Do You Drive To Disney?

[ShuisFan584]

I would never be able to last in a car ride that long. I've been in the car for a 7 hour drive to Virginia and I will never be able to do that again. WDW would be over 20 hours for me, so I think I'll stick to flying.

 

[mom2boys]

Have driven 6 of 7 trips. We find it easier and less stressful to drive. It is about 16 hours for us. We stop overnight on the way down so that we are rested when we arrive. Then we drive straight thru coming home to max our park time.
Don't mind the actual flight - it's the airport that is stressful (& that was pre- 9-11)

 

[Cruise04]

We have driven. It's 21 hours from the time we leave the driveway to the time we arrive to the resort to check in (which we stop at first).

When we went this past year we decided to drive about 5 1/2 hours from home and stop for the night. Then our intentions were to stop in Valdosta, GA for the next night (splitting it up a bit because we had time to) but we got going fairly well the next day and called WDW to see if they had any rooms we could use with our points and we got a room. So we just drove on to WDW. It was a very long day but we were there by 9:30pm and although we were tired, we got our 2nd wind and were up until 12:30!!!!!!

This next time we are flying because we have limited time (cruising). This last time we also took another week to drive home making stops along the way to see family and friends and stay a night at Hilton Head to check it out.

 

[Disneyland_emily]

DL yes and no- Ive driven about 80% of the time

WDW- Fly (from utah that would be a long drive)


-em

 

[minnieandmickey]

Ok you guys are going to think I'm crazy, but the only way to get my husband to go to WDW next year, and spend the money to do it, is to take a road trip. So we are driving from NORTHERN CALIFORNIA to WDW. It is going to take us 5 days to get there with 10 days at WDW and 6 days to get back(taking it easy on the way home), with stops to certain historical sites on the way. There and back is a little under 5800 miles. We are pondering the idea of doing 1 day at DL first and then go from there, so I have labeled it the DL to WDW tour. This is his dream vacation, with my dream vacation of being at WDW during the Holiday season in between. So anyone that lives in the Southwest please tell me some stops that we can make. So far he has the Alamo and Tombstone, and I think the Missippi space center on the list. Any girly stuff my daughter and I can do please advise . I am actually kind of looking forward to it, and it is great to see my husband not roll his eyes up at me everytime I bring it up.

 

[DSNY FN]

We drive to WDW with our 3 kids the oldest is 7 the youngest 1.5. We leave London Ontario @ about 7 PM on the Friday and drive to the Georgia Welcome centre. We arrive there usually about 7:30 or 8 AM and stop get the kids dressed and have breakfast we tae our electric cooler with us so we can keep milk and drink boxes cold during the drive. We then stop in Macon at the bypass where the rest stop is for lunch and let the kids run around for a bit then we go on to Valdosta. We usually get to Valdosta about 3 in the afternoon and stop for the night at the Fairfield Inn then we leave there about 8 or 9 AM the next day and stop at the FLA welcome centre for our customary free OJ. We usually arrive at WDW around noon we love the drive and so do the ids. Drive time is about 20 hours we have done it in 18 we drove straight through only stopping for food and gas and bathroom.

 

[Bbgrizzle]

We live in Vegas, so we pretty much have to fly unless we want to add another week to our vacation in order to drive!

 

[Kirby]

We've flown once, driven twice. It's only about 16 hours so that's not a bad drive. We take two days to get there, doing some sightseeing on the way there and back.

 

[pammypooh]

We drive from Southeastern PA....and this summer we are driving to Disneyland via motorhome! Its going to be an adventure...we are on a pilgrimage to see a moose...no I mean a mouse.

Pam

 

[Poohbear123]

By Car, it is 3.5 hours going the speed limit. By train, it is 4.30 hours if the train is on time. By bus, it is 5.30 hours. By Plane it is 35 min but, with airport time and transportation probably 3 hours.

 

[floridafam]

We drive at least twice a year fron Michigan.

We usually drive to Florida for DH's triathlons and have the bike rack on the back of our vehicle.

He's not sure about taking his bike in a bike case on a plane.

The drive isn't too bad and we love having a portable DVD player to help pass the time.

I like the drive to the panhandle of Florida much better because we take 65. I don't really care for 75, especially around Atlanta. Too busy and too fast.

 

[Towncrier]

We've made the drive annually since 1995. It takes about 20 hours for us to get from NE Ohio to WDW. I made the trip solo once in 16 hours. I might have made it in less time, but I hit a snowstorm in West Virginia where the state snow plows all pulled off to the side of the road because the snow was so bad. But I digress.

We bought our share of the Disney Vacation Club in 1995. We decided that we could not afford to both fly down to Orlando and own DVC. Believe it or not, we actually look forward to the annual drive down to Florida. I will agree that flying is a lot easier, but with five of us, we'd rather save our money for a trip or two to Le Cellier and put up with the 40 hour roundtrip.

 

[kild]

We always drive. The wife refuses to step on a plane and it is only about a 9-10 hr trip anyway.

 

[hometech99]

with 5 of us, we've driven twice 15 hrs.

we were going to drive this year because of $, but, its not free to drive (hotel there and back, gas,food). found a great air deal where it will be $300 more to fly than drive for the 5 of us. since only going for a week, made sense.

i like driving when we're staying at a DVC resort for more than a week. so have own vehicle for getting around for food shopping, etc.

over the last 2 years, ive been installing screens into our truck
(6 total), 2 DVD players and one vcr. We had zero "are we there yets"
since i did all the work myself, it wasnt that expensive.

 

[barbeml]

Used to fly, now we drive.

I have done a lot of flying, but I have always hated it. I get mildly claustrophobic and quite anxious in the air, and have been known to hyperventilate. We had a horrendous flight to Vegas where we nearly crashed into the Rockies, then 9/11 happened and I was done with it.

This year will be our third drive to WDW. We live less than a mile from I-95, so we leave early in the AM, make all the stops we need, hit N. Carolina Welcome Center by lunch and spend the night at Hampton Inn in Richmond Hill, GA. Next day, we get to WDW by 12:30-1:00 PM, well rested and raing to go!. Room is usually not ready, so we have a light lunch and a nice cold rum drink and take a walk around the resort.

Driving allows us to bring more with us (like our coffee making stuff--DH must have press pot Kona in the room), and take more home. We love having our car at WDW--saves time and aggravation, and we have the flexibility to leave when we want. The money we save on flying goes toward a longer stay.

 

[CindyKansas]

It's a 24 hour drive, we have driven to WDW twice and flown 8 times. Planning on driving out this fall. I hope gas prices don't hamper my plans. I love to drive, but sometimes time doesn't allow for it. DD and I drove to Disneyland this past December/January and it's a 21 hour drive. DH had flown out the middle of December and DD and myself drove out to be with him for the holidays. We have made that drive many times and to me it's an easy drive. I really like the stretch between New Mexico and Arizona. I know it's desert, but to me it's just beautiful. Here in Kansas all I see is the flat grass lands and you can see for miles. Now going to Florida, once we cross the Mississippi it seems all we see are trees, which can be slightly boring. We also have a laptop that we watch movies on and DH and I take turns driving so I read when I'm not driving.

 

[monarchsfan16]

We used to drive, when I was little. Now we fly. Even though I was little I really liked the driving a lot better. We'd leave here by 7 am, and be in the NC/SC border by 10pm. We'd stay overnight then leave around 9am and be in Disney by dinner. Half the fun was seeing the sights in DC as we drove through, and being caught in those lovely NYC, DC, Boston traffic jams (we never did perfect missing rush hour). Coming home we'd take it easier, and we'd only get into SC by late the first night. NJ the second night, then home by 2pm the third day. Flying takes less time, but you don't get to see nearly as much. I flew to Seattle this past summer and then drove home with my dad and sister. In the 6 days we were driving across the country I saw so much, that I never could have seen from the air. When I'm an adult planning vacations, driving will be my plan. I thoroughly enjoy road trips, and wish we still drove. It really cuts down on a lot of the airport anxiety as well as saving money.

 

[dejr_8]

1340 miles (21-22 hours) from North of Boston. We leave between 1 - 3 pm and get to Disneyworld between 10 am and 1 pm the next day.

We are leaving next wed for our 4th trip in 12 months.

We have a Tahoe and put the middle seat down so the kids have room to play/sleep, an electric cooler and a laptop with DVD player.

We make one major stop (longer than 10 minutes) around 6 am to wash up, brush teeth, change clothes.

 

[Nancy]

DSNY FN...how do you get form London to Florida in 18 hours? Last time we drove it took us over 20. What route do you take down?

We will be driving in less then a month. It is way to expensive for 5 of us to fly. So we will leave in the wee hours of the morning and drive until I can't stand to be in the car anymore, stop and sleep and continue on the next day. We have a 9 inch TV/w DVD player in it so the kids have movies and they are bringing the Playstation to hook up. (thats if I can find a car adapter for it)

I also added the cost of gas and hotel/meals and came up over $500 cheaper then flying. That makes in difference in whether or not I can afford to go, so we drive. I would rather fly and get there faster...but we have to watch expenses. PLUS pldest DD doesn't like to fly and neither does DH.

 

[Tiggerlover91]

Yes we do and it only takes about 6 1/2 hours, 6 if I really push it!