Driving vs. Flying

[virginiamama]

We have always flown from Virginia to WDW, but we are trying to be careful with our budget. It would be about a 13 hour drive instead of a 2 hour flight. The flights usually cost $800-$1000. We normally rent a car when we arrive for around $250. If we drive, we'd be driving our own vehicle (not a rental) and mapquest estimates the gas expense at around $300.

I need to hear the good/bad/ugly about driving. I love flying and arriving fresh and ready to get to the parks. I'm worried that we'll be exhausted from the drive and be starting off a high-energy trip with an energy deficit. We have done one long trip with our kids before and it went better than we expected but it was not the type of trip that required so much energy. We do have the option of possibly splitting the drive down and staying over night half-way, but would not be able to do this on the trip home. I'm worried about being overtired for the trip home and also that worrying about the drive home will make me not enjoy the vacation as much.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

We drove for the first time last summer b/c air just keeps skyrocketing. We'll be driving again in November.

What's funny- I was initially dreading the drive...almost afraid of it, but it wound up being far more peaceful than flying. Sure, it does take more time, but if you can allow a little more time for the drive...i.e. don't do a marathon non-stop drive...it's not really bad at all. We brought lots of movies and in car activities- planned a few little fun things while on the road so that it wasn't "just a drive"- spent the night at a hotel that was at our halfway point and we had nothing planned for the day we arrived in the Orlando area so we could relax a bit before touring the parks.

We're driving from the Houston area...we'll probably drive to Mobile, AL or Pensacola, FL on day 1 and then make the drive into WDW on day 2. We will have about 24 movies in the car which will be a huge help, I'm arming both girls with cameras so they can take pictures along the way, I'm thinking of skipping restaurants on the drive and just doing picnic lunches since it saves $ and it give the kids a place to run around and burn off energy, both girls will have lots of things to make "art" while we drive, and maybe a few games. The only thing we have on night one is a 7:30p adr at Cali Grill- so all should be good.

The last time we flew - it took 10.5 hours from the time we left our house to head to the airport to the time we hit our first park...and we're only flying in from Houston. If anything- we were far less rested for this trip on day 1 and were off a bit the whole time b/c of it. So, instead of spending $1600 (at least) on air and dealing with the stress of air travel...we're just going to drive again, take a little more time, and relax a bit in the process.

EDIT- I'm also really jealous of your flight prices. It's pretty rare for us to find anything under $400pp r/t these days.

 

[mrsltg]

We live in NoVa and have driven twice. I did drive straight thru (13 hours including periodic stops), and found I was tired the next day. The rest of the family was fine, though. Driving is a lot cheaper, and we have enjoyed our drives, too. We don't allow television or movies in our car, so we played a lot of family games, sang, danced, talked, and listened to music. Those car rides are some of my favorite memories. I highly recommend it!

 

[maxiesmom]

I've done both, and I much prefer flying. However if it came down to driving or no Disney, I would drive. Though I have to agree with you, the drive back is no fun at all!

When figuring out costs, remember there are more things you need to add up then gas mileage. Costs of food on the way down and back. Costs of a decent hotel. Wear and tear on your car.

Would you our your spouse have to miss any more work, or would you have less time in the parks? For me, that would factor in as well. Also, could you skip the rental car to save some money if you flew down?

 

[Pesky]

I have a friend who takes the Auto Train. Get on, load up your car, sleep on the way down, wake up and there you are with the car. It is only slightly less expensive than flying depending on the details of your trip but no wear and tear on you or your car. Maybe check into that and see if that is a workable option for your family.

 

[Leleluvsdis]

I am in Southern VA, and we ALWAYS drive, much to my dismay haha

I always dread the drive because it seems like it takes forever,but over the past couple trips we have started leaving Friday afternoon and driving to Savannah, GA or Sumter, SC depending upon what time we get left. When we go to Savannah, we will spend the morning in Savannah, then finish the drive which is only about 4-4 1/2 hours. It is really nice to break up the drive going down, because you arrive relaxed but excited. We drive straight through coming home, which makes for a long day, but it is so nice to not have to unpack and repack the car again.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

The more people you have & the fewer hotel nights you need along the way, the better driving looks. With 4 people, I wouldn't even consider flying (even if I COULD talk my wife into it) unless I needed at least 2 nights of hotels in BOTH directions. Get up early, do your 13 hours, but make no plans for that evening. You'll be fine by the next morning.

 

[DEA]

We drive from NoVA, and it has worked out really well. My DW sleeps until about 2-2:30pm while I work, then we go pick up the kids around 3-3:30pm. Then we get Dunkin' Donuts munchkins to tide us over until dinner somewhere in NC. Then back in the car, the kids get one movie on the DVD player, and they fall asleep. DW drives straight through, having gotten plenty of rest during the day. I sleep fitfully. We pull in to the Cracker Barrel out near AKL around 7am, eat breakfast, and then check in at our hotel. DW lounges by the pool while the kids get some swim time with me until the room is ready. Then we may hit MK for a bit in the evening, get dinner at Chef Mickey's, etc. It's not a high-energy day that first day, and we all just power through and get on the same schedule for our next day.

Going overnight means that the kids are asleep for the majority of the drive, and it helps immensely that they do a great job in the car. We have stops for gas and bathroom breaks, but once the kids are asleep, the frequency goes down a lot.

When we get there, we also have our car. It allows us to pack more stuff, not worry about packing liquids in 3oz. containers, and can drive to parks when it makes sense. That's all good. The only bad things I can think of are being tired the first day (although getting up early for a flight makes us pretty tired, anyway), and the gas bill. Still cheaper than flying 4 of us down, though.

 

[jtopp]

The more people you have & the fewer hotel nights you need along the way, the better driving looks. With 4 people, I wouldn't even consider flying (even if I COULD talk my wife into it) unless I needed at least 2 nights of hotels in BOTH directions. Get up early, do your 13 hours, but make no plans for that evening. You'll be fine by the next morning.

i prefer this option as well, but my wife doesn't like the long drive.The trips we drove were the years that airfare was just too expensive. Our kids don't care one way or the other--the drive is part of the adventure.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

i prefer this option as well, but my wife doesn't like the long drive.The trips we drove were the years that airfare was just too expensive. Our kids don't care one way or the other--the drive is part of the adventure.

 

[aladams2]

We actually drove today! We drove 13 hours today alone. And another 10 tomorrow. This is the first time making a big drive with the kids. They actually did very well. It is a LONG drive, but we stopped a couple times for snacks and meals. I had new DVD's and Dsi games. Sing along w/ Disney CDs. Yeah, flying is great, but so is saving money!!

 

[Britgirlus]

I'm seriously thinking about driving next year - from South Dakota ! Never done it, but I love a good road trip, and I'm looking at it like the drive would be part of the vacation. Don't know whether I have dh convinced yet, though

 

[usd2bmd]

I'm seriously thinking about driving next year - from South Dakota ! Never done it, but I love a good road trip, and I'm looking at it like the drive would be part of the vacation. Don't know whether I have dh convinced yet, though

I am in the same boat. I so want to drive when we go next year. We live in Upstate New York so it would be about 21 hours. I have even done a cost comparison for my DH to help convince him.
DH always likes to rent a car when we go, so I compared driving to flying out during the week to flying out on Saturday. I think that really got his mind working when he saw the cost savings. Plus I think it would be sucha a great part of the trip!!

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I'm seriously thinking about driving next year - from South Dakota ! Never done it, but I love a good road trip, and I'm looking at it like the drive would be part of the vacation. Don't know whether I have dh convinced yet, though

Use it as an excuse to visit places you wouldn't have seen otherwise. I remember putting on an event just outside Kansas City and some folks from rural South Dakota came down. Was a 2-day event, and I didn't see them around on day 2, but spotted them at the hotel the next morning. They had skipped the 2nd day of the event to take in a KC Royals baseball game. They'd never been to a MLB game before & said they had a real nice time

From SD, you'll see Omaha, KC, STL, Paducah, Nashville, Chattanooga, and Atlanta en route to Disney. Lots of opportunities to really get out & see America

 

[annabanna]

I'm seriously thinking about driving next year - from South Dakota ! Never done it, but I love a good road trip, and I'm looking at it like the drive would be part of the vacation. Don't know whether I have dh convinced yet, though

Where are you at in South Dakota? We live in Rapid and debated driving. I just don't think I can stomach $2000 in plane tickets. But, we are going in Feb for the princess half marathon and I really worry about the weather that time of year.
If we only had a 13 hour drive, I wouldn't think twice about driving.

 

[bdoyledimou]

See my sig -- i have driven from Toronto to WDW 9 times.
I drive straight through-- (with a 1 hour rest just inside the Georgian border.
No matter how tired i am when we get to the world -- i am ready to go as soon as we check in.

 

[loricdietzel]

We drove from Illinois (17 hrs) last year and I loved it. We took two nights getting down (kids were 3 and 12 mo) and it was very peaceful. Saved us money, too, even with hotels and food (There were 4 of us.) We actually didn't make hotel reservations and stopped when we needed to when we were in a well populated area and stayed at a cheaper, chain hotel (motel 6, super 8) that looked decent. We figured we were only sleeping. On the way home we were going to stop but then decided we just wanted to get home and after leaving MK around 2pm we drove straight through. We got home mid-morning and kinda relaxed that day (we were TIRED!!!) but felt pretty good the next day!
We will be driving again in October and although we would not drive straight through again, we would probably only stop one night.

 

[wehavesix]

Our drive is about the same distance as yours. Since we always have a minimum of 5 people and usually more, flying is out of the question. It helps that DH actually enjoys driving. We listen to podcasts DH has loaded up on his iPod. The kids and I read and nap. Mostly the kids nap. I will only let myself nod off if it's full daylight and at least one other person is awake because I worry about DH getting too tired. It's never happened but I still worry. We go to bed early the night before our trip then leave very early in the morning most of the time. Usually around 3am but we have left as early as 10pm. The key is to plan for it so that you can get some sleep before you leave. DH will stay up late a night or 2 that week so he can more easily go to sleep early before the trip. He can leave work early and nap until supper then help me load the vehicle before he goes to bed. Same for return trip. We keep the last day pretty low key and relaxed so he's not over tired for the drive home.

 

[melliej]

We are from the suburbs of Chicago and LOVE driving! I am a control person and I like being in charge of our schedule. If we are delayed, it is our choice/fault. I also like being able to pack whatever I want. It doesn't matter if our suitcase is on the heavy side or we have a couple of strollers! We are very fortunate to have kids who do very well on car trips (5 & 2 for their first Disney trip and then 6-1/2 & 3-1/2 for the last one), but I think some of it is our attitude toward it too. Road trips are quality family time, not something to be dreaded. I pack "activity" bags for each that have at least 10 activities and we fill in with music, books and DVDs too (the tvs in the car are a big help). We go far the first day (about 13 hours), leaving about 5 for the second day. The cost savings is a huge bonus too. I would rather have a very luxurious vacation once we are there than to have to cut back since we spent money on airfare.

 

[DisneyLoverUSA]

We have flown and drove and from now on we will be driving. Mainly because Southwest will no longer have NON-STOP flights from our state to Orlando so it would be 2 or more connecting flights and we would be in airports all day long trying to get there. I would rather just drive and get it over with.

I don't want to stretch our drive out into 2 days (we have a 12 hour drive) because that makes 4 travel days instead of 2. That's a huge waste of time for me. Most normal folks with no serious health or behavior issues can sit in a car and be okay for 12 hours.

We always stop about every 2 to 3 hours for bathroom breaks and stop at least once on the way there and back for a sit down meal.

What I won't EVER DO AGAIN is do the overnight driving thing. That killed me. I am unable to sleep in a moving car, no matter how tired I am. I just can't. So I drove overnight while my husband mostly slept on the way down there.
By the time we got there at 7 am the next morning I was so tired I couldn't even take a nap. We headed out to a park that day and when we came back that night (by that time I had been awake 36 hours) I was so tired I still couldn't fall asleep. It ruined our adults only one week trip. I finally slept and then after I did I couldn't get enough sleep. I would get up and go to the park and get so tired I would be ready to go back to the room by lunch and I would go to sleep in the middle of the day and not want to go back to the parks in the afternoons. It was miserable. I will NEVER do that again.

Even when we go back in November and I have 3 kids in the car for 12 hours, the drive will be done during the day.

The first time we went, me and the 3 kids flew and my husband drove. He was coming from another state (from work) so he left directly from work and met us in Orlando. Flying and getting there in 2 hours was wonderful. If we could still fly non-stop I would be flying every time and just renting a car once we got there. There is no comparison. The flights for the 4 of us were around $1,000 and the gas for my DH to drive round trip was around $300. But it was nice having our car there to drive ourselves around. There's no way I would go there and have to solely depend on Disney transportation.

If I had little kids that got bored real easy or were real fidgety and hyper I doubt I could stand a 12 hour drive. That's just me. I couldn't tolerate it and I would have to wait until the kids were older and could act right in the car for that long.

SO in a perfect world where you can get a non-stop flight, my vote is for FLYING. If you, like me, live some place where there are no non-stop flights, then I vote for DRIVING.

One more benefit for me driving is I can take a cooler with a couple of gallons of my own home brewed sweet tea and I can pack my body pillow. Which are 2 things I cannot live without!!