[bazrim]

Hi everyone. Thanks for the responses to my last thread. We are booked in a Savannah room, but with reading the 4 WDW books I have I am really confused as to which trail to request. We don't want to have to walk too far to get to our room when we get back from the parks, but we don't want to be in a really noisy part of the hotel either. Am I asking for too much??? We are only 23 more days until we leave. Has anyone ever driven from Philly?

[preidel24]

Can't answer your AKL questions because we never stayed there. But we have driven not from Philly but from NJ. Central/South Jersey just 30 mins from Philly. Any question I would be glad to answer.

Paula

[bazrim]

How long did it take you to drive from New Jersey to Florida? Did you stop and sleep somewhere or did you drive right through?

[mickey]

I usually request a room in the Zebra Trail of the resort, somewhere near the elevator if possible. That way, you are far enough away from the lobby to miss the noise, but close enough to be a close walk. You are also near the pool, so access is a breeze.


Good luck with your drive!

[preidel24]

It took us about 16 hours to get to St. Pete's Beach (1 hour, 15 mins south of WDW). We started off at 11:30PM of course there was no traffic. My DH drove while the kids and I slept. Then at around 6AM I took over and drove so my DH could sleep. We stopped twice once for breakfast and once for lunch (and of course we stopped for gas). We found it easier just to drive straight through. When we arrived at St Pete's we checked-in, freshened up and went out to dinner. After dinner we turned in early and felt fresh and rested the next day.

This year (Nov) we are driving again. We will leave again at night (it's so easy to travel the road are deserted). We will arrive in Orlando and spend our first night just relaxing and the following day at Universal. Then on to the big WDW birthday bash vacation.

We've done it both ways, driving and flying. The flight is much easier because you get their quicker. For us traveling with kids by the time we got up early for the flight from Philly, dropped the car off and took the transfer to the airport, checked everyone in, all the airport stuff, waiting for luggage, limo etc.. It takes a good 6-8 hours from home, to plane, to orlando to WDW. For us the 1,000 we saved on airfare let's us do other things at disney and we can choose to arrive and go home when we want (last time we stayed an extra day at WDW). Hope that helps.

Paula

[bazrim]

Thanks preidel24 for all the info. It was extremely helpful. We plan on leaving Philly @ 6:30pm. My husband wants to drive straight through, but I want to stop and sleep somewhere. It seems like 11:00 to 11:30pm is the time to leave. Maybe we will do that. There are so many things to remember. Anyway, we are so excited. My husband cannot picture what WDW looks like. I keep telling him once he's been there he will be hooked. He has Six Flags Great Adventure pictured in his mind and I keep telling him it's like nothing he's ever seen. Well only 22 more days to go!!!!!

[WDWNutCase]

But I have driven from New Brunswick, Canada. Actually, we drove to south Florida. It took us about 32 hours straight. My husband and I would trade off. I'd sleep, he'd drive, he'd sleep, I'd drive. Just try to time it so that you are not hitting Washington DC at any time close to 5:00 - 9:00 am or 4:00 - 7:00 pm. Both are horrible rush hours. Luckily for us at 5:30 AM the traffic wasn't so heavy that we got stuck on the belt. It was still pretty darned heavy, though! You're lucky in that you are already below NYC so you don't have to worry about any rush hours there. We get caught three ways going from NB. We hit Boston, NYC AND Washington so we time our drives VERY carefully!

[timsha]

bazrim,

Just got back from AKL 8/17 - 8/24. We stayed out on the Zebra trail... If you get out by the elevators (just past them) it is quiet (as quiet as a Disney resort gets)... Even if you are on the end of the trail, it is not a bad walk (parks all day and PI at night). If you have little ones, go to the end of the Zebra trail around 11:30 AM (if you are at the resort). They take the animlas in for a couple of hours and they are very close to the back of the trail and you can get some great close up pictures of the wild life.

Loved the resort, but the weather was terrible!!!

Have a safe trip / drive down :) :) :)

[ppe]

LOVED AKL. Our favorite WDW hotel and will be going back!!!

We stayed in Zebra overlooking the giraffes' savanna - could see pool to right (were at the end, in a short wing off of Zebra). It was a pleasure even in the rain to sit and watch the giraffes eat and wander. Anything on Zebra should be great.

Kudzu is okay if you are facing the savanna with the outcropping.
But I would say NO NO to the Ostrich Trail or Kudzu Trail on the side facing the Ostrich Trail. These rooms "savanna" view are of mostly BIRDS. Ostrich, vultures etc. What makes it worse it that there are paved driveways and fencing all through it so it has a "service entrance" look to it.

You said savanna so I assume you won't look to Giraffe trail, but it is over the parking, bus drop, pool and restaurants. Too busy for me.

Don't worry about walk to room, the hotel is so beautiful and so much to look at that you won't even notice. Window and porches all along the hallways, African art and of course hidden mickeys.

Be sure to get a schedule of all the activities in the hotel ! African crafts, stories and games, Night vision of animals (you can see them sleeping laying down), music and many students from Africa that will talk to you at length.

Have a wonderful trip !!!!

ps There are hotel floor plan maps online at some sights if you haven't seen one.

pss Since you are driving - we always do - we drive to ALL the parks. Hotel id gets you parking for free and so much faster than WDW transportation, except maybe MK. Depends on bus schedule and your days plans.

[dalspot]

Hi Bazrim - we drove down in August - we're in DE just south of you (45 min). We left in the afternoon about 3:30 on a Friday - and drove down to Emporia VA for the first night, then went to Daytona Beach for the second night and were only about 50-60 min from DW at that point. We were checked in and at the Animal Kingdom by 9:45.

We took the auto train home - was a lot of fun, met a nice family from DC, but didn't get much sleep in the coach seats. If you have a car (as opposed to a VAN/SUV), you can get tickets off ebay pretty cheap with a 30-60 day window of opportunity. I really liked having our car with us - we stayed at CBR, and if we went out in the AM, we drove to the parks (we had AAA parking too which is right at the end of the handicap parking) and then later in the day, we took the buses. Never drove to the Magic Kingdom.

If you drive, take a trip to the Walmart in Kissimmee - they have lots of Disney stuff at half the price of the parks.

[MickeyCrazy]

Did anyone happen to take I95 to Florida recently? We heard traffic was terrible because of road work. It took someone we know 17 hours instead of 13 hours from central Viriginia to Florida.

[iluvwdw]

Originally posted by bazrim
He has Six Flags Great Adventure pictured in his mind and I keep telling him it's like nothing he's ever seen.

HAHAHA, bazrim! I am a native New Yorker and Six Flags Great Adventure is a JOKE compared to Walt Disney World!!! He will be so amazed once he walks through the gates of the MK. That should be your first park there. So he can see the castle down Main Street USA for the very first time.

We are driving from New York City in February....has anyone ever driven from this area before? We plan on leaving at about 8pm and we will drive straight through (stopping to eat and get gas!) This will definitely be an experience to remember!! LOL...:dazed

[jessie]

We drove from Syracuse, NY last October. We left about 12 noon on Saturday and we arrived on Sunday morning around 11am. What a trip, very long but was fun. Just stopped for gas and food. We will probably be driving when we go in Oct 2005.
Jess

[iluvwdw]

Originally posted by jessie
We drove from Syracuse, NY last October. We left about 12 noon on Saturday and we arrived on Sunday morning around 11am. What a trip, very long but was fun. Just stopped for gas and food. We will probably be driving when we go in Oct 2005.
Jess

Very cool...It says around 17 hours or so from here...I will have my son with us, who will be 2 years and 4 months at that time. So I want to get as much on the road time as possible while he is sleeping! That's why I am going to start like 8pm and he will sleep until 7 the next morning! It is going to be interesting....:dazed

[MrDisneyfan1]

Hi Everyone!
We live Connecticut, and we drive all the time, unless business brings only myself and my DW to Florida, then we fly. With our little DS (1 1/2) we split the drive in two days, we leave about 3am and drive all day, and then the next days is a breeze, maybe 4 hours or so. But we make it part of our adventure!
Have a safe drive everyone...
Den:madmad
I tend to drive faster as I get closer....watch out Oct 24th