cool bridge to cross with great view. ; I would recommend it.
 
"Scottwdw" said:
Another tip, if you want to avoid all the construction at Jacksonville, FL take highway 9A at exit 362A. It’s a bypass which runs east of the city and it’s much shorter than the I-295 bypass to the west. It’s good road, as good as I-295 and gives you a very nice look at Jacksonville harbor. 9A rejoins I-95 at exit 337.
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Thanks for passing along the tip on 9A. ; We got stuck around Jacksonville both times we drove to WDW, so I have to try this next time.
 
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