Driving from Halifax to WDW

[myramsy]

I was wondering if there are any fellow maritime disers out there who ever drove to the world instead of flying. if so just a couple questions:
1) how long did it take?
2) was it cost effective compared to flying?
We are thinking of heading down in August and the cost of flights for 3 of us will be about $1500 (if we are lucky!).
Thanks in advance everyone!

 

[minnie mum]

If you plug into CAA triptiks (if you're a member), it will lay out the quickest route and give you time estimations.

I haven't driven that route but on the 'for 2,000+ mile return trip only' thread on the Transportation forum I have seem a couple of people from NS talk about their drives. I believe it is about 24hrs driving time. How many days this takes is up to you and your family. Could be done in one chunk with drivers spelling each other. Could be done in 2 or even 3 days, depending on the time of year and your endurance levels.

DH and I drive from Trenton Ontario and take it easy over 3 days. But we're retired, so look on the driving part of the trip as a separate vacation. In fact we usually take a couple of extra days on the way home for side trips to places like Savannah, Williamsburg, or Washington.

Is it cheaper than flying?? Could be. Or could cost more. Depends on how much you eat, where you eat, how many hotel rooms you need (how many nights on the road), how many stars those hotels need to have, and gas.

DH and I stay at Fairfield Inns and Comfort Inns, usually on points that we accummulate, so costs us very little. And breakfast is included. We usually just grab a quick fast food lunch at the nearest drivethru to a gas station, and dinner is usually similar. Last summer we did the trip for less than $500 in gas.

Hope that helps. Try checking out the Transportation forum for more advice.

 

[fan1080]

I think it's closer to 33-36 hours driving time.

Minimum 3 days driving, one-way, if you don't mind driving 11-12 hour days.

Which gives you, approximately: 4 nights hotel, 16 meals/snacks, and about 10-11 tanks of fuel (assuming 600 km per tank, for 3200 km).

Conservative total = Hotel - $125/night, meals/snacks - $75/day, gas - $600 (economy car), for a total of $1550.

BTW, $500 is a decent price for flights these days. You can get deals below that, but they are few and far between, and you have to be watching for them every day.

 

[Shih-Tzu]

The OP is correct.....by the time you factor in the hotels, gas, meals, etc it's quite the drive. We drove in '91 as far as Lorton, VA and then used the AutoTrain, however the train is quite expensive now compared to airfare and would cost more....
I would check prices from Halifax (AC and Westjet) but you could also consider flying out of Bangor (which we have done twice on Delta). Once we paid $202 Cdn return and once we paid $404 Cdn return. We stayed in a hotel in Bangor coming and going, but we found that we weren't exhausted when we got there like we did when we drove/put the car on the train (and the drive home seems even worse). $500 is very reasonable, considering we are paying close to $900 each to fly from Fredericton in the next month...but we didn't want to chance snow/bad weather driving to Bangor or Halifax (especially the Cobequid pass).
Also don't forget to consider the extra vacation days you have to use to do the travelling....that's almost another week of vacation days You can be there in a matter of hours instead of a matter of days and when we've flown, we've never rented a car - we leave all the transportation to Disney.....driving around their property alone there is like driving the 111 in the morning to Dartmouth...but in unfamiliar territory

 

[gilsan]

I think that you could do better than $1500 if you wait a bit longer to buy flights. IMO you can get the best price about 3 months out, although I did just read an article that said the best time to buy airfare is 8 weeks prior to your flight.

I am flying down in Feb for around $1000 for 3 taxes in, that is a great price best I have gotten. I would think you could get flights for $1200 if you are flexible with days and times. Make sure you check Kayak and set up an alert. A lot of the US carriers have cheap flights the closer you get, but don't forget to factor in baggage costs, (we usually just take a carry-on each).

Driving in IMO would take a huge hunk of your vacation time and wouldn't be relaxing.

 

[DisneyRookie2007]

i think that $400-$500 from Halifax is the best you could hope for.

Instead of driving to Florida, price out the cost to fly from Portland, Me or Manchester, NH. Much shorter drive and much cheaper flights than departing from Canada.

 

[dvcdisney]

I was wondering if there are any fellow maritime disers out there who ever drove to the world instead of flying. if so just a couple questions:
1) how long did it take?
2) was it cost effective compared to flying?
We are thinking of heading down in August and the cost of flights for 3 of us will be about $1500 (if we are lucky!).
Thanks in advance everyone!

We've never driven all the way to Orlando. But I did want to say that $1500 is a great price for 3. I would think that you would spend close to that driving back and forth with hotels, gas, food etc.

The lowest we have paid for our flights from YHZ to MCO was $2900 for 4 and that's because there was a great seat sale with Continental.

We've driven to Portland Maine a few times to fly JetBlue we feel that's a looonnnggg drive. We don't save too much, but I like not having to take connecting flights.

 

[fan1080]

We've never driven all the way to Orlando. But I did want to say that $1500 is a great price for 3. I would think that you would spend close to that driving back and forth with hotels, gas, food etc.

The lowest we have paid for our flights from YHZ to MCO was $2900 for 4 and that's because there was a great seat sale with Continental.

We've driven to Portland Maine a few times to fly JetBlue we feel that's a looonnnggg drive. We don't save too much, but I like not having to take connecting flights.

Wow, $2900 for 4 (that's $725 pp)? That's quite high for your best flight deal, with a seat sale.

Most I've payed was $617 pp, best was $330 pp.

 

[myramsy]

Thanks for all the replies...gave us alot to think about...like wasted vacation days driving...would much rather spend them in disney! will keep looking at flights...we dont plan on going until August so we still have lots of time.
i love the disboards...so informative and helpful!
thanks again everybody and keep your fingers crossed for cheap flights!

 

[surfer_ed]

I did this drive as a child 4 times. Lots of great memories and some not so great.

As an adult I would probably not do it becuase even at 3 days each way it is allot of time that I could be in the parks and my vacation time is too valuable. That being said it was fun seeing all the states.

 

[gilsan]

Wow, $2900 for 4 (that's $725 pp)? That's quite high for your best flight deal, with a seat sale.

Most I've payed was $617 pp, best was $330 pp.

I agree that is very high. The most I have paid is is $560 and those were direct flights on Air Canada in April all tax, fees and baggage costs included. I usually pay about $400pp.

 

[BrittanyBB]

I can not even imagine the drive from Halifax to WDW. I think the "wasted" days would do me in. We usually drive from Saint John to Portland, Maine for our flights - to go anywhere really. We paid 480.00 round trip for two on one of our trips through Airtran. There are some park and fly hotels with shuttles to and from PWM(Howard Johnsons approx 85/night and you can park for 21 days, Hampton Inn 185/night with parking for 14 days)

 

[sheboz]

Check out the Bing airfare predictor site. Plug in your info and it will tell you when to buy. Saved us lots of $$$$. Best of luck!! Sending you some pixie dust!

 

[sheboz]

Check out the Bing travel site. Plug in your info and it will tell you when to buy. Saved us lots of $$$$. Best of luck!! Sending you some pixie dust!

 

[wendyt_ca]

I don't think driving all the way down would be cost effective with hotels and then factoring your time and the inconvenience of driving. I also always drive to Portland and do a night with a park n fly and usually pay under $500 for the two of us roundtrip.

 

[SplashMom]

We've done the drive twice from Cape Breton and we really enjoyed it. It definitely takes more time--around 36 hours driving for us. We usually take our time and plan a few "afternoon trips" on the way so it took us five days each way. We made the drive part of the vacation (we were gone for three weeks). Both times, it cost around $1500-$1600 including gas, all meals/snacks, and hotels. We usually stayed at Marriotts because they are usually easy to access, include decent breakfast, and are well maintained. It depends on what you want your vacation to be.

I think $500/person from Halifax is a decent price. I check prices regularly and unless you are very flexible and can go at the last minute with little planning (you would miss the Disney deals), that price is good. There are sometimes deals for $350/$400 but those are rare. I can never seem to take advantage of those deals, lol!

I agree with some of the other posters about driving to the US to fly. There are many deals out of Portland ME for very good prices and you could make the drive in one day. That seems like it may be your best option. You could add a day or two at the end to do some shopping before you come home! We love the shopping around that area!

 

[Tigman_NS]

We were thinking of driving to Maine this year but we just recently booked with Sears travel. 1 week at Pop Century with direct air with Air Transat for $599 plus taxes. We couldn't say no to that. We r heading out April 28 - May 5 and surprisingly for my daughter to fly with us was $105 plus taxes. She is 3. So of course we booked right away.

 

[dvcdisney]

Wow, $2900 for 4 (that's $725 pp)? That's quite high for your best flight deal, with a seat sale.

Most I've payed was $617 pp, best was $330 pp.

Wow those are awesome deals. I will admit that sometimes there are cheaper flights, but I usually prefer certain times and our dates are not really negotiable. I've known others who have paid $1000 per person.

Would you mind letting me know with which airline you were able to get $330 per person return? I can't even imagine that.

 

[dvcdisney]

I agree that is very high. The most I have paid is is $560 and those were direct flights on Air Canada in April all tax, fees and baggage costs included. I usually pay about $400pp.

This is March break prices. We usually go the week before and week of March break so the flight price to MCO isn't as horrendous as the return flight. The $2900 was Continental which we don't fly as much anymore. I prefer direct flights. We tend to go with Westjet and their flights during the March break season was high even when it first opened up. But I booked it because it was the preferred date and time. I will admit that leaving on a Thursday or Wednesday would be a little less but we prefer Saturdays. I get very nervous about waiting so I usually book when it opens up which generally gives me a great deal. I do include taxes and seat selection fees.

My range (so far) has been $2900 to $3400 from YHZ. And on our August trips, we usually drive to Maine and the flights are about less than half of that. And because there is no direct flight from YHZ in August and it's better driving weather (compared to March), we choose to drive then and maybe save a bit.

 

[fan1080]

Wow those are awesome deals. I will admit that sometimes there are cheaper flights, but I usually prefer certain times and our dates are not really negotiable. I've known others who have paid $1000 per person.

Would you mind letting me know with which airline you were able to get $330 per person return? I can't even imagine that.

See post number 72 in this thread:

Click me!!!

It was with Continental, out of Halifax.