Drive vs. Fly?

[my4kids]

I am looking at the rates from Baltimore for Oct. Last year we got SW n/s $49 each way! I thought the fares were so low, it would not have saved us money to drive. (Cost of hotel or motel overnight...gas, mental exaustion with 4 kids in the back asking "Are we there yet?") Right now the cheapest I see is $79 down and $94 back. So my question is, at what price do you think is is worth taking the almost 2 day drive (we can't go straight through with kids) to save money? Mind you we need to buy 6 tickets to get our family there - so any price increase make a huge difference.

 

[OKW Lover]

That's a question that only you can answer. You've pretty much listed the pro's and con's for each. The only things I can suggest you also consider when making your decision are:
1) It's not two days on the road, it's four (down & back).
2) Statistically, flying is safer than driving.

 

[4formickey]

join the 'airfare is high with kids club'.We have a thread going about driving for over 14hr with kids. It will offer you good insite about driving and it does not sound as bad as some make it seems. Factor in you cost of flying and time spent at airports you may find that the cost of flying maybe higher.

 

[tmt martins]

My time is very valuable I have been driven down ( for Paintball Tour at WWoS) and now I just pay whatever it takes to fly Direct flights.

If I have the time for the 4 extra days then I would just stay that much longer.

Now if time is not a factor and cost is then driving could be made into some sidetrips as well.

As far as time at airports in OCT from door to door it took us .

Left at 5:30am flight was 7:00am arrived MCO 9:05am Checked into POP at 10:00am on the dot .So your looking at 4 1/2 hours and were in you just can't beat that at any cost.

 

[4formickey]

My wife and I debated about the idea of flying or driving but paying $900 for 4 plane tickets, $300 for car rental, $100 for parking at the airport, it is cheaper for us to drive. 1 and 1/ day to get to wdw. WEe will leave on a saturday mornig around 3am and get there on a sunday about 4pm. This include a overnight stay in GA. 2 1/2tanks of gas about $35 each, over night stay costing $50 means that I can keep my money in my pocket and not just give it to some one else.

 

[Jlampley]

My husband really wanted to put a break-even number on the COST (not looking at mental health). He went to Mapquest and got the number of miles from our house to WDW (or even the airport if you don't have an address). He then took our van's MPG on the highway and found how many gallons we would need. Multiplied that by 2.75 per gallon of gas (lower than now, but we will be going in Oct too.) Added hotel and food and from Nashville to Orlando it was around $750.00. We are hoping to get $99.00 one way for the four of us and it will be around $900.00 with tax and fees. For us, $150 is worth the extra money.

You may want to apply his engineering mind to your problem as well to put an actual number on your costs. Good luck with your flight search and have a wonderful trip!

 

[4formickey]

Added hotel and food and from Nashville to Orlando it was around $750.00.
!

This is a day trip!sbout 14 hrs?

 

[skoi]

Interesting. We're debating the same thing, drive from Philadelphia with three kids (a newly adopted 2 year old- she did great on the 15 hour flight back from China, but that was a couple months ago before she was comfortable with us and she was on her best behavior), or fly. We'd do one day down, two back. We've done it several times with the two older kids, and it was all right.

Did you look into the auto train? Sometimes (and I mean very rarely) if you don't mind sitting in coach, you can get a good deal. We got tickets for $19.00 each (one way, but we got the price on the trip up and back). The van cost $300 something, but this was about 3 years ago.

I always hated flying, but since the trip to China and back, well, 2 1/2 hours to Orlando is no big thing.

Julie

 

[tinaluis]

We're hoping for $49 fares to MCO from Chicago -- if we can't get them, we'll drive. The lowest we're seeing is $99 each way, and we're a family of 5, so it's well over $1,000 with tax. Even taking 2 days to drive there and 2 days back (with a Priceline hotel overnight each way), we're still way lower driving vs. flying and renting a car. Fortunately, my vacation time is pretty flexible and DH is a SAHD so we have more time than most. Good luck deciding and have a great trip!

And I agree that the drive from Nashville would be a piece of cake! Wish we lived that close to WDW!!!!!!!! It's about 24 hours of actual driving time for us

 

[MEK]

I am looking at the rates from Baltimore for Oct. Last year we got SW n/s $49 each way! I thought the fares were so low, it would not have saved us money to drive. (Cost of hotel or motel overnight...gas, mental exaustion with 4 kids in the back asking "Are we there yet?") Right now the cheapest I see is $79 down and $94 back. So my question is, at what price do you think is is worth taking the almost 2 day drive (we can't go straight through with kids) to save money? Mind you we need to buy 6 tickets to get our family there - so any price increase make a huge difference.

To answer the original poster. I am hoping for cheaper flights out of Baltimore, too. Maybe you should plan to drive, but keep checking for lower airfares. Set a total price range you are willing to pay for flights and check every day. Calculate out your cost to drive.

Obviously, the more people who drive in one car, versus fly, the more $ you will save. I considered driving with my 2 kids, but it's about even for 3 of us to fly. Considering wear & tear on the car, I will pay to fly. However, with a party of 6, it may be worth it to drive.

The auto train is offering a summer promotion - 2 kids free with each adult, but I think it ends in September. Double check the dates, because it calculates out to be a little over $700 for 2 adults, 4 kids, and a van.

________________________________________________________

Max is my favorite cat!

 

[momof2inPA]

With 4 kids, I wouldn't pay over $150 a piece, rt. We drove from Pittsburgh straight through in January, and the kids were so good, it was better than flying. Most of our driving was done at night, so the kids slept, and we got there at 6:30 a.m. POFQ let us check in at 7 a.m., so it worked out great. Next time we'll probably fly with frequent flyer tickets, but to be honest, airplanes are so disgusting anymore, I would rather drive.

 

[goofy 28]

Drive vs Fly, For me the only way to go is to fly! Unless the airfare is sky high.
My point is that you wiegh the cost of driving to the cost of flying, but the one thing you leave out is the wear and tear on YOU after the drive. I'm from the Chicago area and it is 18 hours of driving, at least a day and a half. Then when you get there the kid's are excited and want to go ( they have been in a van for a day and a half) to the parks, and i just want to relax after the drive. The nice thing about flying is you get off the plane and everyones ready to go, no exhausting drive. Good luck.

 

[my4kids]

Thanks for everyones feedback....I hadn't really thought about the auto train.......I will look into it.....I will do the actual cost analysis for each way and then I think I will cross my fingers and check the airline rates everyday and see if we can get lucky.

 

[Harvest02]

Our family of 4 is going to Disney next week. I debated the issue of flying vs. driving also. At the time, I wasn't sure if my DH was going to be able to go, so I decided on flying. I did buy him a plane ticket just in case, but to me the drive from the Indianapolis area was not worth it(especially if I had to drive down with my 9 and 5 year old boys by myself). We got our plane tickets for $188 per person which included the tax. With the higher gas prices now, I figured it would cost us at least $400 in gas money, 2 extra nights of hotel(since we weren't driving straight through), 2 extra days for meals, and lots of wear and tear on the van. When I was in high school, my parents took me to Disney and we drove straight through. I remember being SO tired when we arrived that all we wanted to do was sleep! I have also heard from other families I know of how they drove and they said they would never do it again! Flying to me is the way to go!!!

 

[jodifla]

That's a tough one....I do love the autotrain, though. We've taken it a couple of times, and it was so much better than driving the whole way.

 

[missmun52]

If money is tight and you can save then i would say go for it. I personally cannot even drive the 10 hours it takes us to visit the in laws after the screaming and crying i went through with my son the entire trip. I dread doing it again.

It is really a personal decision, you know your kids and what they can tollerate and what you can tollerate from them. If you dont mind 4 days on the road then by all means go for it.

I considered doing this but besides what i stated above taking and extra 4 day out of work (DH) would not be possible and since we are only staying 6 nights it would not make sence to go anymore. it would cost us about 350- 500 with hotel stay gas and tolls from NY and we were fortunate to get our plane tickets for $350 roundtrip total. If i had more kids to pay for the expence might have been too much though.

I hope everything goes well. Even $200 saved can go a long way with a big family but it might be worth losing just for your own sanity

 

[disneymom3]

For us, it is practically a no brainer. Airfare from Mpls to just about anywhere is pretty pricey. Never, ever ever less than $200 RT and in the winter when we usually want to get out of here,it is easily in the high $200s. Add in parking at the airport and we estimate $1500 for the trip in airfare. Plus we have stayed onsite once without a car of our own and that will never happen again, not to mention we usually stay offsite so need a car while we are there. So, add another prob $200 as we need a minivan with three kids two of whom are in carseats.

Last trip down, 1580 miles each way it cost us approx $600 for all costs down and back. We drive through one night each way so have two nights total for travel, we pack snacks and a picnic lunch for at least the first day and stay at a hotel with free breakfast. Other than gas, coffee is probably our biggest expense! (You'll hvae to read my trip report to find out why!!)

Llampley--how it can cost you so much to drive from Tennessee? Do you have a car with really bad gas mileage or do you like to stay at the Ritz?? Are you sure you did that math right, because it costs way less than that for us and we have twice as far to travel. Plus if you get up at say 5:00 and hit the road, wouldn't that put you in Orlando at like 3:00 in the afternoon?

 

[Bobb-O]

actually JLampley said it would be $150 more to fly. I crunched numbers for OP and came up with same additional cost. Assumptions are two days driving there and two days back which equals two hotel nights and 5 meals each way (10 total- last dinner is in FL or home either way) and I believe a rental car (actually van for OP with 4 kids). If you use disney transportation flying may be less but meals will be more as you can't eat off site.

Is $150 the over/under? I guess so. For $150 more I would fly over drive. All depends on what your time is worth and do you have two extra days to waste driving.

 

[robinb]

We are also looking at driving this year. I didn't get cheap airfare when I could and now Christmas/New Years is over $300 per person. Plus another $300 in rental car. That's $1200. Mapquest tells me at today's gas prices that it would cost me $300 RT in gas plus another $100-$150 in food and lodging or $450 tops. We may have a new car by them and my DH will be ready for a Road Trip. It will take us two days each way, but we're only losing two park days. Even when we fly we spend most of the day getting to WDW.

 

[crazelion]

My husband really wanted to put a break-even number on the COST (not looking at mental health). He went to Mapquest and got the number of miles from our house to WDW (or even the airport if you don't have an address). He then took our van's MPG on the highway and found how many gallons we would need. Multiplied that by 2.75 per gallon of gas (lower than now, but we will be going in Oct too.) Added hotel and food and from Nashville to Orlando it was around $750.00. We are hoping to get $99.00 one way for the four of us and it will be around $900.00 with tax and fees. For us, $150 is worth the extra money.

You may want to apply his engineering mind to your problem as well to put an actual number on your costs. Good luck with your flight search and have a wonderful trip!

Coming from Nashville it should be only 12 hours drive to WDW. I live Chattanooga I can make it in 10 hours if I don't stop at every outlet mall Atlanta to WDW.

I don't even understand how world came 750.00 dollars for short drive.