cheapest way to get to Disney

[PaMommy02]

HI,

I'm really thinking about booking a disney trip for us, but flight tickets are soooo expensive! We are a family of 4 from PA. The cheapest way I have found is to drive but then thats wear and tear on the car, lots of gas, hotel night stay, plus we need 2 days to get there (when all is said and done its only slightly cheaper then flying).

Flight tickets are about $300 pp which is great but we are 4 people so thats adds up.

What do most people do? Thanks!

 

[donalduck]

Can you fly southwest? They are always running 59 or 69 sales pp for one way. That beats driving. If you could get it for 59 or 69 pp it would be cheaper to fly.

HI,

I'm really thinking about booking a disney trip for us, but flight tickets are soooo expensive! We are a family of 4 from PA. The cheapest way I have found is to drive but then thats wear and tear on the car, lots of gas, hotel night stay, plus we need 2 days to get there (when all is said and done its only slightly cheaper then flying).

Flight tickets are about $300 pp which is great but we are 4 people so thats adds up.

What do most people do? Thanks!

 

[knittykat]

I know that I found prices were much more reasonable when I booked a package with air, hotel, and car through Expedia or Travelocity. Buying tickets individually were high, but with hotel and car we got a great deal for only a bit more than the tickets would have been themselves!

 

[Jenny-momof3]

I'm from Ohio and it's 1,000 miles from my doorstep to WDW. We ALWAYS drive now! It takes us about 15 hours and we do it straight through. We stop every 5 hours for gas, hop out use the restroom, grab a quick bite to eat, change the baby and we're back on the road in 20 minutes...yup we're crazy!

We've stopped overnight before and my kids begged us just to drive straight through! We leave after the kids get out of school at 3pm. My DH drives the first shift, I drive the 2nd, then he drives the 3rd. We arrive around 5am. We go to Ihop, check into our resorts and we're at MK for rope drop!

Total cost is approx $300-$350 for gas round trip. I take plenty of snacks in the car so a quick food stop runs us around $20 each way. So it costs us less than $400 for my family of 6 to get to Disney.

I can pack whatever I want, don't have to worry about baggage fees for ALL of us! And even though we hardly use the van once we arrive, it's nice to have it to make a quick stop to Target,etc. And if my kids get cranky...I don't have to worry about others complaining about them!

If you want to stop overnight, we pricelined a 3 star hotel outside of Atlanta and paid $50. So if you stopped each way that only adds in additional $100 to your trip!

 

[knittykat]

Wow JennyMomof3, you are hardcore!

 

[blessedby3]

We are in VA....12 hours to WDW from our door. We used to always fly, but after our youngest had to buy a ticket, and with the baggage fees, it was just getting too expensive. We have driven the past two trips and it is much better for us to drive straight through. We had 8 people in our 8 passenger van on our last trip...just DH, me and 6 kids aged 21-3
If we had a SWA near us, we would probably fly....I love SWA and their Ding specials

 

[cah5525]

The last time we flew to Disney (2009)...I got 5 RT tickets from white plains, ny to mco for $700.05...The snow started, delay after delay, ended up missing our connection in atlanta - had to sleep in the airport and miss a whole day at Disney so, the cheap airfare meant nothing at that point. Horrible flight and now I am terrified of flying soo, driving is just better for us. If the snow is coming, I can leave early. cheaper than 5 of us flying. It's a 21 hour drive...have done it straight through but, if I'm the only adult going, I have to stop...NC or GA. Another good thing about driving, you can make a stop at the grocery store to pick up snacks and beverages to keep in your room!

 

[disny_luvr]

I would look into Southwest. They don't charge any fees for bags so you won't have to worry about that extra cost. We usually can get tickets for about $89-$99 each way. The first time we flew them we got our tickets for $54 each way. Boy do I miss those days. Anway, I think that would be your best bet for the cheapest flights. You didn't mention where in PA you live. We live near Hershey and fly out of BWI. We can usually get cheaper flights out of BWI vs. PHL. For our upcoming trip we are flying Airtran out of HIA and Southwest back to BWI. Thankfully, my parents are dropping us off/picking us up or that would've never worked. Check SW's site several times a day; there prices increase/decrease often.

 

[Rose23]

I agree with Jenny-momof3. Love driving and not having to worry about airline charges or changes, security, crowded planes, etc.

We too drive from Ohio every year, although we do stop outside Atlanta overnight. Total costs round trip driving is $400 including gasoline, little food, hotel both ways. Since it is two drivers, we find it best to stop overnight to give our SUV and us a break, check tire pressure and oil, clean truck a little, etc. Stop in to your nearest Cracker Barrel restaurant and pick up "The Next Exit" book; it is well worth the $15 cost. It tells you what is located at every Interstate exit in the entire United States so you can plan your route accordingly and you will know what is at every exit before you decide if you want to stop. You may also be able to borrow one from your local library.

Interstate 77 south through Columbia then I-95 is the shortest route with two tunnels in West Virginia and Virginia (overnight stop in Columbia). However, we prefer Interstate 75 south through Cincinnati, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia (overnight stop outside Atlanta) then Florida to Turnpike. No tunnels.

Have a great trip on whatever you decide. Also, do not forget about Amtrak. You can take your vehicle on the AutoTrain from Lorton, VA or, if you want to go without a car, you could take a regular Amtrak route all the way from PA in to Orlando and it's pretty reasonable for a family.

 

[SaraJayne]

We live in WI and driving has never been considered.

We fly or we don't go.

 

[timmac]

While I definitely encourage anyone to do what they find works best for them, I certainly can't say I'm a fan of driving. I'd point out first that to measure the cost only in terms of gas is probably a bit short sighted... more miles also means more frequent maintenance, replacement of wear items, and indeed overall life of the vehicle. Consider it this way... for a 2,000 mile round trip, a vehicle that cost $15,000 new, with a life of 200,000 miles could make 100 such trips... so the trip costs, on average, $150, just for the vehicle itself. Add in things like tired, oil changes, brakes, belts, hoses... you get the idea. The actual total cost is likely 3-4x just the cost of the gas.

Again, people may feel differently, but I know in my case, I also wouldn't want to be the person at rope drop the morning after I was doing 10+ hours of driving punctuated by only mediocre sleep while my wife drove for a shift. Disney vacations can be tiring enough on their own; I can't see exacerbating the issue by arriving when I'm already sleep deprived.

YMMV... literally and figuratively, in this case.

 

[Marionnette]

While I definitely encourage anyone to do what they find works best for them, I certainly can't say I'm a fan of driving. I'd point out first that to measure the cost only in terms of gas is probably a bit short sighted... more miles also means more frequent maintenance, replacement of wear items, and indeed overall life of the vehicle. Consider it this way... for a 2,000 mile round trip, a vehicle that cost $15,000 new, with a life of 200,000 miles could make 100 such trips... so the trip costs, on average, $150, just for the vehicle itself. Add in things like tired, oil changes, brakes, belts, hoses... you get the idea. The actual total cost is likely 3-4x just the cost of the gas.

Again, people may feel differently, but I know in my case, I also wouldn't want to be the person at rope drop the morning after I was doing 10+ hours of driving punctuated by only mediocre sleep while my wife drove for a shift. Disney vacations can be tiring enough on their own; I can't see exacerbating the issue by arriving when I'm already sleep deprived.

YMMV... literally and figuratively, in this case.

 

[Jenny-momof3]

Wow JennyMomof3, you are hardcore!

I prefer hardcore to crazy...thanks!

The last time we flew to Disney (2009)...I got 5 RT tickets from white plains, ny to mco for $700.05...The snow started, delay after delay, ended up missing our connection in atlanta - had to sleep in the airport and miss a whole day at Disney so, the cheap airfare meant nothing at that point. Horrible flight and now I am terrified of flying soo, driving is just better for us. If the snow is coming, I can leave early. cheaper than 5 of us flying. It's a 21 hour drive...have done it straight through but, if I'm the only adult going, I have to stop...NC or GA. Another good thing about driving, you can make a stop at the grocery store to pick up snacks and beverages to keep in your room!

This is part of the reason we no longer fly as well! Our last "direct" flight should've had us to Disney in 2 hours. It was July so no weather issues. Flight was delayed in Ohio, then rerouted to Baltimore where we sat for 3 hours...with a toddler..OMG! Finally arrived in Orlando, then had to wait almost 2 hours for our %*&%# minivan ( wasn't staying onsite at the beginning of the trip). By the time we arrived at our resort it took us over 12 hours. My DH said we would keep coming back 3-4 times a year IF we only drove!! My kids do great and my dh and I enjoy the time with the kids and eachother to talk while we're in the van.

[QUOTEInterstate 77 south through Columbia then I-95 is the shortest route with two tunnels in West Virginia and Virginia (overnight stop in Columbia). However, we prefer Interstate 75 south through Cincinnati, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia (overnight stop outside Atlanta) then Florida to Turnpike. No tunnels.
][/QUOTE]

We've taken both routes numerous times. We MUCH prefer 75...especially since I do the middle leg of the trip and it gets sooo windy through there! We've never once had an issue going through Atlanta since we hit it pretty late at night. Coming back we head out of WDW around 4am and miss all the heavy traffic coming out of Florida and again miss the traffic in Atlanta. We've learned leaving around 9am leaves us sitting in traffic for far too long!!

While I definitely encourage anyone to do what they find works best for them, I certainly can't say I'm a fan of driving. I'd point out first that to measure the cost only in terms of gas is probably a bit short sighted... more miles also means more frequent maintenance, replacement of wear items, and indeed overall life of the vehicle. Consider it this way... for a 2,000 mile round trip, a vehicle that cost $15,000 new, with a life of 200,000 miles could make 100 such trips... so the trip costs, on average, $150, just for the vehicle itself. Add in things like tired, oil changes, brakes, belts, hoses... you get the idea. The actual total cost is likely 3-4x just the cost of the gas.

Again, people may feel differently, but I know in my case, I also wouldn't want to be the person at rope drop the morning after I was doing 10+ hours of driving punctuated by only mediocre sleep while my wife drove for a shift. Disney vacations can be tiring enough on their own; I can't see exacerbating the issue by arriving when I'm already sleep deprived.

I do agree that you do need to add in the wear and tear...but our usual vacations are about 10 days to 2 weeks long. Typically I would be putting a minimum of 700 miles on my van in those 2 weeks at home anyways...if not more! So really I'm only putting an additional 1,000 miles on my van.

And I know we're a rare breed that can go running into the parks after a 15 hour drive! But I think we're just a little nutty and don't require alot of sleep because it's typical of us to hit the park at rope drop that first day, go back mid afternoon to set up our room,swim,etc. then we head back to the park til close..then we turn around and hit rope drop the next morning! Yes...we're weird!

 

[JennSaint]

We fly every year! I would only drive if I was going to be staying a minimum of 2 weeks.
Can you be flexible with your travel dates? Flying on a Tues or Wednesday will be cheaper than flying Saturdays etc.
Just curious what dates you are looking at??

 

[BABY_EINSTEIN'S_MOM]

We have a drive around 12 hours, and only stop for gas, food etc. also. But we leave early that morning and when we arrive we just grab some groceries and settle in our townhouse before heading out to our first park that next morning. On our last trip the kids begged to go to MK when we arrived, but none of them(or dh) seemed to handle it very well since they were tired....but me...oh I could stay up for days and visit MK afterwards and be happy about it! LOL

 

[rookie78]

We have flown twice and drove twice. The first time we flew was b/c the airfare was so cheap, it was silly not to. The next two times we drove, b/c airfare was crazy. It is about 16-18 hr drive, depending on how many bathroom breaks there are. I really did not mind the driving, it was so much cheaper, it cost us $600 to drove there and back, while airfare cost us $200o. This last time we flew money was not really an issue and I found a great deal on airfare. If money is an issue, then I would drive, if not then fly!!! Driving is not always ideal, but if it gets you to Disney, then I would do it.

 

[Greyhound22]

We always drive from Central Illinois. It is around 18 hours and we usually drive straight though. It is easier on the way there than back (easy to understand that I'm sure). I can't find flights that would cost my family less than $1000 and I can drive for less than half that. It is a no-brainer for me. Flying would be more convenient, but it is the way we do it. Without a doubt we go more often because of the saving of driving.

 

[DawnM]

If you have a car with you the savings can be significant. You have transportation to go off-site for meals and can stay off-site.

We drive from NC ($300 last trip but gas is going up), get Disney Y.E.S. tickets ($1,100 last trip for 8 day hoppers for 5 of us plus water parks and more option), $300 for two weeks of a condo stay, $400 budgeted for food plus our Disney dollars of about $200. However, since we normally spend about $150 per week on food and we were there for 2 weeks, I didn't count all of that $400 into the budget.

So, under $2,000 including gas for a family of 5 for two weeks of Disney.

 

[KarlaG4Kids]

SWA used to have good prices from our location, but not anymore. When they advertise $69 flights ours end up being $150 one way. So depending on where you live this might or might not work! Honestly, we have driven straight through taking turns driving in the past. This way we didn't have hotel costs going and coming. But it is 25 hours each way for us so that is a real pain. But it saves a lot if there are more than a couple of people going.

 

[disneymarie]

HI,

I'm really thinking about booking a disney trip for us, but flight tickets are soooo expensive! We are a family of 4 from PA. The cheapest way I have found is to drive but then thats wear and tear on the car, lots of gas, hotel night stay, plus we need 2 days to get there (when all is said and done its only slightly cheaper then flying).

Flight tickets are about $300 pp which is great but we are 4 people so thats adds up.

What do most people do? Thanks!

I drove last fall. I found tickets from Airtran for $89 on many days. We fly out of Allentown, Phila this time is Harrisburg. THe parking the week at Harrisburg is $59 from the web site.

The tickets tax. insurance and pre seating for 4 is less then a $1,ooo