Do you drive to WDW?

[ANG]

If you drive to WDW, how long does it take you?

We are in MD and drive to ME every years (a 12 hr trip). We are trying to decide if it's worth driving the 14-15hrs to WDW. Or pay $1,000 in airline tickets for DH and I and our 2 kids.

[Mickey'sGirl]

We drive from Toronto with our two sons almost every time we visit WDW. It's about a 20 hour trip, we do it with one overnight stop. We've been doing the drive since our youngest was 6mos old.

It's a fraction of the airfare, and we enjoy the freedom that having our car down at Disney provides. We enjoy the drive, and it becomes part of our holiday.

[barnaby]

We drive from NJ. Last trip we drove straight through, takes about 18 hours with stops.
We, too, think of it as part of the vaction. And it costs typically half of the cost of airfare.

[Tygger7]

We drive straight through from Columbus, Ohio. Depending on traffic (and how many stops we make), it's about a 15-16 hour drive. We try to leave around 4am, so that puts us in WDW right about 8pm. We go the coastal route (I-77 to I-26 to I-95 to I-4) and love the fact that the major cities are very easy to get through (compated to Atlanta going I-75). We budget around $350 round trip, and that covers food, fuel, and tolls.

[BayLaker25]

We are driving for the first time this year because of airline prices and it is supposed to take us 17-18 hours from Philadelphia. It's going to me my wife, brother-in-law, & wife's cousin and we plan to leave Friday night in July and drive straight through and arrive on Saturday. Shouldn't be too bad with 4 people who can drive, or at least I hope not.

[JRocker]

It's a little better than 20 hours from my place.

With the exception of one trip we have driven every time; we love the journey. In our younger years we would drive hard to get there as fast as possible, nowadays we take our time, stop and see the sights on the way. I think last time it took us three days to get there.

Our trips were with 3 children (all adults now), and we always had things (gameboys, books, tv's, nyquil, etc.) to keep them occupied for the trip. Of course, our kids were always good travelers, so we never had any painful journeys.

We were going to fly for our September trip, until I priced airfare.
I can rent a car and fuel it for one-third the cost to fly 3 of us.

[Buttercup]

We drive from Toronto with our two sons almost every time we visit WDW. It's about a 20 hour trip, we do it with one overnight stop. We've been doing the drive since our youngest was 6mos old.

It's a fraction of the airfare, and we enjoy the freedom that having our car down at Disney provides. We enjoy the drive, and it becomes part of our holiday.

This, exactly for us as well! We're just about an hour or two further south!

[LilHooligan74]

I have always driven as an adult travelling to WDW. Prefer the freedom. Plus the journey is as important as the destination. Took the train once 25 years ago with my mom from ny. That was a blast. I simply prefer driving. Both DDs are stellar road trippers. DD9 has been road tripping since she was 6 weeks old.
The journey from home now is 9hrs with traffic and construction. Both DGF and I work shift work so we scheduled around the trip. I only ad to take two days off for a six day trip and she only had to take one day off. It worked out.
The key to long drives is to schedule breaks for the posterior and to loosen up the joints....SIX DAYS!!!!!!!

[scooterca42]

DH and I are both enthusiastic long distance drivers. What we instituted long ago is splitting the drive up. Two hours. Wherever we are, we change drivers every two hours.

We leave early afternoon Friday and drive till about 10 pm, leave early (excitement!) and generally get in late on Saturday night.

[Coach Goofy]

Driving for the first time in a loooong time. I was just wondering how much the tolls were on the Turnpike now so we can be prepared.

[ANG]

Our oldest will be 3 and he's terrific in the car. Our youngest will be 1.5yrs and he screams just during a 4 hour ride to VA!

[disneymomma2010]

We drive every year from TN. It's a 10 hour drive. We pack pillow pets, blankets, movies, games,snacks, and coloring books for the kids.

[CzepielCrew]

We have driven the 2 times we have gone. We leave the day before around 4pm and arrive by the next morning. The trip is approx. 21 hours from Massachusetts.
Survival Items:
DVD Player with Disney DVD's of course
Plenty of Snacks and Drinks
Pillows
Favorite Stuffed Animal
Dramamine for those that can get Car Sick

Leaving at 4, the kids are usually asleep at 9:30-10:00 and sleep through the night. This way, it doesn't seem like lots of driving for the kids.

[MstngDrvnDsnyLvr]

Because I live in Eastern NC - I've never flown down....always driven. But because we don't like to be completely exhausted when we arrive, we break the 11 hr drive up and spend the night at a hotel in Brunswick, GA.

We then get up bright and early the next morning to make the 4 hr drive in to WDW.

[buzznwoodysmom]

We always drive. It's 12 hours for us. We've been driving, not only to WDW, but pretty much everywhere we go since my kids were babies. I guess we've been really lucky with them because they have always been excellent travelers!!!

We drive because we like the freedom it gives us. We can decide at the last moment to leave a day or so earlier if DH is not busy at work. We can also decide, which we always do, to stay on vacation for another night if we are having fun. We also like to have our own car while on vacation. As much as we love Disney transportation we like to know our car is in the parking lot should we need it for something. And I also like to be able to pack whatever I want. I am an overpacker and I don't even know how I'd manage to pack us for a flight! It just works for us, and like someone else mentioned, we can still drive for a fraction of what it would cost us to fly.

[tjstrike]

We drive from east TN. It's about 9-10 hrs and like the rest have said, the freedom you have to go where and when you want to makes up for the long drive. I see and hear people all the time trying to rush through their last day at Disney trying to do this and thatand then trying to make sure they don't miss their flight. The price to fly isn't worth it IMO.

[IloveJack]

We drive down, too, from just west of Nashville. I'd rather have the short flight with a three year old and baby, but it's twice as expensive as driving, and I'd rather have that money for souvenirs.
We're changing the drive up a bit this year. Leaving two days early, driving halfway, spending the day at PCB, driving another 3ish hours, spending the night, driving to Clearwater, spending the day, then heading to WDW to check in that night.
Driving gives us the freedom to spends those two days at the beach, plus head to IOA for a day in he middle of our trip. We're hoping that by doing most of our traveling at night, the kids will sleep most of the trip.

[Princess'Mom]

Because I live in Eastern NC - I've never flown down....always driven. But because we don't like to be completely exhausted when we arrive, we break the 11 hr drive up and spend the night at a hotel in Brunswick, GA.

We then get up bright and early the next morning to make the 4 hr drive in to WDW.

Ditto - but I live in southwest VA!

[spoiledraf]

We usually drive the 17 hours from N/e Ohio, leaving in the evening and arriving around noon the next day. No traffic at night it great. No sleep is not! We usually hit a Boardwalk area restaurant and spend the first night off site and check in by 8 the next morning to start our package.

The last time we flew was a fiasco. We took our kids and grandkids and it was a lot of money to blow our first day. We had reservations for a 9:15 flight arriving around 11:20. Not bad for the first day. Airtran changed the departure time twice and it ended up not being scheduled to leave until 12:30. Weget to the airport, no plane. Mechanical difficulty. Long story short, we got to the Beach Lcub at 7:45 that night with three very tired and whiny little chidren and an angry Papa who wasted a days visit.

In 62 days, we are taking the kids again. Driving!

[mudpuppysmom]

While it is not MY preferred method to arrive there -- we drove to FL in December for our family's first time (I have driven as a teenager with my mom, dad and siblings and it was not fun that I remember).

We live near Pittsburgh and we left home at 4 pm Christmas day and arrived in Daytona (our destination) the next morning around 11 (we stopped in SC for a brief nap and again right outside FL for breakfast). We traveled with a 9 and 3 year old. The 3 yo fell asleep around 9 and slept until the next morning (THANK YOU BIG MAN ABOVE) as he is not a good traveller. The 9 yo had plenty to keep him busy.....dvd player, DS, books, new iPod, and he also slept -- just not as long. DH and I shared driving duties and when he decided in SC he was still too tired to drive I drove while he continued to sleep.

If you go at this trip with a strategy you WILL make it and it won't be a terrible drive/trip. I think knowing that your little one is not a very good traveller is what you obviously need to plan for. I'm not sure how/what time of day you travel to VA, but leaving at night was our saving grace! We left Daytona at noon and it was a rough several hours until night time with our 3yo on the way back.....he got REALLY punchy and was a little ugly until he finally fell asleep! We arrived home the next morning at 5 a.m. and everyone was happy to be in their own beds after the return trip.

I suggest making a plan, prepare for the worst, expect the worst (and I mean travelling with a not so gung ho traveller) and when (hopefully) it turns out no so bad you will have a very nice trip!

One more thing......if the 1.5 yo is not totally potty trained I suggest taking your potty chair with you.......that is something we did on car trips when DS#2 was in that time period.