Drive or Fly dilemma-Opinions needed

[8caliace]

Here's the scoop: Family of 4, including DS (9 yrs) and DD (3 yrs). We live in the St Louis area. Airfares from St Louis to Orlando are not looking very promising as of right now.

Plan #1: Do the 1000 mile drive over the span of a Saturday/Sunday, including all the fun associated with keeping the little ones occupied and not allowing them to try to throw the other out the windows. Cheap? Should not be much of an issue (gas, food stops, overnight hotel). Risk arriving at WDW in a not very good mood and ready to strangle each other? Ouch.

Plan #2: Drive from home to Chicago and fly to MCO. As of this afternoon I have located 2 promising deal for around $650 for the 4 of us, round trip. Cheap? Not as cheap as plan 1, but could be well worth the extra $$$ to avoid the above mentioned outcomes.

At this point, any and all opinions/feedback/etc. is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance

 

[connie85]

We are also a family of four. DS13 and DD7 and live in Mid. Missouri. We went to Florida twice last year. Drove once and flew the other time. This is what I learned from our experience.

Driving: We have driven straight through and divided it between 2 days. Straight through we were very very tired, will be using the extra day next time. We like to drive heavy the first day and get at WDW in the afternoon on the 2nd day. Driving allows us to take anything we want. Drinks, food, pillows, and be able to purchase anything new and not have to worry if it will fit in our bags. On the plane I ended up paying extra for a bag weighing over the limit. We have a SUV so there is plenty of room. We can even separate the kids if we need to.LOL It does help to allow them their own space to play, sleep, or whatever. Our kids do get along pretty good and can keep themselves busy with their gameboys, DVD, and etc. Your 3 year old might be a different story.

Flying: $650 for 4 people is a good price. You also need to consider the cost of parking your car in Chicago. Do you need to rent a car or using disney magical express. We rented a car to visit Kennedy space center and sea world so that was an added expense. The time spent going through security and getting bags. Limit on luggage.

These are a few things to think about. For use we will be driving again in August. We do enjoy the drive down and stop when ever we want. My kids like to check off the different states they have been in.

Every family is different and you will have to decide what is the best choice for yours. Hope this helps and have a great trip!

 

[dougsmom98]

$650 is a good price for 4 people, but as the previous poster said, you have to add in parking at the airport and possibly renting a car when you arrive. If you can afford all that, then I would go for it. Consider however, that flying with children is not as easy as it sounds. Carting all the stuff that you need with kids through the airport is a nightmare. The car seats are a major hassle. I do it with four kids in car seats though because you couldn't pay me enough to drive in the car with four kids 7 and under all the way from Maine.

 

[8caliace]

Thank you both for your input. I am really torn because on one hand I really hate being in a car for long periods of time. I have no doubt the kids will be "good" as we have made long drives before. We have an SUV, DVD player, etc. Our preliminary driving plan was to get up early on the Saturday and get the big chunk of driving out of the way, perhaps from here to Valdosta or so. That way we have only a few hours in the morning to get to WDW.

Flying wise, I have found parking in Chicago for $8/day. We have gotten good rental rates before for a mini-van, which is good because the other family members meeting us there helps offset the cost. Yes there is the whole car seat/luggage hassle, but have I mentioned how much I don't like long periods in the car? Aaaahhhh! What to do?

 

[momsgoofy]

Here's the scoop: Family of 4, including DS (9 yrs) and DD (3 yrs). We live in the St Louis area. Airfares from St Louis to Orlando are not looking very promising as of right now.

Plan #1: Do the 1000 mile drive over the span of a Saturday/Sunday, including all the fun associated with keeping the little ones occupied and not allowing them to try to throw the other out the windows. Cheap? Should not be much of an issue (gas, food stops, overnight hotel). Risk arriving at WDW in a not very good mood and ready to strangle each other? Ouch.

Plan #2: Drive from home to Chicago and fly to MCO. As of this afternoon I have located 2 promising deal for around $650 for the 4 of us, round trip. Cheap? Not as cheap as plan 1, but could be well worth the extra $$$ to avoid the above mentioned outcomes.

At this point, any and all opinions/feedback/etc. is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance

Hi neighbor! We live down near Carbondale, so I understand your situation...STL can be one of the most expensive airports to fly out of. I'm not sure what your dates are for travel, but last night when I was checking Southwest I noticed it was $69 oneway to MCO...you might want to check the site for availability.

I take it that you are willing to drive to an airport if you can get a deal...we do that all the time. (For us STL is closest at 2.25 hrs., Nashville TN is 3.5, Louisville, KY, Indianapolis, IN, and Blomington, IL are all right at 4, so depending upon the deal...we travel no matter what.) Airtrans flies out of Bloomington and sometimes the fare is decent...it's only about a 2 hours drive for you. There is also the Mid-America airport right there in you backyard, but not sure how reliable they are and I think they don't fly into MCO. If you're willing to drive as far as Chigaco, you might look into Kansas City since it's only 4 hours from STL on I-70, not a bad drive really.

If you want to do a search, I can suggest 2 search engines that work great...

www.kayak.com

www.mobissmo.com

Kayak even lists a link to buy directly from the airline. If nothing else I like using it to check the airfares then go to the airline sites directly.

Well, I hope this helps! And, hey, I'm actually gonna be in your town tomorrow...a cousin is getting married there and reception is in O'Fallon...so I'll be near another DISser (MamaJoan) there.

 

[WOODY13]

Yes nothing can beat the quickness of flying but it is going to cost you more than driving(remember to figure the cost of the drive to Chicago in). We have driven several times with two kids and also have flown. last year we flew and I loved getting there in 2.5 hours but we did kind of miss driving sounds crazy but we did. We are driving this spring and we are very exited about it. We always stop at Sonny's BBQ on the way, love the sweetened tea. We also like to see it go from winter to summer as you get farther south.

 

[ShelbyR]

We live near you and have been tempted to fly or drive through Chicago, too. St. Louis airfares are lousy any more.

That said, if I could justify $650 + gas + parking + 10 hours RT driving to/from Chicago, I'd probably justify $800 to fly from St. Louis. In the end, the savings seems minimal. What are your dates? I've seen some lower (though not low) fares these last few days.

Personally, if I were to drive, I'd want it to all be in the right direction. Flying back and then having that giant corn field to drive through before really being home does not appeal to me, though I can understand the choice.

 

[8caliace]

After much more thought and research, plus a board post for the SWA Florida Frenzy specials, here is the final itinerary:

Depart St Louis, Sat 3 Jun on SWA, 4 people nonstop to Tampa for $317
Rental car from Tampa to Orlando for 1 day for $40
Depart Orlando, Mon 12 Jun on SWA, 4 people nonstop to St Louis for $311

Airport parking in no issue for us as we have the Metrolink train that runs from the base to the airport.

Thanks to all for their input. I think this worked out pretty good.

 

[Lewisc]

SW doesn't have any change fees. Keep looking you might get lucky and change your outbound flight to MCO.

After much more thought and research, plus a board post for the SWA Florida Frenzy specials, here is the final itinerary:

Depart St Louis, Sat 3 Jun on SWA, 4 people nonstop to Tampa for $317
Rental car from Tampa to Orlando for 1 day for $40
Depart Orlando, Mon 12 Jun on SWA, 4 people nonstop to St Louis for $311

Airport parking in no issue for us as we have the Metrolink train that runs from the base to the airport.

Thanks to all for their input. I think this worked out pretty good.

 

[DeterminedOne]

DH and I are in a similar situation flying from a small airport here in Indiana and the fares are ridiculous! $650 is a great rate for four people. That's about what the two of us are looking at RT. We've considered driving but found out it's an 18 hour trek. The other option is drive two hours south or three hours east to a larger airport, but we've never done that and the thought of having a 2-3 hour drive home after we land doesn't sit well with us. Long story short we haven't decided yet what we're going to do other than hope fares drop in the coming months.

 

[lyeag]

I am trying to decide as well. We are a family of 5 in SW Oklahoma. It is like a 22 hour drive. The last time we went we took two overnight stops going down and one on the way back. The drive was BRUTAL. The kids weren't bad, it is just a LONG time to be in the car. We drove from Lawton, OK to Hattiesburg, MS the first day. Second day we drove from MS to Gainsesville. We got up and drove the last few hours WDW and arrived around noon. We were pretty stir crazy after being in the car, but as soon as we hit the room my kids were ready to roll. We went to MK and stayed until about 9. We could fly out of Dallas or OKC, but airfare for 5 is a nice chunk.

I would do the drive. Make your second day of driving as short as possible. If you make your arrival day part of the drive so you can get in during the afternoon, you should be okay. Relax in the room, have a nice dinner and get a good night sleep.

 

[owtrbnks]

I will never drive again!