driving from pittsburgh?

[LaurieA]

Anyone doing this? I am wondering if it is going to save much money with the gas prices. How many miles and how long does it take you? It will be myself and my son. I got a great deal last year 98.00 round trip on usair, non- stop!! I doubt if i will get this price this year also. I need my universal fix but am broke this year- any ideas? anyone else drive? If so how long does it take? Thanks!

 

[cinamin27]

if you drive straight thru, it will probably take somewhere between 18 & 20 hours (??). My family drove straight thru from Pittsburgh to Jacksonville, FL & it took them about 16 hours. From Jacksonville you are about 2 - 2&1/2 hrs away from Orlando.

 

[momof2inPA]

We drove down in January, and I'm sure it saved our family of four money, especially since you have to rent a car or limo service to get to the park from the airport anyway. If you're looking to fly cheap, there is a new company flying out of Youngstown at discount rates to Orlando. I don't know their name, but you could check that out.

 

[aaronr121]

We drove to Orlando a few times. The first time it was 5 people, spread out over 2 days. We started out at the Carlisle interchange off the PA turnpike and took one of the main highways there. It was a very nice drive actually, very scenic and best of all bypassed Washington D.C. and all of its congestion! We eventually picked up 95 around Atlanta.

The 2nd trip, my wife and I took 95 straight down, we left 4:30 am Sunday, drove straight through, only stopping for gas and a quick packed lunch at a NC rest stop. We hit Jacksonville, FL, 6:30 pm and stayed the night then drove to Daytona the next morning.

On the way back, we left the hotel at 8:30, drove straight through and got home to Boyertown, PA at 1:30 am. 95 around DC was terrible that time of night on a Thursday.

Price wise I figure the drive costs the equivalent of 1 airline ticket. Gas is expensive now, and with our car I figure 3 fill-ups for the 1000 mile trip. Plane tickets right now around fairly cheap, usually costing $170-190 a person from Philly (just got 3 round trip tickets for July on US Air for $530).

But if you plan on staying awhile and renting a car, car rentals can get expensive, so when you factor in that expense you save more $$$. We hardly go outside Universal (since we rarely get to go longer than a few days) so we don't need the expense, just transport to and from the airport.

Good luck with the drive, let us know what you wind up doing.

 

[LaurieA]

I guess I would have to figure in the cost of a hotel for on the way down and back. I know ia cant drive straight through with just myself and my son. I am going to look into airline tickets now. I do rent a car because we like to go to Clearwater, the sand is sooo soft, the water is so warm and fishing from the pier. I will run the numbers! Thanks.

 

[Figment22]

LaurieA,

You may want to try posting your question on the Transportation Forum. There is a lot of info for those who are driving to Florida there. Here is a link:

http://www.disboards.com/forumdisplay.php?forumid=16

 

[aaronr121]

Clearwater is nice, the first time we drove down we made a trip to there. So much nicer than Jersey or Delaware beaches and barely anybody was there.
Daytona beach is pretty nice as well.

We did find a cheap, cheap hotel in Jacksonville one time. It was only $35 a night, but it was a real dump!

If you find another great deal, airline tickets, for $98 a person roundtrip let me know. You can't pass that up!

 

[LaurieA]

I kepp checking everyday for cheap tickets. That was a GREAT deal last year-booked through United, took an Usairways flight. I will post if i see any specials!!

 

[DwarfMaster]

We drove from Pgh in February...I just pulled out the log yesterday and we were paying from $1.50 - $1.75 for gas. We spent nearly $250 round-trip. I'm sure it would be $300 if we drove now.

We left around 3:00am and drove straight to Jacksonville in about 15 Hours.

We did find a cheap, cheap hotel in Jacksonville one time. It was only $35 a night, but it was a real dump!

We must've stayed at the same place ~ but it was storming, we were hungry, tired & desperate.

 

[aaronr121]

We stayed at the cheap $35 a night place when it was storming as well. The whole parking lot was flooded! I was worried we'd get stuck there. It was near a small airport and we ate at a Applebees, TGI Fridays (somekind of chain, slips my mind what the name is.)

Wow, what were you driving that you spent so much in gas? We drove our 98 VW Beetle and that consistently went 400 miles to the tank and cost no more than $20 at the time to fill it's 15 gallon tank (usually filled it up and took 12 gal.) The trip was 2100 miles round trip. 6 tankfuls = $120. That was 2 years ago. I remember seeing gas being sold for $1.35 down south. I guess it must have been around $1.60 here then.