Driving from Charlotte, NC

[dani226]

Anyone drive from Charlotte? We're from NJ, but recently found out that we'll be relocating to Charlotte for my husband's job - quickly. We already had our May trip planned (and yes we lost the $ on our non-refundable airline tickets) & my husband, who hates to fly, is now happy that we'll be able to drive to Orlando. I'm not looking forward to the trip with my son because he's not a big fan of the car. I figure if we leave at 1 or 2am, he'll sleep most of the way. I'd like to leave around 6pm, but that would put us in Disney in the very early morning hours and would mean staying the rest of the night off-property? Any advice would be appreciated!

[BigRedDad]

I am in Raleigh. It will take about 8 hours to drive. I would not leave at 6PM if driving over night. You would get there about 2AM. If you want to go straight through, you are looking at leaving very early morning if you want to be there in the early AM. You have a lot of options. I would just leave around midnight or 1AM.

[WRWDisney]

We pass through Charlotte every-time we drive down. From Charlotte, you are less than 9 hours from the MK. The drive is not bad at all. One of the advantages you have is that you will be on 77/26 for about the first 150 miles (and the less time on 95, the better in my book).

While I cannot think of any great stops along the way, we always stop at the Florida welcome center; you are about 3 hours away at that point.

If you really want the little one to sleep right through the night, leave at 11-12 and go to I Hop or something when you get there to wake him up.

We've done the overnight drive before and won't again. I rather leave after work, get in around 2 a.m. and crash someplace cheap for the rest of the night. That'll allow you to be well rested when you arrive.

Either way, best of luck on the move and have a great trip:thumbsup:

[wdwfansince75]

As the descendent of Pinies, and having been raised about 15 miles west of Delaware Water Gap, let me extend a big Former Yankee welcome to our little corner of the South. We are about an hour and a half down 85 from you....but about the same distance from Disney World as you.
Like you, we are about an hour and a half from Columbia, SC...from there, about 7 easy hours to WDW....DS#1 and family like to get a 4-5 AM start, which gets them to the World shortly after lunch....DW and I usually get a daylight start...or sometimes sneak down a day early. Since we usually stay at SoG, the extra night is not excessive....You might consider a single night res at Pop....sleeping in, dressing for a day at the parks....checking out late morning, and checking in at the Poly before noon...If the room isn't ready...take the monorail to MK, and start the trip refreshed....

[dani226]

Thank you for the replies - and for the welcome wdwfansince75! That was my concern about driving through the night...how exhausted DH & I would end up being. Leaving at 4am isn't a bad idea, that way DS could sleep for the first couple of hours. We may have to make a couple of stops after that, but hopefully we could keep him entertained with the portable DVD player (A must have on all our trips;)). Luckily we'll have some idea how he'll react when we take the drive down for the actual move. Hopefully I'll have a better idea then of what he can handle. Thanks again!

[Bethis26fan]

If you want to drive half way and stop. Kingsland GA is the last exit in Ga & then you just have 3 short hours to get to Disney & they go fast. The Days Inn in Kingsland is pretty nice. We stopped there on Black Friday after shopping then leaving for Flordia. I live in York, SC which is about 30 mins from Charlotte.