Driving to Disney from Toronto in April

[CharlesTD]

Keep in mind the price of gas. Assume you're going to pay the equivalent to $1/L. Orlando is just a hair longer than 2000km. We drive a Venture and so I acutally went to the GM website and found the mileage specs and calculated our gas cost (not including stops, traffic) at about $150 each way.

Then I used AAA online trip tik to figure out about where we will end up by nightfall and it actually shows the hotels in that area with direct links and rates. Room for 1 night...$120 Canadian (there were some for around $79 US but I thought a suite would be nice).

Then you have to account for the cost of meals during your drive...$50.

We got flights for $150 ea (return) out of Buffalo and van rental for 2wks...$365. Parking at Buffalo airport...included in the $79 room we stayed in the night before our trip.

In the end, we are paying a little more...but the trade off is that we leave here and are there 3hrs later, ready to enjoy (plus we have a 16mth old and a 4yr old)

BUT....Driving is fun!!! I've done it before,many years ago for spring break.

Wow we drive an 05 Montana and it cost us 175 bucks US return for gas we were getting over 600K out of half a tank of gas.

 

[jinglesmountjoy]

Remember, I was over estimating at $1/L because we were planning this trip back when the Katrina blew through and gas was at $1.30/L. I just checked current prices and they sit around $2.39/gallon ($.75/L CAD) which makes it around $200-$225 CAD.

I'm definitely not saying you shouldn't drive because my first choice was to drive. It wasn't until I considered all the little things about driving (including mileage on vehicle) that we decided to fly.

To be exact: flights there and back for 4 adults...$700.80 USD; van rental...$365.68 USD for a grand total of $1066.48.

I figure the gas, even with these prices, would run $200 USD, food (3 adult, 2 child) $100 USD, hotel $200 USD (one night each way), cost of hearing "are we there yet/how much longer/daddy, I have to pee/daddy, I'm uncomfortable"...$10/each occurance for a total of $500 and a Grand Total of $1000 USD.

So you can see for an extra $66.48, I think it's certainly worth flying.

Oh yeah...one more thing. Do you know, as disappointing a season as the Habs are having...there is still one thing they have that the Leafs don't...

A picture of their team hoisting the Stanley Cup........................IN COLOUR!!!!

 

[OntFamily]

It certainly comes down to personal choice.

Even the example mentioned above gives the cash outlay of driving @ $500 USD, vs flying @ $1,066 USD (plus parkign fees at the airport) -- a savings of $566 USD (or approx $600 CDN). If you have the extra few days to travel, driving is much less expensive than driving.

However, if there are only two of you, the flying becomes much more economical.

 

[CharlesTD]

Remember, I was over estimating at $1/L because we were planning this trip back when the Katrina blew through and gas was at $1.30/L. I just checked current prices and they sit around $2.39/gallon ($.75/L CAD) which makes it around $200-$225 CAD.

I'm definitely not saying you shouldn't drive because my first choice was to drive. It wasn't until I considered all the little things about driving (including mileage on vehicle) that we decided to fly.

To be exact: flights there and back for 4 adults...$700.80 USD; van rental...$365.68 USD for a grand total of $1066.48.

I figure the gas, even with these prices, would run $200 USD, food (3 adult, 2 child) $100 USD, hotel $200 USD (one night each way), cost of hearing "are we there yet/how much longer/daddy, I have to pee/daddy, I'm uncomfortable"...$10/each occurance for a total of $500 and a Grand Total of $1000 USD.

So you can see for an extra $66.48, I think it's certainly worth flying.

Oh yeah...one more thing. Do you know, as disappointing a season as the Habs are having...there is still one thing they have that the Leafs don't...

A picture of their team hoisting the Stanley Cup........................IN COLOUR!!!!

I certainly agree with you on teh HABS pic with the cup LOL oh so true. As for the drive thankfully our kids are great in the car we don't get the are we there yets etc they read and play games and colour etc. We have a DVD system in teh van and I think they watched 1 movie during our drive in May that was it they just aren't interested in watching movies while driving.

 

[Disney Ontario]

We either drive or take Southwest. We even still have the I-75 book in our glove box from last year. We love the drive. Though last year we were so eager to go, that we left at 3 in the morning, in the middle of a snow storm. Shhh. I am just glad that our DDS are 13 and 17,are a great age to travel and shop and still travel.

 

[jinglesmountjoy]

My DS is 16 mths and my DD is turning 4 Jan 31. The longest drive they've been on is to Toronto to visit my family (1.5 hrs) unless you count our flight to Vancouver in November in which case that would be the longest.

The DD, I'm not so worried about. She's good. The boy though....he doesnt' stop...seriously. He seems to be good for the trips to TO, but a couple of times, when tired, you could see him getting raunchy. The Vancouver trip is our only guage and he was wormy. He didn't want to sit, he wanted to roam. I think the stickers kept him occupied for about 45 min. I say "I think" because I fell asleep beside him with my arms guarding him from falling off the seat...woke up with little happy face stickers all over my face and head.

Anyhow, I'm envious that you get to drive. Once the kids are older, I think it'll be one of the highlights of our trips down.

...Incidentally, I've traditionally been a Leaf fan actually...just, always found that joke hillarious. Currently watching Leafs get skunked 6-0 by Sens (end of 2nd). They need to regroup for the second half of this season.

 

[tink&cinderella]

Hi

We drove last April to Disney

Left at 3:00 a.m. and drove until we got to Charlotte - around 7 or 8. I think we drove 16 hours the first day.

We stopped frequently because my almost 3 year old was in the midst of toilet training and refused to go back into pull ups for the drive so it was "pee at every exit" so to speak.

We then got to Disney the following day - 2 days before our original plan - we had planned to take it easy - thankfully Disney had room at POFQ which was where we had been booked into anyway.

On the way home we drove to Atlanta to visit friends - left after breakfast and to drive home we left after dinner and got to our front door at about noon - no stops - dh did the driving and was ok for the most part - I drove about 2 hours - He did find the driving with no sleep prior to the drive much more difficult then leaving at 3:00 a.m. when he had 5 hours of sleep.

One piece of advice - if you get your kids up in the night, hoping they will continue to sleep, give them gravol for kids - my daughter who normally never has a problem with motion sickness did that first few hours - sick near Niagara falls I think it was likely due to an empty stomach.

Even on board the cruise ship during rough seas she's fine.

Enjoy Disney- it's beautiful at that time of the year.

Tink&Cinderella

 

[CharlesTD]

My DS is 16 mths and my DD is turning 4 Jan 31. The longest drive they've been on is to Toronto to visit my family (1.5 hrs) unless you count our flight to Vancouver in November in which case that would be the longest.

The DD, I'm not so worried about. She's good. The boy though....he doesnt' stop...seriously. He seems to be good for the trips to TO, but a couple of times, when tired, you could see him getting raunchy. The Vancouver trip is our only guage and he was wormy. He didn't want to sit, he wanted to roam. I think the stickers kept him occupied for about 45 min. I say "I think" because I fell asleep beside him with my arms guarding him from falling off the seat...woke up with little happy face stickers all over my face and head.

Anyhow, I'm envious that you get to drive. Once the kids are older, I think it'll be one of the highlights of our trips down.

...Incidentally, I've traditionally been a Leaf fan actually...just, always found that joke hillarious. Currently watching Leafs get skunked 6-0 by Sens (end of 2nd). They need to regroup for the second half of this season.

We have been lucky our kids have always been great travellers in the car. They have been on long driving trips from about 2 weeks old up north to the cottage and all over the place. They have all traveled really well especially to Florida starting at 8 months old. As for the Leafs and Sens well you can have a good time knowing that the HABS got their butts handed to them by Vancouver 6-2 I think the final was.

 

[OntFamily]

The DD, I'm not so worried about. She's good. The boy though....he doesnt' stop...seriously. He seems to be good for the trips to TO, but a couple of times, when tired, you could see him getting raunchy. The Vancouver trip is our only guage and he was wormy. He didn't want to sit, he wanted to roam. I think the stickers kept him occupied for about 45 min. I say "I think" because I fell asleep beside him with my arms guarding him from falling off the seat...woke up with little happy face stickers all over my face and head.

Do you have a DVD player in the car? As you're alluding, he is bored, and when we're all bored we tend to get "wormy". When driving, it is important to keep the boredom levels down.

 

[jeannief]

Thanks everyone for all this GREAT information. We actually found a southwest flight after all that was 742 for the 4 of us, so thought if we were spending $ on a hotel room anyway, we might as well spend them at Disney instead of on the road. So we booked those flights and fingers crossed that a DING comes up to get us some $$ back, but if not, we're happy with the result.
Now to figure out where we're going to stay.... eat... etc.
Jean

 

[jinglesmountjoy]

Do you have a DVD player in the car? As you're alluding, he is bored, and when we're all bored we tend to get "wormy". When driving, it is important to keep the boredom levels down.

TV isn't really his thing. He's good for 5-10 min but then he has to get up and go, go, go. His name is Max and when we find anything that's been damaged (pages ripped from a pop-up book, Disney VHS case trampled on) we say it's been Maxed-out. Somethings always brewing in that mind.