Driving CT-WDW Tips!

Below is a writeup that I just posted in another thread. We drive from Queens, but my parents have a house near Candlewood lake so I have driven from Queens to your area hundreds of times and know how that would add to this trip.

Even with switching drivers and being young, the drive is tiring. You might want to consider leaving earlier in the day (2-3am) on your day 1, stopping overnight and arriving more well rested for your first "official" day of vacation.

We have driven round trip from NYC in 2015, 2016, and 2017 in late June/early July. Me, my wife, and our triplets (6 years old in '15).

First two trips in a 2009 Toyota Sienna, last year's in a '17 Honda Odyssey. As far as gas goes, roughly 3.5 tanks each way.

We usually leave around 4AM and have been fortunate to not run into heavy traffic anywhere except in 2015 due to a stalled vehicle on I-95 near Richmond that for some reason didn't pull off to the shoulder.

To our surprise, the kids have always been fantastic in the car on these trips.

The first two years we stopped in Santee, SC overnight. Last year we went all the way to Savannah, GA. We have stayed overnights at Hampton Inn which I think has become my favorite reasonably priced national chain.

For our return trips, we've gone straight through. I kind of hate it, but at the same time it's kind of nice just being back home and having an extra day to decompress instead of spending 6 hours in the car...and my wife really likes getting home in one shot, as exhausting as that drive is.
 
One of the reason's we want to get there so early is so that we can rest the remainder of that Saturday before actually beginning our vacation on the Sunday. We do have a dining reservation at GF that night though. Between the two drivers, we've both driven long nights and weird hours, so I'm not entirely concerned about the drifting off part, but we're definitely going to have to make sure that we're super awake and everything. We've both (already) taken that full Friday off from work in hopes to sleep fairly late.
We're putting the four of us in one car, with our luggage in the trunk (hatchback). Normally when we travel we only bring carry-ons so I'm not entirely concerned about where to put luggage. I don't think we are planning on brining a cooler. We're planning on stopping about every fours hours (expect for when we stop to eat breakfast at iHop in Georgia, so we can always get some snacks, empty out the garbage. The car will probably be a mess 20 minute into the ride anyway knowing us, haha.

If you've both taken the day off, why not leave earlier? Like midday? Starting off at 4 PM just sounds like a nightmare to me.
 
You said that you and your cousin have never driven that long at one time. It is not easy to do, even harder overnight, and it might be a lot more exhausting than you are imagining. We used to make the drive and we are not far from you in NY. We would never do the drive without stopping overnight, usually in Fayetteville, NC but sometimes a little further south on SC. Even with stopping in a hotel, we were always exhausted once we got to WDW.
 
From CT you can take I84 over to PA then I81 south to I77 to I95. No major cities and all decent roads. We're in NE PA and while Google says I95 is shorter, I won't get on 95 between Boston and Washington if I can help it.

This. When we drive down with our RV we take 84 to 81, then we use highway 17 in VA to drop in to 95 just north of Richmond. We've done it in a car, towing a pop-up, towing a trailer, and now with our bigger RV. We've driven through the city (in a car) for both vacation and for work and we just avoid it at this point is there is any way shape or form to do so. RV is no brainer to avoid it, but even in a car we just don't. If we can skip 95 to below DC, we absolutely do. Sure, it tacks on miles, but at most times of the day it is a wash as far as time goes. It generally takes a good 20-24 hours, regardless of what Google says.

And I know you guys are young, but don't underestimate how tired you will be on that first day - especially if you stay awake to keep one another company while you take your driving shifts. We've driven straight through from CT exactly once, when we were in our late 20's. We were zombies on that first day at WDW. I remember sleeping through most of a ride on Spaceship Earth that day. If you are going to drive straight through, fuel with healthy food that you pack for yourselves. We were all hyped up on Mountain Dew and Twizzlers and the blood sugar ups and downs just make you so much more tired. At one rest stop in the middle of the night there were a pair of couples probably in their 60's, grabbing sandwiches out of their cooler in the back of their car...I remember thinking how awesome that would be right about then...we probably looked at their sandwiches like Shaggy and Scooby look at food, no lie!

An overnight seems like such a time-suck, but it may pay off in spades by helping to start your vacation fresh and peppy! Even a cheapo motel for a 4-6 hour snooze and a nice hot shower will feel great.
 


We changed our plan once again, thanks to all of the feedback and suggestions I got from all of you!
We're now leaving no later than 2:00PM from New Milford, CT. We're driving 684 to GWB to get onto 95-South and then driving straight down to NJ where we will briefly switch over to 295 and meet our youngest cousin at an exit in Greentree, NJ around 5PM. (He's meeting us with his grandparents, coming from their home in Long Beach Island). After that, we're driving straight through the night (drivers on and off) and hope to get into WDW between 9AM-10AM on Saturday morning. We have a brunch rsvp for 10:15 at Disney Springs, and then we'll go back to our hotel and sleep almost all day. We had an extra set of dining credits, which is why we are leaving at 2PM, hoping to get there around 9:30AM the next morning. My only real concern at this point is that we'll be driving on 95 between Philly and DC during that 5PM-7PM rush hour time. Any suggestions other than 'AVOID AT ALL COSTS'?
 
Once you get around DC or even Richmond, VA, it is clear sailing with little problems.
 


I have a few things I wanted to add, sorry I didnt read all of the replies. I dont know where in CT you are, but I live in Southwest CT (almost in NY) and its more than a 16 hour drive. I just mapquested it again and it suggests 17 hours and 52 min with no stops. We have done this drive several times (straight through) and it almost ALWAYS takes us about 21 hours. Unfortunately there are several major cities in the north east which really cause traffic issues.

The best advice I can give you is plan your time to leave so you will not hit any of the following cities during rush hour (Waterbury, NY, Baltimore, DC). I have found DC to even be a nightmare at 10 pm at night.

Also, its important to have someone keep the driver awake. You will need to plan rest stops, etc. Not all rest stops are what I would consider safe in the middle of the night (from personal experience).

I actually just read your above response and we are in the same general area of CT- I would consider taking 84 to 81 to 70 to 270 to DC area. Its much easier driving although technically adds time, you will likely actually save a bunch of time). Its typically the route we use.

Also, if you decide on just doing 95- get an easy pass!
 
I have a few things I wanted to add, sorry I didnt read all of the replies. I dont know where in CT you are, but I live in Southwest CT (almost in NY) and its more than a 16 hour drive. I just mapquested it again and it suggests 17 hours and 52 min with no stops. We have done this drive several times (straight through) and it almost ALWAYS takes us about 21 hours. Unfortunately there are several major cities in the north east which really cause traffic issues.

The best advice I can give you is plan your time to leave so you will not hit any of the following cities during rush hour (Waterbury, NY, Baltimore, DC). I have found DC to even be a nightmare at 10 pm at night.

Also, its important to have someone keep the driver awake. You will need to plan rest stops, etc. Not all rest stops are what I would consider safe in the middle of the night (from personal experience).

I actually just read your above response and we are in the same general area of CT- I would consider taking 84 to 81 to 70 to 270 to DC area. Its much easier driving although technically adds time, you will likely actually save a bunch of time). Its typically the route we use.

Also, if you decide on just doing 95- get an easy pass!

Thanks for the suggestions! Hopefully I'll be able to get through NY and NJ before the major rush hour hits. We're leaving at 2PM but we have to pick someone up on the outskirts of Philly, so unfortunately we're forced to take 95. Hopefully DC won't be too bad down 95. We're certainly going to be making one of the boys keep the driver awake. Something tells me that even though the other driver will be resting while not driving, I doubt much sleep will be had on the trip unfortunately and I'm sure someone will be up most of the time.
If you have any late night rest stop problems/certain exits to avoid because of prior experience, please let me know! I'm a super planner so I've already planned where we're stopping for gas/food/etc but if I hear that you almost got mugged there, I might have to change the area that we stop.
 
I really don't want to be a parade-rainer, but having a 10:15 am reservation for Saturday morning just doesn't seem like a great plan. Heck, we just drove (regular car, not RV) to Philly and back for a weekend visit about a month ago - left Hartford area around 10:30am and it took us a little over 5 hours down 95 over the GW bridge even though the Google maps estimate was around 4 hours. Just so slow-going through the city, and that was earlier in the day. You just never know when you'll lose an hour here or there because of traffic, or have to stop for a few hours to have a flat fixed. If there's a bad accident on 95 it can be stopped up for miles. I just think scheduling down to the hour like that is risky.

OK, I'll stop being a mom now! :)
 
I really don't want to be a parade-rainer, but having a 10:15 am reservation for Saturday morning just doesn't seem like a great plan. Heck, we just drove (regular car, not RV) to Philly and back for a weekend visit about a month ago - left Hartford area around 10:30am and it took us a little over 5 hours down 95 over the GW bridge even though the Google maps estimate was around 4 hours. Just so slow-going through the city, and that was earlier in the day. You just never know when you'll lose an hour here or there because of traffic, or have to stop for a few hours to have a flat fixed. If there's a bad accident on 95 it can be stopped up for miles. I just think scheduling down to the hour like that is risky.

OK, I'll stop being a mom now! :)

That has been something on my mind as well. Our ADR is for Raglan Road, and I've heard that getting a rsvp there is fairly easy, so I'm thinking that if I call, saying that we're running a couple of hours late, they will gladly change my reservation.
Thanks for being a Mom! We're a bunch of kids driving down for the first time, so any feedback is welcomed!
 
That has been something on my mind as well. Our ADR is for Raglan Road, and I've heard that getting a rsvp there is fairly easy, so I'm thinking that if I call, saying that we're running a couple of hours late, they will gladly change my reservation.
Thanks for being a Mom! We're a bunch of kids driving down for the first time, so any feedback is welcomed!
You also book a reservation for Raglan Road through Open Table. We do that a lot. We have walked up and they said it will be an hour or more. We step out of line and go to Open Table and can sometimes get a table within the next 15 minutes or even later so we can walk around Disney Springs some.
 
I've done the CT-MD run repeatedly. Tappen Zee instead of GW Bridge all day every day. Avoid the "Welcome Centers" and and Jersey turnpike rest stops if at all possible (not for safety reasons, more like, prices that make Disney seem like a bargain!) I always liked the Wawa in Elkton (University of Delaware exit); that was about the time I needed to break and grab coffee (coming from New London area), and it's about a 5 minute detour? (You continue going south to get there off the I-95, so you don't have to backtrack)

Don't speed in Jersey. I mean, you really shouldn't speed anywhere... but Jersey is terrible for it.

Waze is really useful in DC traffic. It's a bit of a battery suck though, so don't forget an in-car charger!

VA has Express Lanes with dynamic pricing. HOV in those lanes is free, but you'd need an EZPass Flex in order to use them. I don't think they cost anything per se, but you have to load it with a certain amount of credit, so you'd have to weigh those costs.
 
Thanks for the suggestions! Hopefully I'll be able to get through NY and NJ before the major rush hour hits. We're leaving at 2PM but we have to pick someone up on the outskirts of Philly, so unfortunately we're forced to take 95. Hopefully DC won't be too bad down 95. We're certainly going to be making one of the boys keep the driver awake. Something tells me that even though the other driver will be resting while not driving, I doubt much sleep will be had on the trip unfortunately and I'm sure someone will be up most of the time.
If you have any late night rest stop problems/certain exits to avoid because of prior experience, please let me know! I'm a super planner so I've already planned where we're stopping for gas/food/etc but if I hear that you almost got mugged there, I might have to change the area that we stop.


If you can take the Tappsn Zee vs the GW, I would ALWAYS opt for that!

We had an extremely unpleasant experience at the Maryland welcome center at about 3 am. Just be very careful of your surroundings etc. this stop was primarily for rest room use. I will never go there again, but makes a now funny story!

And as long as you aren’t locked into your breakfast ressie. I hate to be a downer but I really do think it’s going to be hard to make that time.

Good luck!!!!
 
I have only driven to FL once and that was enough then we did the autotrain which did not save time. We live in southeast CT/shoreline area/bordering the CT River (no not where they are making a Hallmark movie and there is snow in the town very close to me right now and people walking in winter coats and hats and boots with an a/c in a building window). But we usually leave from my moms in Trumbull at 6am and have never hit any traffic going thru to NJ. In fact one of the last times we drove (either FL/AT or to MD) we were passing Vince Lombardi and we asked if any one had to use the bathroom and got the all "NO, no, no..." from the back seat. Well wouldn't you know it as soon as we passed our son said he had to go. He had to wait the 15~ miles til the next area and of course he said he didn't have to go then so my dh made him sit on the toilet (he was around 10) until he went.

We took 95 the entire way except we took the parkway/beltway from Baltimore to DC and then we took the east side loop. When we did the AT we went straight thru since there was no traffic-dh drives with Waze on and I keep checking google maps for possible traffic. Both of those times we hit DC around 11am.

When we drove to FL, the only traffic we hit was in Richmond and that set us back. We only made it to Santee, SC the first day. I think we stopped driving at around 9-10 that night. We left the next morning around 7, maybe 8 and made it to Orlando (the city) at about noon. But we still had another 4 hours to drive so we were tired.

For us, I'd rather take the GW and 95. My dh has brought me over the Tap once or twice and I scowl...I like the view from the GW and it has to be the upper deck (not easy to get to when you come from the Deegan) so if the bridge falls, we are on top and have a better chance of not being crushed, yes that is my 10 year old self's logic that I made up driving across that all the years in the 80's to go to Atlantic City.

  • So the driver should use Waze the first mate should continuously be checking google maps for traffic ahead.
  • Get an Ezpass if you don't have one.
  • I downloaded some free app that was the I95 exit guide, it showed gas stations, food and hotels and nearby exits (the paid one showed the whole way but I didn't care).
  • If you are not used to driving at night, I wouldn't and me always being the passenger I could never fall asleep even if I wanted to.
  • We have stopped in some questionable towns, towns that I would not go over the 25mph speed limit, those may have been of 81 though when we drove to Nashville, but they also may have been in no where NC or SC off 95.
  • Our rule is if we stop of gas you must go to the bathroom. To save time, I will start to pump the gas while DH goes in with or without the kids and then we swap. This way we all aren't going in, every minute counts!
  • If you take 95, the worst part of the drive was south of Richmond til about the FL line. There was nothing to see, like Ohio..sorry people who live in those states but you know there is nothing. I always say I'd rather be in traffic on the Jersey Tpke because at least there are things to look out at.
  • Watch your speed there are county mounties everywhere (you are too young for Smokey and the Bandit), we saw lots of people getting pulled over in VA, SC, NC and MD.
  • The quickest part of the drive for me was when we arrived in FL. I swear we were in Daytona in no time and then Orlando in a blink of the eye.
  • The cleanest rest stop, I swear we could eat off the floor was in Jax/St. Augustine, a truck stop.
  • make sure you have barf bags, you never know!
  • I found this great scavenger hunt a few years ago, had more stuff on it then your typical one-look for a drunk driver, an over loaded car, plus the usual-a plane, cloud in the shape of whatever, etc. I saved it to my computer but I have no idea where it is on there!
Have fun, maybe we will "see" you there. We are headed down Aug 1-11.
 
Yes @KristinU, we just got back on Sunday. I had a great time, the others 'non obsessive' with Disney were kinda iffy, but that's another post. But I'll talk about our driving.
We drove each way in one shot. The way down took 21 hours (1PM-10AM) and the way back took 17 hours (1:30PM-7:30AM).
Notes/Tips
The way down took longer because we got stuck in traffic on the outskirts of NYC and then traffic moved a bit slower between Newark and Philly. Never stopped, but we couldn't go as fast as we wanted. We also stopped more on the way down, probably six times. The way back took less time because we never hit traffic because we drove through VA-CT between 12AM and 7AM. If you're doing a straight shot, Definitely schedule to drive in the northern states during the 12AM-7AM slot.
Find people who actually want to do the drive. The three others in the car were more concerned with their phones, their own music, and sleeping the entire ride, which made it very boring for me (the driver who drove 4/5ths of the way both ways). I honestly would've preferred to drive by myself and
stop to sleep at a hotel halfway through.
Have good snacks! I didn't have good snacks and wanted everything I didn't have!

I'm sure I'll think of more at some point. Thanks for thinking about me!
 

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