| Route 66 | Cities | Beaches |
Beech Bend |
Ky Kingdom |
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There & Back
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Access is pretty simple. From Central or Eastern Kentucky, Ohio or West Virginia, drive to I-75, turn South, and head straight to Florida. From Western Kentucky or Tennessee, Indiana, or Illinois, drive to I-65, take it South to Nashville, take I-24 southeast to Chattanooga, then turn South on I-75 and head straight for Florida. From Lexington to Orlando is a 14 hour drive, plus or minus Atlanta (about which more below). We know people who do it every year in one long day, leaving about 7 a.m. and getting into their Disney lodging at about 11 pm. Orlando is on the same time as Ohio, West Virginia, Central and Eastern Kentucky. From Western Kentucky or Tennessee, Illinois and part of Indiana, you'll gain an hour going down, but then you'll lose that hour coming back, giving you 13 hours one way and 15 the other. Either way you go, this is a scenic drive, but I-75 is particularly beautiful. Some of its more spectacular sights are Chattanooga, shown here at right; Jellico, Tenn., shown above left; and the Georgia pecan groves, shown above right. You could easily add a day to your trip and spend it exploring Chattanooga, which includes Rock City, Ruby Falls, one of America's greatest Inclined Railways, the Chattanooga Choochoo Hotel, and the largest fresh water aquarium in the world. |
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We do not like the 14 hour marathon. We think you arrive exhausted, have to sleep until noon the next day to recover, so lose half a day anyway. It's a beautiful drive, and we urge you to do it in two days so you can enjoy it. Plus, there are some great stops along the way you can make if you're not in such a hurry. Among these are roadside stands where they sell pecans, oranges, peaches, strawberries, watermelons, peanuts and vidalia onions, according to which season you're in. If you've never had these freshly harvested, you're in for a treat. They also sell various side products, such as jams, jellies, dressings, candies and drinks. The fresh orange juice has been a symbol of this trip since way before Orlando, when people were driving down this same route just for the beaches, fishing and Cape Canaveral space program launches. |
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The great problem with the drive is the traffic within the hour zone of Atlanta. It is very rare to make this trip without hitting at least one backup, and the average is three. Each backup will bring you to a crawl or a complete stop, and it may take as much as 30 minutes to work your way through it. For a long time the backups tended to be in downtown Atlanta, but they've done so much widening of the highway (there are now 10 lanes in places) that now backups are more likely to occur approaching or leaving the city. This is a problem that has confounded traffic engineers. You'll have a very difficult time finding causes for these backups. There will be no accidents or breakdowns, no construction, no lanes feeding in, no apparent reason for a slowdown. Yet there it will be, stretching for 8-10 miles, spreading across all four or five lanes. You must plan accordingly. Be sure to fill up with gas and use the restrooms at Dalton or Calhoun driving South and Macon driving North. We have included an hour's worth of backups in our 14 hour projection. Do not assume you'll be lucky or can somehow avoid them. We have found that a good GPS unit is a huge help in this situation. We use a Garmin Nuvi. It has a bright, wide screen and a voice named Luna who talks us through situations. On our most recent Disney trip, Luna warned us well in advance of traffic tieups, one southbound near Perry, one northbound near Decatur, and one northbound near Chattanooga. Luna took us off I-75, maneuvered us down various state roads, and then back onto I-75 past the tieup. Luna also brought us into and out of Disney World along a back route, behind the Magic Kingdom, which avoids tolls and saves miles and time. Luna is also great at maneuvering us through downtowns. Atlanta is difficult for out of towners to navigate due to a maze of alternating one way streets but Luna cuts through this with ease. From her Eye in the Sky, she calculates an arrival time in the morning and brings you in within five or ten minutes of it eight hours later even after several detours. We've become big fans of Luna, and therefore of Garmin's Nuvi. |
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As we have explained, we do not believe in driving straight through. On the way down, our favorite lodging is the Valdosta Holiday Inn Conference Center. It sets right off I-75, has a good restaurant (the Azalea), nice rooms, and reasonable rates at $117 for a double. If you leave Lexington at 9 a.m., stop twice for gas and once for lunch, you should arrive at Valdosta close to 5 pm, barring a traffic tieup Luna can't route you around. There are 158 rooms, which feature 32 inch flat screen TVs, refrigerators, coffee makers, irons and microwaves. There are also 18 suites if you need larger accommodations. Six of these are family suites, which include bunkbeds for the kids in a side room. Another six are jacuzzi suites, a nice way to relax after a day on the road. There's a well equipped fitness center, swimming pool and lounge. Service in the restaurant is a bit slow but the food makes up for it. After a hard day's driving, it's nice not to have to go looking for a restaurant. The fact that the Azalea is the best restaurant in Valdosta is an added bonus. Valdosta has four I-75 exits, so make sure you go off Exit 16. Driving South, you'll pass Exits 22 and 18 first. 1805 West Hill Avenue, 1-229-244-1111. If you have a few minutes to spare and are a football fan, drive over and visit the local high school stadium, one of the nation's most impressive. |
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On the return trip, if you leave Disney World at 9-10 a.m., you should arrive in Atlanta around 5-6 pm. We recommend you finish your trip with a grand flourish and stay at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis. This is one of America's grandest hotels, but you can get a $130 doubles rate. You could easily justify staying here a few nights to tour the Coca Cola Museum, CNN Headquarters, Underground Atlanta, Georgia Tech, and possibly take in a Hawks or Braves game. The hotel is an architectural tour de force and you can spend an evening walking around taking photos. There are 31 restaurants within a three block walk. 1-404-521-0000. 265 Peachtree Center Avenue. |  |
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For the final leg of the trip, you turn off I-75 and take the Florida Turnpike to Orlando. You'll pass through one toll booth and the single toll will be a few dollars, the exact amount depending on what kind of vehicle you're driving. As you approach Orlando, you can either drive into the city, turn off on I-4, and come back West a few miles to the main Disney World entrance, or turn off just northeast of the city, take 429 Southwest, and turn off on Western Way, which takes you right into the park via the Western Entrance. There are plenty of signs to point the way as you get close to Orlando. If you take the 429 shortcut and have kids in the car, as you pass the Avalon Road Exit tell them to start looking for the Castle on the horizon to the left. Long before you turn off to actually enter the park, they'll see the Castle off in the distance. Especially for children making their first visit, it can be a thrilling sight. As you drive into Disney World (Animal Kingdom will be on your right), turn left on Buena Vista. You'll pass Hollywood Studios on your right and Epcot on your left. All along Buena Vista, signs will point to various lodgings. Port Orleans Riverside will be down Bonnet Creek Parkway, which turns left off Buena Vista. |
| Exactly where you stop for the night depends on where you start from and what time you leave. If you're picking up kids and leaving Lexington around 4 pm, you could stop at dark at Chattanooga. You could drive an hour further and stop at Dalton or Calhoun, but keep in mind restaurants in Georgia tend to close at 9 or 10. Also remember this is a heavily travelled route, and motels fill up. Leaving Chattanooga or North Georgia at 9 a.m. will put you in Disney World at dinnertime. If you leave Lexington at 9 a.m., you could make it to Valdosta, Georgia, around dinnertime. Then, leaving Valdosta at 9 a.m. will put you in Disney World early in the afternoon. If you want to split the trip, Macon, about an hour South of Atlanta, is halfway between Lexington and Orlando. You could also stop in Atlanta overnight. They're expensive, but there are a dozen great hotels downtown right off the interstate, many of which you can see in the photo above right. You could easily add a day or two to your trip and explore Atlanta, which includes a dozen Gone With The Wind sites, the CNN Building, Stone Mountain, Underground Atlanta and the South's most dynamic downtown. |  |
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One of the advantages to making this a two day trip is you have time to stop a few times. The entire corridor from Chattanooga to Atlanta is a treasury of Civil War battlegrounds, as the Confederacy fought Sherman every inch of the way, knowing if he captured Atlanta the war would be over. The most spectacular of these sites is Kennesaw Mountain, on the northern edge of Atlanta. The South had plenty of time to dig in, and they made the whole mountain a fortress. Sherman threw everything he had at them until the streams in every direction ran red with blood. For days Northern cannon bombarded the mountain until not a single tree remained, dramatically shown in the photographs on display in the visitor center. But he could not dislodge the South from the mountain. As long as they held the mountain, they held the pass leading into Atlanta and his way was blocked. Kennesaw Mountain was the most heroic stand of the war for the South. Sherman never did win this battle. After weeks of frustration, he withdrew his troops and sent scouts to find an alternate route. They found one looping 30 miles West of Kennesaw. So Sherman reached Atlanta, but years later he called the Confederate resistance here the greatest military achievement he had ever seen. Union forces had outnumbered the South 5 to 1 and could not defeat them. |
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| If you're a Gone With The Wind fan, you really should pull off I-75 at Jonesboro, just South of Atlanta, and visit the original Tara Plantation. The village of Jonesboro is a treasury of Margaret Mitchell lore. The real plantation was actually called Stately Oaks. You can tour the house, the slave quarters out back, and the general store described often in the novel. This might not look like the mansion pictured in the movie, but if you bring a copy of the novel and refer to it while touring the grounds, you'll see this is precisely the house Margaret Mitchell described, right down to the porch, parlor and staircase. In town, you can stop by the Gone With The Wind Museum and the official gift shop, which is fun to browse through whether you buy anything or not. |  |
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