Another ? for Long Island, NY drivers...

[BuzzMe]

We always fly to Orlando, but are considering driving down for our next visit. I'd appreciate ay input-good, bad, tips? Airfare and car rental prices are rather high for the time we're looking at(Christmas). We're wondering how much money(if any!) we'd really be saving by driving. Thanks for your input!

 

[crazyme5kids]

Well I can tell you that the gas for my old Chevy Suburban cost around $300.00 there and back as well as driving around Orlando for 2 weeks. I stayed 1 night going down at a cost of $90.00. That was for 5 people. My husband flew down to spend a few days at the end of our trip and to drive back with us. We needed 2 rooms for 1 night on the return due to the fact there were now 6 of us. That was a total of $300.00, only because we stayed at a Residence Inn which was more costly (my husband didn't want to shop around LOL). My husbands airfare 1 way was $130.00 (his travel agent got him a bargin).

So it cost around $800.00 (I added in the airfare because if he drove with us going down we would have spent money for an additional room) to drive. Again that is with a big, old truck, so a car that gets better milelage will spend less. Some people also factor wear and tear into the equation, I don't.

 

[BuzzMe]

Thanks Crazyme. Your figures are just about what we had estimated. I guess if you can survive the ride with 5 kids, we can attempt it with our 2!

 

[crazyme5kids]

LOL! I survived, it was my grouchy teenage son that nearly didn't............ let's just say mommy was a step away from spewing pea soup and grabbing the wire hangers!

 

[btmyank]

I drove one time and would never do it again if I wasn't planning on more than one destination, stopping in DC ,Virginia, Carolina etc... .
It would probably be a savings of 700 to a thousand dollars for a family of 5 I would think.

 

[crazyme5kids]

My friend and her son flew down to meet us (before my husband came) and it cost around $800.00 just for the two of them. She flew at off hours too just to get a better rate. So for my family it definatly saved a bundle. I would rather drive than fly though, so saving the money didn't factor into my travel plans anyway.

 

[BuzzMe]

We're not too thrilled about the thought of driving but we flew to WDW several times this past year and we're planning an Alaska cruise for August, so we're trying to save money(ha) however we can. We weren't even planning another WDW trip, but DH needs a "fix"! The least expensive flights I've found total $980 for the four of us and I'm figuring another few hundred for car rental, though we could make other transportation arrangements. I can use Hilton points for hotel stays during the drive. We'll plan on driving but if we see air fares drop quite a bit we can always change our plan. I really appreciate everyone's input- thanks!