Help! Driving from Houston. Any tips?

[wdw4us]

I am new to posting. My son told me I had to quit being a lurker:blush: I have been reading Intercot for lots of help and tips:thumbsup:
Usually fly, but with all the airline changes...we decided to drive. Also, saves us money. Any tips would be great:mickey:

[RALPH]

Can't help you with your question, but welcome to Intercot!:thumbsup:

[Beast_fanatic]

Welcome to INTERCOT!

If you're a member of AAA, then I suggest you contact them and have them do a TripTik for you that will plot out the best route, and will also note any construction along the way.

If not, then I'd suggest looking at a couple of online sites and put your departure and arrival information in and have them plot out your trip. Rand McNally has a site that will do driving directions, and I think it includes road construction as well.

Either way, plot it out and see what route you'll be taking and how long they estimate that it will take, and then you can get a rough plan together of places to stop along the way.

I'm sure others will be along soon with more specific hints about driving from Houston soon...

[buzznwoodysmom]

We make the drive from Louisiana. Its not a bad drive at all. When we first started going to WDW we used Mapquest for our driving directions, but since DH got a blackberry our last several trips we've used his navigator on the phone. I would suggest using a phone or other navigation system. Its much easier to have voice commands than to have to keep reading your directions and keeping track of how many more miles till your next exit.

You didn't say how many children you have or how old they are, but my best advice for traveling long distances in the car with children is a dvd player. We have the one that you can also hook up video games. Between the DVDs, video games, gameboys, coloring books, books, and other small toys they never get bored. I usually make them each a small goody bag full of new stuff and disney related snacks/items. I also pack drinks and snacks to keep them from wanting to stop to get something to eat too often.

Good luck with your drive and have a wonderful trip!

[Nut4DW]

We've driven twice from just west of Houston and found the trip to be an easy one. We left very early in the morning (3:00 a.m.) and drove till about 5 or 6 that night and stayed in Lake City, Fla. That way, when we got up the next morning we had a short drive (about 3 hours I think) to DW. You can take I-10 from Houston all the way to Tallahassee then turn south. Hope this helps you - have a great trip.

[wdw4us]

Thank ya'll for the tips. We are going to try to drive straight thru. It will be dh, me, and ds10. If we get too tired we will get a room. ds will have a laptop, nintendo ds, mp3 player, books, and travel maps. We do have a gps-that should help. I will have some snacks and drinks in back seat for us.
the first night in FL we will spend with father-n-law, who lives about 45 miles from WDW. We can rest some while son and Grampa have some fun together.

[the other micki]

You're braver than I am to drive that straight through! One thing to remember is that you'll "lose an hour" when you hit Eastern Standard Time. I didn't consider this the first time we drove down there. Have a wonderful trip and welcome to Intercot boards!

[Jarrod]

We have driven that route several times, but we are starting West of San Antonio, so we have never attempted it straight through. We have made it from WDW to Katy in one day b4, so you should be ok. The earlier poster that mentioned checking for Construction, etc, was a good idea. It seems like there is always some construction along the way somewhere, but we have never been delayed more than 45 minutes (at the worst). I always check the different states highway department websites. In March this year we encountered a few accidents that slowed us up a bit in Florida on the Turnpike, but that was unavoidable.

We wait to head south at Lake City, rather than Tallahassee. There is a new shorter route to WDW from the Turnpike now, but just follow the signs, Disney has done a great job marking it. It used to take longer because you had to fight the traffic passing Universal, now you miss all that and come into the World close to Coronado Springs, etc.

hope you have a great trip! I won't give you a list of our fav. restaurants on the way, since you will be driving str8 through.

[wdw4us]

hope you have a great trip! I won't give you a list of our fav. restaurants on the way, since you will be driving str8 through.

You can give us a list-we love to eat. I think on the return trip we will stop-depending on how tired we are. Thank you.

[MsMin]

I'm from Baton Rouge and drive to WDW at least once a year. First I don't recommend I-10 all the way to Lake City. Take I-12 at Baton Rouge and it rejoins I-10 in Slidell. It saves about 40 miles and depending on the time of day traffic in New Orleans.The highway is a shortcut and runs north of the lake. Second-- Watch your speed limits. We have had some serious wrecks on the spillway between Lafayette and Baton Rouge so make sure you don't speed. It drops down to 55 in some areas. They are ticketing heavy from Lafayette through to Hammond.
Watch the time you plan to get through Baton Rouge. If you leave early and hit BR traffic from 7am- 9am it can slow you down, especially if there is a wreck.
We plan our lunch for the car. Stopping to eat can take a good 30 mins or more so we only stop for fuel and make our potty breaks at that time. The longer you stretch out the trip the more tired you could get near the end.
Lake City is a great stopping point but if you want to go farther then maybe Ocala would be better. You are still about an hour out of wdw so it isn't too bad. It takes us nearly 10 hours to get there from BR. What do you have about another 4 hours? then you lose an hour so maybe you could leave at 5 get to BR at 9 (no earlier b/c of traffic) and get to WDW by 8pm. that's no big long stops.
I'm leaving next Sunday (which would help you too b/c traffic is down).
Don't forget if you do cut through BR in the fall watch out for Football game traffic too and hotels fill up if you decide to stop and you are near a Tallahassee or Gainesville on a football weekend.
Have a great time! :car:

[Jarrod]

MsMin is right about the I-10/I-12 thing. I always forget about that, but you have to watch or you will end up headed down toward New Orleans and have to turn around, it is out of the way.

[jonahbear2006]

I drive to Orlando every year from Illinois and that is a 16 hr drive so it is comparable to your drive, yours is slightly shorter. I do all the driving, since my husband has highway hypnosis and sleep apnea; I prefer to live than share the drive. I go to bed early the night before we leave and I have the car ready to go so I sleep until it's time to take off. Then I drive all afternoon and all night. We leave about noon and then arrive at Disney about 8 or 9 am, after stopping for gas and food. Then we plan for an early check in so we can swim and rest by the pool while we wait for a room to open up for us. The drive really isn't that bad and I make it on my own. I just need drinks at my fingertips, 2 full ipods that are charged and ready to go, and I print off my mapquest directions and cut them and put them front and back on a notecard and laminate it, then stick it in my visor so I can just pull it out and check for the next exit without waking anyone up.

As for the kids, we bring a video player, a journal, coloring things, a few of their favorite toys, an ipod for them to share with audiobooks on it as well as music, leap pads, and magnadoodles and we are good for the day. We have never had any problems with the kids, other than the 4 yr old likes to take his seatbelt off from time to time and we have one child that always gets car sick.


It really is a good way for us to go and save money but I know from here, we can get airtran tickets for $222 a person. If you only have 3 people then it will cost about the same to fly as it will to drive. Also take into consideration that you will get there faster than you will get home. We always have to stop for a night on the way home bc I don't have the anticipation keeping me awake on the way home. It's more of a tired I don't want to leave feeling.