Give me the truth about driving from Ontario ;)

[smashing]

We are looking at going in January. We would normally fly out of buffalo but this time we would be renting a house off property with my parents and siblings. There would be 3 cars leaving from Barrie area. How long would the trip really take and what is the drive like? We would have to stop along the way several times for washroom breaks, etc. My husband is going to fight tooth and nail not to drive....lol. But with being off sight and with everyone else driving I think we can do it . Saves us renting a car too

 

[WDW Fan Since 1973]

When we were driving down, we used to figure on 2 1/2 days to get there and the same coming back. That was based on 24 hours of DRIVING--from Stoney Creek--about an hour from Fort Erie. That meant 2 stayovers going and 2 coming back. Whether you stay over depends on how you want to make up those 24 hours. Driving through was never an option with us. About 10 hours a day on the road was enough for us. On the 3rd day we would get into Orlando about Noon. Yes, it was cheaper; but, once we started flying down, we have never driven it again. 5 days more to spend in FLA. Good Luck. P.S. If you're going by way of Erie, PA--IS77, 79, etc., watch out for those speed traps around 19A (Hico)!!!

 

[smashing]

That's what kills me, I would be much happier staying longer in FL then 5 days on the road . If it wasn't for the extra car rental I may just wait and see what flights out of buffalo end up being .
Also the dollar is driving me nuts right now. Time to go airmiles crazy and try get more free tickets

 

[migel]

From the Hamilton area, we left at 4:00 am. Driving the speed limit, and with only occasional bathroom breaks and a quick lunch stop, we arrived in Columbia South Carolina by 6 pm. Stayed overnight, then on the road by 7:30 am, brief lunch stop, we arrived at the condo by 3 pm (west Kissimmee). On the return trip, we stayed over in West Virginia, leaving the second day's drive shorter. This was during good weather though, January weather is a wild card.

 

[Skjhjb]

We have driven twice from Fergus (near Guelph/Kitchener).

The first year we left about 4am, and made really good time. We stayed one night on the road. We also had 3 kids in the back of a Mazda 6 (never again).

Two years later (this past May) we went again. This time, we left about 10pm. My daughter was in her school play, so we left the Friday night after the performance. We had a new van this time, so we drove that.

DH LOVED the drive through the night. We drove until 2:30pm and stopped for lunch at a Diners Drive-Ins and Dives stop for a lunch break. (We stopped for fast food earlier in the day for breakfast). That put us in Marietta, Georgia. Then we drove until about 7pm and DH was done. We had a quick dinner, and he was out like a light by 8:30.

But day 2, we were in Orlando by 1-2:00 ish.

We like the drive, but our oldest (19) says she can't do it again. She gets motion sickness if she reads or plays iPad games, so she was super bored. The other two were fine with the drive.

We just couldn't justify another $500/person for flights when we went!

 

[bankr63]

It all depends on how much your drivers (and passengers) like driving. I'm dying to have my 2 kids get their darned licenses so we can split it up, then we can really push through. With 4 drivers in the car, each driver only has to take 2 shifts of 3 hours each way. That's easy!

This March I'm doing the full drive down with DS (16) in the navigator chair. DW joins us down there on the Saturday of second week; she's flying down and will share driving on the trip back. Plan is one overnight each way, but I love to be on the road, so long stretches don't really bother me. I think on our Myrtle Beach drive last year she probably drove for about 3 hours total and I was good with that.

 

[smashing]

My son gets motion sickness too. Same thing can't do anything other then look out the windows without feeling ill. We drove to NYC last year and I was worried about him. We bought the seabands to help with motion sickness and he did pretty good.
I actually get bad motion sickness on the plane and also can't watch the TV or play games, etc.

 

[Greenfield1984]

January would be a less then ideal time of the year to drive down. You never know what kind of weather will be thrown at you. I've been hit on long drives with bad weather causing bumper to bumper traffic on the highway due to accidents.

January also means you don't get the luxury of all the nice rest stops along the way. I actually find most of the rest stops to be really pretty and peaceful being secluded in a forested area. Nice for a picnic.

So if you picked a less wintery time of the year to go i'd definitely recommend these rest stops over McDonalds.

I've made the trek a couple of times out of Ottawa to both Myrtle Beach and Orlando which takes approximately 18 hours and 25 hours when driven straight through. And I do drive it straight through.

I've got young children and I find driving through the night to be quite beneficial because they have no problem sleeping in the car and it means less time hearing them fighting . Its also obviously quite a bit quicker rather then stopping overnight.

Halfway through we stopped at a Chuck E Cheese. This was a fun/good idea as it broke up the drive somewhat without really slowing us down too much.

As much as i'm an advocate of night driving I happen to be a night owl so drowsiness isn't an issue. I'm also really good at napping in the car so when my wife is driving i'm getting an adquate ammount of rest. If you are one to nod off while driving then this might not be a good idea for you.

Also the savings are absolutely crazy by driving down. Especially with the current really low gas prices. I think i priced it out from ottawa to Orlando and it wasn't even $400. I'm a family of 5. Imagine how much it would cost to fly us all down there. Add to that the fact that we don't have to rent a car while down there.

The drive, while long, isn't actually that bad. It becomes part of the trip. I'd recommend downloading an audio book to listen to in the car. Personally i'm a horror fan so the World War Z audio book is really super produced with famous actors doing alot of the voice work (way better then the movie).

Finally by driving down you also cut out alot of the hasstle of an airport. I've had horrible experiences of multiple flight delays and a full day being cut out of our trip due to errors on Deltas end. This way you have no stress about making connecting flights or arriving at an airport hours before your flight.

Theres no doubt that if flight prices were lower i'd be flying. I'm just saying that with the savings you will be having it really isn't that terrible to drive down. Just think maybe about finding a warmer time to go .

 

[smashing]

I am concerned with the time of year as well. Some of the snow storms can be nasty!!
The issue is others in the group can only get off work at that time of year .
We are actually talking about leaving Boxing Day or the day after. Then having almost 2 weeks in Florida...with all the kids only missing one week of school . That would hopefully give us a bit of flexibility if we needed it for waiting for a storm to pass.

 

[WDW Fan Since 1973]

Yes, flights can be expensive--more so, with a 75 cent dollar--but you have to rationalize where you want to spend your vacation time--at a resort, or on the road! We used to gulp and pay $400+ to carriers like Air Transat, WestJet, or Sunwing. Then we discovered Southwest. Last year, 8 of us flew out of Buffalo for under $2000 USD. This year, 6 of us are going for just under $1500 USD. I know the rate exchange will bump that up, but it was still way cheaper than any of those others. We, almost always, go in May. A couple of times we have gone in October--MNSSHP. Again, have a good trip--regardless of what your choice is--and enjoy your WDW stay. For you, I think going by way of Erie/Pittsburgh (I79/I77, etc.,) would be your best route. We did I75 (Windsor/Detroit) once and didn't like it at all.

 

[mort1331]

Yes, flights can be expensive--more so, with a 75 cent dollar--but you have to rationalize where you want to spend your vacation time--at a resort, or on the road! We used to gulp and pay $400+ to carriers like Air Transat, WestJet, or Sunwing. Then we discovered Southwest. Last year, 8 of us flew out of Buffalo for under $2000 USD. This year, 6 of us are going for just under $1500 USD. I know the rate exchange will bump that up, but it was still way cheaper than any of those others. We, almost always, go in May. A couple of times we have gone in October--MNSSHP. Again, have a good trip--regardless of what your choice is--and enjoy your WDW stay. For you, I think going by way of Erie/Pittsburgh (I79/I77, etc.,) would be your best route. We did I75 (Windsor/Detroit) once and didn't like it at all.

This is great and what we have done everyyear, until last. Flying out of Buffalo and hit with a snow storm, lost 3 out of 8 days, and added $1000 for new flights out of TO.
This march we will driving the first time. I have never had an issue driving. Out to both coasts, but this will be the first for the DW so we will see what happens next year.

 

[lizzyb]

Did the drive last year and will be doing it again. We started at 3am and stopped around 6 for the night. The next day we only had the shorter drive. We enjoyed it. Having said that we drove in August. Going in January I would definately recommend taking your time as weather is unpredictable.

 

[PanamaMike]

Solo driver from Toronto.
Have made the trip 4 times over the years.
Usually leave around 800 am and drive 13-14 hours (I-75) getting into Tennessee before stopping for the night.
Next day, on the road around same time and into Orlando around 5pm.

Have done the drive in early Nov, early Dec, early Jan & late February.

Heavy snowfall from Ohio to Toronto coming home mid-Dec slowed travel but clear conditions all my other trips.

Have flown from Toronto 3 times and Buffalo once, but having unlimited time off when I go, I prefer to drive and not be locked into airline schedules.

 

[cisco911]

It all depends on the weather and the confidence of the drivers. I'm not a big fan of doing it if you plan on stopping often because you end up spending two or three days on the road each way. That can be almost as much as the time you spend down there. We usually do it straight and can be there in one day from Toronto. From toronto to Disney it is 2,100kms. We usually leave the night before at 8pm and can be at the resort the next day in the afternoon depending on traffic and stops for check in at the hotel. Driving through the night saves you a lot of time as there a fewer people on the highways. Also if you have little ones they sleep the entire night and makes the trip feel a lot shorter for them.

 

[Evelyne]

It all depends on the weather and the confidence of the drivers. I'm not a big fan of doing it if you plan on stopping often because you end up spending two or three days on the road each way. That can be almost as much as the time you spend down there. We usually do it straight and can be there in one day from Toronto. From toronto to Disney it is 2,100kms. We usually leave the night before at 8pm and can be at the resort the next day in the afternoon depending on traffic and stops for check in at the hotel. Driving through the night saves you a lot of time as there a fewer people on the highways. Also if you have little ones they sleep the entire night and makes the trip feel a lot shorter for them.

Totally agree the more you stop the longer it seems. We drive down 1 or 2 a year since the past 20 years. True the roads in Winter can play tricks but hopefully we never had serious issues.

 

[mmrocks]

I agree with Migel's timeline. We have driven from Grimsby at least 5 times. It has never taken more than two days. It is a nice drive, mostly two lane divided highway. We take the route through Pennsylvania and the Virginias, we use a trip kit from CAA for the route. I think the only worry would be he weather, but if you are somewhat flexible watch the weather and adjust your route or schedule to miss the snow storms. Being from Barrie you know you can't avoid the lake effect snow from Lake Erie.

 

[4one6]

Leaving from Toronto. Last time I went it was just me and my gf though. We did the buffalo, pensilvayna, Virginias, Carolina's way. Left at 3am in a Tuesday morning. Got there around 9am weds morning. Just me driving too. It's a good thing my job has training my body to stay away for 30 some odd hours at a time and still be wide awake. Coming back we take our time though and have a rest over in West Virginia.

 

[Pinkgurlshubby]

We've done that drive only once..from Paris. No not that Paris the other one that's in Ontario LOL
We left around 7 am and arrived in Orlando the next day around 11:30 am.
My parents had the GPS last and it was set to avoid all major interstates and toll roads. The problems started right after crossing into the States at Niagara Falls. We were so far off course we stopped to get a map. After 3 hours driving we had roughly 150 kilometers traveled. Another hour and we found a gas station/variety store. I have no idea where we were but they set us straight.
Next mess up was avoiding Charleston. we turned onto 19 a few hours too soon.
We stopped twice for about an hour nap. Mind you we did swap back and fourth I didn't drive this alone.
I would drive it again anyday, just would stop halfway and get a hotel.

 

[hardis5]

We've driven down numerous times and will be again this week with the grandparents. This time around we will be splitting the drive over two days leaving early morning (before 5am) and driving through to Columbia SC (like a PP). This leaves a short 6+ hour drive for the 2nd day.

In August with just the kids we will drive straight through. Leaving just after lunch one day puts us in the Orlando area before lunch the next. This is with 3 drivers rotating (rotating more frequently overnight). When pricing out flights (with 6 and the flight times out of Buffalo) and a vehicle down there compared to $300 in gas plus $300 in meals, having us tough out the drive each way we end up saving about $1800 US and with the exchange what is is now, I'd rather have a large part of our expense covered while down there with this $$$. I was briefly temped by the ridiculously low cost of flying Spirit out of Cleveland (direct to boot), but add in the cheapest off-site hotel parking ($60 US), the vehicle cost down there ($350 for a van) and flying still taking 14 hours (2 hours prior to each flight at each end plus the drive to and from Cleveland), I'd be spending about $1200 US to avoid 22 hours of driving. We still loose that 1/2 on each side so opted to save and drive.

With just the kids and if not driving through, we normally leave around the dinner hour and drive through to Columbia SC again. We find starting the drive at night works best if stopping on the way with just the kids as the youngest just beyond a toddler, he will be asleep within a few hours in the car and the majority of that first days driving that is done overnight. The only concern leaving at night are deer in PA and WV (scary).

 

[DisneyDaddy-O]

From the Hamilton area, we left at 4:00 am. Driving the speed limit, and with only occasional bathroom breaks and a quick lunch stop, we arrived in Columbia South Carolina by 6 pm. Stayed overnight, then on the road by 7:30 am, brief lunch stop, we arrived at the condo by 3 pm (west Kissimmee). On the return trip, we stayed over in West Virginia, leaving the second day's drive shorter. This was during good weather though, January weather is a wild card.

This exactly! We leave at 3am and get to Rock Hill, SC. Usually around 7-8pm. Get up the next morning on the road at 7ish and into WDW for early supper. again this is in good weather months. The truth about driving is...the trip home stinks no matter how you do it, it seems to take forever. The first day is not bad but the second day is a bear.