AM I crazy????

[bjscheel]

I don't think you will make it in 2 days; Mapquest shows it as 3115 miles and nearly 47 yrs. on the road.

LOL on the typo...but to me that's what it would feel like! My family is nearly done in by 3+ hours on the road at one time. We drove to Branson from SW Iowa (7 hours) and broke that up with an overnight stay in KC each way! DD still puked anyway...

I know it won't change your mind, but really it is so much safer to spend a few hours on a plane than to be driving 47 hours, tired and potentially less than alert, with all those other people on the road.

Good luck and please get your husband's input. My DH drives for a living, so WDW is his dream vacation- once we're at the airport, he is done driving for a week. If I planned a cross-country drive he would not be happy.

 

[NBFUN]

Next year we plan on driving from Ohio to Vancouver (approximately 2500 miles each way) for a wedding. We plan on taking two weeks...6 days to get there, 2 days for the wedding, 6 days to come home, but this is what we want the trip to be...sightseeing along the way. We plan on stopping at all kinds of places.

With that said, I would never drive 3000 plus miles each way and then spend a week at Disney. Disney is just way to exhausting of a vacation to have the kids spend that much extra time in a car, and my kids are awesome travelers.

This is just my opinion. I have people in my family who have a big fear of flying (one who is 68 and just took his first flight this year and of course LOVED it). I will have to agree with others who have stated to talk to your doctor and get medication to help you. Everyone in my family with a fear of flying, still fly, they just use added help.

 

[DisneyMomma81]

It's not that the OP can't fly - she won't. OP did you know the highest cause of death for ages 2-30 is car crash...? You're much safer in the air. Everybody ~ they've already visited DLR *at least that's what her ticker says* but we love DLR *could visit there twice a year or more and it's an easy enough drive for me and OP in WA, I will never drive to Orlando ~ not that I can't, I just don't want to.

 

[jsmith]

I just picked up on something else -and its hard for me to gauge with out knowing when his report date is-the entire plan is dependant on him getting his mid tour approved for some time in June, July or early August or over the Christmas holidays unless you are homeschooling your children-if they are 9 and 13 now they will be 10 and 14-if you take an 8th grader out of school for 30 days they will simply not advance to 9th grade. even for the 10 year old district attendance policies would probably hold him back if he missed that much time. I can see pulling an elementary child out for a week long family vacation and i have intentionally had my college aged students skip classes for a family trip-althought he was an adult and made that call himself-but 30 days of absence in middle or highschool would be disasterous-since the minimum number of days to make your planned trip is 22 if everything goes as planned-you would be risking that.

 

[Mom2apirate&princess]

Hi, I'm a military wife also. My dh has done two Korea tours, is yours taking 2 weeks or 30 days of R&R? That would play into my decision quite a bit. On one of my dh's R&R's we drove back east and it just ate up his time, it was stressful, granted my ds was a toddler at the time. With your kids being older you could make a trip out of the trip going there.

Just a side note, we had to do a tour in Italy and I visited my dh 3 times while he was in Korea, ativan prescribed by the doctor was my friend and the only way I could get on the plane.

 

[brockash]

We haven't been to DW since 2009. We moved to WA state right after our last trip. Well I don't fly. Thank heavens my husband's job hasn't required us to fly. The last time I was flew was the day before 9 11. Anyway. My husband is going to Korea for a year and I was thinking about going to DW when he comes home on leave next year. He is in the Army. I wanted to drive. From here to FL. Take 2 weeks to do Disney and other things. The trip down will be 2 days or more.

Would you do it? Our kids are 9 and 13 and I think they would be more then fine in the car for that long. I really want to go. So bad that it kinda depresses me when I think about how far we are. SOOO am I nuts!

Would I do it? Heck no, I'm not a big fan of small car trips, no way would I ever want to do a cross-country car trip. Is flying really out of the question???? I mean, you used to fly, you're DH is going to be flying, you know it's statistically safer to fly than to drive, so do you really say there is no way you'd get on a plane? I mean if not, and it's the only way to get to Disney, I guess I would, but it really is only because of my love for Disney, and I really think that's such a far and long way to drive, but you're doing it not me. Good luck!

 

[disneygal2007]

How does he feel?! And more importantly, how will he feel about it when it is actually happening?

You are more likely to get into a car accident than something happening on a plane.

We were talking about it this morning. He told me to look into booking a trip. And we will drive. He said we will make a whole vacation out of it. We are a family that like to hop in the car and go and where ever we end up we are excited to be there. We drove from Louisiana in Oct 09 To WA. and I had just had a major surgery in Aug and we did fine. The Army keeps is from allot of family time and we asked the kids before school this morning about the drive and our youngest got excited cause he gets dad alone for 2 weeks. And our youngest loves car trips. So I am excited to get going on the planning. Also our fast trip to DL before he leaves in Feb.

 

[disneygal2007]

It's not that the OP can't fly - she won't. OP did you know the highest cause of death for ages 2-30 is car crash...? You're much safer in the air. Everybody ~ they've already visited DLR *at least that's what her ticker says* but we love DLR *could visit there twice a year or more and it's an easy enough drive for me and OP in WA, I will never drive to Orlando ~ not that I can't, I just don't want to.

OOOPs I need to change my ticker. My husband's job would let him go so we weren't able to go to DL. I might be ok lol I'm 36 in Nov. I grew up going to DL. And ther is just something about DW that makes my choice there. I'm so excited Never know I might change my mind and fly if the cost is worth it.

 

[CraftyMommy]

I would just suck it up and fly. You have a much higher chance of dying if you drive to WDW than you would on a plane. Just explain to yourself that your fears are irrational and you need to get over it and join the millions of people who fly every year.

Do you really want to spend the first few days of your trip recovering from the sleep deprivation and cramped muscles of the long trip? Also you probably won't enjoy the last few days of vacation thinking about that long drive you have ahead of you. In a couple hours you could board a plane and just be there.

I just can't wrap my ahead around it. Why are so many people afraid to fly?

 

[bumbershoot]

OP, check out Alaska's prices from SEA to MCO, if you really start thinking about flying.

As for exhaustion, it takes days for us to deal with the jetlag when we fly! At least with driving you have the time to slowly get used to time differences.

 

[disneygal2007]

why are we talking about dying. It's just a road trip lol

 

[timmac]

I have a few different lines of thought. The OP asked for opinions, so that's what I'll give... of course at the end of the day it's not my decision. With that said, my thoughts:

2 days to make the drive is pushing the limits of impossible; even assuming sleeping in shifts and both of you splitting up the driving. When I was 18, I once did Philly->Phoenix in 48 hours. At that age, I could get away without more than about 3 hours sleep the whole time (was probably stupid to push it that much, but I digress). You're looking at a distance even further. Any time you stop, even to grab drive through, fill up with gas, or use the bathroom, you're adding on to the times that are estimated by maps.

How does your husband feel about this? There is a good chance that for at least the first day after the multi-day drive, on each end, neither of you is going to be feeling too alive and perky. In my experience, the number of hours in the car over such a long haul is far worse than any jetlag effect over three time zones. Every family/relationship is different, and you know your husband best. I can say in my opinion though, that if a 3000 mile drive (in each direction) was thrown on me as a surprise, I'd be beyond livid.

Apart from the fear of flying, cost was also mentioned. I've offered similar comments about this on other threads from time to time, but to summarize briefly here: you may not be "saving" much my driving. Sure, if you calculate miles / miles-per-gallon * cost-per-gallon, it's almost always going to come out cheaper than the cost of flight tickets. But, if you instead consider the total costs of vehicle usage, you might think differently. A conservative cost estimate of even 30 cents a mile (AAA currently lists an average operating/ownership cost of 59 cents a mile for a sedan) would mean a 6,000 mile round trip costs about $1800. That's before you eat, or potentially stay at a hotel, or anything else along the way.

Now, with all I have said, a lot of it still comes down to if you're much of a "driving" family or not. If everyone in your family enjoys road trips, and you work in a more realistic time table for the trip, then it may still be a great idea to drive. I'm just offering some other points to think about.

 

[timmac]

why are we talking about dying. It's just a road trip lol

While I would agree with the PP that in theory flying is safer, neither has a high enough risk that it would factor into my decision.

 

[mom2cookies]

Did anyone suggest taking the train? I would drive but i think you are not leaving yourself enough time. It will take a minimum of 60 hrs ( info via over the road truck driver dh) to get from WA to FL. That's just road time, not stopping or sleeping time.

 

[danceintherain]

We were talking about it this morning. He told me to look into booking a trip. And we will drive. He said we will make a whole vacation out of it. We are a family that like to hop in the car and go and where ever we end up we are excited to be there. We drove from Louisiana in Oct 09 To WA. and I had just had a major surgery in Aug and we did fine. The Army keeps is from allot of family time and we asked the kids before school this morning about the drive and our youngest got excited cause he gets dad alone for 2 weeks. And our youngest loves car trips. So I am excited to get going on the planning. Also our fast trip to DL before he leaves in Feb.

If your husband is on board, then go ahead and plan on it. I asked mine today, and he said that if I was planning on something like that, he would be upset with me. He doesn't like to let me drive places though. We drove from around Flagstaff, AZ to Kansas City, KS a few years ago, and he drove almost all of it.

I also don't like the idea of driving to Disney, simply because it cuts into the actual Disney time. I have a hard time committing to flights with stops, because they pretty much always make us get there and leave around noon, so a whole day is basically sucked up with traveling.

I've never had a fear of flying though, so I can't imagine what that would be like. I even had a recent experience that involved the hydraulics going out on a plane, and I still got on a plane the next day.

Ultimately, it's up to you and your family.

 

[Glittercat]

Hi there! We're your neighbors over in Battle Ground WA, Fort Lewis is just down the road a bit. Will you be driving over the passes? If so when? We have friends that moved to Boston for almost two years, but just came back and going out took them 4 days straight driving and adding chains with some very frightening moments, coming back took 3 solid days but with great weather they said it was much easier. They had sent their kids ahead though on a plane to another friend out here so it was just two adults traveling. If you choose to road trip to Florida it I wish you the very best! For us the cost of gas would be prohibitive compared with the 7-ish hour flights to and from- not including layovers of an hour or so. The time difference made our two kids pretty bouncy until about midnight Orlando time. This went on for days, but was pretty simple to deal with. Before making that grand trek by car be sure about your route, and alternate routes depending on adverse weather conditions. I wish you the best, but I do think the trip by plane is cheaper and less strain on everyone.

 

[Danibelle]

LOL on the typo...but to me that's what it would feel like! My family is nearly done in by 3+ hours on the road at one time. We drove to Branson from SW Iowa (7 hours) and broke that up with an overnight stay in KC each way! DD still puked anyway...

I know it won't change your mind, but really it is so much safer to spend a few hours on a plane than to be driving 47 hours, tired and potentially less than alert, with all those other people on the road.

Good luck and please get your husband's input. My DH drives for a living, so WDW is his dream vacation- once we're at the airport, he is done driving for a week. If I planned a cross-country drive he would not be happy.

Yikes! I did edit my post. It is only 47 hrs, but to me, would probably feel like 47 yrs. I moved from Cali to NC and DH and I each drove a car. It took me 6 easy days from SoCal to NC. I could not have driven that far in 2-3 days much less from Washington.

 

[tiffjoy]

I know a large family who drives to DW every other year for vacation. They can't afford to fly so many people. They take turns driving and get there in two days. (I live in California.)

We have moved three times coast to coast and driven it each time. It's never taken less than 4 days. I hate it, so I would never voluntarily do it. But there's no reason you can't if you are both ok with it.

 

[elf]

That's great he's on board with it. Have a great time. We love road trips and were together alot, so I know my kids would appreciate the extra time together if we were not together all the time. We find it to be a good bonding time.

Also I wrote in here a couple of months ago about a long trip from Maine to Quebec to Niagra Falls. Everyone thought it would be too much, I thought it may be too, So I didn't include in itinarary.
My kids, on our last day kids wanted to add the extra 10 hours to see Niagara (we couldn't since we ran out of time). But you never know.

 

[bankgirl05]

I'd only do it if I were going to stop and do some other sightseeing along the way. Take one of those two weeks at WDW to do things along your route there and back (and plan an interesting route).

This!!!! There is soo much to do and see, and at your kids ages, and the situation your in, (DH being away for SOOOOO long) the memories that you would create will be so valuable!!! Not that WDW won't create many fond memories, and wouldn't I love to spend 2 weeks there? HECK yeah, but as teenagers/preteens, I think WDW loses it's charm after you have seen/done each park ride 1-2 times. Which you don't need two weeks for.

Maybe your DH and kids are thrill seekers, and you could build in a couple stops at other parks like 6 flags in TX or Cedar Point in OH?

I would definately not be driving cross country in 2 days!!! we are driving 18 hrs in Nov. and I am not really looking forwrd to it. Road weariness can become emotionally, and physically taxing.

Maybe if you do decide to fly, you can incorporate other "non-Disney" things into your trip, like a side trip to Cape Canaveral and/or the beach, or of course, all the other parks in the area.