Drive vrs flying

[sweetdana]

Anyone more than 10 hours away.


I live 18 hours away. And for the 1st time seriously considering driving.


Air prices have increased a bunch and at this point with the transfers for MEARS (Disney cruise too), I believe the difference will be 1,000$ .. ( AND THIS IS USING the better part of 50,000 free SW miles. :S ) (Spring break 2014).. not to mention my DD8 will miss 1 day of school, or we have to leave 2 days early, due to Sun/late sat flights are not close to reasonable even more $$.


What is the breaking point for more than 10 hours of driving.. .. we are driving for your family.

 

[sam_gordon]

Anyone more than 10 hours away.


I live 18 hours away. And for the 1st time seriously considering driving.


Air prices have increased a bunch and at this point with the transfers for MEARS (Disney cruise too), I believe the difference will be 1,000$ .. ( AND THIS IS USING the better part of 50,000 free SW miles. :S ) (Spring break 2014).. not to mention my DD8 will miss 1 day of school, or we have to leave 2 days early, due to Sun/late sat flights are not close to reasonable even more $$.


What is the breaking point for more than 10 hours of driving.. .. we are driving for your family.

I would suggest another couple responses...
* I will fly regardless of the cost
* Other

I fall into the 'other' category. Cost, time, and vehicle all factor into the decision. Yes, you save money by driving, but lose time. If we fly, we're maybe 7-8 hours from Disney, driving 14 (and if we stop for the night, which is likely, 20+). DW's minivan is getting on in age, but hanging strong. I still don't know if I'd trust it on a round trip.

 

[kydisneyfans]

We are 14 hours away, give or take an hour.

It is easily a savings of $1,000 for us to drive everytime.

If the savings dropped to around $300-400, I would consider flying. Once AirTran pulled out of Lexington, that option is off the table.

 

[Surfinpiratee]

We will be driving...we're about 17 hours away.

 

[TheMonkeyPatrol]

Our family loves driving. We have driven from Northern Utah to both Disneyland and Disney World. We love planning stops and seeing historical places along the way, and eating picnic lunches. We love spending time together! We are planning a trip now to drive from home to Crescent City, CA (top left hand corner) down the coast to Disneyland for a week and then on to San Diego and then home. Places to also see, Redwoods, Alcatraz, Hurst Castle, Winchester Mystery Mansion, San Juan Capistrano. Give us a car any day of the week!

 

[pbarager]

We want to get there as soon as possible and do not want the great chance of issues popping up. This year it is just under $1000 for the 4 of us to fly non-stop and I would pay double that for the ease of not driving.

 

[deb010305]

We live in Southeastern MA and drove for the first time April 2013. With traffic, road construction, and, and stopping for breaks it probably took us a total of about 24 hours. But we did stop overnight both ways.
We are already planning April 2015 and figure if airfare is over $375 a person we will drive again.

 

[rimomma66]

We live in RI and flights out of here during vacation weeks are RIDICULOUS. Airfare on SW for the 3 of us is over $1800 for April vacation.
We're renting a minivan, which after the discounts come out, should be less than $500 for 10 days to save gas because we both have 4X4's.
We have hotels reserved down and back (both with DEEP corporate discounts)
We would have to rent a car when we got there anyway because we stay with family. So we're saving well over $1500 driving.
We're also NOT taking 95 if I have to hijack the car and veer it onto 84 myself...so that will save my sanity.

 

[BeerMe]

In over 50 trips we have only driven once. Time is the biggest factor, or was until we retired. The drive is over 20 hours, not including stops.

 

[myhouseofmouse]

We are 16 hours out and will save $1000.00 to drive down this year. THis will be or families first time driving. What's interesting is that we are going to end up spending aboujt the same money as we did on our last trip (going the same week 2 years ago). Thanks too price increases of hotels and tickets and NO free dining this time. So for us the money saved by not flying is still being spent.

 

[wiigirl]

We want to get there as soon as possible and do not want the great chance of issues popping up. This year it is just under $1000 for the 4 of us to fly non-stop and I would pay double that for the ease of not driving.

Me too....I always get grumpy on long car rides.

 

[njmom47]

I didn't vote because I've only driven to WDW once when I was in my 20s, we had all the energy in the world, and it was fun (as my bf and me met up with a bunch of others our age and we kinda caravanned).
We have only flown to WDW, 2 1/2 hours. I'm not sure these days I would be able to drive unless we had 2 days each way to drive. If it was more than just a WDW vacation, it might be ok, but I'm sure I would just want to rush and get there! Plus I can't see at night to drive so we would have to stop.
And now that my dds are older, they could pay their own way. That might factor in as well!!!

 

[jdb in AZ]

If it takes you an extra day to drive each way, how much is that extra two days of your vacation leave costing you? "Time is money."

When the kids were young, DH and I joked that if we set the cruise control on the van it would automatically drive us to Disneyland. But now we're empty nesters, our vacation expenses are halvsies. It's simpler to fly. As for driving clear across country to WDW, that just ain't gonna happen.

 

[ToddyLu]

We live about 9 hours away and still fly. We drive 2 hours west to fly two hours east to Orlando out of New Orleans...crazy I know but driving with DH is soooo much worse. DH now takes Xanax when he travels and I do the driving to New Orleans. Our last drive to WDW was the December Trip in 2005...and I vowed never again....DH survived the beating. . We fly out next Thursday!!

 

[MillauFr]

We live in Seattle so we always fly. Even in an airplane flying 500 mph it takes a long time to get anywhere.

 

[N365PA]

Growing up in Pittsburgh we did our yearly drive to Disney. With our camper it took us 16-18 hours door-to-door (1001 miles exactly from my house to fort wilderness). When you factor in 5 airfare's as well as the food savings by bringing a lot of our food, it more than saved $1000. The problem is it was a long day each way. We left at 4-5AM and would be on property anywhere from 9-11PM. Now it takes me 12-14 hours of travel, with stops, to fly to Orlando. How I miss being able to hop in a car and drive 16!

 

[Planogirl]

We live in the Dallas area and we have done both. I would rent a car either here or there so that expense is a given. If we have enough time then we would likely drive.

 

[shopn24seven]

Plano girl,
How is that drive ? I live in Ft. Worth and might consider it.

 

[MadamMims]

I prefer flying, it saves a lot of time!

 

[wreck99]

We are about 15 hours out, and will be driving as done last trip because the cost difference is huge for a family of 6.