Got it. My babies are small so 3
can fit in a queen bed which is great for now lol… Thank you so much for all the tips.
I’m putting another “avoid Atlanta traffic at all costs” out there. We hit it often on the drive to/from Birmingham/North Carolina. 8 lanes each way and packed to the gills if you hit it at the wrong time of day. We drove through last Sunday at around noon and there was an accident and it was horrible. But Atlanta is often unavoidable so just try really hard to hit it either really early (5:00 or earlier) or really late (8 pm or later) or between 11-2. Keep in mind that even if trafffic is flowing well it takes an hour to get through Atlanta so arriving into one side at 3 pm isn’t quite good enough to avoid traffic. We always have to time our drives to avoid Charlotte AND Atlanta…almost impossible to do if anything unexpected happens, lol.
Thank you for your tips. We were thinking of leaving here around 2am here and 3am Atlanta time and roughly passing through around 1 or 1:30pm. I dnt know if its a good plan but we have to be in Florida on Saturday. We don’t care what time we check into Macon,GA but just trying to figure out and time what time we will be passing by Atlanta so we won’t hit the traffic if we could avoid it.
1 Like
I live in the Atlanta area and totally understand your frustration! Driving in a Friday could be tough no matter what time. It isn’t always terrible, but you definitely want to time your travel to pass through late morning to early afternoon. If you are traveling on a holiday it is especially difficult to predict “rush hour” as everyone seems to get a head start on the end of the work day. Weekends are usually better, but check for ball games and Atlanta events so you aren’t surprised! Pray it doesn’t rain or snow!!!
Ryan makes some great points…I would suggest getting through Chattanooga into the Dalton area if you can. Traffic on 75 leaving Chattanooga has been particularly challenging during our last few trips for no obvious reason regardless of time of day. (We have lots of family in that area, too.)
Your GPS will probably be your best bet, but we travel 285-675-75-Florida turnpike when going to Orlando for what it’s worth.
Our least favorite part of the drive is the return trip around Jonesboro, McDonough and Hampton exits. Make sure you’ve stopped for a bathroom break and something cold to drink before you get there just in case. If you get stuck and need a break, you can stop at Truett’s Grill - one of the original Chick-Fil-A restaurants.
Safe travels! … and in behalf of the city of Atlanta, I am sorry about our traffic!
I wonder if it might be worth it to stop on the north side of Atlanta and continue on your way on Saturday morning? I would think that traffic at say 8 or 9 am on a Saturday wouldn’t be bad at all. Not sure what time you want to arrive in Orlando on Saturday but it might be worth not stressing about Friday traffic if you just stopped in north Atlanta. Thoughts from others who experience Atlanta traffic more regularly?
So Chattanooga is also challenging? We are thinking of going 294 South to 80/94 east to 65 South then 65 to 24 East to then to 75 South. If that makes sense. Leaving 2am central time and hitting Atlanta around 1ish and arrive 3pm in Macon and stay for the night.
Im sorry if I sound silly but I have no sense of directions from north to south east to west. Where is the northside of Atlanta?
Well you’ll be driving south from Illinois to Orlando. It looks like Macon is about 1 hour south of Atlanta. I’m suggesting that instead of trying to get through Atlanta on Friday what if you get almost to Atlanta and then stop for the day and continue on your way on Saturday morning? Then you’d deal with Atlanta on Saturday morning instead of at any point on Friday. I think traffic’s got to be better at any hour on a Saturday than it is at any hour on a Friday! It would take some stress off, too…if you have to stop a million times and don’t get through Atlanta early in the day then no biggie since you’d plan to stop before you ever hit bad traffic. Make more sense now?
@selyd04 Chattanooga traffic is nothing like Atlanta traffic. Not even close! However, there is a small stretch of I-75 that gets bottle-necked easily near the state line. While Chattanooga is lovely, you might plan to stay a little further south to avoid waking up to additional traffic. We’ve hit it perfectly and we’ve gotten stuck - just something to consider!
@selyd04…disneygirlmama is right! Marietta would be good place to stay just north of Atlanta on 75 and then you could keep driving on a Saturday morning and bypass Friday traffic (where rush hour seems to last all day!) It would be about 6-7 hours from there to Disney. We always calculate 2 hours to Macon and then 2 hours to Valdosta … it usually doesn’t take that long and we are pleasantly surprised.
1 Like
I’ll second this. Marrietta is a great little town and would be perfect from the direction you are coming.
Thank you all for helpful tips.