budgeting driving vs flying

[sheboz]

Leaving from Windsor Ontario I 75 to Orlando what would you budget for food for the round trip August 2012 (travel only). I am using a great worksheet from touringplans.com and trying to figure what method of travel would be best for my family.

What was your budget or do you have any cost saving tips for the drive?

 

[torontodisneyfan]

I have never driven as I am not sure you can put a price on your time. I have always wanted to spend more time in The World then I spend getting there so saving a relatively small amount of money never made sense to me.

For example my DD and I are flying from Buffalo with direct flights on Southwest and it only cost $438 tax in total...

To each his own, but I will always fly....

 

[Teresa Pitman]

There are a lot of factors to consider: what kind of foods you like to eat, how much time you plan to take to do the drive, etc.

We have done the drive (we always do the I-75 as well) quite cheaply, by bringing a cooler, stopping at Meijers and other discount grocery stores for food, and making simple meals we could eat in the car (lunch) and in our hotel room (supper). We picked hotels that offered a "free" breakfast because it saved us time as much as money.

TP

 

[Huff]

You have to eat each day whether you drive or fly those days. I suppose you could figure that eating at Disney is far costlier.

For me a BIG issue would be time. Your drive is 1200 miles each way. Figure two full days of driving each way...4 days of your vacation is spent on the road. I could do that when I was younger but that'd wipe me out now! Flying allows you to enjoy your first evening at a park or relax at your resort ready to start the next morning.

If you flew would you be extending your stay at Disney by a couple days?

 

[sheboz]

We will probably fly, just looking at the numbers.
The free dining will give us room in the budget to fly.
We are so lucky. I will crunch the numbers and break it down to the day. Love my budget sheets.

 

[nepean]

We have done both, flying and driving. With 4 people sharing the driving we drive straight through. I have a plug in cooler and take drinks, sandwiches and snacks. When we stop for gas we pick up fries or soup to go. Airfare from Ottawa would cost us $3500 with tax and Syracuse would be about $1600 minimum at Christmas time. Driving costs about $500 for the gas and if we get tired and stop one night another $150. I like having our own car, pack what I want and no luggage fees. We have driven 15 times and are doing it again Dec 17th to Jan 9th. The in car DVD player will get a good work out.

Nepean

 

[tinkbell13]

We drove when we went in 2008. We are in London, so only a couple of hours farther than Windsor. We spent about $800 in fuel, food and hotels for the trips down and back. That was also for driving a truck in four wheel drive for a good portion of the trip down as a nasty snow storm hit SWO and upper states Friday night and Saturday. We changed our plans and left Friday right after school because of the storm so we had an extra hotel on the way down too. It was cool to drive as it was the first trip to WDW for my DH and DS and they were looking at the scenery as I drove. MIL gave us a cool trip book called Along I75. It is a 25 mile per page map that lists exits, attractions, restaurants, gas stations, hotels, etc. for the entire route. It was really neat to have as DH was able to point out interesting stuff along the way and we could plan where to eat, fuel up and knew what hotels were coming up.

We are going again in 2012 and the whole family is coming. MIL and FIL will already be down there as they go south in February for Daytona (they drive). BIL, SIL and two nieces are coming too and we plan on driving as it is their first trip down I75. We plan on getting an updated I75 book for this trip. For us, airfare is too expensive. Flights are over $3000 if we fly out of a Canadian airport and just over $1600 if we fly out of Detroit (including parking and gas to Detroit and back). The cost difference makes it worth it to drive and we don't mind the extra days as we plan it that way.