Is it worth driving from New England to Disney for the "experience"?

[JimmyV]

I don't understand how flying is a 10 hour ordeal from New England.

It's not. Not even close. A typical flight schedule for me would be: (And I am going to use Southwest as an example because I always fly to WDW non-stop, so it is either SW or Delta)

Non-stop flight departs at 2:20 p.m.
Leave my house at 12:45.
Drive to airport --> park --> shuttle to Departure Area
Check in for flight --> TSA Pre-Check gets me through security in mere minutes --> Wait for flight to take off.
Arrive at 5:30 (if flight is early, shave some time off of that)
Walk to MCO monorail --> Go to luggage collection area --> Get bags --> Head to taxi/Uber pickup
It is now approximately 6:15.
Taxi/Uber to Resort. --> Arrive at 7:00, give or take.

Door to door ---> Left my house at 12:45. In my resort at 7:00. Just over 6 hours. And that is the top end. Time is often shaved off if the flight lands early and if my luggage comes out of the carousel early in the process.

 

[monica9]

We've done a lot of driving trips. A LOT. We love nothing better than getting in the car at the end of the school year and hitting the open road. But for me it's about the interesting things to see along the way. It's not sounding like that's the case here.

For me, it would be a no brainer to fly in this case.

Thats the thing. It WOULD be interesting for us to see a different part of the country, especially our daughter who has only been in New England, Bermuda and Florida. I'd like for her to see the South. Problem is, I won't be able to sleep while my husband drives ( I just get nervous and it just won't happen), I get car sick, the way back is going to be brutal, and it's only saving us a little bit of money.
maybe we should save the road trip for a time when the road trip is the main vacation.

 

[JanaDee]

Thats the thing. It WOULD be interesting for us to see a different part of the country, especially our daughter who has only been in New England, Bermuda and Florida. I'd like for her to see the South. Problem is, I won't be able to sleep while my husband drives ( I just get nervous and it just won't happen), I get car sick, the way back is going to be brutal, and it's only saving us a little bit of money.
maybe we should save the road trip for a time when the road trip is the main vacation.

If that's the case, why would you even consider driving in the first place?

 

[goofy4tink]

It all depends. Yes, I would drive. BUT....it wouldn't be straight through, either way. I would make a few stops along the way. Maybe in Philly and Washington DC on the way down. And then at Busch Gardens Williamsburg on the way home. But, I would't be doing it to save money or time. It's just another experience. For me, the whole airport thing takes about 7 hrs, going to WDW and 8 going home. Can't compare with the drive.

 

[kamik86]

Thats the thing. It WOULD be interesting for us to see a different part of the country, especially our daughter who has only been in New England, Bermuda and Florida. I'd like for her to see the South. Problem is, I won't be able to sleep while my husband drives ( I just get nervous and it just won't happen), I get car sick, the way back is going to be brutal, and it's only saving us a little bit of money.
maybe we should save the road trip for a time when the road trip is the main vacation.

Yes I have done smaller trips as a road trip. 5 hours back and forth to college (becasue with where the airports were and flight schedules it would make no sense at all to fly, a long weekend trip through vermont, etc) However:

Going to Disney you would be 99% on the highway unless you picked several destinations on the way. Seeing the highway does not count as seeing other parts of the country. (If the only things I have seen in the state are what I can see from the highway or the airport I do not count that as having been there)

 

[DizDaD7]

LoL, Just remember the movie Vacation with Chevy Chase..........It's basically almost the same thing. We drive to see Mickey & friends, & they wanted to go see the moose... At Wallyworld..... You remember the trip along the way? That you could emulate as well, Or not. ! LoL

 

[LBIJim]

The ultimate in Roadside America Tourist Traps.
http://www.thesouthoftheborder.com/

You start to see the billboards advertising it as soon as you get a bit south of Washington DC. "Only 287 miles to South to the Border". The billboards are at once cute, funny, politically incorrect and culturally insensitive. But they are burned on my brain as part of my childhood.

Those signs used to be much more plentiful than they are now. I drove to Florida during college spring break and also drove a few times to Myrtle Beach in the 1980s. Back then, I'd say there were close to 200 SOB signs from DC to SC. These days it seems like it's only about 50. Some of them used to be REALLY insensitive and un-PC. But back then it was acceptable. Last fall there were only a few questionable ones still remaining.

If you like tacky, kitschy, cheesy schlock, like I do, SOB is worth a quick look. It's not like you have to drive out of the way to stop there.

Drove to Florida with three other guys during spring break in 1980. Straight thru with only gas/ bathroom breaks. Like many have mentioned, the trip there was full of anticipation, but the trip back was torture. After spending practically 24/7 together for a week in the same room, we were all on each others' nerves. I swore I'd NEVER drive to Florida again.

Didn't until DW and I delivered a car to our daughter in Orlando about five years ago. The ride there straight thru was surprisingly pleasant. We flew back.

Last fall we decided to drive again. Stopped in Raleigh, NC for two nights on the way there, but a marathon drive back. Even that ride back wasn't so bad. Still, it would have bern better to stop somewhere.

Planning a drive again to Orlando in late April or early May. This time we'll stop in both directions for a full day or two, not just overnight. Fortunately, we have the time to do this. DW detests flying anymore. After being able to bring all 274 bottles, jars, and tubes of lotions, creams, conditioners, and powders while driving, there's no way she'll go back to a little baggie while flying.

Still, if I was in OP's shoes, I'd fly, unless saving the $300 was vital.

 

[linskypens]

We did it five years ago. stopped in DC for a day to see the sights, and break it up a little.
I wouldnt do it again. the ride down was fun, stopped in DC, did the monuments, and went to natural history museum the following day, left at 12pm, made it to south Carolina, and third day of trip hit orlando, way back did it in two days, the second day just powered through to make it back to Maine.
It was ok, and the only reason we did it was because it was a last minute trip during april vacation, and it would have cost almost three grand in airfare alone. Other than that, I wouldnt have done it.

 

[Pooh2]

We have driven with toddlers and pulling a camper; taken the train from Boston; flew out of Boston; drove to Lorton VA to get the Auto-train.
If we only have 7 days, we now fly. The next time we take a longer trip and drive, we will drive down and make it a 2-3 road day trip then take the autotrain home.
The year we took the autotrain, the gas prices were crazy high so it made it more justifiable.
Have fun whichever way you decide to get there!

 

[OZMom]

Thats the thing. It WOULD be interesting for us to see a different part of the country, especially our daughter who has only been in New England, Bermuda and Florida. I'd like for her to see the South. Problem is, I won't be able to sleep while my husband drives ( I just get nervous and it just won't happen), I get car sick, the way back is going to be brutal, and it's only saving us a little bit of money.
maybe we should save the road trip for a time when the road trip is the main vacation.

It sounds to me like you would not enjoy the experience of driving then. I have no problem sleeping while DH drives and we've gotten it down to a science, right down to the time we leave, what exit we switch at, and we know where the easiest to access Starbucks are. Our kids sleep half the trip and DH and I genuinely enjoy driving and spending that time together. If you're car sick and nervous, you're not having a good time and $300 is worth the peace of mind and comfort of flying. That's JMO. And honestly, we've never stopped at south of the border because it just looks run down and ick.

 

[buzzrelly]

Definitely not! We drove a couple years ago because Dh won't fly, and I would never do it again!

 

[GAN]

We've done a lot of driving trips. A LOT. We love nothing better than getting in the car at the end of the school year and hitting the open road. But for me it's about the interesting things to see along the way. It's not sounding like that's the case here.

For me, it would be a no brainer to fly in this case.

I love driving and checking out new/different things. If I had the summer off, I would probably sandwich a drive to Disney between some interesting side trips for a month and have a ball. But that's not an option for us. So when I look at 10-days off, spending 2-4 days of it in a car just doesn't add up -no matter how much we save. When we were younger, saving $500 and losing vacation days in a car probably would have been the best way to go. But at this point in our life -we would rather spend the extra money and enjoy the days off. Everyone is in a different place -our kids are in college(one almost) so it's just two of us. If we had to pay for 5 plane tickets ...that adds up. So I understand the other side.

 

[moran66]

oh i thought I would add one more thing leaving disney is bad on the drive home or magical express I feel like I am going to a funeral everytime i am on magical express on the way home. again both have pros and cons but driving isnt that bad.

 

[ArwenMarie]

oh i thought I would add one more thing leaving disney is bad on the drive home or magical express I feel like I am going to a funeral everytime i am on magical express on the way home. again both have pros and cons but driving isnt that bad.

That was one nice thing about driving back...You have more time to get used to vacation being over.

 

[ArwenMarie]

Thats the thing. It WOULD be interesting for us to see a different part of the country, especially our daughter who has only been in New England, Bermuda and Florida. I'd like for her to see the South. Problem is, I won't be able to sleep while my husband drives ( I just get nervous and it just won't happen), I get car sick, the way back is going to be brutal, and it's only saving us a little bit of money.
maybe we should save the road trip for a time when the road trip is the main vacation.

I think that's a really good idea. Even if you want to see parts of the south, you could it that on a separate trip and not have to drive as far south as Orlando.

 

[HockeyIsLife]

I may be the only one who would say this, but I ventured the ride from Boston with my exhusband and my then 9 year old and we actually enjoyed it. We drove right through, left at 9pm, my daughter slept in the back seat of our SUV. We stopped to use the restroom/refill gas, woke her up and she went right back to sleep until about 8am the next morning. She kept busy with books, small toys,our laptop and DVD's. We bought one of those lap desks with little pockets on the side and she colored. Also, someone bought her a Melissa and Doug map that had little things to swap when you passed through a state or saw the license plate.
And we loved being able to pack what ever we wanted in our car and not worry about fitting in on the way home.
We only did it once, we adopted my youngest and she is way less interested and capable of sitting for that long without stopping. So now it is flying for us!!!
But try it. If you can create a fun "adventure" atmosphere, your daughter will love it.

 

[DISNEYFOS]

So I guess we are in the minority but we drive from massachusetts.. We've done it probably 5 or 6 times now. I guess its cheaper than flying but that isn't the main reason. It is a little bit of an adventure. The kids love it. We have definitely seen more of the east coast. (Although I can't say I would do it just for the South of the Border..we kinda laugh at that) My husband prefers the freedom it allows, no worries about weights on suitcases, long security lines, flight delays...he brings the special microbrews and wine we like with us. We are really on our own timetable in terms of leaving and coming home. We typically leave in afternoon..drive til about 1AM/2AM and book a Hampton inn via my iphone app where we think we will land. We've done it in a day and 1/2 or we take two days and stop somewhere we haven't been. Savannah GA, Hilton Head, ..

The kids love getting new movies to watch and snacks.. We don't trade off sleeping however, I don't feel comfortable with that...So I keep him company until we make a decision to call it.. We rent mini van for extra space and to not add miles to our car...

We've definitely had some issues. stomach bugs mid trip, car breaking down etc....but compared to some of the hassles of flying these days..it can be enjoyable... There are some sections that are extremely tedious. Southern VA, NC and SC are extremely BORING sections of highway..

I think you have to be interested in the adventure part...not just be looking to save money....

 

[1234lucky]

We routinely drive 6-9 hrs but I personally wouldn't drive to Florida from MA unless I had an extended period of time to stop and enjoy the ride. And there are probably a dozen places I would go before south of the border. So lame and cheesy.

 

[Laketravis]

Based on all of the comments I've decided to split our drive roughly in half and spend a night in New Orleans. I hope you know I'm blaming all of you if we never make it to WDW.


.

 

[Networth]

One year I drove my family and extended family from my parents summer house on Nantucket back to our places in FL, because my mother felt the family needed to bond. Let's just say I and everyone else that drove down after that summer refuses to do road trips that last longer than 4-5 hours. Point being for $300 bucks fly, heck even 1k I would fly but I HATE driving.