Best Route from Birmingham to Disney World Orlando (Montgomery, Dothan: hotel, live)

[NY2AL]

I plan to drive to Disney World in Orlando from Birmingham, and found three routes:

A. from Microsoft map. Birmingham-> Atlanta-> Orlando. All high way, 588 miles.
B. from mapquest, Birmingham -> Montgomery -> Troy -> Dothan -> Highway # 10 -> Highway # 75 -> Orlando, 558 miles.
C. from Google map, Birmingham -> Montgomery -> Albany -> highway # 75 -> Orlando, 544 miles.

Which route should I take? I prefer the route with shortest travel time.

Thanks,

[jakabedy]

Route A is all interstate, so is better if you have any drivers who are uncomfortable on smaller unfamiliar roads. But it will take about a half-hour longer than either of the other two routes, and you'll need to be sure you're not hitting Atlanta at rush hour.

Your routes B and C will work out about the same time-wise. I-10 used to be a concrete interstate with a very annoying "click-click-click" as you drove it. Maybe someone will chime in who has driven it recently -- perhaps it has been resurfaced. But if it is still annoying, I would go with Route C just to avoid I-10. Although there is a whole lot of nothing along all of those routes.

[Keeper]

I drove up here from Tampa using the Dothan (old florida shortcut), I made it in 10 hours with 3 dogs and 3 cats in the car. My son drives up from N. Tampa and he drives through Atlanta and he is always getting stuck either in traffic because of an accident, no matter what time of day he comes up.

I think it all depends on you.. I don't like driving on the interstate especially in bumper to bumper traffic.

[cpg35223]

I'm someone who has made that drive to Florida many, many times.

Route C, without a doubt. Go through Eufala (A really beautiful old town) and Albany. First, the traffic is almost non-existent. There are a total of roughly five stop lights between Montgomery and Tifton. Second, it's really the most direct. Third, it's the most scenic.

Here are the drawbacks to the other two ways.

Route A through Atlanta. This is always a roll of the dice, especially if you hit Atlanta anytime close to rush hour. And once you're through Atlanta, you have some seriously stressful driving between the Atlanta airport and Macon. We made the mistake of leaving Birmingham once at 3 p.m. on a Friday. We finally made it to Tifton and our hotel about 1 a.m. No sirree.

Route B through Troy and Dothan. This will be maddening. One traffic light after another. Speed traps. You name it. And even when you get to I-10, you'll have the most boring stretch of interstate ever until you get to Lake City.

[harry chickpea]

Route A is out for me. That is the route favored by a LOT of 18 wheelers and people from Atlanta.
I happen to like route B because of the regular gas stations and fast food joints, but CPG has some good points. That stretch of I-10 is horrid boring, and the radio around there is about as backward as you can get.
Route C is nice the first couple of times.

I just have a hard time with the whole idea of going to Disneyworld.

[NY2AL]

Thanks a lot for all of our inputs.
It seems Route C is the best option-- Google is better than microsoft or mapquest,

[pennquaker09]

Originally Posted by harry chickpea

Route A is out for me. That is the route favored by a LOT of 18 wheelers and people from Atlanta.
I happen to like route B because of the regular gas stations and fast food joints, but CPG has some good points. That stretch of I-10 is horrid boring, and the radio around there is about as backward as you can get.
Route C is nice the first couple of times.

I just have a hard time with the whole idea of going to Disneyworld.

Why? It's so much fun! We're taking our kids next year for their 5th birthday.

As to the OP's question, I would say go with cpg cause the only way I've ever been to Florida is by plane.

[harry chickpea]

There are a whole lot of ethical reasons to avoid Disney (I don't refer to Disney back when Walt was alive, more from the Eisner era onward). As few people care about ethics anymore, I'd rather not discuss that - it would be off-topic anyway. Having been to the theme parks, they just aren't my cuppa tea anyway. Even as a kid, I enjoyed the bumper sticker / hangons as much as many of the places.

[jakabedy]

OK. So let's pretend the OP wanted to go to Universal Studios instead. Better? Different driving directions?

[Southlander]

Back to the question....last time we went, we took the Montgomery-Troy-Dothan route. We went through Tampa to take care of some business, but overall it was not a bad drive at all.
For our honeymoon 100 years ago, we drove through Montgomery-Columbus and thence. We traversed 8,000 miles of two-lane road crowded by pulp pine forests, nary a convenience store or gas station or human in sight. And way more boring than the boring I-10.
Of course, things have probably changed. You could go one way going and one way returning.
But I would not dream of going through the ATL.