For 2,000+ Mile Round-Trip Drivers Only! (III)

[Lizzybean]

Originally Posted by GusGus77

We drove non-stop once. It just about killed us. I have a friend who recently did the same and she swore it just about killed them and they will never do it again either. We now stop over one night around Chattanooga on the way down. We don't reserve hotels ahead of time. We just stop and find a hotel that looks decent with an inexpensive rate. We have young kids, though, so we like to be able to be flexible on where we stop so we can go longer or shorter if need be.

We go to Florida frequently for non-WDW trips as well so I feel like the trip is almost second nature now. I think if it were up to DH we'd spread it out but I'm so excited I just want to GET there. One thing I've noticed is the later we leave the harder the drive is for us. If we time it just right we do fine driving down. Going home, that's another story...Getting through Indiana is tough lol!

[AaronInWI]

Originally Posted by BC1836

HAPPY 5TH ANNIVERSARY!

The "For 2,000+ Mile Round-Trip Drivers Only!" thread celebrates its fifth anniversary today!

Here's some background info found on page 1 of this thread:

Part I of this thread debuted on December 6, 2007 and closed on July 14, 2010 after 251 pages, 3,755 replies and 210,793 views.

Part II of this thread opened on July 12, 2010 and closed on October 12, 2011 after 256 pages, 3,843 replies and 207,597 views.

[See page 1 for the All-Time Driving Records!]



Five years ago, we examined a thread about folks who drive to WDW, but it didn't focus on those who drive great distances -- like 1,000+ miles in one direction. Driving a few hours to WDW is nothing like driving 16 hours or more to Lake Buena Vista. It's more than just hours. So we created this thread. And we were not only pleasantly surprised by so many who shared our long distance trek but by the wonderful folks themselves who posted comments.

When to depart? Drive straight through? Gasoline prices? Construction areas? Weather reports? Hotel and motel suggestions? Roadside restaurants and fast food stops? You name it, it's been asked. And these questions (and more) will continue to be asked.

Now then, as the folks who began this thread we feel it would be best if...well, we took another drive to WDW. Call it a fifth anniversary drive. We're off again tomorrow with drive #28 (since 2002).

All the best.

A Dumbo sized thanks to you and everyone who contributes to this thread. My wife and I accomplished our first (and certainly not last!) round trip drive from Wisconsin this past September, and I really feel like a big part of its success is due to all of the great information (and people) on this thread. Some might call us crazy, but we're not the ones fretting over airline prices, flight schedules, boarding policies, luggage weight, extra fees, TSA pat-downs, invasive X-Ray images, and all of the other unpleasant things associated with flying. I'd say it is virtually GOOFY to want to start your trip like that...

[BC1836]

Greetings from Pooler, GA!

We decided against another straight drive-through; we departed this morning at 7:30 a.m. and arrived here 13 hours later, a 778-mile ride. No naps or off-the-road food breaks; however, frequent light rain and drizzle through several states reduced our speed at times. The traffic on I-95 in SC was extremely light. Some gas stations were posting $3.09 for regular in SC.

Tomorrow, a drive with two designated stops before arriving at another hotel outside of DTD, and then on Sunday morning a quick drive to our WDW hotel.

All the best.

[TinaElmerRh]

Originally Posted by BC1836

Greetings from Pooler, GA!

We decided against another straight drive-through; we departed this morning at 7:30 a.m. and arrived here 13 hours later, a 778-mile ride. No naps or off-the-road food breaks; however, frequent light rain and drizzle through several states reduced our speed at times. The traffic on I-95 in SC was extremely light. Some gas stations were posting $3.09 for regular in SC.

Tomorrow, a drive with two designated stops before arriving at another hotel outside of DTD, and then on Sunday morning a quick drive to our WDW hotel.

All the best.

We are leaving on the 28th from Wilkes Barre and staying overnight at the Embassy Suites in Pooler. What route did you take? We are waiting to see what the weather is before we decide on taking 95 most of the way or staying on 81. We will have frequent stops because we are traveling with children and 1 pregnant women. We are planning on leaving in the middle of the night so maybe the kids will sleep most of the way. Be safe the rest of your trip.

[BC1836]

Drove this morning from the Lake Buena Vista Holiday Inn Express to the Grand Floridian Resort. Hmm, those two facilities are somewhat different.

We're here!

We've got dvczerfs beat when it comes to total Disney parks visits, but he maintains the all-time record for total drives. [See page one for the all-time records.] His record that will be difficult to beat. Kind of like Cy Young's total MLB pitching wins.

All the best.

[BC1836]

Originally Posted by TinaElmerRh

We are leaving on the 28th from Wilkes Barre and staying overnight at the Embassy Suites in Pooler. What route did you take? We are waiting to see what the weather is before we decide on taking 95 most of the way or staying on 81. We will have frequent stops because we are traveling with children and 1 pregnant women. We are planning on leaving in the middle of the night so maybe the kids will sleep most of the way. Be safe the rest of your trip.

We get on I-95 at the DE Memorial Bridge and take it all the way to I-4 in FL.

All the best...and off to EPCOT.

[goofyfigment]

Originally Posted by TinaElmerRh

We are leaving on the 28th from Wilkes Barre and staying overnight at the Embassy Suites in Pooler. What route did you take? We are waiting to see what the weather is before we decide on taking 95 most of the way or staying on 81. We will have frequent stops because we are traveling with children and 1 pregnant women. We are planning on leaving in the middle of the night so maybe the kids will sleep most of the way. Be safe the rest of your trip.

We are from your area as well. We take 81-66-15-17-95 get on 95 around fredericksburg Virginia.

[Allieran3]

Originally Posted by goofyfigment

Another question. Do you usually book a road hotel in advance or just stop when you get tired

We booked a room at the Econolodge in Richburg SC.

[Shir Kahn]

Originally Posted by BC1836

We've got dvczerfs beat when it comes to total Disney parks visits, but he maintains the all-time record for total drives. [See page one for the all-time records.] His record that will be difficult to beat. Kind of like Cy Young's total MLB pitching wins.

All the best.

Oh, I don't know, we've only got 47 more drives to tie them!

[amcnj]

BC, gas in SC only 3.09? Prices have started moving downward again by me over the last week, but still well above that level. Maybe ours didn't drop due to Sandy, and we will see some big drops soon.

Enjoy your trip!

[patclairesmom]

Originally Posted by Jakesmom504

Wow that is great time! I haven't been on here in a few days but curious as to how the rest of your drive went!

As soon as we hit Florida, it started to rain, so it slowed the drive down. We Left Santee@ 7:30 and made it to the Raddisson Celebration @2pm, so not such a great ride.

On the ride home, we left the hotel @ 7:30 and made it to Roanoke Rapids, NC a little before 6pm. We stayed at a newly renovated Comfort Suites. We liked it until I got a call saying we stole a pillow . I assured the woman we didn't and they said they are going to look at the tapes to see if we took it and if we did they were going to charge us $100. First of all, I didn't know they had cameras in the room and second a $100 for a pillow??? Haven't see a charge show up...yet.

Second part of the trip slowed down when we got to the DC area due. We left Roanoke Rapids @8 and got to Middletown a little after 2pm.

[Shir Kahn]

I just read a CNN article stating that gas prices in the U.S. have been plummeting in the last month or so! Very happy about that!

[sharadoc]

Originally Posted by GusGus77

We drove non-stop once. It just about killed us. I have a friend who recently did the same and she swore it just about killed them and they will never do it again either. We now stop over one night around Chattanooga on the way down. We don't reserve hotels ahead of time. We just stop and find a hotel that looks decent with an inexpensive rate. We have young kids, though, so we like to be able to be flexible on where we stop so we can go longer or shorter if need be.

We drove non-stop a couple of times. Both times we hit some major catastrophe that added 4 hours onto our trip so it was horrendous. We've decided to do 2 days again and did so on our August trip. SO much better! We remembered why we thought the driving thing wasn't such a bad choice LOL.

We no longer plan to do straight-through drives with shorter trips. We'll only go when we have at least 10 days so we can do a night on the road in each direction.

We like to reserve a hotel that's a reasonable distance and stick to it.

[Shir Kahn]

We usually wait until we're getting close to stopping for the night and then hop on hotwire to get a really cheap room somewhere. Usually between $25-$40 for a decent "we're only here for 6-7 hours" type of room. We haven't been unfortunate enough to get stuck in a roach motel yet!

[NJRRK]

Originally Posted by amcnj

BC, gas in SC only 3.09? Prices have started moving downward again by me over the last week, but still well above that level. Maybe ours didn't drop due to Sandy, and we will see some big drops soon.

Enjoy your trip!

$3.25 at the cheaper stations around Hudson and Bergen counties.