@qwerty6 No rental car. We only use Disney transportation. I’d rather have two more park days than spend them on the road. If a trip takes over 6 hours, we fly.
Ah - I wasn’t thinking you would go to the park on the day you arrived and the day you left.
We usually only spend five park days from open to close.
@qwerty6 In December our flight left Louisville at 6:15 AM. We were at Epcot at 10:30 AM using ME and the Skyliner from Pop.
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That’s another whole conversation and I do not want to detract from Ryan’s report anymore. 
I appreciate the necessity in your family’s case, but if that was my only option, I just wouldn’t go. If I’m driving alone, the 7.5 hours it takes me to get to Orlando is about the most I can take. With two drivers I can stretch it to 10-11 hours, but at that point I say just get me out of this &*^%^$% car. But of course I didn’t grow up taking car trips. My father’s feeling was if it takes more than 2 hours to get to, it wasn’t worth going. He would make an exception once a year and drive the full 3 hours it took to get my mom’s sister’s house.
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This is kind of like me. For the couple of years that I had an AP I would go into the parks on arrival day, but if I only have a 5-day pass, I don’t use on for a half day. I never go to the parks on departure day as I know I have the dreaded 7.5 hour drive ahead of me.
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My kids consider the drive a large part of the fun. So do I. I love to see it all. My daughter (10) actually suggested that if we couldn’t go anywhere this summer, maybe we could just drive around.
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I love a road trip too! We routinely drive to DLR which is 18 hours. We don’t do it one day, however.
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I love road trips, too! However I have discovered that about 10-12 hours is my limit for one leg, especially with young children. I will sometimes even break that up into 6 hours one afternoon / evening and then the other 6 hours in the morning. Disneyland is only 6 hours from us so that is no big deal, but I will fly if it’s just me and my wife.
We drove 14 hours / 1000 miles from Phoenix to San Antonio in one day once and I vowed never to do that again. I lost my instinctual driving ability by the time we were pulling into town and was at my wits’ end. It wasn’t safe, so next time if we have to go that far, definitely splitting it up or flying.
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Yes. What we can do, and what we enjoy, are two different things. My husband and I do trade off some, too. And if he were not the excellent driver that he is, I’m not sure we would’ve ever traveled where we have.
When we are doing a 2 1/2 week long road trip with many stops in many states, I usually plan about 500 miles a day tops. We will usually start our trips with an overnight drive.
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Chapter five - Bust
In which miracles occur, and weather abates
Many folks tremble at the thought of traveling by car for hours on end, so the road trip planned this day was not for the faint of heart. Fortunately for the family, even the 8 hours 52 minutes drive time predicted by Google, plus stops for food and restrooms was old hat. I’m fact, 12+ hour drives were normal. This family was not faint of heart.
Things weren’t looking so good to start. Poseidon has missed the family entirely the day before, and so tried to attack again the morning before they left.
But the family outsmarted the beast again and was on the road before a single droplet could reach their windshield. And, in fact, the entire day’s drive, there was maybe ten minutes of light rain at best, despite a few ominous looking clouds at times and one rainbow!
Breakfast at McDonald’s (for the family didn’t trust using the “free breakfast” in the hotel). Lunch was at Wendy’s…and it was clear that the experience at the first hotel was not the norm. People were mostly adhering to mask wearing in both Kentucky and Tennessee. Georgia, however, was a bit more hit and miss…but they did have digital signs encouraging people to be on their guard against the beast COVID.
Something both disturbing and miraculous happened along their journey. For passage through Atlanta has always been an hours long ordeal, and the family girded their loins for the long trek through the city (meaning, they used the restrooms ahead of time). Only…the roads were practically empty…at 5:00 in the evening rush! The husband was even heard muttering, “Something’s not right. He’s UP to something.”
But, alas, it truly was a miracle. 6 lanes of uninterrupted travel.
There was a short backup about 40 miles south of Atlanta due to an accident. Once through, the family stopped for nourishment from Subway. As with all other meals, they consumed the food in their vehicle for safety.
And around 8:00 pm, just like that, they were in the Comfort Inn in Cordele, GA.
The time came for sleep…one last sleep before officially arriving. Universal or bust!
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In general, how strict are your speed limits?
In the UK, the motorway (three lane highway between cities) has a limit of 70mph, but I’d typically hit 80mph on a free-running road and 90mph on a quiet one.
On ‘A’ roads (single lane road between towns) the limit is 60mph and people tend to stick to that, or even drop to 45mph if they’re not familiar with the road.
I”m pretty certain I’ve driven on that exact stretch of road.
Most people tend to hover within plus or minus 5 MPH. (Moreso the plus side than the minus side.) Going 75 MPH or faster in a 70 MPH zone puts at risk of a ticket.
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It really depends on the state, and sometimes the county. Georgia is the worst. Very particular localities where you really don’t want to be 5 mph over the posted limit.
I’ve been on interstate 95 - main road thru Florida - where the speed limit is maybe 70, 75. Doing 84 will get you passed by most.
Alabama arena Mississippi are like that too.
Are you sure this was Atlanta?? 
Great to see the highway there so empty-only time I’ve ever seen it like that was driving through in the middle of the night. Looking forward to reading about your Universal experience!
In Arizona I have actually had cops tell me that driving 10 over the limit is ok. Pretty much everyone does so. I’d say 5 over for limits up to 35, then 10 over for 45-65, and you can get away with 15 over on the desert highways (unless you are approaching a speed trap town or on a reservation).
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In NJ, people driving the speed limit are considered slow and get passed… And often given the 1 finger salute. 
On a 65 MPH road, most folks drive 80-85.
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Chapter Six -
In which a family draws close, then walks the City
The husband decided it was time to make this a more traditional trip report and will drop the storytelling method for now.
We got up early and had to head out by 7:30 so we could make it to the airport about when DS and DIL were arriving. Had breakfast at McDonald’s again, and then made good time in great weather. Their plane landed a little before 12:00, and we picked them up around 12:40. At this point we squeezed into the van with their luggage.
Found a McDonald’s for lunch before getting to Endless summer resort at just before 2:00. Despite the 3:00 check-in, our rooms were ready and I was able to check in.
Our room overlooked the pool. After unloading our luggage, we decided to head over to CityWalk in order to get ahead of some rain coming in. It was a short bus ride over.
After stopping into the Universal store at Citywalk we headed back to the hotel. Now, we are resting a bit as the rain pours outside. We will eat dinner downstairs in the hotel quick service and then hopefully get to the pool later.
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