Best route from Ontario in August

[Lezah]

We're driving down leaving on Friday, August 16 at about 1:00pm (right after work) and plan on arriving Saturday, August 17 late to ASMu. Any thoughts on where to stay Friday night on the way down and on the way home would be great. We're checking out on Friday August 30/02, thinking about staying til Saturday, but I want to be home for Monday for laundry, getting ready for school and unsure if this is doable. Any suggestions anyone has would be great. We've driven down before, but took 2 days each way and had seniors with us so required more stops. It is just myself, my husband and our almost 8 year old son, who travels extremely well. We have a TV/VCR to take, gameboy and laptop and I've been printing stuff off the computer for him to do as well. Thanks in advance for helping plan this.

 

[Limmer]

We are going at the end of Sept and we are taking I-95. We got a trip-tik from CAA. We are leaving VERY early Sat am (4 or 5) and we plan on stopping somewhere in Georgia. Then we will only have a few hours left Sunday am before we get to Disney. On the way home we are just planning on stopping when we got tired.

 

[TimNDansMom]

Hi Lezah, if you are taking the I 75, we find a good place to stop is Knoxville, Tenn. We stay at the Sleep Inn at exit 108 (Merchant Drive). It takes us about 12 hours from Disney (we've stayed at ASMu also) to the hotel and another 12 hours from there to home (Woodstock), including breaks.

On the way down, we leave Friday night with a stopover in Lima, Ohio and another stop on Saturday night in Byron, Georgia. We arrive in Orlando usually mid-afternoon on the Sunday (we sleep in a bit). We just have the one stop on the way home so we can stay as long as possible.

Have a wonderful trip!

 

[maryliz]

Since you're not leaving until 1PM on the Friday, I am not sure how far you will get that first day. We travel from London ON, travel I-75 and have found a great Comfort Inn at exit 141 in Tennessee (about 20 miles into Tenn). They start serving a free continental breakfast at 6AM (cereals, juice, muffins, fruit, and I believe on weekends they have biscuits and gravy, to name a few of the items they carry). From this stop, we are about 12 or 13 hours from Disney. This has become our stopping point for both the trip down and the trip home.

Mary Liz

 

[Lezah]

Okay, we've decided to use I75 to go down and have got the Along I75 book for reference. My Dad has a computer program that can program distances and times and I'm getting a little worried that we won't get as far as we want to the first night. My husband wants to get into Tennessee, if possible Sweetwater. Not sure if that is doable since we're leaving at noon on Friday. He figures that this is about halfway point. We're leaving from Mississauga. Any help or tips any of you could give us would be great. According to my Dad's computer program, it takes 30 hours to drive from Mississauga to Orlando. That can't be right as anyone I know who drives says it takes about 24 hours.?? What are your opinions on this. It also says that it will take 14 and a half hours to get to Sweetwater which without stops would take us to 2am.?? That is at 55 mph and I know that 65-70 is about the norm according to the book. Again, what is your opinions? Sorry for the long post, but I'm beginning to panic a little as my hubby insisted that I change the reservation from Sunday to Saturday (late check in of course). Thanks again for all your help.

 

[TimNDansMom]

Lezah, my Rand McNally trip planner program states that it is 10 hours driving time from Sweetwater to Walt Disney World Resort. I don't see any problem getting to Disney on Saturday night. I don't know how long you intend to sleep in on Saturday morning with such a late arrival the night before, but keep that in mind for your estimated time of arrival at Disney. I think you should allow between 13 to 14 hours incl food/bathroom breaks from Mississauga to Sweetwater, that sounds about right since we are in Woodstock and stopover in Knoxville, which is about 12 hours incl breaks. This is also without any long hold-ups at the border or any major slowdowns due to accidents or road construction.

 

[MikeJ]

We drove at Christmas, leaving London around 1:00pm. We stopped at a Holiday Inn Express in Georgetown, KY. I don't remember exactly when we arrived, but I believe it was around 8:00pm or so. (That hotel has a nice indoor pool - not as critical in August as it is in December. )

Next day we left around 8:00am and pulled into Valdosta, GA sometime around 7:00pm or so. From there, it's about 3 hours to Orlando. If we had to do it over again, we would not have stopped in Valdosta but made the drive into Orlando. That would have been a 14 hour day.

Leaving from Mississauga would get you into Georgetown around 10:00pm. To the KY-TN border would be another 2 hours or so, arriving around midnight. Given you're leaving as late as you are, maryliz's Comfort Inn in TN sounds like it might be the best stop for you. I think that will actually be the midway point for you, and you'd have roughly the same length drive on the second day.

This all presupposes there are no delays along the way, needless to say.

- Mike