Driving through the night?

[angel2931]

For those of you that make the long trip to WDW by driving through the night, what kinds of things do you do to prepare yourself (and DH) for the ride? We plan on doing this for the 1st time in a few weeks, and I am afraid we won't make it and will have to stop for sleep!

Also, recommend any offsite hotels you have stayed at, we only need 1 night since we will be arriving in Orlando area Sat and we check in to WDW on Sunday. Thanks sooo much!!:mickey:

[BigRedDad]

There are advantages and disadvantages to driving at night. If you are not use to it, I do not recommend it. It only takes a split second of accidentally dozing off. At 70-80MPH, this becomes a tragedy. Now, if you are able to manage it is not too big of a deal. Have an iPod or something with headphones. Switch off frequently. Only drive 2-3 hours at a time while the others sleep.

For me, I can sleep 2 hours at night and be fine for the next 20. I do know exactly when I am too tired and that is it as well. When we went to Orlando in June, I slept 2 horrible hours in a hard bed. Threw my DW and DD in the car and hit the road again.

[Strmchsr]

:ditto: When the kids were younger I did the drive all night thing. Left around 11 pm and arrived at WDW by 7 am. I like the peace and quiet and no traffic. However, I usually got in bed around 8 and slept for 2, 2.5 hours before doing the drive. If I got that, I was fine, but no way would I attempt it without sleep. Not worth the risk. As for the off-site hotel, I would suggest doing Priceline for that. I've gotten some good deals for that 1 night stay before the vacation starts the next day.

[brivers222]

i have done it twice... I use lots of 6 hour energy's


plus I usually work a 1/2 day then sleep for about 3 hours before the trip starts.... then we would take off... leave at 10pm and then arrive at 5pm the next day

[ibelieveindisneymagic]

We've always been too nervous to drive through the night, just too much risk of one of us falling asleep, even with two drivers.

What we do, is leave super early in the AM (like 4am or 5am) and drive until we drop (usually around 8pm). We stop for the night, and drive the rest of the way to Disney, and check in right after lunch.

Since you're arriving a day earlier anyways, this might be an option.

[disneymommom]

We leave from south Jersey at about 6 am and stop in St. Augustine around 8-9 pm. There is a great Hampton Inn right off I95. We stop for gas and dinner and pack lunch. It is not a bad drive and you would be at the World before noon.

[Ed]

Have an iPod or something with headphones.

CAUTION -- In many states, it is illegal to drive with headphones on. Makes it difficult to hear sirens and such. :cop:

When we lived in Maryland, we often did the straight-through drive to WDW. When we had the young'uns with us, we'd leave around 9pm or so; the kids would sleep most of the night. We'd stop somewhere for breakfast, then trudge on. Never had a problem.

[TheVBs]

I recently read that after 3 hours of nighttime driving the sleepiness and fatigue you experience compares to driving impaired. Breaks help battle the fatigue, but not the need for sleep, especiallly if you aren't used to late nights/lost sleep. We leave really early in the morning and drive until after dinner. That gets us most of the way the first day (from Michigan), we stay overnight somewhere, then are usually in WDW by early afternoon the next day. :mickey:

[Jennifer_and_Chris]

We drive from Detroit down to WDW and we have learned that we are better as early morning drivers than overnight drivers. We leave at about 5 am and stop in Atlanta. We usually get there about dinner time. We then leave about 7am the next morning and are in WDW by 4pm checkin time.

And that is with a caravan of cars.

We have tried to drive overnight but, have had to stop at a hotel. Finally called it quits about 11pm or so and ironically, we left around 5 am. So while we were only there for a few hours, we really needed the shut eye.

If you are used to being up all night, say you work the 3rd shift, then go for it. But, know your limits and don't trade a safe trip for a fast one.

[Nascfan]

We do the straight-thru drive quite a bit also. From Toledo we find it works well for us to leave around noonish (bypassing most major cities outside of their respective rush hours) and we arrive sometime in the next morning. I usually get a good nap after dinner and take most of the early night driving, then we switch off frequently as we hit middle of the night (very important). We still almost always have about an hour when no one can continue on and we all nap at a rest area, that usually happens a little before sunrise.

It's getting a little tougher as we get older, but our daughter is now able to help as she's older and drives some too.

[smsp]

[QUOTE=Ed;2192608]CAUTION -- In many states, it is illegal to drive with headphones on. Makes it difficult to hear sirens and such. :cop:

AND, the reason it is illegal in most states b/c it is dangerous and risky. Very bad advice for the driver to use headphones IMO whether it is legal or not.

I am considering driving through the night as well. I am looking at arriving to our resort between 2PM-4PM, which would require us to leave our area around 1AM-2AM our time. There will be a 1 hour time forward change once we get to the Orlando area. Fortunately, we will have three drivers to rotate the 12-hour drive. Last time we went, we did the drive during a regular time frame and we stayed at a cheap motel outside just for one night upon arriving, we then pre-checked into our resort the next morning. Afterwards, we stayed at the same cheap motel on the back end. It saved a little money, but I didn’t like the hassle of checking in and out so much. On our upcoming trip, we will pay the extra 2 nights at POPS for the convenience, plus we get the extra meals on the meal plan. I estimate the extra cost to be only about $100 or so. I thought it was a big savings doing it the other way and it really isn’t from what I have researched. Being that the POPS during the time frame we will be there we cost about $105 w/ tax and the cheap motel will run about $50 w/ tax, then we'd have to purchase meals anyway. Also, we have a BBB appointment at 9AM or so on the first day of our park days, so by staying on property after a long drive will be convenient.

So, what we plan to do is arrive to POPS, get checked in, enjoy the resort amenities (pool) and just relax before our parks kick off.

SMSP

[DisneyOtaku]

We have always driven at night.

From where I am, Disney is about 12-13 hours away. We leave around 2AM central time and arrive outside the park around 3-4 PM WDW time. My father was/is the one who always drives first (but he is VERY used to it). He goes to bed super-early (around 7 PM) so he can get us going. My mom shortly follows. When driving, my mom will sleep while he's driving, and vice versa. Now that I am old enough, I will also take the wheel, mostly in FL.

We arrive the day before our check-in date, and stay off site. There's a very nice Comfort Suites outside the Main Gate that we like--also a couple of Ramada's that we approved of (esp. the pink one...I can't remember which one it is, lol). The drive may be tough, but we find it to be completely reward to get there mid-afternoon the day before and just relax in a hotel room before our busy start to WDW!

I will also mention that my father has been doing this for YEARS...close to 20, at least. And he commuites on a weekly basis. Just be sure you feel well-rested enough to take the trip before you get going (perhaps a nap in the early afternoon?)

[princessgirls]

I think you have to KNOW how YOU are going to be on an overnight road trip!! HONESTLY...

IF you sit down at night, and can fall asleep easily in your chair, maybe an all-night road trip is NOT for you. This is ME!!! I'm tired at night. 11pm, and I want to sleep.

My husband has worked the night shift for 19 years. He can do and prefers a night road trip, and gets tired around 7am. We make a good team in this respect.

I can't drive all night. I'd fall asleep. My mother-in-law passed away a few years ago. She lived in South Carolina, and it was a 12 hour drive. My husband drove out the night she passed (planned on taking an old hand me down car from my mother for his nephew to use) and I said I'm not driving at night, I will leave with the kids at 5am, and I stuck to my guns. So easy to nod off into a tragic disaster.

Do what is right for YOU!
Julie:mickey:

[We LOVE Disney]

We drove through the night once when our kids were younger. We had my brother in law & my sister in law so we had 4 drivers.

The one thing bad about driving straight thru was the time we arrived. We ended up getting to the resort around 10am and the room was not ready (didn't really expect it to be though) and we were DEAD TIRED!!!! I swear it felt like it should have been 10 at night not 10 in the morning, that's how tired we were! We were zombies the entire first day (the kids were fine though.......go figure!)

When we go next year we will have 4 drivers again but we are going to plan on leaving Michigan probably around 1 or 2 in the afternnon so we get to the resort at bedtime! Should take around 20 hours straight thru but we will definitely stop every now and then!

[angel2931]

Thanks everyone for your advice!! DH is a firefighter & snow plower, so he is used to long nights of no sleep. I am figuring he can nap before we leave, and I will nap the first leg of the trip. Then we can switch on and off/sleep etc. We plan on leaving about 9pm and that should have us arriving about 3-5 pm. If it really gets to the point that we can't do it, then we just pull off and get a hotel on the way! :mickey:

[divinedi]

Please don't take offense at the following, but I'm a little confused. If you drive at night, and get there a day early and have to get a hotel for the first night, I don't understand why you would bother to drive through the night. If you need a hotel anyway, why not split the trip in half and do the hotel then, and arrive the day you are supposed to check into DW? We've driven from Ontario, Canada, it's about 23-24 hours We leave very early the first morning, drive until 9-10 at night, which is usually past Atlanta, GA and more than half the trip, and then do the rest the next day, we get to DW about 2-3 pm. Works out great, we're not so worn out that we have to go to bed when we get there and waste the first night. Just my two cents.

[angel2931]

Please don't take offense at the following, but I'm a little confused. If you drive at night, and get there a day early and have to get a hotel for the first night, I don't understand why you would bother to drive through the night. If you need a hotel anyway, why not split the trip in half and do the hotel then, and arrive the day you are supposed to check into DW? We've driven from Ontario, Canada, it's about 23-24 hours We leave very early the first morning, drive until 9-10 at night, which is usually past Atlanta, GA and more than half the trip, and then do the rest the next day, we get to DW about 2-3 pm. Works out great, we're not so worn out that we have to go to bed when we get there and waste the first night. Just my two cents.

No offense taken! We thought driving with 3 kids, it would be easier to make the bulk of the trip with them sleeping. Less whining, bathroom breaks etc. Also, with making it to Orlando on Sat and staying locally Sat night, we will get a full nights sleep and then get up rested on Sunday, head to our hotel to check in and to the parks. We will have a full day that day as opposed to having to drive part of the day and check in later etc. That Sunday is our DS's bday, so we would rather spend all day in the MK then driving in our Explorer! lol :mickey:

[January-2007]

I like to leave early, 3AM is a good time for us. I wake up bright and bushy tailed when it's time to go to Walt Disney World so I take the first shift. It was hard on our baby that last hour in the car when we drove straight through (16 hours or so) last year so even though we know we can do it (drive straight through, we've done it several times now) we are going to stop in the afternoon the first day and stay in a hotel so DS who will be 2 by then will be able to run around and play and not be cooped up in the car for too long during his awake hours. Once he's a bit older I hope to be able to drive straight through again though, it's so amazing to wake up in our own bed and eat dinner in Disney World. It feels so cool!

Happy travels!

[GrumpySue]

My DH and I drove straight through once, left NYC around 7:00 and arrived in Disney around 9:00 the next morning. I did not have trouble keeping awake, what did scare me was the thought of a deer or some other animal running into the road or the car breaking down, it is pretty dark and deserted on I-95 down south. Plus we felt pretty wiped out that first day, I would not do it again.

[BigRedDad]

Just to caveat my statement about headphones. Yes, it is probably illegal. However, you will see sirens at night LONG before you would hear them. Second, there are so few police on the highway over night to begin with. If you did see an officer, they definitely cannot see you inside your car to be able to tell if you have headphones.

[lynnek]

If you are planning on sleeping the first leg, remember the driver has "right of way" (that's what we call it)--temperature preferences--bring a blanket if you're next to him in the front seat, ear phones for YOU--he can play the music loud enough in the front to keep him happy and not be too loud for the kids--but definitely loud to you, also blocks out the irritating sounds of him opening/munching snacks etc. Another thing I found I really like, and actually puts my husband to sleep while I drive is books on tape/CD. Start listening prior to leaving so you are in the middle of an OMG, can't put the book down part:) I think you will be much happier on the Eastern Corridor at night!

[jonahbear2006]

We always drive straight through and I drive the entire trip. I sleep in that day and then take good nap in late am w the kids. We want the kids to be rested bc when we leave around 3pm or so we want them to try to use some awake time in the car for journals and talking about the trip until it gets dark. Then we start a movie on our laptop. We have a car stereo that takes an audio cable so a week before we load several movies onto our laptop. This prevents us from having to change things in and out and the audio cable allows the movie to be piped through the car's stereo. I pick movies I know pretty well so while driving I get to laugh at favorite quotes and listen to the story. Headphones is unnecessary and dangerous. I have never had to turn music off to keep the kids asleep and def. not hubby. I play it all night long and it isnt until morning that I start to get drowsy. I think the trick is to go fed and then drink water and dont eat again until youve arrived. Wait until you absolutely have to to add in any type of caffeine bc although it works short term, if you start using it early on in the trip it can really bottom you out . It makes you super tired. Bring Gum bc it helps and bring a small cooler with bottled water in it. If you do get so tired that you start to feel like you need to stop and there isnt a place right away you have the cold bottled water to dump on your head. Sounds funny but I have had to do this before. Not usually on the trip down but on the way back....that is the trip that is hard for me to drive straight through.

[spoiledraf]

We'll be leaving this Friday afternoon around 4. I took the day off and will do some final prep, take a good nap and we'll hit it soon after the wife gets off work. I'll drive til likely a little after midnight, let the wife drive for a few hours after we get through the mountains and are on some level ground in Ga. then I'll finish up. We have an ADR for Cape May Cafe at 10:30 Saturday morning. We are going to use that first day to check out some other resorts for our next visit while we wait for the arrival of my inlaws who made the decision to fly instead of joining us for a 17 hour drive. Sissies!

I love being able to set the cruise and go with next to no traffic in the middle of the night. Last trip we went over an hour in Ga. without seeing another car on our side of the road. Yes we'll be tired, but we'll be in bed by 7:30 and up before 7, checked in and at the parks for rope drop Sunday. Just hope the storm coming Floridas way plays nice.

And as to head phones, tried that. Bad idea. Not safe at all.

5 days til we leave! :mickey:

[ImLovinDisney]

I have done the overnight drive every trip for the past 10 years. I worked night shift for 8 years. We left around 7pm and arrived at the World around 6am. Not much to do at that time, unless they had a room ready which has been the case, on all but one trip we have taken, then we set up camp at a quiet pool and i napped until park opening. When we do get our room, I go shower, change, nap. Then we leave and are at MK for rope drop. I usually catch a cat nap in hall of presidents after lunch. I enjoy driving at night, no traffic, kids sleep, no potty breaks needed. Stop twice for gas. It's peaceful. I do know my limitations though, and this year we are leaving a day early and driving during the day. Kids are older now, so not do much "how much longer" etc. My best advice is to know your body and listen to it! when you feel like you need to blink just a little bit longer, it's usually too late. Have a wonderful & safe trip!!:mickey:

[steamboat willy]

Years ago when my DAD drove us to DISNEY, He worked on the railroad, got in off the Cresent at around 3:00 a.m. He would come into our rooms, turn ON the light and say "Time To Rise And Shine". That was our signal to climb into the back of the "Station Wagan" for our trip SOUTH. Wasn't hard because we knew we were going to Florida!:cool:
This trip, I'm going to copy his methods. Get to bed early (Yea Right), getting up around 3:00 a.m., leave BEFORE 4:00 a.m. DW and DGS will be back a sleep before we leave the driveway. This will give me a few hours of quiet and dark driving plus get us pass the dreaded Charlotte I-85/I-77 Interchange and will miss the rush hour morning traffic as well. This schedule will get us to ASMu a little after lunch. Just right for check-in an a dip in the pool!
First Monorail Ride for Grandson, Fireworks from the Poly Beach!:fworks:

ONLY 54 Days before our adventure begins!:thumbsup:

[PAYROLL PRINCESS]

We drove straight through last year. It wasn't as bad going to WDW but coming home was murder. You're already exhausted from running around the parks all week and that last stretch through CT to MA was so hard!

We left around 530pm and got to WDW around 600pm the following night. I didn't mind driving the first stretch even after working all day. However, when my sis was driving, I didn't want to fall asleep and leave her awake alone. We pulled over a couple of times in rest areas to catch a few minutes shut eye but that didn't work either. I said never again!

[Dracula766]

We drove from Houston 2 summers ago and the drive really wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

So, we're doing it again TONIGHT! :party:

We plan to hit the road around 5 pm.
We have 2-3 drivers depending on if my sister is willing to drive. I'm generally the nocturnal type anyway so I figure I will try to snooze while someone else drives and I'll take over when it gets dark.

I do recommend making use of the rest stops on the highway. They are generally very clean and well lit. Taking regular potty brakes and just getting out to walk around every hundred miles or so really helps keep you alert.

[bburky502]

Just to caveat my statement about headphones. Yes, it is probably illegal. However, you will see sirens at night LONG before you would hear them. Second, there are so few police on the highway over night to begin with. If you did see an officer, they definitely cannot see you inside your car to be able to tell if you have headphones.

So....because the police can't see you, that makes it ok???? :confused:
It is not only for sirens, it is also for car horns and the rumble strips on the side of the road for when you doze off while listening to your headphones.

[Disney Doll]

We won't actually try this until our kids are older (if ever). However, we have talked about it. DH is naturally a night owl. He is used to staying up late and gets a second wind after sundown. I am an early riser naturally. I would have him drive the wee hours of the morning and I would take over around 4am. The trick would be for me to trust him enough to allow myself to sleep. ;)

[PETE FROM NYC]

DW and I did the drive the last 2 Septs. I do it in daylight, but plan to arrive a day early, just in case of problems.
Both times, for that one night, we stayed in Knights Inn on Irlo Bronson Hwy, right outside of WDW. Its a real tiny mom and pop type of motel, with prices to match. Nothing fancy, free continental breakfast, all for under $40 per night.

[Pan]

We live outside Myrtle Beach SC. Always plan to leave about 3 a.m. Always leave by 5 a.m. Stop for breakfast a few hours in, stop again for lunch around Jacksonville. Usually make it to WDW by 3 p.m. Spend the first afternoon/evening at DTD just getting into the Disney groove. Check-in is always smooth, and last trip we actually hit MK on p.m. magic hours and rode most of our "must do" rides the first night. Made the rest of the trip easy because it was all a bonus from there. I can't speak for anyone driving from farther than me, but it sure is nice to miss most the traffic and still have time to spend doing whatever we choose. Just make sure your driver is fully rested, I would never put a Disney vacation above the safety of my family. If you need to leave earlier and stay over somewhere, please just do it. Also, know the limitations of your traveling party. It will do you no good to arrive at Disney a day earlier if everyone in your group is going to be cranky. Rested = happy.

[Suzi Q]

We've driven down from Michigan about 4 or 5 times, hubby is a trucker so he prefers to drive at night. He always picks the worst rest areas/truck stops, its a family joke. Last drive, one in Tennessee had a bunch of confederate flags flying (we're a racially mixed family) and a very young hooker hitting on all the truckers not mention the bathroom was the worst I'd ever been in; and a public rest area in Indiana was really clean and new - but there was a creepy man in a dress in the ladies room! It was the middle of the night and I was glad i didn't let the 16 yr teen girl go in by herself! Interesting drive, thats for sure!

[DonLefNY]

We make the trip twice a year (once south and then north) but do not drive after dark. Somtime we will start out very early, say 5 or 4 AM.