Anyone drive from Dallas to WDW!

[Sharron379]

My husband are considering driving this time to disney to save on airfare. How long is it. When did you leave? Did you stop or drive straight through? Is it worth saving the money and driving that much and using up time off for a drive or is it better to just fly?

Sharron

 

[Jenvenza]

I have done Houston to WDW - in one day! It is a loooong trip and I wouldnt do it again - I have a child now though, and didnt when we did it before. I cant remember how long it took, but it was somewhere around 15 hours I think. We left really early in the morning and got there in the late afternoon. It can be done though!

 

[stella27]

I think from a big market like Dallas, I would fly Southwest.

 

[lwartberg]

We are driving from Dallas in Sept. We are leaving around 7ish on Friday night, plan on driving all the way thru and then arriving late morning Saturday at WDW. I think for us its about a 16 hr drive. We will arrive the same time we would have if we had flown, only difference is we sleep in the car and not in our beds at home. Our arrival day is a leisurly day anyway, so DH can rest all he needs to.

We drive at night so the kids sleep. DH will probably drive the whole way. (He loves to drive! )

We would have liked to fly but financials crunched us in a way that we won't have the $ up front to buy plane tickets like we hoped. (darn cars that need work done on them! )

 

[triplet_mom_2001]

We have friends that drive from Fort Worth to WDW. They drive straight through, but spend the first night at an inexpensive hotel outside of Disney. This gives them a chance to get some rest and do some shopping before checking into Disney property.

To the poster that suggested flying Southwest. It is more expensive to fly from Dallas because of the Wright amendment. I booked Southwest flights for December from Dallas to Orlando and the flights were right at $400.

Lisa

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

Hey Sharron,
We are about 2 hours east of Houston-we actually can be in Lake Charles in about 45 minutes or so, on IH-10. As a kid my family drove to Disney 3 different times. For us....it was a NIGHTMARE. I hated it, my family didn't do very well with the road trip thing, so we were all bummed by the time we got there!! And we did the drive in 2 days-8 hours a day with kids is a loooong day!!

Now I am the mommy and we do NOT drive it!! Unless I had an RV or something like that! We just budget flying in as part of the trip, and go for it. As the kids get older I might would consider it, but for now they are too young.And part of the vacation for my hubby is not having to drive anywhere-he drives all the time at work. Also, I don't want to pack all that and then unpack at a hotel and then repack again-I would be worn out by the time we got to Disney!! If you can afford to fly, I say go for it!

 

[NaeNae]

We drive from OKC to WDW with kids. We do it in 2 days. The fastest we've done it in is 21 hours. We stop at McDonalds and do potty breaks and let the kids play for a few minutes while we order the food. Then we take the food to the car and eat on the road. If we ate at the resturant we would loose way too much time. We have DVD players for the kids to watch movies and they have done fine. We are fixing to make our 4th trip in 2 years.

 

[TotalSnowWhite]

We drive from OKC to WDW with kids. We do it in 2 days. The fastest we've done it in is 21 hours. We stop at McDonalds and do potty breaks and let the kids play for a few minutes while we order the food. Then we take the food to the car and eat on the road. If we ate at the resturant we would loose way too much time. We have DVD players for the kids to watch movies and they have done fine. We are fixing to make our 4th trip in 2 years.

Hi neighbor!

My grandparents drove from Norman (just South of OKC) to WDW while DMom and I flew with DS and DNiece. On the arrival trip, they drove about 18ish hours to Jacksonville and stayed on base that night. They did a trolley tour there, and then drove a couple more hours to the Poly! On the return trip, the drove straight through the night. They walked us to the monorail around 9:30 or so, spent another hour or so browsing the Poly and were back in Norman by 7:00 the next morning. They like road trips, though. They're currently on their annual 12-day road trip to Montana.

DMom and I are flying with DS in December (DNiece will be in 1st grade and can't miss school due to new attendance policies), and my grandparents will be making the drive again. We are considering driving with them on the next trip since DS will hopefully be more able to entertain himself for longer periods of time.

 

[carj]

We went to WDW in June and flew from DFW. We were thinking that we would end up driving because initially the flights that we found were $350 per person! At that point driving made sense. We had estimated $500 for gas, $200 in hotel cost (one each way) and $100 food costs on the road. We estimated $800 to be our break even point.

I kept playing with the dates, plus or minus one each way. I found flights and hotel booked together through AirTran for $1465. This was for 4 non-stop flights and 7 nights at All Star Sports. (They had other Disney hotels but we wanted the cheapest Disney property!)

The cost of booking the room only was around $800 so that meant we could fly for the the difference of less than $700. (Is my math making sense?)

At that point, we decided to fly.

I would consider driving but to be honest, I would dread it. My kids are 7 and 5 and we have a DVD player in the car, lots of gadgets, etc... I think that if you do decide to drive, take it easy on the day you arrive, and the day you leave. You don't want to be too exhausted!

We looked at flying SW but they were much more expensive than AirTran. AA and SW were very competitive in pricing when we were looking. Since DFW is so much closer than Love for us, we were happy that we ended up on Air Tran.

Good luck!

 

[carj]

You might also check some airports that are within driving distance. We looked at flights out of Austin and even Abilene! My brother flew out of Abilene last year and save $200 a ticket when he went to Hawaii.

We still found that flying out of DFW was the cheapest. Play with your dates, leaving Friday, leaving Sunday, etc... We went Sunday to Sunday as it was the cheapest! We actually stayed an extra day because the extra night saved us money on the flight, enough to more than cover the cost of the extra day.

 

[weloveprincesses]

We have driven Dallas to WDW twice (I say "we"...I really mean DH. ) We have a little bit of an advantage as we do have an RV, so the girls and I would spend the night in the RV the night before and dh, who sleeps very little would get up around 4ish and start the drive. We'd get up around 8 or 9 and spend the day driving. Stop at night at a Wallyworld, by the time we wake up in the morning, he's already gotten up and typically we're there. We do stop for lunch and dinner or just to stretch our legs. Even though we're in an RV and it's great, we still need to stop once in awhile. I actually googled it last night on Mapquest, since I'm going through slight withdrawals and was toying with the idea of driving the girls and I there. It's 1134 miles from my house out by DFW airport and says it takes about 17 hours to get there. Aack! That's not a trip I feel like taking by myself!!!

I will say, if you ever get a chance to take an RV (and with the price of gas right now why would you? We certainly haven't) the Wilderness campgrounds is a GREAT place to stay. We've loved it both times we've stayed.

Good luck!!!
Maggi

 

[Dallas_Lady]

We haven't done it before, but we are considering it. DH and I did road trip all the time, pre-kids. I am a little apprehensive about it with the little ones, though. Ours will be little when we go again, 2 and 4.

 

[nanceliz]

We have driven from San Antonio quite a few times. We split the drive up over a couple of days and get a cheaper hotel along the highway.
We have driven it all in one day switching drivers but it was without children. It took us around 21 hours. But, we stopped a few times for breaks.

Even with children, the drive can be done.

 

[javamoma]

We did the drive from Dallas to WDW a couple of times when I was a kid and it was fine.
We have not done that exact route with our daughter but we have taken several (8 or 9) 17 hour road trips with her and it's been fine. We all love the adventure of getting there.
We make lunch on the road and only stop a couple of times to potty. We do 17 hours in 1 day with no problem, I think it all depends on the temperment of your kids.
I have heard, from Dallas it takes 17 hours to get to WDW.
Good luck!

 

[MightyMom]

we've driven once from McAllen to WDW. We drove straight through to crestview, Florida. Next morning we woke up and drove another 6 hours to WDW.

We are planning on going again next month.... and intend to drive. Our plan is to stop in Tallahassee. We'll leave at 5am and hope to arrive by 10ish.

We have one child who uses a wheelchair... and another with major sensory issues..... flying is a lot of work for us.

 

[Munchkin'sMommy]

I live in Texas as well and have been pricing airfares to MCO for a while now and the chepeast I have been able to come up with is around 1300.00 for 2 adults and 1 child. That is directly out of DFW. To fly out of my local aiport is about 300 more total. I have tried AA, DL, CO, Airtan, USAirways and United. So far US and UA have been the cheapest at around 1300. AA quoted me a price arond 1600 and Airtran was around 1700. I don' t eventhink soMostTexas cites are hampered by the stupid Wright Amendment so you are forced to change planes in DFW.Southwest has managed to find a way around it, somehow, but still....it is a major pain and it keeps airfares sky high, especially at DFW where AA is now the dominant carrier.There is no competiton and that is bad for the consumer. Ok, rant off...I think its the cold medicine.

From where I live, mapquest says its a 22 hour drive. Alexandria is roughly the half way point and its about a ten hour drive from where we live. Since we will be traveling with a 2 year old, we will have to stop many times to rest, eat and let him blow off some steam and of course, SLEEP. We are not long distance drivers.
I hope that airfares on that route come down soon, but I doubt they will. And really it is such a major hassle to fly these days, especially with all the extra fees being tacked on for everything. Driving 22 hours actually sounds RELAXING!

 

[EnchantedPrincess]

We are in Houston, and drove to WDW this past June. We started at about 5am in the morning, and made it to Tallahassee at about 6pm (about 12 hour drive with the time change). Then the next day, we started at about 6am and made it to WDW at 10am. We had two little ones - 2 and 4 and it was their first road trip and they did really well. We plan on driving again next year. Air fares for the 4 of us aren't cheap!

 

[LauraP22]

We're driving from Austin in less than a month. We'll make it a two day drive both ways. We're doing it mainly because we prefer it to flying though. Our kids are 3 and 2 yrs old and are 13 months apart. They hate being stuck in airports and on airplanes all day and would much rather relax in their comfy seats eating their favorite snacks and watching DVD's or hearing mommy read books for two days than spend one on a plane.

Also, with two so young, packing is much easier with our roomy minivan and DH and I get a chance to zone out, talk to one another, listen to our favorite songs, etc and have some family time. I think that with older kids, who can use headphones, gaming systems and other forms of entertainment and who can go through security on their own two feet and carry their own carry ons it is easier to fly than with two toddlers. Security alone is crazy, taking away their blankies and stuffed animals, taking off everyones shoes, it's just a pain with little ones.

I'm also not the kinda person who can sit back and read on a plane while my toddler kicks the seat in front of me, makes noise, etc. I feel like it's my responsibility to be inconvenienced and not get to relax, not the responsibility of the people sitting around us

 

[luvmy2sams]

We've driven from SW OK, which means driving thru DFW, on three of our trips to WDW. We make the drive over two days, staying in Tallahassee, Marianna, and Pensacola on the various trips. Kids have been as young as 15 months up to 5 years on the drives, and it's really not that bad. We're big road trippers, though, which makes a difference.

We stop at the indoor playgrounds to let the kids run around and then get their food to go. After all, who wants to sit still when there's playing to be done. I pack new stuff for the backpacks and dole out small prizes periodically. We also have a DVD player and kid-friendly music.

The worst part of the drive for us is traveling through Louisiana (no offense to LA dwellers). It feels like we're NEVER going to get out of that state.

We're surprising the kids with a Christmas trip next year, and we'll be driving unless we get another great deal thru AirTran. DH is actually looking forward to the drive. I'm not quite there yet.