Driving to Disney....[from Boston; any tips?]
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Huntermom · 03-29-2015, 04:57 PM

My suggestion for getting through the NYC area is to do the 287 Tappan Zee Route described by Jersey Dad. We travel frequently to the area in have never hit much traffic. going by the GW bridge is horrible and 95 can be a mess for hours before getting to NYC,

**OhToodles!** · 03-29-2015, 09:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jajezoza

Ours is a 12 hour drive and we actually quite enjoy it! We left last year at 4 am and made it just outside Disney by 5:30. We only stopped for bathroom breaks and lunch because we were so eager to get there. We decided to book a separate hotel for the first night because we didn't want to spend so much of a precious Disney days away from the park! That ballooned into a two day mini-stay and a day at Legoland, which was a wonderful way to start the trip!

We keep lots of snacks and drinks for the kids, but we have a DVD player in the van and they get to watch lots of Disney movies! We also hooked our Wii U up so they could play video games, too! We barely heard a peep out of them unless they needed a stop.

ok, how did you hook up your WiiU in the car?!

**HiddenMickey** · 03-30-2015, 10:42 AM

I'd stop before Savannah. That's a long long drive for the first day. How about stopping around Florence which is a couple hours shorter instead?

Good luck with the drive!

JerseyDad · 03-30-2015, 03:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HiddenMickey

I'd stop before Savannah. That's a long long drive for the first day. How about stopping around Florence which is a couple hours shorter instead?

Good luck with the drive!

.....I'd have to say that Florence does have a lot of nice places to stop (we stopped at a Hampton Inn there on our very first trip in '04)

.....although ...as we also found out ....it's still 7 hrs from WDW. And a 7 hr drive on day 2 ...can be excruciating.

disneygal · 03-30-2015, 05:51 PM

My husband would hook up PlayStation in the car when we would drive, but that was many years ago.

rphstearns · 03-30-2015, 08:43 PM

I still want to know how to hook up game systems in the car!?? That would be awesome

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patclairesmom · 03-31-2015, 05:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HiddenMickey

I'd stop before Savannah. That's a long long drive for the first day. How about stopping around Florence which is a couple hours shorter instead?

Good luck with the drive!

I agree that Savannah would be a really long drive especially since your dreading the drive and the end part of that day is through the longest state to drive thru. I would stop in Santee or even Walterboro SC which would leave a 5-6 hour drive the next day.

**HiddenMickey** · 03-31-2015, 08:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rphstearns

I still want to know how to hook up game systems in the car!?? That would be awesome

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Our old Oldsmobile van actually had places to plug game units in. We used to hook up our GameCube and it played on our VHS screen (this was before DVDs).

You'd have to be able to plug the game unit into your car, probably with a converter and then have some sort of screen that you could watch on (and attach to).

JerseyDad · 03-31-2015, 09:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shawnam1868

So we're driving. We plan on leaving April 14th, at night, driving as far as Savanah, then spending the night there and checking in to CB on 4/16.

....forgot to ask ...."how many drivers are there going to be"?

mfirst · 03-31-2015, 10:02 AM

In all my trips to WDW, I've only flown one time (pre Magical Express, back in the 1970's when I was too little to really remember much). We have about a 14 hour drive from where we live. We leave in the middle of "oh my God this isn't human time" around 1 am in order to get the bulk of the driving done before the trio of little me's wake up. Typically this gets us close to the Georgia border.

I use the Gasbuddy app, but we also have a GPS that helps us find restrooms, etc. We travel I-75, so there's a great I-75 website that highlights reststops, etc.

We make brief stops for gas, slightly longer stops for breakfast and lunch (we pack a cooler so we only need to supplement with coffee for me, or an occasional treat for the boys).

We give each kiddo a small bag with a DVD player and movies, coloring books, and a few car games like magnetic travel bingo. I also hide surprises like Disney Pez dispenser's and other non melting, safe to eat candy.

Last trip, we also gave the boys a road map (Thanks AAA for this idea

) and a highlighter and they "marked" our route as we passed various pre circled landmarks.

DawnK · 03-31-2015, 11:18 AM

Shawna,

Take the route that Jersey dad said. We did 84 to 684 to 287, etc. It wasn't bad. Be careful going through New Jersey. We went one year at night and didn't understand why there were so many cars on the side of the road until we hit a tire remnant form an 18 wheeler and ripped the whole top bumper thingy above the tire off the jeep! We went as far as Savannah Georgia and stayed the night (stopped to visit friends). Just take your time!!!

Shawnam1868 · 03-31-2015, 01:22 PM

I figure if we leave about 9-10 pm, we'll get New York and DC traffic out of the way.
My husband will drive a little, but not much. The majority will be me, because I'm a far better driver than I am passenger. Mt daughter can drive, but she's still leery on highways, and I love my car, so she probably won't drive much.

**OhToodles!** · 03-31-2015, 01:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mfirst

Last trip, we also gave the boys a road map (Thanks AAA for this idea

) and a highlighter and they "marked" our route as we passed various pre circled landmarks.

Another great idea!!!

**yalibrarian** · 03-31-2015, 03:20 PM

Quote:

Don't do I-95 straight thru Wash DC ...you'll not recover from the aggravation!! I'd opt for the 495 Beltway around DC ....the sign will say "95-495 South_Washington_Richmond". This is the eastern leg of the loop around DC ...and gets you back onto I-95 near Alexandria, VA.
Stay on I-95 thru Richmond ....it's a city SO big ...that if you blink or sneeze ...you'll miss it!!

Yes, under no circumstances take 95 through DC; go around on the east side of the city. And really, Richmond is no problem even during their "rush" hour; we usually hit the evening one coming back from Florida and it's 20 minutes from one side of the city to the other, no problem.