Contingency Plans - Driving from Calgary

[cdnSpinalTap]

Hello,

With everything going on, we are starting to work on some potential contingency plans for an upcoming trip in August. One part of this is considering driving from Calgary to Orlando, in the even that air travel restrictions are put in place.

Has anyone done this drive? What is a good amount of time to take to do the drive? Any suggestion on routes, hotels, places to stay away from?

To be clear, I am only interested in thoughts on the drive, not comments related to whether its a good contingency plan, whether the parks will be safe, whether things will be back to normal by then, etc, etc.

Thanks!

 

[FigmentSpark]

We used to do it from Winnipeg. That was a good 3 days. You'll want to allow 4, I think, depending on how many stops you like to make. We used to go through Minneapolis, Chicago, Knoxville and down.

 

[sherilaine]

I would think it would take you a good three days - so essentially almost a week in a car to get there and back. We live in Calgary, no way we'd do this. Hopefully by August things will be back to normal.

 

[cdnSpinalTap]

I would think it would take you a good three days - so essentially almost a week in a car to get there and back. We live in Calgary, no way we'd do this. Hopefully by August things will be back to normal.

Thanks - agreed, but again, just looking at all options at this point. We are not cancelling the trip, unless they close the border or close Disney World.

 

[spiffgirl101]

Would you consider driving to the states and flying out from there? Many people I know often drive from Winnipeg to Grand Forks. Not sure where the closest airport would be, somewhere in Montana? It might be another option and less time consuming.

 

[StarSeven7]

Ugh, that drive would be brutal! How long would you actually be in WDW? I did the drive from Michigan to Calgary in a U-Haul when I moved out there in 2005 and it took about 2.5 days of driving straight with very minimal stops, but stopping to sleep at night. Google says it takes 41-42 hours from Calgary to Orlando so I'd say you'd want to give it 4 days. It would be better if you were making a trip out of it and stopping at locations along the way. We did that when we drove from Michigan to California to go to a wedding (we were too young to rent a car at the time so flying and renting a car wasn't an option!) We made it a 2 week trip and stopped at National Parks all along the way.

 

[cdnSpinalTap]

Would you consider driving to the states and flying out from there? Many people I know often drive from Winnipeg to Grand Forks. Not sure where the closest airport would be, somewhere in Montana? It might be another option and less time consuming.

We would possibly considering driving to Montana and then fly from there - that was certainly one of the other contingencies we are researching.

Ugh, that drive would be brutal! How long would you actually be in WDW? I did the drive from Michigan to Calgary in a U-Haul when I moved out there in 2005 and it took about 2.5 days of driving straight with very minimal stops, but stopping to sleep at night. Google says it takes 41-42 hours from Calgary to Orlando so I'd say you'd want to give it 4 days. It would be better if you were making a trip out of it and stopping at locations along the way. We did that when we drove from Michigan to California to go to a wedding (we were too young to rent a car at the time so flying and renting a car wasn't an option!) We made it a 2 week trip and stopped at National Parks all along the way.

Funny - my wife is from Michigan - we do that drive all the time, love it.

We are in Florida for 2 weeks. I would estimate about 4 days driving, each way, as well. This would definitely be a last resort, and again, just looking at all the different options.

Thanks for the feedback everyone!