Give me the truth about driving from Ontario ;)

[minnie mum]

You can go to TripAdvisor to look up reviews on the hotels. Just enter the city and select the accommodations tab. It will display the hotels in the city. I like that I can see pictures as well as amenities and recent ratings and reviews.

 

[Aytons4him]

You can go to TripAdvisor to look up reviews on the hotels. Just enter the city and select the accommodations tab. It will display the hotels in the city. I like that I can see pictures as well as amenities and recent ratings and reviews.

Thanks Minnie mum!!

 

[migel]

Okay, just a driving update. We arrived in Kissimmee yesterday after the DRIVE. Here's the good & bad,

the 3 of us left the Niagara area at 3:30 am, Friday morning. We were at the Peace Bridge by 4:10...... and they had only two lanes open, cars aleady backed up.

50 minutes later we were through.

We drove the 79, 77, 95 route. Weather was great, 3 pretty quick stops (breakfast, lunch and gas to go). I reserved an overnight in Columbia SC.

We hit Friday traffic approaching Charlotte NC, that slowed us down by 30 min. We arrived at our hotel by 5:40 pm, Friday night. We skipped breakfast and started early the next morning, by 5:45 am. Heavy rain at times, but we got through the stretch of the I26 easily, it's still all under construction (last year this was a slow traffic congested road).

Roads through the rest of SC and Georgia were fine. We did hit pretty big congestion on the I4 approaching Orlando, added about 20 min to the drive. Once you passed the Universal exit, it all opened up. BTW, the entire length of the I4 was slow and bogged down eastbound.

Made it to our place in west Kissimmee by 1 pm to sunny, 30 degree temps!

Happy March Break!

 

[hardis5]

Those flight prices don't exist anymore. Three years ago I got $220/pp on JetBlue at their Christmas sale for the one person who wasn't driving, with the dollar around par. Maybe that's what you're thinking of. When looking this year thinking I'd fly for once, prices were never ever under $350 pp and a rising exchange rate. For four people it didn't make sense. I have always driven, from Midwestern Ontario. My gas cost estimated per Gas Buddy today is $172.00. I drive a Civic.

We were going to drive (again as just did early last month) in August doing a WDW pre-stay and DCL cruise. When Southwest released their latest dates (with $99 out of Buffalo to Orlando) it spurned me to look elsewhere. I've had a friend fly Spirit out of Pittsburgh so we looked at them out of Detroit. We ended up booking an Orlando direct flight for $59 USD and booked back out of Tampa direct for $79 USD so for $138 USD each (or around $170 CDN at that time) all 6 of us will be flying for $1020 CDN.

True we will still have a 4 hr drive to Detroit with parking ($60 USD) and a one-way rental from PC to Tampa ($104 CDN for a van) but with the cost of gas around $275 USD last month with our van (forget Gas Buddy's underestimated costs and gas has gone up about 15% since last month), meals on the road for all and (maybe if exhausted) a nights accommodation on the road, for a few hundred $ more we eliminate better than 32 hours of driving, arrive late morning down south and leaving to return north early evening (great flight times). Add the bonus of not arriving exhausted from a drive straight (we've done numerous times) or adding the cost of accommodation with a stop en-route AND not having to do the long drive back after a relaxing vacation (the worst part of driving) we'll really enjoy flying this time around with the cheap flights found. Now all we have to hope is the airline stays afloat till we return

 

[flopnut2112]

We have driven twice from Hamilton. Family of 5 March break 2012 2 drivers straight through 21 hours down and 23 hours back. August 2008 we stopped in SC overnight both ways.
We are doing it again this coming Christmas break. Planning on stopping in Charleston SC on the way down and play it by ear where to stop on the way back. My active 71 year old mother in law is joining us so straight through is not an option.
My wife and I both prefer to drive the bulk of the trip at night when going straight through. Leaving at 4-5 pm and waiting the hour to cross the border. This gets you to SC around sunrise in March. We try to do 5-6 hour shifts each.

 

[migel]

Just arrived back this afternoon after
an overnight in WV. North Carolina once again proved to be my nemesis, we lost a full hour stuck in traffic due to a 4-5 car accident (including an RV!) I must have seen a dozen accidents on this trip, including a fully loaded 18-wheeler that rolled over in the ditch, multi car crashes, etc. Maybe because it was Cnd March Break, but I am definitely having second thoughts about driving again anytime soon. The troopers are out in full force, mainly in the Carolinas and Virginias, pulling cars over left and right. Driving home, the Ontario plates outnumbered any other plate 2 to 1.

Luckily, even though we hit snow squalls approaching Buffalo this morning, the Border wait was only 20 minutes, although it was backing up very quickly. We saved a bundle by driving this time around, but I am looking forward to flying in August.

 

[slusher]

We were going to drive (again as just did early last month) in August doing a WDW pre-stay and DCL cruise. When Southwest released their latest dates (with $99 out of Buffalo to Orlando) it spurned me to look elsewhere. I've had a friend fly Spirit out of Pittsburgh so we looked at them out of Detroit. We ended up booking an Orlando direct flight for $59 USD and booked back out of Tampa direct for $79 USD so for $138 USD each (or around $170 CDN at that time) all 6 of us will be flying for $1020 CDN.

True we will still have a 4 hr drive to Detroit with parking ($60 USD) and a one-way rental from PC to Tampa ($104 CDN for a van) but with the cost of gas around $275 USD last month with our van (forget Gas Buddy's underestimated costs and gas has gone up about 15% since last month), meals on the road for all and (maybe if exhausted) a nights accommodation on the road, for a few hundred $ more we eliminate better than 32 hours of driving, arrive late morning down south and leaving to return north early evening (great flight times). Add the bonus of not arriving exhausted from a drive straight (we've done numerous times) or adding the cost of accommodation with a stop en-route AND not having to do the long drive back after a relaxing vacation (the worst part of driving) we'll really enjoy flying this time around with the cheap flights found. Now all we have to hope is the airline stays afloat till we return

Those are good rates. Nothing like that was available for March Break though.

 

[slusher]

We stayed at the Super 8 in Macon GA for $39 on a coupon book rate a week ago. Always get the coupon book. It's your basic overnighter, and beds are okay.