Drive vs. Fly Which do you prefer?

[jimmiej]

I live 1200 miles away. Drove the first time, been flying ever since. I'm a teacher, just like the OP. To me, flying is part of the adventure & it gives me more time with Minnie.

 

[westjones]

We do both, and both have its good and bad points. As our van gets older I worry more about wear and tear on the van (it is only a 2000, but we put a lot of miles on it doing on several Disney trips right after we got it).

Flying is SO much faster, but they can change your flights (like they did to us on this last trip making us get in very late). It is harder to pack (with the van we can just throw things in the back very easily).

If we had 10 hours or less, there is no way I would fly. But we have 17 hours, and that is a very long time in the van with my 2 kids.

I am not sure what we will do on our next trip. It really depends on airfare and rental car prices.

DJ

P.S. Just wanted at add something else, it is a lot easier for us to fly in the summer when it is light longer, than in the winter when it is dark so much of the day. Having daylight keeps us going. We drove in 2003 at Christmas time, and it was dark so much of the time, it made us more tired. When we drove in the summer last year, we could go much longer because of the daylight.

 

[jeancbpugh]

I am interested in driving to WDW for the first time. The past two times I have been we flew. I now live much closer ( ) I was wondering what advantages there are to driving or advantages to flying. There are two adult and we are on a budget. I am also a teacher so going during non-peak times is not an option.

Thanks for all your advice.
Missy

We've flown for 15 years, but just got back from our first time driving just after midnight last night.

Driving is great. No baggage/delays/security hassles. We drove from Chicago to Nashville day #1. Nashville to WDW on day #2. We drove straight through on the way home because DH and the kids had had enough vacation after 15 days.

We spent 6 nights at WDW, then 4 nights at the Hyatt Coconut Point in Bonita Springs (lovely), then a couple nights various places near the Everglades and the keys, then back to WDW.

Driving gives you great flexibility.

We were lucky with the weather, no snow or ice. I can't imagine the nightmare if you had to deal with freezing stuff in storms on a long drive.

Would we do it again? Definitely, but not until I've cleaned the car out and gotten a few weeks of sleep.

 

[westjones]

We've flown for 15 years, but just got back from our first time driving just after midnight last night.

Driving is great. No baggage/delays/security hassles. We drove from Chicago to Nashville day #1. Nashville to WDW on day #2. We drove straight through on the way home because DH and the kids had had enough vacation after 15 days.

How long did it take you to get home driving straight?
DJ

 

[senecabeach]

Well....for 31 years we flew and only because we worked and didn't want to spend precious vacation time driving.
Now...we are retired in our early 50's...and have a different view on life..and very much enjoy driving, visiting Charelston, Savannah, St. Augustine !!

 

[jjsmom]

We usually drive (16 hours best case senario), however, this month we are flying. We live on the Eastern Shore of MD. I thought the fare was pretty good from BWI via Southwest ($530 for 3). Although, because of scheduled Bay Bridge construction and the associated traffic nightmare, we have decided to spend the night before at a hotel airport (another $90 bucks + parking+ dinner out). Driving has pros and cons. Pros-saving money, sightseeing, packing whatever, packing food/coolers for your room, room for purchases, and DD used boring travel time to do her school work. Cons-wear & tear on your vehicle, fighting traffic, big trucks, road construction (it's gonna be bad somewhere!), and of course, time spent on road vs. WDW. With us, it's very difficult to drive straight through, so we still have to spend $$ on a hotel room somewhere on I-95. If I lived in Charlotte I would probably get up very early and drive straight through. My BIL and his family of 5 are driving down this week. They hate to fly (too expensive for large family and kids scream the whole time) and he drives by himself straight through.

 

[cranbiz]

We have done both, a lot depends on how many of us are going. If it is just a trip with DW and me, we will fly (after carefully looking at air fares, been lucky to get $99 RT the last couple of times)
This last trip we did both. DD (23) DS (18) and myself drove down and DW and DD (16) flew down.

We got there in 20 hours and got there a day early, picked up DD and DW at MCO the next day and away we went. At the end of our stay, dropped DW and DD at MCO, went back to EPCOT for dinner and left the next day. In the end, it worked out much cheaper to do this than flying everyone and renting a large car. It came to about $650 to do it this way where it would have cost $1300 to fly everyone and rent a car.

 

[TDC Nala]

Most of my stays are short. Taking a two hour flight is also much easier for me than driving for 13 hours alone.

The weather on the East Coast is also too unpredictable for me to drive during the winter months.

 

[Amirah95]

Drive!

 

[denise5374]

On our prevuious trips to WDW we have flown. In 2004, for our cruise we took the Auto Train and this June we are driving. We are looking forward to the drive, are thinking about renting a mini-van to save the wear and tear on our car. To get a van it is about $200 for the week. It is still cheaper than flying for the four of us.

I would prefer to fly but my DH hates flying and with all the hassle associated with getting into and out of Phila Int'l and the uncertainty of the flight times changing, we decided to drive this time.

I think the ride is about 17 hours of driving time. We are stopping outside of Savannah on the way down. Haven't figured out the way home yet.

 

[westjones]

I think the ride is about 17 hours of driving time. We are stopping outside of Savannah on the way down. Haven't figured out the way home yet.

Our drive is about 17 hours too. Sometimes when we come home, we drive straight. If you leave early in the morning, you can be home around midnight (if traffic isn't bad).

Enjoy your trip!
DJ

 

[StinkerbellsMom]

We've done both in the past and we've even taken Amtrak down! We were originally driving down this time too, but then I found JetBlue flights for $79 each way ... so we are flying $877 r/t for five of us Not bad at all!!! Worth the complaints of not wanting to wear the Earplanes, etc.! LOL The drive is fun though when we go and we really enjoy it! The kiddos are actually disappointed that we will be flying, they were looking forward to all the fun they could have on the way down! From NYC we have made it in as little as 17 hours and as long as 23 hours ... just depends on how long we need to stop and with 3 girls, potty breaks are OFTEN! LOL So a little over 2 hours is a nice perk! Let's face it anyway you get there ... you are gonna have a great time! LOL Driving has its plus' (although we never use our own car and even when we rent, it sits in the lot!), but flying is quick if you get a good price, go for it! No long haul home, kwim.

 

[skiwee1]

We do both depending on the time we have. We perfer to drive as it adds another 4 days onto our trip and we make it part of the vacation. If we only have 12 days then we fly as we don't want to take any time from Disney. Flying is actually more expensive for us because we stay at two hotels on the way down and two on the way back. Add in meals and all the shopping we do and flying is very cheap!

 

[FOTM_Ring_Bearer]

Being a family of 5, we drive. It takes around 16 hours and we drive straight through. It's cheaper and we can bring extra things with us. Plus we have more room for purchases.

Since you're only ten hours away, I would compare these two things:
1. Cost of flying versus the cost of driving.
2. Time spent driving versus time spent flying (taking into account drive time to airport, how far in advance you need to be there, etc,).

Would you mind driving? Some people don't like to. We're used to it, so it's no problem.

Have fun, planning is one of my favorite things.

 

[Mortlives]

We have always flown to WDW up until now, but we did a roadtrip last March to Florida, and decided that we had been wrong. The drive was a blast. It was a great way to spend family time together. So, we decided that we would never fly to Florida again.

We are driving down, next month, and it will probably take us about 21 hours driving time, over 2 1/2 days.

Kungaloosh!
Morticia.