Disney Road Trip In A Subaru Crosstrek

"Danny Korecki" (dannykorecki)
07/14/2017 at 22:18 • Filed to: road trip, disney, disney road trip, subaru, subaru crosstrek, crosstrek

It is vacation time. My family, extended family, and in laws had the plan to go to Disney World. Everyone else takes a plane, but we decided to take a Disney Road Trip.

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Road Trip Prep
Non car people would probably fill up their gas tanks and that is the extent of prepping their cars for a road trip. From my home in Pennsylvania to Disney World is just under a 14 hour drive near 950 miles. 1900 miles is a lot to put on a car in one week. My wife and I were taking our Subaru Crosstrek. While I would love to say I took my BMW E92 M3 it would have not been a smart decision.

I nerd out and track car mileage/car maintenance via spreadsheets, so I know when every item is due. Our Crosstrek was due for an oil change and the tires were balder than I would want to have before a road trip. Long term goals I have for my wife’s Crosstrek is to get some Method Race Wheels with some meatier off road tires, but at the moment I was going to order the wheels they only had two in stock on Tire Rack. I just went with the OEM spec Yokohoma no season tires in the meantime.

I took the Crosstrek to Jiffy Lube to get an oil change. Just kidding, I do all my car maintenance everything south of an engine job.

I have to give a special shout out to Escort as well, they sent me out a MAX 360 to play with during the road trip. I requested one for the road trip because I thought it would be great opportunity to have the device save me from a ticket due to the length of the trip, but I will have to say driving 1900 miles on a main road (I-95 90% of the drive) I saw zero cops. Before the trip, I tested out the MAX 360 on a drive from my home to Ocean City, MD and it did warn me from cops shooting laser on that route, but this Disney trip drive with no cops on the road was crazy. While there were no cops, there was some craziness….

The Drive Down
Our caravan left at 4 AM, not my idea. We were all zombies, but zombies going to Disney World.

Thankfully on the drive down we did not have any traffic, but we did have a crazy situation. While I was driving in the far left lane, there was a 90’s Ford Explorer driving in the middle lane with one of those toe hitch trailers. Basically, connects to your toe hitch and gives you space the size of two big totes which awkwardly probably unsafely hang off the back of your car. Well this toe hitch was awkwardly swaying in a circular motion. Fearing that it was going to come off I was about to accelerate until the Ford Explorer cut me off, then BOOM.

The Ford Explorer’s rear right tire exploded and all of the tire pieces hit his toe hitch trailer which caused them to be launched in the air. Surprisingly, I was able to dodge all of the tire bits in the air. Our caravan pulled to the next gas station to make sure metal tire bits were not piercing our tires. We were good and went on our way….

We drove from Pennsylvania to Jacksonville, Florida where we called it a night before making the short drive to Orlando in the morning.

Getting your car fix in Disney World
Sadly in four full size world class theme parks, there is only one place to get your car fix in Disney World and that is the ride Test Track at EPCOT. Test Track is sponsored by Chevrolet.

If you do not know the ride, on Test Track you get to digitally make a car which is then loaded to your ticket or Magic Band. When it comes time to hop in the actual car ride you then load your digital car to the car to compare it to others in your car. Your car then gets rated on four categories. When you are in the car you are taken inside on a track that mimics a test track, eventually the only thing anyone cares about occurs. You are taken outside around the building on a banked oval reaching a top speed of 64.9 MPH. Why not 65? I do not know, I rode the ride 3x times this trip and many other times and every time 64.9 MPH.

After riding the ride, you exit through a Chevrolet showroom (it is sponsored by Chevrolet remember) where you get to sit in and tinker with everything in Chevrolet’s current line up south of a Corvette. The important thing is you will not be hounded to buy one, so no worries there. After the showroom is a Test Track gift shop where you can by Test Track themed items as well as a ton of Chevrolet performance apparel.

Sadly, Test Track is the only true way to get your car fix in Disney.

Surviving the trip back

While on the drive down we were met with no traffic the drive back was a different story. We left at 8 AM this time, thankfully not 4 AM.

On the drive back I did not have to dodge any flying tires, but we did have our share of craziness on the road. We happened to see a trailer flipped over on the ride of the road.

We left at 8 AM, but we did not make it home until 1:30 AM. All in all, it was a road trip I will remember forever, though next time, I will probably fly.

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DISCUSSION (11)

WRXforScience > Danny Korecki
07/14/2017 at 22:46

Don’t drive in the left lane.

wafflesnfalafel > Danny Korecki
07/14/2017 at 22:55

hybrid Crosstrek?

Kiltedpadre > Danny Korecki
07/14/2017 at 23:48

I remember the GM world of motion ride from my trip to Disney in 1990.

The most memorable part being the special waiting room for GM employees and their families. You went in through a special entrance and they tracked where you would be in line had you stepped in line when you walked in the door. While everyone else stood outside in the Florida heat we sat in a lounge with free snacks and drinks and air conditioning. Then when they called your number you hopped on the ride before the rest of the sweaty masses.

We went back a couple times simply to get free drinks.

Danny Korecki > WRXforScience
07/15/2017 at 19:22

Nope, passing all the slow peeps.

Danny Korecki > wafflesnfalafel
07/15/2017 at 19:23

Yep, nice contrast to a high revving V8 M3

WRXforScience > Danny Korecki
07/15/2017 at 20:39

Good, I was preparing the pitchforks and torches.