Family Trip from New York to Orlando return - HELP!

[mandyfriars]

Hi there! We are planning a family trip (2 adults 3 small kids) starting in New York driving down to Orlando and returning. We start in New York on 29th March and have booked a car from 2nd April to head off down south. We leave New York on 15th April and want to give the kids a great time during the drive and obviously in Orlando! Can some recommend perfect spots to stay and see with the kids on the way down? We plan to make a fast trip back up so, perhaps just one or two quick stops on return journey. Everything is very flexible - we just want the kids to enjoy the trip!!

[AZBuck]

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

The easiest way to make sure that the children have a good time on a RoadTrip that will basically follow the coast is to take advantage of the greatest resource available to you - the beach and ocean. A basic plan that follows the Atlantic Coast is described here, but if your kids have any specific interests, we should probably be able to offer some more specific suggestions. As for a 'quick' drive back, that would pretty much have to use I-95 for the most part, but even then you can make quick stops as needed along the way, and the National Mall in Washington would be the highlight of any trip to the eastern US.

AZBuck

[mandyfriars]

thanks so much for the info. I am goingt o go through it and get back with any more questions! This forum is great. Also, I don't want to do Disney with the kids (have been in europe and Hong Kong) but am interested in 1 or 2 other theme parks. Any recommendation as to how long I should spend in Orlando with them?

[Midwest Michael]

I'd plan for a full day at each theme park. I figure at the rates they charge, you might as well get as much out of them as you can anyway, but they are all quite big.

I have made it through both Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure in a single day, but that was during a low season and I was only focused on the rides, not any of the shows or other features and most importantly, I was not with kids. You'll be traveling during spring break - one of the busiest times of the year - so the lines will likely be extra long. Sea World also pretty much requires a full day, as the schedules of the shows are set up so that you'll need most of the day to see most of the major ones.

Personally, I'd at least give some thought to revisiting Disney. Remember, Disney World consists of 4 different theme parks, and I suspect that Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom would all be a quite different experience than Hong Kong or EuroDisney. The other parks are nice, but I have to say that Disney really does the best job.

[mandyfriars]

Thanks Michael, I think we will do the Disney thing - kids seem to want to do it too! Also, thinking of doing a day in Niagara to see the falls before we head down. Is this too ambitious? How far is it and is the drive worth doing or should we get there some other way?

[glc]

NYC to Niagara is about 400 miles. It's almost a full day's drive. With a full day at Niagara, this is going to add 3 days to your trip, but it would allow you to take the inland route to Florida, avoiding much of the congested I-95 corridor.

[mandyfriars]

thanks for the info. what would be the quickest route down to Orlando from Niagara and is it a nice drive? Thinking of national forests etc. on the way down.

[AZBuck]

The quickest route down is to start out on I-90 west(!) to Erie and pick up I-79 south there. Follow that down to I-77 south. At Columbia SC use I-26 to jog over to I-95 south, and then at Daytona Beach I-4 will complete your trip to Orlando. That is a generally scenic route, spending most of its time in the forested stretches of the Appalachians until your emerge onto the Piedmont in North Carolina and the Coastal Plain in South Carolina. there are several large National Forests along its length (Allegheny, Monongahela, Jefferson, and Sumter) as well as the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area, Congaree Swamp National Monument, and Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. You should also look at taking a 'shortcut via US-19 between I-79 and I-77 in West Virginia.

AZBuck