Drive or Fly?

[Wimpy]

So, my wife and I are in doth central PA. Thinking about trips for the up coming years (yes, we plan a lot). We have been debaiting on if we should drive (18 hours non stop about), or fly.

I always said if we were going for longer than a week, we could drive to do other things (Sea World, Universal, etc.). But, is it worth the trouble of driving, or just fly and possibly rent a car or take cabs/bus?

 

[tammyroo]

Well, I'm from Virginia and we have driven several times but really don't do it anymore unless forced to by budget constraints. Its just not worth it to me and with cheap flights it sometimes is more cost effective. Our drive is about 12 1/2 hours and we would stop on the way down but drive straight through on the way back.

We are flying with a big family group in Dec and hiring a car service to do the transfer to a Universal hotel and to the airport. However, I think there is a combo ticket/transportation deal that basically gives you the transportation for free. I think I remember a price of around $100, not sure.

I do like the freedom of having a car and being able to go to the store, drive directly to the parks, bring food and drinks etc. I just hate the drive on the way down and back.

 

[DVCsince02]

Hi Jim! Sorry we didn't talk much in Hershey.

If it's just my husband and me, we fly. Usually we have no desire to go offsite to other attractions so having our car wasn't important to us.

Last June we decided to drive (we live in northern Delaware). 2 reasons.... the main one being cost. Airfare for 5 is insane. We were able to stay at a hotel going down and comimg back, including gas, and still paid less then we would have flying. The second reason was having room for all we needed because of the kids.

You just have to decide what is important to you. The packing space, cost, time lost, etc.

Good luck!

 

[dalt01]

we are just up the road from ya..........we have flown........is that even a word?....16 times and driven twice. both drives were Christmas trips. we cannot drive straight through due to medical reasons i will not go into. we stay in S Carolina overnite......we have fond memories of the drives down and terrible memories of the drives back.....still we do not regret driving and may very well do it again. in fact we toss it around each year. it is 17 1/2 hours of actual road time from Williamsport even with stopping at roadside rests every two hours for ten minutes which for the aformentioned medical reasons we must do so my wife can stand and walk around...........some say staying over cuts into the vacation....but....it really does not because most of the people i know who drive straight through crash when they get there and lose the same amount of time as crashing half way. Flying adds about 400.00 extra expense over driving and adds about 8 hrs of touring time for us.

 

[taychase1015]

I live in Chambersburg, PA and we always drive. Out of many trips, I have only flown once. I am the primary driver for all our trips. I don't mind driving. We have had trips where we have driven straight through and trips where we stop along the way. It really depends on when we get started in the day. We will be driving again in October and will be driving straight through. (I convinced DH to take off work an extra day.) I have never found it a problem, and enjoy saving the money. The only time I stress is when I have gone in December and have to watch bad weather. I don't do well in snow or ice.

 

[disneysteve]

We are at Disney now and drove here from south NJ, just outside of Philly. We drive every year. Wouldn't have it any other way.

 

[maiyasmom]

We have driven down 7 times in the last 5 years from Central New Jersey and don't regret it! Airfare for our family is very expensive especially during school breaks. Driving has always been more economical than flying. Play your podcasts and Disney Park tunes and enjoy the drive!

 

[ericafny]

We live in NY and have driven twice so far. We like driving, "road tripping". We can be on our own schedule and we usually stop over once each way. A few great stopovers: Savannah, GA, Myrtle Beach, SC & Raleigh, NC. Myrtle Beach and Raleigh are a little off the interstate so if you have the luxury of time you can extend your vaca by spending two nights there (esp in Savannah!). We just drove down there for our honeymoon and spent two nights in Savannah on way there and a night in Raleigh on the way back. Just my two cents...

 

[Wimpy]

One item to note with us is that there are only 2 of us, no kids yet.

My friend also said that every time he drives in Orlando, something happens to the car (hit, scratched, etc). Has anyone else had these kind of issues?

For us as well, we are not big beach people, but some of the other stops would be nice to see. This is really the first I've looked at driving because our new car has some of the nice features which would make a long car trip nicer (USB port, Sync system, aux jack).

But it also comes down to do we want to spend that long in the car getting there, or be down there in 2 hours and hit the parks.

 

[Minniemouse07]

I am WHOLEHEARTEDLY in the "if I'm on vacation I don't want to spend four days in a car getting there and back" camp.

That said.. we are driving down for our trip next year from our home in SE PA.

Dd has been to WDW five times in her 9 years...every trip on a plane.

But.. we are doing a sea/land trip next year in combination w/ DCL and after looking at all the transportation options back and forth to the cruise, it just made more sense for us to drive down in our van.

That said, we just rented a car on our last trip in June for the first time (generally just rely on DME and onsite transportation) for part of our stay and realized how easy it would be to rent a vehicle for a day or so from the Car Care Center (Hertz and Alamo on site) to check out IoA or SeaWorld if we wanted to on future trips.

So basically, I vote for fly if you can, but drive if you have to!

 

[*NikkiBell*]

There's no way I could ever imagine driving from Jersey. It's a ridiculously long trip and when the option to fly is there, I would much prefer that. Even if I did have children, I couldn't even imagine taking that long of a trip. It's really what your tolerance level is set at.

 

[parrotheadlois]

We fly out of Lehigh Valley airport and LOVE it. We used to drive, then we started flying and couldn't go back. Now that we've started flying out of LVI instead of Newark - what a difference! They have limited flights but we'd rather schedule our vacation around the flights than go to Newark any more.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I much prefer to fly but we are only 8 hours away so we mostly drive.

My fly or drive rule for the past couple of years has been if it's a 12 hour drive or less, we drive. More than that we fly.

 

[femme726]

we just drove from Philly nonstop with two kids 5 and 9. It turned out to be way better than expected, so we booked for next August just the other day...

 

[Wimpy]

Here is mostly why I've been thinking about it. We fly out of BWI (better flight times than HIA), so that is an hour and half drive. Usually go down the night before and stay at a hotel with airport transfers. Then with getting at the airport 2 hours early, 2 hour flight, 1 hour getting luggage, and 1 hour bus ride to resort, that is about 8 hours with a hotel stay. Plus, we would have a car down there.

It is a tough choice to make anymore.

 

[sharadoc]

But it also comes down to do we want to spend that long in the car getting there, or be down there in 2 hours and hit the parks.

Hi. Not sure where you fly out of, but for us, the comparison is a door-to-door hours, not just the flight time.

We drive every time and it costs between $4 and $500 for our family of four to drive, sleep and eat on the road. If we fly, we would have to leave our house about 3.5 hours before the flight time, then 2 to 2.5 hours boarding and flying, then 1-2 hours landing, ME to resort. A minimum of 8 hours door to door. That is the equivalent of our first day's drive. So we look at it as driving for 8 extra hours, and arriving fresh and ready to go at check-in time on day two.

We don't see it as wasting a day on each end of the vacation. We wouldn't fly a day early and spend the extra hotel day, nor would we stay an extra night at the end of our stay, so our driving days are built in to our vacation.

Driving rather than flying allows us to go a minimum of twice a year, especially if room discounts are available. This year, we are doing three trips to make up for the blizzard/freezing February vacation.

If anyone is considering driving, check out the 'For 2,000+ miles drivers" thread on the transportation board. We don't debate driving vs. flying, we definitely DO drive, so the board is for discussion of routes, traffic, hotels, food, and generally everything that goes into the driving experience.

Driving is a great family experience for us - we love spending the time together, listening to music we haven't heard in a long time, and actually talking to each other.

 

[bd2010]

So, my wife and I are in doth central PA. Thinking about trips for the up coming years (yes, we plan a lot). We have been debaiting on if we should drive (18 hours non stop about), or fly.

We live in Central PA as well, and have both flown and driven. Personally, I prefer flying, especially now that AirTran offers reasonably priced direct flights out of HIA. That being said, we're going later this year and will be driving due to some things we'll be doing off-site before arriving at Disney. The route isn't bad, but it is a very long drive. If you drive, I'd advise breaking the trip up into two separate days. Doing it all in one day can be very exhausting.

If you do decide to drive, look into taking I-81 to I-77 to I-26 to I-95. It is a much more peaceful and scenic route than picking up I-95 around D.C. Plus, it only adds 30 minutes to your trip, which you probably more than make up for by avoiding all the D.C. and Richmond traffic. If you map it on Google Maps, it should give you the 81/77/26 route as one of your options.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

It really depends on a number of factors. I've done both, and would do both again.

Generally, my first choice is to fly - provided I can get a good enough deal.

My first rule of vacations is that time is money. True, driving will give you a car to use, but that should not be your main consideration. You can just as easily rent a car, or rely on Disney transportation (Yup, I've done both of those as well. You can also rental car of a day - but that's not alwasy worht the hassle.) Time is money on any vacation, so if you can get a reasonable deal, then renting a car is likely worthwhile - but if you stay all deluxe - you may not use it much. (on property) At the mods and values a car is a much bigger asset. Driving gives you the choice of a few places along the way.(see below)

Another big factor is how much time you have. If you are retired, say, then driving becomes a more attractive option. If you only get a week of vacation all year - driving is less attractive. (Just citing two potential extremes.)

Driving is only worth doing if you see the driving time as PART of the overall VACATION. If you see it only as a means of getting from point a to point b - you are better off flying.

Generally speaking, don't drive to 'save money.' the espense of driving goes far beyond gas, tolls, meals, hotels, oil changes...you also have to factor what you paid for the car ($20,000 - $30,000, more? less?) and how many miles (say 150,000 total) you expect to get out of your car. divide and you get an estime of what each mile in the car costs - not counting in expenses - or you can roll some basic ones into the equation too - like oil changes. UNLESS - the airfare deals are really bad, and you have enough people going. Though with your staying overnight to fly...that's an important factor.

Also consider the traffic you might encounter. If you can drive inthe middle of the night - so much the better. Driving with certain family members (Small kids, annoying adults, anyone prone to car sickness, anyone with a 'small' bladder or other health issues) can also add to the hassle. Getting stuck in a traffic jam - to me - is far worse than an equal-amount-of-time airport delay.

Conversely, flying has it's own set of hassles. Including bag limits, retrictions on liquids, medical equipment. If you can get a direct flight - then that's a bigger plus for driving. There's always a very real risk with a two leg flight that a delay will really muck you up - perhaps even leaving you stranded. This is true in summer thunderstorms, hurrcaine season, and winter blizzards. Last year my family all managed to escape a blizzard - but we were just lucky - several of us by mere minutes - as airports shut down. Other times we've been stranded in Orlando.

then again, A blizzard(/rain/hurricane) can stop a highway too. THAT happened to us many years ago. We were stuck for days (It was many years ago) in a place that rarely sees snow. Your best bet with driving is some flexibility to leave a day early or late to avoid bad weather. (Then again, that's how some of us escaped the blizzard this past winter, too.)

The food along the way to Orlando is mostly really bad. REALLY bad. If you drive, consider a cooler with a few healthy choices for the first six hours inthe car. Otherwise, you are well to consider your stopping points ahead of your departure. Sometimes small towns offer great choices, sometimes cities are easy. If you stop overnight, you can ask the staff at your hotel what is good. (Avoiding most common chain dining is wise.)

If you drive, you will likely also need some recovery time on either end - especially if you drive straight through. WE recently did a similar drive - and went all the way to Daytona Shores beach (Excellent Hampton Inn!). It was then only an hour to Olrando, and we had a day to rest. St.Augustine is also a nice place, but it's more like 2hrs from Orlando. both are onthe coast - so you get to see ocean.

I also like MCO. Checking in at the end of the trip can be a hassle, but mostly it's a pretty nice airport. As airports with chain dining go, it's not too bad. There are also a number of shops.

 

[Cherinva]

I live in Southeastern VA and for me, flying is the only way to go. When I go to Orlando, Disney is what I'm there for. I have driven many times, but I find that it takes away 2 days of the vacation. The drive down is ok, but that long drive back home is painful. From here, driving takes 12-14 hours straight, and flying (door to door) is only 4 hours (the airport is only 15 minutes away)

My last 4 trips, we have flown and have budgeted that into the cost of the trips. The first one we stayed off property and rented a car....Since I started staying on property, I no longer have the need to rent a car, and use Disney Transportation. I find that I am much more relaxed and can enjoy the vacation so much more...no driving, no parking, no traffic to deal with.

It's really a personal choice, and what works best for you.

 

[snowy76]

I feel your pain! We are further north than you (Syracuse) and debating this as well. We could save well over a thousand dollars on our budget, with airfare out of CNY being the PITA that it is. But what's the price of 20+ hours of "quality time" with a kindergartener and two teenagers? So hard to decide. Luckily I have close to a year to figure it out.