Anyone Drive to WDW????

[farmergirl]

Hi All.

I was wondering if anyone on this board has driven to WDW before. My husband really wants to drive this year. We are from SK, and the flight prices from here are ridiculous. We took a spur of the moment summer trip and actually drove to Minniapolis 13 hours and flew out of there and were still money ahead including fuel, hotel room, etc. So I was wondering if any of you have drove to Florida how did you like it? It will be almost 4000 km's just one way for us and to me I think that is an awful long time in a car. I am thinking we will be played out before we even get there. LOL :lmao: So just wondering would you drive again??? Or not a chance???? Thanks in advance. :)

[candielips]

4000 km :scared1: We have driven twice from Toronto, which is half that distance and it takes a solid 21-24 hours of driving.
I if were you I might consider driving to the closest city in the US and fly from there if the flights are too expensive from SK.
I would think by the time you add in gas, meals, hotels, etc... for your return drive you would be well over $1000, I might be wrong here, just a guess. :confused3
Have you checked flight prices from the US yet? I know several people here in Ontario are able to get flights out of Buffalo for $59 each way plus taxes, not that Buffalo rates help you.

[twokids0204]

4000 km :scared1: We have driven twice from Toronto, which is half that distance and it takes a solid 21-24 hours of driving.
I if were you I might consider driving to the closest city in the US and fly from there if the flights are too expensive from SK.
I would think by the time you add in gas, meals, hotels, etc... for your return drive you would be well over $1000, I might be wrong here, just a guess. :confused3
Have you checked flight prices from the US yet? I know several people here in Ontario are able to get flights out of Buffalo for $59 each way plus taxes, not that Buffalo rates help you.

I agree 4k is a looooong drive.

[farmergirl]

4000 km :scared1: We have driven twice from Toronto, which is half that distance and it takes a solid 21-24 hours of driving.
I if were you I might consider driving to the closest city in the US and fly from there if the flights are too expensive from SK.
I would think by the time you add in gas, meals, hotels, etc... for your return drive you would be well over $1000, I might be wrong here, just a guess. :confused3
Have you checked flight prices from the US yet? I know several people here in Ontario are able to get flights out of Buffalo for $59 each way plus taxes, not that Buffalo rates help you.

Yes I checked a few US citys the closest would be a 5 hour drive for us and it is at $658 US per person and the other is a 13 hour drive for us and it is just over $300 US per person. :sad2: It is such a long drive and if we come back a different way just to sight see it would be 4500km's. :scared1: Guess we will keep watching flight prices.

[dancin Disney style]

We've driven it a bunch of times from about 20 minutes west of Toronto. I think it's about 4000KM roundtrip and the cost is between $500 and $650 depending on gas prices and hotels. I would think your cost would be $1000 or more and it would take 3 full days each way. That being the case I would opt for drive to a US airport and the flight. I think I would even go for the shorter drive and higher priced flight. When you are that far away from your destination you really have to just accept what ever the cost is. I'm all for saving money but you do have to attach some sort of price to the extra time that you would spend just getting to WDW.

[farmergirl]

I was having a hard time trying to figure out how my husband was figuring out that even with the cheapest fights we could get it was still going to be $600 cheaper to drive. Then I forgot about the rental car. For our rental car for the length of time we r staying is $1200 US. :scared1: It has gone through the roof. We always get a standard SUV but other years the price has never been over $600 CAN. So that is how his little spread sheet figured it out. :teacher: So I am assuming he will want to drive unless rental cars go down. I guess I am just worried that it will be so tiring driving that far. It was my fault I forgot to mention that the rental car prices were through the roof. Thanks for your replies though.

[BellyBaby]

We've done both. We drove from Manitoba (30 hour drive) and I didn't mind it at all. (mind you, I slept ALOT) but I did do some of the driving, and I would rather do that trip again then the drive from MB to AB (sooo boring!) :laughing:

We also often drive to Fargo, ND and fly with http://www.allegiantair.com to Sanford/Orlando airport (about 30 min. further than Orlando airport, no biggie for us, plus car rental is often cheaper than MCO airport).

It's far closer than driving to Minneapolis, would take about 9 hrs (guessing). We just booked return flights about $200 per person, with seat selection and taxes. The trick is to keep checking every day, and wait for those sweet $69 flights!

I hope this option is a good one for your family! We love US flights! Oh yeah, parking for 8 days at Fargo airport is about $40 - deal!

Good luck and have fun!

[farmergirl]

We've done both. We drove from Manitoba (30 hour drive) and I didn't mind it at all. (mind you, I slept ALOT) but I did do some of the driving, and I would rather do that trip again then the drive from MB to AB (sooo boring!) :laughing:

We also often drive to Fargo, ND and fly with http://www.allegiantair.com to Sanford/Orlando airport (about 30 min. further than Orlando airport, no biggie for us, plus car rental is often cheaper than MCO airport).

It's far closer than driving to Minneapolis, would take about 9 hrs (guessing). We just booked return flights about $200 per person, with seat selection and taxes. The trick is to keep checking every day, and wait for those sweet $69 flights!

I hope this option is a good one for your family! We love US flights! Oh yeah, parking for 8 days at Fargo airport is about $40 - deal!

Good luck and have fun!

Thanks for that I have actually been watchin the Fargo flights but it shows they only fly certain days and with DVC points already booked we don't want to mess with them. I did check the rental cars at that airport as well and at the time we r going the price was pretty much the same :( Thank you though. I will forsure continue to watch Fargo maybe they will add in extra days. What is Allegiant Air like. Are they a fairly good airline? No major troubles with them??? I enjoy that ride between MB and AB. You mean it's a more interesting drive than that???? How can that be????

[BellyBaby]

We've flown Allegiant quite a bit, both to Orlando and Vegas...never had a problem at all. No frills, but who is these days? But you really have to watch and take off all the extra charges, like priority seating and trip insurance.

Yes, the flights are limited. This past Feb. tho, they were flying about 4 days a week, vs. slower times, of 2 x per week. You would certainly have to be flexible!

But as far as the drive, I found it very interesting! We got a CAA "trip tick" which outlined our route, any construction issues, even gave little factual tidbits about each area we were driving through. Considering I grew up on a farm, never gone anywhere in my life until my 2nd marriage...it was cool driving through places I only heard about, and of course you have to sing the whole way, especially "going to...Kansas City...Kansas City, here I come" (sorry, I'm old) as you approach, and seeing the Gateway to the West arch was neat. So was driving thru Atlantic City. Driving thru Georgia was amazing, beautiful hills full of greenery, but lots of huge turtle road kill. (the most disgusting road kill on the planet, amazed at how many smashed turtles everywhere!) :sad1:

It really was an amazing trip, I wish we could have taken more time, we were in such a hurry.

We left MB at night around 7pm, stopped in Fargo for fruit and snacks for our cooler (can't take fruit over border) and took turns driving, so we only spent 1 night in a hotel past Atlantic City. We were also traveling without kids, so we didn't plan hotel stays as carefully as we might with children aboard.

Good luck and have a good time! It really was an experience! Not sure if children would appreciate it the same way, tho! :rolleyes:

[BellyBaby]

Oh yeah, plus my DH also had finished his night shift that week, so he was already in "up all night" mode. That helped. Not sure how I would feel about the trip if we took 3 days instead of the 2, we covered so much distance by driving all night our first day out.

[farmergirl]

We've flown Allegiant quite a bit, both to Orlando and Vegas...never had a problem at all. No frills, but who is these days? But you really have to watch and take off all the extra charges, like priority seating and trip insurance.

Yes, the flights are limited. This past Feb. tho, they were flying about 4 days a week, vs. slower times, of 2 x per week. You would certainly have to be flexible!

But as far as the drive, I found it very interesting! We got a CAA "trip tick" which outlined our route, any construction issues, even gave little factual tidbits about each area we were driving through. Considering I grew up on a farm, never gone anywhere in my life until my 2nd marriage...it was cool driving through places I only heard about, and of course you have to sing the whole way, especially "going to...Kansas City...Kansas City, here I come" (sorry, I'm old) as you approach, and seeing the Gateway to the West arch was neat. So was driving thru Atlantic City. Driving thru Georgia was amazing, beautiful hills full of greenery, but lots of huge turtle road kill. (the most disgusting road kill on the planet, amazed at how many smashed turtles everywhere!) :sad1:

It really was an amazing trip, I wish we could have taken more time, we were in such a hurry.

We left MB at night around 7pm, stopped in Fargo for fruit and snacks for our cooler (can't take fruit over border) and took turns driving, so we only spent 1 night in a hotel past Atlantic City. We were also traveling without kids, so we didn't plan hotel stays as carefully as we might with children aboard.

Good luck and have a good time! It really was an experience! Not sure if children would appreciate it the same way, tho! :rolleyes:

Wow thank you so much for the detailed post. You make it sound actually fun!!!! Except the turtles. If we drive we want to drive Minnieapolis one day then to Nashville the next. Spend the following day in Nashville and then the 4th day drive into Orlando. We don't have any kids so it would just be us. We have Caa but have never heard or trip tick before. I will have to look into that it sounds like a must! Is it free with membership or is theere a cost? Thanks again for all the info. I almost want to drive now. The turtles actually made me think how it probably would not be as boring as I think because there would be so many new things to see!!!! :)

[CdnKayDee]

What is too expensive? Last October we had flight through NWA out of Regina for $490 Cdn per person. We found that to be a good deal. This year around same time frame it looks to be $590 through Delta. I am hopeful this will come down.

Also the flights out of Minot are looking alright. 4 hr drive from Regina and they are around $435 US.

We have looked many times at Allegiant. They look to have fantastic deals and it is nice to hear from someone who flew with them.

I think driving would suck only because it would taking away from your Disney days.

[farmergirl]

What is too expensive? Last October we had flight through NWA out of Regina for $490 Cdn per person. We found that to be a good deal. This year around same time frame it looks to be $590 through Delta. I am hopeful this will come down.

Also the flights out of Minot are looking alright. 4 hr drive from Regina and they are around $435 US.

We have looked many times at Allegiant. They look to have fantastic deals and it is nice to hear from someone who flew with them.

I think driving would suck only because it would taking away from your Disney days.

We looked out of Regina when we are going and and they are sitting at $800.72 CAN per person through Delta and Minot is at $658.00 US Per Person
I noticed Aug and Sept fares are waaaay cheaper but not when we are going. The driving taking away from Disney wont really be an issue because we were booked for 3 weeks so if we drive we are just adding 4 days onto each side of that so we are not shortening our vacation any. I guess we are just flying at a bad time of year because last year we paid $750 out of Minot as well! :surfweb: Thanks for your reply though. :)

[dancin Disney style]

Here's a thought......
Plan as if you are going to drive down but keep watching the flights. If one pops up it's a bonus....if not no biggie. You could also book a couple of rental cars around your dates just to cover the bases. Book in your name and your spouse that way you can book two different pick up dates. I would also look at more then one rental company. Remember that you do not need a CC to book and there is no penalty for a cancelation.

[farmergirl]

Here's a thought......
Plan as if you are going to drive down but keep watching the flights. If one pops up it's a bonus....if not no biggie. You could also book a couple of rental cars around your dates just to cover the bases. Book in your name and your spouse that way you can book two different pick up dates. I would also look at more then one rental company. Remember that you do not need a CC to book and there is no penalty for a cancelation.

Hi! We have our rental car booked already after checking all the rental companies Alamo is cheapest by far. I like renting from National but they are just too pricey kinda strange since they are the same company. I just like Nationals SUV selection better. Yes that is the nice thing about booking rental cars if you need to cancel ahead of time there are no penalties! :) Good idea I think I am going to start making a route and reserving hotel rooms along the way since we usually stay at the same brand hotel I can start searching! Thanks.:)

[cottonwoodgal]

We are driving down this summer from near Regina. We are taking our fifth wheel and making major stops in Memphis, New Orleans, Miami, Key West, and Kansas City in addition to 12 nights at Fort Wilderness. DH is a teacher so we have budgeted 6 weeks to drive down....tour around...and drive back. It is a very, very long way!

[CdnKayDee]

Cottonwoodgal, that sounds like a very fun trip! You must be having a lot of fun planning all of your stops.

[LuvBaloo]

DH & I have driven there from BC.
It was a fun trip, and we planned the trip to site-see along the way.
We went into the BlackHills in NorthDakota (I think it was ND) and went to the old wild west places.
We went to Nashville and saw the Country Music Hall of Fame or Museum.
We went to Memphis and saw Graceland.
We drove by Mount Rushmore.
We went to StLouis and saw the big Arch.
We took a different route home to see different places.
We took 5 days to get from BC to Florida. We took turns driving so we could do long days and see things and still get there in a reasonable time.

We did get a TripTik from CAA. It is free to members. You just contact them with the trip you are planning and they put together a book showing your route with some construction and rest areas and some stops of interest marked out on it. It was nice to have and we used it to track the trip, by marking the date/time beside the major cities to show when we passed them.

::yes:: yes I would drive it again!

[hopeis]

Indeed flights are expensive from here in SK! We did spend the $8oo a ticket for the 4 of us to go the first week in January. It was tough to shell that out for our daughter who was 2 months over 2! But it was a good trip there ~ SK to Denver, then to Orlando.

I've been looking into flying out of Calgary (it's a much shorter drive than to Orlando). So far the cheapest was at the end of Sept with WJ at $289 one way... when you look at it further with taxes and fees and all and rounding it out it works out to $700 something. And it was here to Calgary, to Toronto then to Orlando.

The trip would be reasonable otherwise (if our flights weren't so darn expensive!)

cottonwoodgal I'd be interested in hearing more details about your drive down, an EA here with summers off ~ I'll be interested to hear you about your trip. Any kids making the trip with you? My husband wanted to make the drive down too but that's a long trip and a long time in the car!

[cottonwoodgal]

[cottonwoodgal I'd be interested in hearing more details about your drive down, an EA here with summers off ~ I'll be interested to hear you about your trip. Any kids making the trip with you? My husband wanted to make the drive down too but that's a long trip and a long time in the car![/QUOTE]

Our plan is to take 6 nights to drive down to New Orleans. (If we can avoid it we always plan for less than 6 hours of driving a day....some days it ends up a bit more though)

Our first major stop will be 4 nights in New Orleans - French Quarter, Mardi Gras World, Garden District, Preservation Hall, etc.

From New Orleans we'll overnight one night before heading to Fort Wilderness for 12 nights.

After WDW we go to Key West for 7 nights (biplane rides, snorkeling, fishing, swimming, dolphin research center, turtle hospital, Key West, Hemingway House, etc,) and Miami for 3 nights (South Beach, Duck Tour, trip to Everglades).

On the way home we have 10 nights planned but will stop for 2 of those nights in Memphis (Graceland and Gibson Guitar Factory) and 2 nights in Kansas City (Worlds of Fun Amusement Park).

We have two boys (17 and 12).

Two years ago we did a six week RV trip down the coast of Oregon and California. We really enjoy scouting out different things to do and see. For me the planning is often one of the highlights of the trip.

[farmergirl]

Wow after reading all these posts I am getting excited to drive now. Planning is a great part of the fun I must say. :)

[SaskDisNut]

I've driven from SK to DL before and that was no problem - so what's an extra 1000 km both ways! It would sure be an interesting trip.

Living in the middle of the prairies with the largest major US city being 14 hours away makes getting to our favorite vacation destinations in the US a challenge. Last Oct. we drove from Regina to Minneapolis and flew to MCO from there. The flights were a bargain compared to here and we would certainly do it again. Flying from Fargo on Allegiant is another good option too. It is a small city and easy to get from hotel to airport and if you can get a cheap deal on Allegiant it would more than offset the cost of a rental car. Flying from Minot or even Bismarck pretty much costs the same from flying from Regina.

We've actually done quite well airfare wise on our trips. The first trip we used Aeroplan miles, the second we flew from YQR to MCO on NWA for $420 Canadian. Last year we drove to MSP and flew from there. I am currently looking at a possible trip in mid May but flying from Regina. Delta has the best price right now at around $530.

Those living close to US cities like Detroit and Buffalo certainly have the benefit of getting some reasonable airfares. For us the cost of airfare pretty much doubles the cost of the trip and that can be a killer.

[farmergirl]

I was checking Delta again from Regina and it is definatly the time we are going because the price goes up through out the month. I had found a great price out of Minot a few weeks ago and by the next day it jumped $300. Should have booked it then if we were going to I guess. We really enjoyed our drive to Minneapolis when we flew out of there so maybe the drive to Orlando will be just as fun!

[kid@heart2]

I am the kind of "get me there now" girl lol..

[doxie24]

I'm driving down in August! I have to say, reading everyone's input has been super helpful.

[farmergirl]

I'm driving down in August! I have to say, reading everyone's input has been super helpful.

Hope to hear all about your trip! :thumbsup2 How long of a drive is it for you?

[ariel68]

We too are visiting the idea of driving to Orlando in March 2011. Im not sure where you are located in SK, but we are located just over the MB/SK boder on Trans Canada. we had been looking at driving to Minneapolis to fly out from there, which is what we did our last trip, but I figure if we are going to Drive 11 to 13 hours to catch a flight, why not drive a couple more days , saving $ in the meantime. Not that budget is the issue, but I must admit I would like to see that extra cash being spent on additional excursions on our cruise, or perhaps being able to visit more attractions. After all, our cost to drive there and back is less than what we were quoted for our 10 day car rental. Even with the additional costs for hotel enroute, we are still saving the equivalent of 3 airfares out of our group of four traveling. If by chance (or miracle from God) we get a steal of a deal on airfare prior to our trip date, we can still opt to fly..

[farmergirl]

We too are visiting the idea of driving to Orlando in March 2011. Im not sure where you are located in SK, but we are located just over the MB/SK boder on Trans Canada. we had been looking at driving to Minneapolis to fly out from there, which is what we did our last trip, but I figure if we are going to Drive 11 to 13 hours to catch a flight, why not drive a couple more days , saving $ in the meantime. Not that budget is the issue, but I must admit I would like to see that extra cash being spent on additional excursions on our cruise, or perhaps being able to visit more attractions. After all, our cost to drive there and back is less than what we were quoted for our 10 day car rental. Even with the additional costs for hotel enroute, we are still saving the equivalent of 3 airfares out of our group of four traveling. If by chance (or miracle from God) we get a steal of a deal on airfare prior to our trip date, we can still opt to fly..
Hi Ariel
We are along the MB/SK as well. We have decided to drive and spend a day in Nashville. I already bought my tickets for the Grand Ole Opry so now I am forsure excited. We thought we would come back a different way dow 83 and see different Country. I know what you mean about the car rentals. Even with the cheapest airfare we found it was still cheaper to drive and not rent a car. We will try it once we will wither like it or not. Who knows we might want to drive every year then. :)

[ariel68]

Hi Ariel
We are along the MB/SK as well. We have decided to drive and spend a day in Nashville. I already bought my tickets for the Grand Ole Opry so now I am forsure excited. We thought we would come back a different way dow 83 and see different Country. I know what you mean about the car rentals. Even with the cheapest airfare we found it was still cheaper to drive and not rent a car. We will try it once we will wither like it or not. Who knows we might want to drive every year then. :)
We hope to drive to Madison, WI on day one, then to Nashville as well(Nashville.com has a great forum btw), just for the night tho. We have six days booked in Orlando in a vacation home, then 3 nt cruise on the Dream. . We wont have too much time for sightseeing along the way, if we drive, it means 6 extra days out of school for my daughter and her friend, so we'll play it by ear. We are so looking forward to the trip, regardless of how we end up getting there.

[Csaks]

You guys are diehards. 8000 klms roundtrip? Wow. :scared1:
We drive from the Toronto area and it is half of that roundtrip. I don't mind the drive down but the drive home seems longer.
Trip-tics are apart of your membership with CAA. They actually make the trip feel shorter to us by breaking it down into segments. Get it a week or two before so all the information on construction is accurate.
Good luck with whatever you decide.

[formill]

We used to always drive- then starting flying 2 years ago......the drive down was always okay......the drive home not so much. So far with flying out of Buffalo we have managed to get return flights for about $200 a person total.
I hate worrying about snow storms and vehicle break downs on the way. My parents ended up spending 2 extra nights in a hotel during one of the east coast snow storms this past January on their way back home- they are retired so not a big deal really- but more $$ of course. I guess if we had unlimited time off we would drive to save some money and not have to rent a car there- but overall prefer to fly and get the time spent driving in Florida instead.

[doxie24]

Hope to hear all about your trip! :thumbsup2 How long of a drive is it for you?

About 2 days. Used to do the drive as a kid, so it should be fun :)