Driving from Portland, OR to WDW?

[PDXDisGuy]

Hi all,

I've known about the DISBoards forever (and have even browsed off and on), but have never posted... Well, now I have a question that I can't seem to find an answer to (and I'm not sure if this is the right area to be posting in, so I apologize in advance if not).

I've been to WDW a number of times - at least 10 that I can think of. I think that's pretty good for a fan from Oregon. For all previous trips, I've flown...depending on route and layovers, a trip that can take up to eight hours. Not bad, but not as good as most folks on here, I'm guessing. Anyway, my new wife and I have decided that we're going to take her kids to WDW for the first time! Everybody is excited, of course. We have five children - 18, 16, 13, 11, and 10. What we are trying to figure out is how to get us all there! Flying would be the best option, but SOOOO expensive, so we're considering driving. Google Maps says it should take slightly over two days to get there non-stop. That's all well and good, but not very real-world. What I want to know is - is there anyone here that has driven from Oregon to WDW? What was your experience? How long did it take? How much did it cost in gas? Lots of questions, I know, but trying to make the most informed decision possible.

Thanks all in advance for your consideration and help!

 

[katman2540]

I have not driven that route but I have driven from CT to Disneyland last summer. It was just me and my wife and the fastest I would want to do it it 3 days. With kids you would probably want to stop more or drive shorter days. I would say at least 4 days to make it there with out being completely wiped out.

Gas pricing is tough because each state is going to be different, sometimes wildly so. We had a small car, Hyundai Elantra, that was brand new and I think we used about 9 tanks of gas(the car was weighed down by all our camping gear). Not sure if that helps you but figured a diagonal cross country drive perspective might help a little.

Also check over on the Transportation board. Might be more people over there with specifics on this kind of drive.

 

[PDXDisGuy]

Thanks for the insight. I will definitely try posting in the Transportation board as well!

 

[descovy]

Can your family handle a rough 2 days in the car non-stop (must mean driving overnight too) Remember too, if it absoluetly sux, you have to get them back in the car to get home too!

I live in TX and we have driven back to see family in WA several times. The milage is 2200mi. We do it in 4 days. In our case, we turn the commute into a part of the vacation... stopping along the way, unwinding each night at the hotel pool, & getting a good shower. 600 mi is our limit before the kids just cant take another dvd, another "she-touched-me" moment.

You are looking at 3000 miles... for my family's sanity that is 5 days.

YMMV (really! lol)

That's a lot of people in the van. That's a lot of sitting in one spot with just time to stop for gas & pee. Will the family be "shot" by the time you make to WDW?

My family would be horrible doing 1500 miles a day!

 

[DOOM1001]

I think the only way to do that trip and stay sane is like the PP said to turn the trip into part of the vacation making stops to see things along the way and getting some good sleep at a hotel every night as well as having 2-3 people sharing the driving.I've never gone that far but have done the 1250 mile trip to Cedar Point in Ohio from Miami several times.Each of those trips also included stops in other places like Atlanta,NYC,Boston and Busch Gardens in Virginia,so they were in total 3000 plus mile round trips.The first time I did the trip I actually drove the whole way 1250 from Miami to Ohio just doing the minimum stops,needless to say I would never do that again.Even going from Ohio to Boston is a long way,like 700 miles.My point is that I realized the most I think I can drive in one day is like 650-700 miles.Even if you have two drivers and you each do 400-500 miles in a day for 800-1000 total miles that's like 11-16 hours in a car,that's a lot of time and the passengers will probably start wiggin out.Your trip is like 3000 miles,based on what I feel is a doable amount of driving per day I don't think you can do it in less than 4 days.For a long time I've wanted to do a cross country trip driving to California,not really to save on airfare but more to just say I did it,because everytime I've flown to Vegas or San Francisco and it basically just takes an hour or two longer than it takes me to drive to Orlando I realize flying is the way to do it.With that said if someone gave me a month off work,a nice sized rented SUV and $10,000 to do the trip I'll be on the road in an hour to do it.

 

[MolonLabe]

My family would be horrible doing 1500 miles a day!

1500 miles in one day is doable, I've done it several times in the past, with just me driving (I can't sleep in a car if someone else is driving). I'm accustomed to long hours though.

That said, I don't think I could do it that drive. Even if I could share the driving so I could get some sleep... being in a car for that long would kill my back. Looks like a 40 hour drive, depending on where in WA you are leaving from, add another 2+.

Turning the trip into a sight seeing adventure would be a great idea but I don't know if you have the time to do that.

Let us know what you decide and good luck!

 

[hydrotony]

As for gasoline cost, I've always did the 'cents per mile' method of planning. A minivan or van will get at most 20-25 miles per gallon. At $4 per gal., that is about 20 to 25 cents per mile. At 3000 one way, that's $600 to $750. Round trip about $1500 just in gas. Add in 6 nights of motels round trip, another $600.

Unless you have a good route planned and can stay with family some nights at no cost, just travel is $2100. That's $300 per person. Are you sure you can't get round trip airfare for $300 each?

 

[Swimalie]

My husband and I moved from GA to Portland, OR in 2001. It took us 5 days and that was with driving 10-12 hours a day with our cat (no kids then). Orlando is another 8 hours south of where we lived. Would I do it again? No way! Not with kids. I know it's expensive to fly but so, so much easier.

By the way, hi! I miss Oregon (we moved from there 6 years ago). We are planning a trip there in June.

 

[shortbun]

When I was in my early 10's, a friend and I drove from Ohio to Portland. Nearly killed us. We made one overnight stop in Casper, Wyoming to see a friend. Your post made me cringe. I would make it a several day drive with shorter days and sightseeing stops. Seven full sized people crammed in a van for 4 days-twice...does not sound like a vacation to me. Why not put it off another year and save up for air tickets?

 

[scrapquitler]

1500 miles in one day is doable, I've done it several times in the past, with just me driving (I can't sleep in a car if someone else is driving). I'm accustomed to long hours though.

That said, I don't think I could do it that drive. Even if I could share the driving so I could get some sleep... being in a car for that long would kill my back. Looks like a 40 hour drive, depending on where in WA you are leaving from, add another 2+.

Turning the trip into a sight seeing adventure would be a great idea but I don't know if you have the time to do that.

Let us know what you decide and good luck!

You can drive 1500 miles in ONE day with ONE driver??? I think you might be exaggerating a little bit. 1500 miles, even at 70 miles an hour comes out to over 21 hours, and doesn't even include a single minute for stops. Sorry, but I'm not buying it.

I can't imagine driving 3000 miles even in 3 or 4 days and then spending a week or 10 days in WDW and turning around to do the drive again. It would wear out my family so much that we would be miserable the entire time. Once you figure the cost of the gas, the hotels, the meals on the way, you might as well pay a little extra and fly, then you'll a) not be exhausted and miserable by the time you arrive and b.) save extra days that you could potentially add to your time at WDW - that would be much more fun than all those extra days in the car with that many family members (and would you have room for all the luggage?)

 

[Gumbo4x4]

As I mentioned on your other thread, I'm a huge fan of driving. But, a trip of that distance is going to take considerable time. If your only goal is to do Disney, I would have to reluctantly look at flying. As part of a larger overall trip with stops along the way, absolutely. We did 7,500 miles in 6 weeks back in 1977 & it's one of the fondest memories of my childhood. I had a snowball fight on Pike's Peak on my birthday (July 10th), toured the Grand Canyon, looked across the border into Mexico South of San Diego, had shrimp on Fisherman's Wharf, toured the Pendleton plant in OR, found out from a pay phone at Old Faithful that my cousin was born, watched the rodeo in Cheyenne and much, much more. If visiting our friends in San Fran had been our ONLY goal though, we probably would have flown.

edit: as I asked in Transportation - is DisneyLAND an option for you?

 

[KNJWDW]

I have never driven that far. We drive from WI to WDW every year. We have done it without stopping for the night and also with stopping. I prefer stopping and resting. Here is a great website that will help you calculate your gas cost: http://www.gasbuddy.com/

 

[ICan'tWait]

Have you looked into flying into other airports in Florida? We found flying into Tampa from Seattle saved us a considerable amount.

 

[Carina]

Have you looked into flying into other airports in Florida? We found flying into Tampa from Seattle saved us a considerable amount.

Us too.

 

[crisi]

It might not be that much more expensive to fly. You are going to need to stop, and that means hotel rooms...unless you camp, but setting up and tearing down would cut into drive time. Your mileage isn't likely to be great in a loaded vehicle with that many people and all your stuff. You have meals on the road, and time off work for two legs of travel....the wear and tear on the car is something, that's half a year of use for a lot of people.

 

[Nicsnick]

My husband and I moved from PDX to Orlando in 2010 and we drove. It took us 5 nights, 6 days. We did have a 22ft moving truck but we did the drive as fast as we could. My husband finished school and less than a week later had to be at WDW to start his internship. I would not want to do that drive, spend a week at WDW, then drive back. There are pretty good flight prices if you watch them. It has been a couple of years but I know we flew once to MCO for $199 round trip. If you want to do Disney wait til you can all fly or drive to Disneyland.

ETA: You asked about gas. It was over $1000 for us! Not a cheap trip! But again we had the 22ft moving truck!

 

[DisneyMomma81]

I agree with gumbo, consider DLR, you could easily drive there. Check out the DIS board for Disneyland. You could visit other places in S CA too.

 

[WDWfanfromOR]

But a long, long time ago! My folks decided to do a big, last family vacation when my brother graduated high school. We took 3.5-4 weeks. My step dad was a school teacher and I was on college summer break. My Mom flew down to meet us, since she could not take that much time off of work.We drove straight through to New Mexico, spent the night in a cheap motel, then drove to New Orleans where we spent a couple of days, then On to Orlando. We had 3 drivers and it was a grind. And for a newly blended step family? That might be too much to ask.

I think it would be hard to do with that many kids without everyone going stir crazy. I just booked PDX-Tampa for September for $339, and the cheapest I've seen PDX-ORlando is $460, so $120/pp difference. As others have pointed out gas, motels and food will likely cost you close to that per person, and take A LOT of time... 3-4 days minimum each way. So, either watch airfare like a hawk and hope for a sale, or as other's have suggested, go to Disneyland. You could even do the southern California Citypass, and do several parks, the redwoods or San Francisco on the way.

Good luck, I'm sure you will come up with a wonderful vacation for your family.

 

[natfrac]

Hello fellow Portlander We fly to WDW almost every year. While we love DLR, it's not a big enough resort for a good family vacation and we're not interested in the other parks. Also as a native Southern Californian, I'm not into any sight seeing.

We try to save money on airfare by using credit card miles. This year, we signed up for the Southwest card and got enough points for two free flights. I've driven as far as Dallas, but not Florida. That was expensive enough--not only gas, but hotels, food, not to mention wear and tear on the body.

Happy vacation planning.

 

[squirrel]

You can also look into Alaska Airlines CC. There is an annual fee but they offer a $99 companion rate once per year. Not sure if they offer a second card at a discount or free.

Worked out well for me. Even with the annual fee and the $99 my niece and I got a direct flight from Seattle for about $250 per person.

This year I have enough miles to fly home from LAX after our cruise (this time I'm taking my mom). Still have some miles left.