First time driving - I75 or i77/95?

[elaine amj]

Spur of the moment last min trip - we’ve just decided (this afternoon) to head to WDW next week!!

We will be driving from Windsor so will be hopping on I-75 when we cross the border to Detroit. Our schedule is fully flexible - thoughts on if we should leave at 7am on Monday or even the night before?

It will be DH and I and two 20yr old boys (DS and his best friend). We will have 3 drivers so will attempt a straight through 17/18hr drive (with stops of course). The boys and I are used to driving 6-8 hours at a time. If we get tired/can’t sleep in van, we will crash at a hotel.

I am considering ending the drive at Daytona Beach to recuperate (the boys might find it cool?) so considering taking I77/95 after Toledo (is it a more enjoyable drive?). Google Maps says it’s approx the same drive time.

We’ll spend 2 weeks in Orlando (hunting for a villa/condo/timeshare rental and will probably stay in a few different locations) and plan to take 2-3 nights to get back home.

Advice on the drive/places to stop/things to consider?

DH has cancer and after putting our lives on hold for 2+ years, we just want to go lol. We usually fly but with car rentals so $$ these days, it’s nice to have our van. Plus makes it easier to bring all my cooking gear for DH’s core meals.

 

[White Cat]

Have a nice time. With Daytona I would recommend Ponce Inlet. In other words south Daytona. We go often as we have a home close by. Several nice restaurants there. Much quieter. And nicer. But only a 10 min drive to the pier in Daytona.

 

[Marv_barr]

Spur of the moment last min trip - we’ve just decided (this afternoon) to head to WDW next week!!

We will be driving from Windsor so will be hopping on I-75 when we cross the border to Detroit. Our schedule is fully flexible - thoughts on if we should leave at 7am on Monday or even the night before?

It will be DH and I and two 20yr old boys (DS and his best friend). We will have 3 drivers so will attempt a straight through 17/18hr drive (with stops of course). The boys and I are used to driving 6-8 hours at a time. If we get tired/can’t sleep in van, we will crash at a hotel.

I am considering ending the drive at Daytona Beach to recuperate (the boys might find it cool?) so considering taking I77/95 after Toledo (is it a more enjoyable drive?). Google Maps says it’s approx the same drive time.

We’ll spend 2 weeks in Orlando (hunting for a villa/condo/timeshare rental and will probably stay in a few different locations) and plan to take 2-3 nights to get back home.

Advice on the drive/places to stop/things to consider?

DH has cancer and after putting our lives on hold for 2+ years, we just want to go lol. We usually fly but with car rentals so $$ these days, it’s nice to have our van. Plus makes it easier to bring all my cooking gear for DH’s core meals.

We drive from Windsor and take 75.The 1st day we drive down to Marietta Georgia and it's about 12 hrs drive and stay at the Drury Inn right of the interstate. The have a good happy hour meal included with your stay. We also enjoy the book along I 75 it has alot of great info and is well worth the cost.

 

[elaine amj]

Thanks everyone! We have decided to take I77/I99 because we think the boys would like Daytona Beach. We’re going to spend 2 nights there to recuperate before moving on to Orlando.

Any tips for this drive? Places to stop? I’m definitely hoping to stop in Savannah, Georgia either on the way to Orlando or on the way home.

 

[spewey]

Savannah is beautiful. But, as my wife (who grew up in part in Georgia) always says about that area, know where you're going.

 

[Norton figment]

We drive from Windsor and take 75.The 1st day we drive down to Marietta Georgia and it's about 12 hrs drive and stay at the Drury Inn right of the interstate. The have a good happy hour meal included with your stay. We also enjoy the book along I 75 it has alot of great info and is well worth the cost.

I second the I 75 books it’s very helpful and also gives cool tibits and lets you know what’s at most of the exits

Honestly either way is great you could go one way and come back the other there really isn’t much difference in times but different views. I77 I94 way there are less trucks And you go through some cool tunnels.

 

[elaine amj]

Update: we took I75 on the way down starting at 10pm and drove straight through the night and the next day to get to Orlando. We were rather excited at our first Buc-ees except that I was bleary eyed and groggy at 2am. Never managed to go to another one.

We mucked up on the timing of gas and restroom breaks and never got them synced up - so that meant we stopped more often than we should have. We left Sunday night and didn’t hit much traffic - even Atlanta at 11am on a Monday was pretty smooth.

Even though DH and I did not sleep, we kept our eyes closed all night long while the boys drove and overall felt okay when we arrived. Adrenaline was high and we hit the parks the next day

I really wanted to drive most of the way home so gave it my best shot. We left Orlando at 7am Friday morning and traffic was heavy on I4. Tolls were still free (for hurricane recovery) so we used the Express lanes which helped.

Traffic got really bad when we turned into Savannah and that remained the theme of the day. We stopped for a couple of hours for lunch at the Pirate House (super cool and great fried chicken buffet!) and a quick stroll. I soon regretted this detour though as traffic was just as bad leaving the city and continued to be bad pretty much all the way to Pigeon Forge - even on quiet stretches of highway when we were nowhere near any big city.

At one point, there was an accident and we were at a full stop for 40 mins. DS was driving and we ended up just sitting there watching a movie in the dvd player to make the best of things lol.

The 10hr 35 min drive from Orlando to Pigeon Forge took us 15 hours (including a 2hr lunch stop). So our trip was delayed about 2.5 hrs and we didn’t arrive until 10pm instead of 7:30pm like I planned.

I think I will stick to I75 in the future.

I also discovered I am not so great on the drive home. I could only manage 4-6hrs max until I had to hand the wheel to DS. We stayed 2 nights in the Smokies to recuperate and I only drove the first 4 hrs home before getting DS to drive - and I was still shattered. When I got home, I couldn’t even walk a straight line. That said, the next day I handled a 4hr round trip drive to take DH to his cancer treatment.

And I am surprisingly eager to drive again rather than fly. It was so nice to have all our stuff with us.