We drive all the time from the Philadelphia area. We are right across the bridge in NJ. We drive with two kids, so our drive takes a bit longer. Most people recommend leaving at night, but we don’t do that because I know the kids won’t sleep in the car. We make great time leaving about 4am. We avoid any traffic and usually arrive about 7-8pm. We always stay at an off site location that first night and check into our Disney Resort the next morning. The drive isn’t all that bad. Safe travels!!Due to everything going on my fiance and I will be driving down for the first time EVER for our July trip! I am looking forward to going through all the resources here to get us ready to go!
We are driving down from Philadelphia!
We drive all the time from the Philadelphia area. We are right across the bridge in NJ. We drive with two kids, so our drive takes a bit longer. Most people recommend leaving at night, but we don’t do that because I know the kids won’t sleep in the car. We make great time leaving about 4am. We avoid any traffic and usually arrive about 7-8pm. We always stay at an off site location that first night and check into our Disney Resort the next morning. The drive isn’t all that bad. Safe travels!!
Due to everything going on my fiance and I will be driving down for the first time EVER for our July trip! I am looking forward to going through all the resources here to get us ready to go!
We are driving down from Philadelphia!
If you don’t already use it I’d recommend the WAZE app. Can alert you to traffic, crashes and back ups and I police are near for speed traps.Oh that is GREAT advice! We have no idea what time to leave! It's just the two of us, so I am hoping we can get down there quickly!
I live in NE PA and we drive several times a year to Florida.... well, except for this year so far.Due to everything going on my fiance and I will be driving down for the first time EVER for our July trip! I am looking forward to going through all the resources here to get us ready to go!
We are driving down from Philadelphia!
I second the Waze app and use it all the time on our trips!If you don’t already use it I’d recommend the WAZE app. Can alert you to traffic, crashes and back ups and I police are near for speed traps.
We drive all the time from the Philadelphia area. We are right across the bridge in NJ. We drive with two kids, so our drive takes a bit longer. Most people recommend leaving at night, but we don’t do that because I know the kids won’t sleep in the car. We make great time leaving about 4am. We avoid any traffic and usually arrive about 7-8pm. We always stay at an off site location that first night and check into our Disney Resort the next morning. The drive isn’t all that bad. Safe travels!!
We take I-95 straight down. Besides the Waze app others have mentioned, we also use the I-Exit app. It’s great! Gives you all the upcoming exits as you drive and what is off each exit and how many miles.What route do you take on that trip? We live in North NJ. We usually leave at 6am and take I-95 striaght down. We could only get to Savannah GE by 8pm.
We drove down from the NYC area in December. We left our home at 4am and stopped for the night in GA, but, we're further North than you are. We do better leaving really early in the morning than leaving in the early evening and driving through the night. I'm really glad we took the overnight break because we were better rested than if we drove straight through. It made touring the parks the next day better too!
If you don’t already use it I’d recommend the WAZE app. Can alert you to traffic, crashes and back ups and I police are near for speed traps.
I live in NE PA and we drive several times a year to Florida.... well, except for this year so far.
We leave early in the morning; by 5-6 AM and stop for the night in Port Wentworth GA, which is about 12 hours of driving. The next day the rest of the trip is a piece of cake and we're usually in Orlando by 12 or 1.
The reason we don't drive straight through on the way down is because we like to be able to check into our resort around 12 or 1 and then have the rest of the day to do something rather than feel like we wasted our first day. We usually don't use a park day, but we will hang out in DS, get something to eat, and just swim and relax.
On the way home we usually drive straight through and we tend to leave around 4AM.
We vary our route and have done mostly 95 or 81. I prefer 81 because it's not as crazy, but if we do 95 we usually pick it up below DC because it's always a nightmare driving through there. The 81 route eventually has you pick up 95 in South Carolina. (with a few other routes between 81 and 95, I think 77 and 26 off the top of my head)
I second the Waze app and use it all the time on our trips!
We live in central NJ along the coast. We've driven the 95 route dozens of times and if you leave at 5am weekdays you can get through DC relatively easily. As an alternative, leave at 2am and beat the rush hour around DC entirely. We figure 3 hours per state for VA, NC and SC, 2 hours for GA and about 3 to 4 in FL. We did the 81 route a few times as well...prettier drive, mostly in VA, and timing of the whole trip was about the same for us. The 95 drive is far more stressful and we will like do the 81 drive the next time. If you need to stop, Savannah and Jacksonville are good options and the second day drive is very manageable. Use Waze and Gas Buddy. Good luck and enjoy the drive!
We don't use the Atlanta route anymore but the only time traffic wasn't horrible was when we timed it so we went through at 10:30 at night. Just something to think about if anyone is going through Atlanta.
We are from Philadelphia also. We got great info from a thread titled 2,000 miles round trip on this board. There are several PA/NJ travelers with great advice.
If you're right in Philly, 95 is closer. Otherwise you would have to come across to 81 by Harrisburg and go down.I'll have to look into 95 vs 81 for us and figure out which makes the most sense.
If you're right in Philly, 95 is closer. Otherwise you would have to come across to 81 by Harrisburg and go down.
The 81 route looks like it's longer on paper, but with traffic in certain states on 95 you can get hung up and it winds up being about the same amount of time for us taking either route.
HTH!