24hrs Drive from Toronto - WDW Straight

[wdwgoofydaddy]

Hello all,

We are often asked how we do our 24 hours straight drive from Toronto to WDW. so we decided to write a blog post to on the subject. This is what has worked for us over 10 round trips so we hope it will help others plan.

http://www.memoriesofdisney.com/post/2014/06/30/how-we-do-the-24-hour-dive-from-toronto-to-orlando

Let us know if you share similar experiences and memories. Driving has now become part of the vacation and fun of Disney for us.

 

[canadiandisneymommy]

I've been looking for a detailed blog like that! We live in London Ontario and are Asian like you (not that it is important but kinda cool). I actually just started a blog too but on travelling to DW with young children. Would you mind if I shared your blog on mine? Www.canadiandisneymommy.com

 

[wdwgoofydaddy]

Hey @canadiandisneymommy, thanks for checking out our blog post. I don't have a problem with you sharing our blog. Be sure to send me the link to where you posted it when you do.
Thanks!

I've been looking for a detailed blog like that! We live in London Ontario and are Asian like you (not that it is important but kinda cool). I actually just started a blog too but on travelling to DW with young children. Would you mind if I shared your blog on mine? Www.canadiandisneymommy.com

 

[Cottager]

Just curious. You mention on your site, "The cost savings from driving versus flying is significant, that is why we consistently drive 24 hours straight from Toronto to Orlando." What is your total cost to drive including meals, gas, etc? Also, what time of year do you travel?

 

[wdwgoofydaddy]

Just curious. You mention on your site, "The cost savings from driving versus flying is significant, that is why we consistently drive 24 hours straight from Toronto to Orlando." What is your total cost to drive including meals, gas, etc? Also, what time of year do you travel?

Hello @cottager,

Thanks for taking the time to visit our site and post this question. We have done the drive during various months in the past (Jan/Feb/Mar/Apr/May/Aug/Dec). Generally speaking the cost of gas for a return trip was about $500 but now with gas prices being what they are, the cost is closer to about $600 in our 2013 Honda Van and a lot of stuff in the truck. Especially after all the Disney shopping during the vacation. I would say the total cost of a return trip would average us around $900.

Hope this help. Below is another post we did on how we are able to go to Disney so often. This post is focused on how we have got tent he cost down for us.

http://memoriesofdisney.com/post/2014/05/06/How-we-are-able-to-visit-Disney-World-so-often

 

[dsneygirl]

Hello @cottager, Thanks for taking the time to visit our site and post this question. We have done the drive during various months in the past (Jan/Feb/Mar/Apr/May/Aug/Dec). Generally speaking the cost of gas for a return trip was about $500 but now with gas prices being what they are, the cost is closer to about $600 in our 2013 Honda Van and a lot of stuff in the truck. Especially after all the Disney shopping during the vacation. I would say the total cost of a return trip would average us around $900. Hope this help. Below is another post we did on how we are able to go to Disney so often. This post is focused on how we have got tent he cost down for us. http://memoriesofdisney.com/post/2014/05/06/How-we-are-able-to-visit-Disney-World-so-often

Interesting. Last time we flew direct for $985.

 

[wdwgoofydaddy]

Interesting. Last time we flew direct for $985.

Flight cost can be tricky depending on what time of year you travel and when you depart from the airport. Usually the cheaper flights are in the evening leaving Toronto and returning from MCO really early in the morning. This combination really cuts into our vacation time so we would tend to move towards the more expensive flight segments.

Recently we have found good flights out of BUF non-stop to MCO for as low as $300 US per person round trip.

 

[SydneyFalco]

Well, I could never do the drive straight, but the way you wrote it up made it honestly sound like you've got it worked out to a science. I too was curious about the cost factor; you might want to add the text from your response above into the blog post.

The blog looks very promising -- hope you guys keep it up!

 

[wdwgoofydaddy]

Well, I could never do the drive straight, but the way you wrote it up made it honestly sound like you've got it worked out to a science. I too was curious about the cost factor; you might want to add the text from your response above into the blog post.

The blog looks very promising -- hope you guys keep it up!

@SydneyFalco Thanks for visiting the site and for your feedback. We have had many people ask us about the cost factor. We had completed a prior post about how we are able to visit Disney so often. This post was more high level about an overall way to get cost down if you plan to visit often.

http://memoriesofdisney.com/post/2014/05/06/How-we-are-able-to-visit-Disney-World-so-often

But we have found that more and more people want to know specifically about the cost and benefits of driving vs. flying.

We are in the process of drafting a new post specifically on this subject and will post shortly.

Once again, Thanks for you feedback.

 

[bdoyledimou]

We used to drive straight through (From Markham) but the wife and i just got too old -- her legs swell up and i just get cranky so we now just drive to Buffalo and fly --

her legs still swell up and i am stil crancy, but at least it's only for 3 hours instead of 24 !!

 

[wdwgoofydaddy]

We used to drive straight through (From Markham) but the wife and i just got too old -- her legs swell up and i just get cranky so we now just drive to Buffalo and fly --

her legs still swell up and i am stil crancy, but at least it's only for 3 hours instead of 24 !!

Yes! 3 hours is much better than 24 hours of crankiness..... for short trips we will often look for cheap flight from BUF too but for a family of 4 it is a more them driving so we try to balance it out.

We recently booked flight from BUF-MCO non-stop (Aug 1-4) for just under $300 per person round trip.

 

[dsneygirl]

Flight cost can be tricky depending on what time of year you travel and when you depart from the airport. Usually the cheaper flights are in the evening leaving Toronto and returning from MCO really early in the morning. This combination really cuts into our vacation time so we would tend to move towards the more expensive flight segments. Recently we have found good flights out of BUF non-stop to MCO for as low as $300 US per person round trip.

Left BUF at 7am, returned on a 7 pm flight. I never even look at YYZ anymore.

I read your blog but you know you could have saved thousands more by buying your AKL points on the resale market. . You should include that. $70- something a point vs $140+ from DVC.

 

[wdwgoofydaddy]

Left BUF at 7am, returned on a 7 pm flight. I never even look at YYZ anymore.

I read your blog but you know you could have saved thousands more by buying your AKL points on the resale market. . You should include that. $70- something a point vs $140+ from DVC.

Yes it is very true we could have saved money buying on the resale market however when we purchased AKL there was nothing on the resale market for AKL because they were still selling it direct. In addition, we wanted to buy directly from Disney because it will allow us to use our point in all the other Disneyland around the world, (Japan, Paris, Hong Hong, etc.) DVR owners that buy resale cannot use their points internationally.

You do make good point and they are good tips. We may revisit the post and make some adjustments.

Thanks

 

[dsneygirl]

Yes it is very true we could have saved money buying on the resale market however when we purchased AKL there was nothing on the resale market for AKL because they were still selling it direct. In addition, we wanted to buy directly from Disney because it will allow us to use our point in all the other Disneyland around the world, (Japan, Paris, Hong Hong, etc.) DVR owners that buy resale cannot use their points internationally. You do make good point and they are good tips. We may revisit the post and make some adjustments. Thanks

DVC still sells AKL direct and there have been resale points for years. You can buy GF, Aulani etc all resale or direct. I would like to see the numbers crunched on buying resale and just paying cash to stay at Tokyo or Paris. If they are a once maybe twice in a lifetime you're probably better of paying the cash and saving the $5-$6k on your initial purchase especially if you had to pay interest on that.

 

[abridgel]

We have to do this drive from Milton, Ontario to Port Canaveral for a cruise - I don't think my wife will drive (we have a 3 year old and a 1 year old) - I am hoping we can get it done in 2 days I was thinking


Day1
Leave at around 7pm
Drive ~12 hrs straight
Kids wake up grab some breakfast for a few hours
Hit the road for another 4 hrs or so hopefully the kids can last
Check into a hotel in the afternoon 3-4pm

Day2
have breakfast and a leisurely drive to the port hopefully only 4 hrs left.


What do you guys think?

 

[papertraveller]

We used to drive straight through (From Markham) but the wife and i just got too old -- her legs swell up and i just get cranky so we now just drive to Buffalo and fly --

her legs still swell up and i am stil crancy, but at least it's only for 3 hours instead of 24 !!

Too funny!! (And too true!)

 

[wdwgoofydaddy]

We have to do this drive from Milton, Ontario to Port Canaveral for a cruise - I don't think my wife will drive (we have a 3 year old and a 1 year old) - I am hoping we can get it done in 2 days I was thinking


Day1
Leave at around 7pm
Drive ~12 hrs straight
Kids wake up grab some breakfast for a few hours
Hit the road for another 4 hrs or so hopefully the kids can last
Check into a hotel in the afternoon 3-4pm

Day2
have breakfast and a leisurely drive to the port hopefully only 4 hrs left.


What do you guys think?

We think the plan looks reasonable. Please keep in mind with your kids being quite young, you may need to make more frequent stops for diaper and feedings. Not sure if they sleep through the night or not but we think starting in the evening our be good so you can get the major part of the drive done. The boarder crossing should be light during that time too.

We think that your day 2 may be longer than you think depending on how far you get on day 1. We would recommend that you try to leave as early as possible because the disney cruise terminal starts check in at about 11am and boarding can start at about 12pm. If you get there early enough, you will be able to get on the ship early and enjoy more time on the ship. The later you arrive at the cruise terminal the longer it will take for you to check in and get on the ship.

Hope this helps.

 

[mommymanda]

Thank you for the post. We are currently planning to drive over two days from London ontario. My husband works nights and has been trying to convince me to drive straight through with him driving the night like his usual routine. I'm going to go over your blog with him later. Skimming it you've got me seriously considering trying.

 

[wdwgoofydaddy]

Thank you for the post. We are currently planning to drive over two days from London ontario. My husband works nights and has been trying to convince me to drive straight through with him driving the night like his usual routine. I'm going to go over your blog with him later. Skimming it you've got me seriously considering trying.

Thanks for visiting the site and your comments. The main thing we learned throughout out many drives is that if we can match up natural sleep patterns it was a great benefit. My wife, usually sleep at about 12am and wakes up at about 5:30 or 6am each day. That is her natural sleep pattern so, I would drive the night and allow here to sleep. I'm use to sleeping at odd times anyways.

I really think you guys can do it...

 

[mommymanda]

Thank you. I truly think we are going to try this. Since our plan has always been to cash out Airmiles points for one of our hotel stays we are still going to leave with 48hours to get there. However if we make it to the Disney area in 24hours we will still use our airmiles for a hotel outside of Disney that night, and it will give us a full day at Disney the following. Still saving one night hotel stay, giving us an early and refreshed start to our Disney days, and still leaving flexibility in case our kids get restless.

Just curious do you make the return drive in 24hours as well or give yourself more time due to fatigue from vacationing?