Air or Land?

[Jordan's MOM]

Ok Guys, please help us decide!
We didn't think flying would be a option this trip ,but looks like we could swing it.My question is :do I want to spend the extra money (Around 800.00) or not.

Details-DD, DS(9) and me.Trip will take 11 hours to drive.Have Honda that gets 38MPG.DS is good on car trips. We will be going in January and have reservations from Sat-Sat.

We were not planning any off site activities but might do Sea World the first day if we fly.We can get a flight that would put us in Orlando at 9:30am.Plan to get 5-day hopper passes but might go with 6 if we had the last Saturday to spend in park with a late PM flight.

What do you all think?
Jordan's Mom

 

[phins_jazy]

Hi

What a dilema! We're in the same boat as you. We just bought a new car in May and it gets about 34 mpg. We're going to Disneyland in March and it's about 1000 miles. It would only take @3 to fly and 20 hours to drive. The cheapest flights we can get are $99 one way. With 3 of us that would be $600. We sat down last night and figured out how much it would cost us to drive. Make sure your sitting down..................................$95 TOTAL!!!!! That's a $505 savings!!!! Granted we have to add in 3 meals but we're planning on taking our cooler and eating sandwiches. We're used to this long trip as we make another 1000 mile trip to see our parents once a year. We start out about 3 in the afternoon and drive straight through the night and we're there about 3 the next afternoon. Works out really well for us. Just think of all that extra $$$ you're going to have to spend on souvies!!! Good luck to you in making your decision.

 

[Super Mom]

We have also chosen to drive to WDW this year (about 1000 miles). With 5 in our family, even the great $170 rt. fare would add up to almost $1000. If you add in airport parking and car rental (we are splitting trip between WDW and US/IOA) we were looking at about $1500. We figure we can drive down spending one night en route each way for about $250/$300.

The only difference in our plans are we will now leave home Thursday after school instead of Friday morning and head for home Sunday evening instead of Monday morning.

Since Friday and Monday were intended to be our travel days, we are not really adding any extra meals.

I say if you were already planning to drive to go ahead and drive. I am sure that having an extra few hundred dollars to spend at Disney will not be too much of a problem!!!

 

[Barb D]

Eleven hours is easily doable in a day. OK, not easily, but definitely doable. We normally drive 17 hours to WDW (most of it the first day.) The only reason we're flying this time is because we got $100 RT from BWI to MCO. Even then, it would be cheaper to drive. We're doing it more to give the kids the experience of flying than to save the time.

If I were in your position there would be no question. I'd definitely drive.

A couple of more things to consider... By the time you arrive at the airport an hour early, park at the airport, get to the terminal, etc., get your flight delayed a couple of times, get off the plane, wait for your baggage, find the rental car place or wait for Tiffany or whatever, drive to WDW from the airport.... your time is starting to add up anyway. You'll save time flying, but not as much as you might think. Plus you won't have your own car there.

 

[Magic4Me]

I was in the same boat as you when trying to decide whether to drive or fly.

We live in Southeastern, VA and the trip is about 750 miles each way. I was torn
between driving and flying too. If you drive - factor in the extra expense of lodging (down and/or back), extra food, and the wear and tear on your car.

For me once I had added up all of that stuff it made sense to fly.

2 nights in a hotel - $150 (at least) - down & back
Extra meals - $100 (rough estimate) - we would have left earlier, ret'd later - same amt of time in WDW
Gas - $125 (2 tanks down, 1 tank in Orlando, 2 tanks back)
Wear & Tear on my Van - 1500+ miles - that is a month of driving for me - $500 monthly van pymt
Total to Drive = $875

Flying = $186 x 2 = $372
Using Frequent Flyer miles for 2 kids
Rental Car = $195 (with all taxes - full size car)
Total Flying = $567

Even if I had to pay for the kids tickets and additional $372 - the total would be $939 which is really a minimal difference.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Super Mom]

I really don't think you should include your monthly car payment into the cost of driving. You still have to make the payment even if you leave the car in the garage for the whole month. If you take away the $500 payment, you have a cost of $375 to drve vs. $939 to fly. I think that is a significant difference.

 

[Jordan's MOM]

Thanks to all who gave us advice on how to get to Disney! We have decided to DRIVE. We can drive for a little over 100.00 and like super mom said, I can sure find a way to spend a little extra at Disney.Does not matter how you get there as long as you get there.

Have a great day everyone.

Jordan's Mom

 

[ckay87]

I vote for driving also. The cost savings are staggering. We did a 20 hour drive in June and didn't spend nearly as much on food as people factor in. Bought a ton of snacks (not necessarily junky) to eat just to pass the time, so we weren't hungry when it came time to stop and eat. Got a real cheap hotel in SC since we only used it for a few hours of sleep and a shower.

My big thing, though, is that sometimes I deliberately try to put my kids through a little bit of hardship in order to have something cool. I think kids nowdays - gee I sound old - need to have the understanding and experience of paying for something they want. Not with money, necessarily, but through a little hard work. Like, sitting in a car for 20 hours is the price they need to pay to go to Disney - it stinks, but it's worth it. When we went to Disney as kids, flying wasn't an option for our family (most families, for that matter.) It took FOREVER, but we were DARN glad to be there after that.

It sounds silly and trivial, but since our trip in June, my kids have a real sense that they took a journey. 2 hours on a plane wouldn't have been the adventure that it was. They were looking at a map just yesterday, pointing out D.C. where we had the traffic jam and we crossed the Potomac, the Carolinas where we had hurricane like-rain, etc. The trip wasn't an ever-joyful experience (with 2 fighting brothers) but I can't think of anything but benefits.

Oh, and we have 7 more license plates to find - anyone from North Dakota?

 

[phins_jazy]

ME, ME, ME (jumping up and down) I'm from North Dakota. Here's a license plate for ya.

 

[ckay87]

Aw THAT'S SO COOL! Thanks - we got real competitive on this thing. So much so that it's gone on thru the summer and now extended into cyberspace. I don't stand a chance of beating my husband since he did all of the driving and none of the sleeping, like I did. But, I can still pass my son - thanks for the help, you're so cool.

 

[phins_jazy]

NP~ Glad I could help out!

 

[Toby'sFriend]

Nooooo - You're from Amarillo.
Everytime I see a post from you I miss the Kabuki Steakhouse.

 

[phins_jazy]

Ya, right now I'm in Amarillo but I've only been here 2 years. My heart will always be in ND. And to be honest, I've never tried Kabuki. My SIL raves about it though.

 

[Schmeck]

We're flying down in November, and I'd much rather be driving! But since my mom is taking us (hooray scratch tickets!) and she refuses to sit in a car for 22 hours, we're flying. She's paying, so we are going her way... It will be the first plane ride for my 7 yr old DD, and the second for 10 yr old DD. It's only a 3 hour flight, but oh how I hate to fly! Will they serve cocktails at 7AM?

We spent the first half of this summer driving around the USA - mostly 10 hour days, stopping at lots of interesting places. With a bit of planning ahead of time, 10 hours of driving can go by pretty quickly!

Schmeck

 

[disney4us2002]

than me because I would postpone my WDW trip to save more money to be able to fly instead of driving. Maybe it has more to do with my own horrible childhood memories of driving to visit grandparents 14 hrs away, but there is NO way I'd do it with my very loud, antsy, and argumentative children! Disney is about 16 hrs away by car and 2 1/2 hrs by plane--what's there to consider? I want to get to Disney refreshed and ready for fun; I don't see that happening after looooong hours of being in a car together and I don't want our trip to start off on that kind of note. None of you have the "ARE WE THERE YET?" whiny child? More power to you guys! I'll pay the extra and FLYYYYYY.

 

[Barb D]

We've driven to Disney from Maryland four times, and will do it again and again. We're flying this time, but it's a one-time shot.

My kids are not permitted to ask "Are we there, yet?" until I say they can ask "Are we there yet?" I tell them they can say it as we're passing through the purple WDW gates!

They are permitted to ask, "Where are we?" and "What time is it?" I'll tell them where we are, and they can find it on the map. (Last time I gave them each a map of the route, with major points marked along the way. They could see where we were in relation to the entire trip.

We use books on tape to pass the time. Also, Dover and Bellerephon (highly detailed) coloring books with colored pencils. And discussing in minute detail everything we're going to do at Disney.

 

[Schmeck]

Luckily, my kids are very good at passing the time in our van (this year we even bought a used conversion van with tv/vcr for the big trip across country) but I must admit, they're a lot better behaved on the way to WDW than on the way back home We've just always done a lot of driving with them - it's an hour to the grandparents, 3 hours to the family summer cottage, etc. Of course, we're not planning another adventure across the USA for another 5 years. By the last week, we were all very tired of being in the van, and started doing 7-8 hours of driving a day instead.

Schmeck, 72 days and counting

 

[cgcw]

We have done both from the Chicago area. A couple years back, we drove with our 3 year old. We checkedout lots of cassette books from the library and took lots of books with us. We would read with him during a lot of the drive. We also started each day very early in the morning so that he'd still be tired and eventually fall back asleep. Also, we bought some new small toys for him to have along the way. Last fall, we flew with our then 6 year old and 7 month old. What did our 6 year old say?? Why aren't we driving, I like to drive, it was fun. He enjoyed the plane trip and getting there quicker was nice Just last month we drove to Hilton Head with the kids (now almost 7 and our 17 month old) and they did great. We did purchase a tv/vcr combo for the car which helped pass the time -- especially the older one. It'll be a tough decision for us when we get ready for the next trip deciding which way to get there.

 

[PoohMoma]

I always say if you can...FLY!
I guess I, too, have horrible memories of being stuffed in the back seat with my brothers on my parents' famous 14 hour drives to vacation spots. We live in Georgia and it's about an 8 hour drive to WDW. We drove it 3 years ago. Not that bad at all since it's 90% interstate driving. But, This year we decided to give our kids the flying experience as part of the trip. We got lucky though...My mom gave us a week of her timeshare...so the condo is free. That way the flight, $529 RT for all 4 of us is a bargain plus $150-170 rental car.

 

[ckay87]

Oh yea, Disney4Us...those are my kids too. They actually did better going to FL for 20 hours than 1/2 hour to grandma's. 1 word...VCR. Plus, forseeing the inevitable fight about which tape to watch, I made them agree on which movies to pack well before leaving. That VCR took care of them for about 80% of the trip!

I'm not saying that driving is the ideal way to get there. Everybody has different priorities when it comes to spending cash - no one way is better than another. When we planned our trip, we were told by EVERYONE we knew that we were "crazy to drive there." We just chose to endure some inconvenience to save about $800. For others, that is $800 well spent - everyone's different. As a matter of fact, for us it was either drive or not go at all for a long time since I only work part-time. BTW, driving down was not bad, coming home was worse since there wasn't much to look forward to.