Crazy for Driving? Talk me into it, please!

[bkfree]

Okay, I'm with your husband-FLY. I would never make it that far in a car and I would feel I was wasting a lot of time that could be spent at Disney.

Me too. Our two are 5 and 7 and because my Grandmother and relatives live in Tampa we have made the 11 hour drive quite a bit. My two are great riders and we have a nice deluxe minivan with built in DVD and all the whistles. Our last trip to WDW we left on Friday afternoon drove about 5 hours, spent the night then drove the rest of the way on Sat. arriving in Orlando around 3pm and did start the parks until the next day. Going down is not too bad because you are excited, but coming home somewhat of a bummer.
When we began planning our next trip(we leave this Sat) my husband told me that honestly, for him, the best trip I could ever plan for him would be no driving on his part. I agreed that would be a good vaction gift to him. So we are flying. What normally would take us 11 hours in the car, is now a 90 minute flight. We land at 9:30 am and should be at a park by noon. Coming home we leave at 2:30 pm and get home at 4:30. Anyway you cut it, this is just more fun for all of us and less time wasted driving, more park time and a Rested Happy Dad.We are staying on site, having some groceries delivered via Garden Grocer and doing the whole trip this time via monorail, boat, bus and feet and no car. I can see a difference in my husband's excitment this time because other than drive us the 30 minutes to the airport, he gets to relax the whole time too. That is so worth much more than the $198 x 3 a ticket we spent(got one for $7 with our FFM).
Airfare $601 Daddy totally relaxed,rested and Feeling the MAGIC-Priceless

 

[Blueyed Girl]

I haven't read the other responses yet but here's what we are doing...

It is about 13 hours from here so we are leaving at 5 or 6am, driving more than half way (9 hours) but taking our time and stopping every couple of hours. (this will put us there around 2pm...this gives lots of room for construction problems, frequent breaks, etc before the sun goes down.) We will be spending the night in Tallahassee then drive the rest of the way the next morning, which will be a 4 hour drive. If we leave at 5am we will get there by 10am and still have the rest of the day. Our theory is that by leaving so early in the morning, DS will more than likely be ready for a nap before noon and be in a decent mood for the rest of the day. (plus this gives parents a couple of hours of quiet driving time)

DVD players work WONDERS! We bought ours on the way out of town when we were running from Hurricane Rita. We drove 9 hours and I don't even want to think about what that would have been like without the DVD player! Now that DS is almost 3, we will also be bringing car activities such as doodlepads, stickers & sticker books, etc. Anything I can find that will keep him busy while he's awake and not make a complete mess in the backseat.

 

[tldrn93]

I personally prefer to drive even though it takes about 16 hours. It gives our kids what we call "decompression time". Our 3 are now 18,16 and 13 and we have made this trip many times over the years. During the long road trip it gets them used to being in such close quarters together that they seem to get a lot of their bickering out before we get to WDW. We always leave about 4am (the kids then sleep for hours in the car) and drive til dinner time, have a nice dinner then let the kids swim all evening. That way the next day we only have 3-4 hours and are in great shape and ready to go when we get to WDW. We bring mp3 players, dvd players, travel games and the game cube ( I was able to buy a portable screen and car adapter on line). A couple of years ago we flew, and by the time we got to the airport (dme) 2 1/2 hours early, 3 hour flight time, 3 hour lay over in atlanta, 1 hour to find our luggage, 1 hour drive home we had almost 11 hours into it. I hate to fly so to me all the "pre-flight" stress then to spend almost as long just wasn't worth it.

 

[1Prince2Princesses]

If we have a long way to drive, we do it at night. I love that the kids sleep most of the trip!

I think you've all convinced me to get a portable DVD player before we leave for a long trip in Feb. I was considering it, but not sure if it would be worth the money. Sounds like it will be!

 

[monorailsilver]

I'd rather fly just because I can be there from Hartford in about 2.5 hours.

But I now have 3 kids so that would be 5 seats on a plane (~$1000) & when I asked dh what he wanted to do on our next trip he said drive.

It would take us 2 days & our kids will be 7, almost 5 & 2½ in 2008. Parking would cost us over $100 at the airport.

I am thinking of staying at the Dolphin/Swan for part of the stay since I am a RN so I'd have to pay to get there (unless I did the BC for a day) & the rest at the Poly.

DH & I have driven from CT to Detroit, Louisville, Colombus, Nashville, Indy, St. Louis & Myrtle Beach many times but that was just us. I don't know if I can deal with my kids that long but there are movies & we'd' stop to get out & we play Ispy in the car.

When we went in 2005, dh said drive but we ended up flying because he didn't want to deal with it plus our flights were just under $200. But that was for 4 people.

OK so I was no help.

 

[meandtheguys2]

I'd rather fly just because I can be there from Hartford in about 2.5 hours.

That is the benefit of living near an airport.

For us, we have a 2 1/2 hour drive to the airport, plus getting there early and eating, we've used 5 - 6 hours. By then I could be in Charlotte. And if the weather is iffy at all, we drive up the day before. Of course this allows us to park for free.

I especially like driving home. We go in the winter, and it is a shock to fly home...driving lets us adapt to the grey weather...

 

[luvdisney77]

We drove from MA last year (approx. 22-24 hr. trip) and it wasn't so bad. We have 4 kids and people thought we were crazy. We left at night, and ,and made sure they were occupied with things they hadn't seen before. We bought new DVD's, leapster games, and books among other things. We stopped enough for them to stretch (and US!) and took our time. We made it in a day and a half. I would do it again (We saved about $1000, and that was a VERY generous estimate) but I think we are flying next time. Have fun whatever you decide!

I second everything said here. We have four kiddos and we leave about 5:30, enough time for them to be awake but not so much so they get bored., They sleep all night and we make it there mid-day the next day.

 

[alicenwonder99]

We've driven twice to WDW from Chicago and we said NEVER AGAIN! The first time, ds was 15 months old and lasted about 45 minutes in his car seat before the screaming started. It was just awful. So, when he got older, I thought the drive would be fine because we wouldn't hear ds screaming. We got 2 dvd players for the 4 kids and that really occupied them. We took 2 days to get there. It was about 12 hours each day. With the kids in the car seats, you really have to "let 'em out" about every 1 1/2-2 hours to stretch...lol. Anyway, the children were absolute angels, but it was still stressful and hard on everyone.

If your dh didn't like the 2 hour drive I can guarantee he will absolute HATE the drive to Orlando.

When we flew to WDW in Sept it was such a breeze. We even had an infant with us this time (stroller, diaper bag, etc.), and it was so cheap. We had someone drop us off at the airport, we got a Ding rate of $54, we took a limo home (about $80), the DME is the most convenient and easy thing, we stayed at a monorail resort so getting to MK and EPCOT was a breeze (we did have to deal with the buses for AK and MGM).

If you do decide to drive, post back and let us know how it went.

HTH

 

[JamesMom]

Wow! Such great responses!

IluvKingLouis - It is encouraging the as the little gets older, he might handle the car ride better. He'll be 26 months at the time of travel and the other one will be just 3 months shy of his 5th birthday. Hopefully that will add some maturity.

Thanks for the suggestions on getting lower air fares:
- Southwest doesn't fly out of DFW to MCO and Love field would add another hour or so travel time to the airport. We live about 20 minutes west of DFW.
- I'll keep AirTran in mind (never heard of them before). Rates for Sept not out yet, but for June it was $900 for the 4 of us. Saved about $300 right there!

UTgirl - Benedryl is at the ready! I had already thought of this. *flame suit on*

rt2dz - LOVE your outline. Details alot of my thinking, too!
My rationale is I would rather have the kids screaming in my car than at the airport or on the plane, or on the bus ride to the hotel.
Love this quote:

*We make sure that the driving is part of the trip and not just a means to an end. Rather than make good time, we have a good time

Flyers - I question your time savings. Why drive 8 hours when the flight is 2.5? Well, factor in this:
- drive to airport/park/shuttle to terminal 1 hours
- airport security checks. Need to be there 2 hours prior to flight, right? 2 hours
- boarding and flight 3 hours
- rental car desk/or ME wait 1 hour
- drive to hotel 1 hour
So, its 8 hours EACH way. Add another 10 hours each way and I can drive. $1000 savings for 10 hours = $50/hr each way saved. Hmmm. Granted, need to take breaks, etc. but I think you get the idea.

I've got tons of time to decide. But as this trip approaches 5 figures, something gotta give, ya know! Thanks for all your help!

 

[margiemc]

We have driven down from Philadelphia 6 out of the last 7 times we went. DH is not a good flyer. We only flew the first time we took our DD (who was 3 at the time). We are driving down again this time. We usually leave around 2am. We drive until we hit Kingsland, GA, which is 3 miles outside of the FL border. We usually hit there between 4 and 5pm. We check in at a hotel, have dinner, do homework, relax, etc. When we get up the next morning, we refuel and are at Disney by 11am. We always bring the portable DVD player, Game Boy, books, drawing pad with colored pencils (no crayons in the car, please ), CD's, etc. We also play games in the car too (categories, Disney trivia, license plate). We like having our own car, especially for when we go out to the other hotels for meals. It saves a lot of time. Enjoy!

 

[coyandrew]

We just drove to WDW from Central PA and that is how we are doing it again this December. My daughter was 17 months when we went and she was fine, we played dvd's and games, etc. We also started driving at about 2:45 AM and she slept until around 7. We finally stopped for the day at 3:30 PM in Jacksonville, and then had a short hop to Disney. On the way home, we got a later start and then did the whole trip in one day. As long as you are calm and having fun, they will too. Plus there is a definite cost savings for us with the local airport being expensive in relation to bigger cities 2.5 hours away. Hope this helps and good luck either way!

 

[rt2dz]

If you factor in the true depreciation costs of your vehicle it is usually a lot higher than most people think. (Even a small fuel efficient vehicle generally costs around $0.40/mile of travel. Check out edmunds.com for your own car.)

I may not necessarily be understanding what you are saying here, but generally this is not exactly true. I did hunt around on Edmunds for a bit, but couldn't find what you are talking about (if I have it right).

You can write of $0.40 for certain car usages with the IRS for depreciation, but that is generally taking into account for gas and maintaince also. Now, actual lowering of your vehicles resale value depends. The more mileage and the older your vehicle is when you trade it in, the less it depreciates. To clarify, you loose less resale dollars based on age after your car is 5 years old than in the first 5 years. Your car depreciates the most the first 2-3 years. Every mile after 60K is less resale dollars lost than the miles before and after 100K even less than 60K-100K, and forget mileage totally if you have 150K. Your resale is shot period. That is why if you buy a "new" car, you should keep it at least 5 years to get your money out of it. If you are going to get a new car every 2-3 years (or sooner) you are better off buying used or leasing.

Resale value varies from car to car because some cars hold up better. Toyotas and Hondas for example do much better maintaining their resale dollars than Ford. They last longer and have less problems. They don't run down as quickly. A Toyota (generally) can easily last with minimal problems 200K.

 

[Fintastic]

We did a road trip last summer with our then-2½-year-old DD. It wasn't a Disney trip, but it was still 24 hours each way. We had a portable DVD player and some Color Wonder stuff and DD did VERY well. DH and I, though, got really, really sick of watching/hearing the same couple of movies over and over.

ETA: We'll be driving to Disney for our October trip, but we live in southern Louisiana and Orlando is "only" 12 hours away. We're doing the DDP instead of flying. I would much rather fly because I don't like long drives, but the bottom line is the bottom line!

 

[wdwfamilyinIL]

We are also in limbo over fly vs drive. If we flew it would be out of Indy, and so far 200.00 a person is too much for us. I am waiting to see what happens when Southwest releases fares, but so far driving is looking like a real possibility. I don't really like putting the miles on the van, since we already have 95000, but it would save a lot. Has anyone drven from central IL, we are in Georgetown? Just curious what your game plan was and how it worked out. Since there are four adults going we are planning on leaving at 8 in the evening and driving straight through.

 

[tkhkroberts]

I really prefer to fly and have actually went to WDW both ways, whereas my husband prefers to drive. What we usuallly do when we are driving is leave late in the afternoon (3-4ish). We can keep the kids preoccupied for a couple of hours with movies and then drive through the night. The kids usually fall asleep and stay asleep through the majority of the drive. But hands down I prefer to fly becuase I can just get there so much faster.

 

[tkhkroberts]

We are also in limbo over fly vs drive. If we flew it would be out of Indy, and so far 200.00 a person is too much for us. I am waiting to see what happens when Southwest releases fares, but so far driving is looking like a real possibility. I don't really like putting the miles on the van, since we already have 95000, but it would save a lot. Has anyone drven from central IL, we are in Georgetown? Just curious what your game plan was and how it worked out. Since there are four adults going we are planning on leaving at 8 in the evening and driving straight through.

We actually live in Wisconsin and have been able to do this drive with 2 adults. Left a little bit earlier and I would drive until about 8:00, my husband would take over until 3:00 while I got a nap and I would then drive the majority of the rest of the way so he can sleep. We have done this both going to Disney and Texas which are about 21 hours each way. Not a real bad drive to WDW, just attempt to not hit Atlanta at rush hour because that city has a crazy 8 lane freeway.

 

[TyRy]

We are also in limbo over fly vs drive. If we flew it would be out of Indy, and so far 200.00 a person is too much for us. I am waiting to see what happens when Southwest releases fares, but so far driving is looking like a real possibility. I don't really like putting the miles on the van, since we already have 95000, but it would save a lot. Has anyone drven from central IL, we are in Georgetown? Just curious what your game plan was and how it worked out. Since there are four adults going we are planning on leaving at 8 in the evening and driving straight through.

We drove down this past Sept from the Chicago area - didn't want to deal with airports in case of bad weather. It took us about 20 hours straight thru - but that included about a two hour stop due to weather in Alambama. We took 65 instead of 75 - did not want to deal with Atlanta.

Ty

 

[disneymom3]

I think it is funny that many of the people who have posted don't actually like driving to WDW. That is not what the OP asked for you sillies!

We do love driving and more to the point hate flying with kids. What a pain in the neck that is. As someone mentioned, if my kids are screaming in my car at least it is only me they are bugging! Plus we love the control of being in our own car. We stop when we need to get up and run around, we listen to and watch only what we want, we stop when we are tired or hungry and we can bring so much more stuf--like cases of water and snacks. I just love it. We all do for that matter.

I love the geography my kids are exposed to. By driving we see so much of this great country we live in. We can experience National Parks and historic monuments, places we have heard about on TV like on Food Network. It is just great.

We have driven to WDW three times. It is approx 28 hours of driving with stops for a few meals and breaks factored in there. We drive overnight the first night. Then stop for the second night. On the way home we either do it straight through or stop depending mainly on weather. DH adn I take turns and he always sleeps a big part of the day on the day we leave home.

The last trip we did have a DVD player but never had before that. What saves us are books on tape. My kids will listen to books on tape way above a reading level of that which they listen to me read to them. I guess being trapped in the car helps!

Uh oh. I will have to finish my ideas later. I have to go take care of kiddos.

 

[meandtheguys2]

Forgot books on tape! Those have gotten thru many a drive! You don't have people fighting over seeing a screen, etc.

 

[JamesMom]

I noticed that Cracker Barrell restuarants have a book-on-tape rental system. You pick one up and drop it off any Cracker Barrell nationwide. I thought about doing BOT for the driver while the kids have their headphones on with DVDs in the back.
DisneyMom3 - I think I'll enjoy the freedom on my own SUV to drive. Kids, especially one still in diapers, need TONs of stuff. Don't want the hassle of shipping it ahead or shlepping it through an airport hoping it doesn't get lost. It's just the 2 extra vacations days - are they worth it?
Thanks for all the comments guys. Lots of things to think about.