Driving to the World

[luvdisney00]

We have never driven but know that a lot of people do...I've been playing with numbers (trying so hard to squeeze a trip in this year) and thought that it might reduce outr expenses if we drove. We are in NJ...anyone have pros and cons of driving from this area? Also how much would you budget for gas and the trip down and back (not the time in WDW just the trip part) in general? We are a family of 5 who have never driven to Fla. but we have driven to SC. DH is not in favor of driving, but he is OK with staying home too. Just wanted to hear people's opinions, airfare would be about $1200.00 for the family.

Thanks!

 

[disneydreamersx4]

I don't know how much it is to drive but you might want to consider Amtrak Autotrain. We are from Jersey and took it in 2007 for $685 family of 4 with the car, AAA rate. With driving, you may have to get two rooms because of being a family of 5 so that would drive up your costs. And depending on when you go, you may get a discount on the train. We loved the autotrain, roomy seats, could get up and walk around, food is included and a movie too.

good luck planning

 

[jakenjess]

You should check out the transportation board. There are some great threads about driving with lots of tips from people who drive to WDW often. Here's one but there are others:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1655918

It's definitely a money saver with a family of five. Good luck!

 

[cheerforchelsea]

NJ is about twice the distance I drive to WDW - but I enjoy the drive and the scenery so I really prefer to drive. I will be hoping that you can work something out.

 

[RooRach0906]

I have done many trips driving from VA to Orlando either with my parents, sisters, BILs and nieces or just me and my husband. My best advice would be try to make the trip during the evening and night; less people on the road, less bathroom breaks and it just makes for a better trip.
With the my parents etc, we always took as many snacks and even sometimes stuff for sandwiches in a cooler so we would not have to stop for meals. Helps make the trip cheaper.
DH and I spent $250-$300 in gas the last time we drove which was in 07, we had Enovy (Small SUV) at the time.
Hope this helps.

 

[MickeyHereWeCome!]

We started driving once we had our fourth child. It is waaaay too expensive to fly! We really enjoy driving down. It's so nice not having to limit what we pack, and not having to stress about being separated on the plane, etc.

We drive from MD, so it's about 14 hours. It's about 18 from NJ. My Aunt and Uncle drive from NJ all the time. I would probably budget for about $400 in gas, plus meals and any hotel stays. We fill up about 3 times from here, each way. We haven't been brave enough to pull an all-nighter, so we always stop, just to sleep.

You will want to juggle with your timing because you don't want to hit the DC area in rush hour! I would avoid that from about 6-9 in the morning and 4-7 at night. That area is congested enough, without adding in the rush hour traffic.

The rest of the drive is pretty smooth and uneventful. We always like to stop at South of the Border. We love watching for all the signs leading up to that.

If you decide to drive, head over to the transportation board. There is a huge thread over there on driving down 95...tons of great suggestions on places to stop and hints on avoiding certain areas.

 

[3boymthr]

Hi, we are also a family of 5 and drove from MA to WDW this past May (I wanted to fly but I ruptured my eardrum in April and wasn't allowed). We stopped in NJ (exit 4 off the Turnpike) the first night. From Jersey we drove most of the next day with a few stops for lunch and dinner and at South of the Border just to get out and move around. We were on the road for 13 hours the day we left NJ from 8 AM or so to 9 PM or so that night which put us in southern South Carolina - about 60 miles north of Savannah, GA. We got up the next day and drove to WDW we left at 8:30 or so and were in our room by mid afternoon and in the parks by 3:30 PM. Our cost for the whole trip from MA to WDW for gas was $250 each way - so probably about $200 from Jersey to WDW as it takes us one tank of gas to get to exit 4 on the NJ turnpike (we drive to DE every year to visit MIL). Our car gets 25 MPG on the highway. Hotels ran about $100/night for one "suite" sized room using our AAA discount. Food on the road about $100/day not including snacks which I brought from home - our hotel rooms included continental breakfast. HTH.

 

[minnie1928]

We drive from Northern NJ (Bergen County) and it's about 18 hours straight. Amount to budget for gas depends on your car. We take my Camry Hybrid, averages about 38mpg. I can do the trip with less than $200 in gas. We drive straight on the way down, but break the return trip into 2 days. We usually leave NJ around 7pm (to avoid rush hour traffic) and get into WDW around 2pm (including breaks/gas). On the way back, we get a hotel in Rocky Mount, NC. There's a Doubletree hotel there that's really nice. Not sure of the price, we use hotel points to stay for free.

We make sure that the kids each take a shoebox of toys/games. Then we pack up the DVD players and a ton of movies. Last time we borrowed 2 Harry Potter books on CD and listened to them while driving. They really helped to pass the time. We pack some drinks/snacks/poptarts just to have in the car to help with the munchies. We eat meals at McDs or Subway. Pack pillows and small blankets to help the kids sleep during the night.

 

[thej]

We drive to Florida quite often. Between WDW and most of our family still living there, it seems like we are there a lot. Your drive is about twice ours, so you would likely need an overnight stop each way. We spend about $130 on gas for our trip, so double that, and add the cost of a motel each way, and you've got your trip. Easy to do for $500 or less I would think. Even better if you want to trade off the drive and go straight thru.

The drive down is easy... the excitement keeps you going quite well. THe drive home is depressing... for me at any rate.

If possible, I would reccomend having a buffer day when you return before having to be back at work/school, esp if you pull the all-nighter drive straight through driver swap method.

 

[stephie1012]

we drove from central jersey...i think we spent like a lil more then $200 in gas. We drove straight thru. It was rough and we would never do it again lol the next time we went i got flights out of atlantic city for $500 for 4 of us. Must more worth it for us to fly for that price.
It was rough on the kids the drive and we were exhausted our first 2days. it took us about 20hrs, and we stopped often and slept for one hour.

 

[Ash&Wes07]

We always drive to FL. I like having our own car with us, and it just seems less stressful than the airport, lol. We've done trips from NJ and now we're doing them from VA.

If you want to figure out fuel costs, try this calculator: http://www.fuelcostcalculator.com/TripGasprice.aspx I have found it to be pretty accurate.

We do break up our trip now that we have a toddler. We choose our stopping place ahead of time and get a cheap room off of the interstate. I can deal with a motel for one night, lol.

We spend about $200 in gas round trip, $200 in hotel costs (if that), and then snacks (which we'd be buying at the airport anyway). For 3 plane tickets, parking at the airport, rental car or ground transportation, we'd be spending a lot more. We've also factored in costs of oil changes and wear and tear on the car and still come out better when we drive.

 

[wtrmlnlabs]

We drive from PA, about 17 hours. We go straight through on the way down, but DH is good at driving long distances. We switch off for a bit when/if he gets tired. We stop at a hotel on the way home about half way, since we're pretty tired from our vacation by then It runs about $300 we figure, in our Dodge Caravan, we take snacks and stuff so we only buy dinner on the road... we usually have extra snacks/meals from the dinning plan anyway. It's so much nicer driving because we don't have to worry so much about what we are taking along. This year DS3 was very unpredictable. I don't care to waste time doing laundry out, so we packed a lot of extra clothes for him encase of accidents. The Autotrain, although I'd love to do this, costs as much or more than flying. Driving down really isn't that bad. If you aren't good at driving long distances it would be pretty easy to do one hotel stop down and one back and still you'll come in WAY under flight costs.

 

[eandt]

Central PA here. Made this drive at least 15 times (in addition to our annual trip to Myrtle Beach). We usually drive straight through and it takes 14-16hrs depending on traffic. If we get tired we just find one of the hotels along the interstate (there are lots of them reasonably priced) to lay our heads down. We probably spend somewhere around $300 on gas (Honda Pilot) and food on the way down (family of 3-5 depending on which kids go and if they take a friend). Gas is much cheaper in most of the southern states, and the speed limit increases to 70mph after you get south of VA. Figure another 50-75bucks each way if you stop for the night somewhere. From where we live it would be at least 8-9hr day for us to fly when you consider the 2+hr drive to the airport, arriving early for check in, the flight time, getting the bags, possibly renting a car etc. The drive can at times be monotonous but it can also make for some nice "together" time as well.

 

[Priorityonecb]

Raleigh area here. We always drive, and I absolutely love it!! We leave around 3:30am. The kids fall asleep and I get to drive for about 5 hours listening to the radio and I just love it! We then stop for breakfast when the kids wake up and dh takes over and I nap a bit. We are driving into WDW by lunchtime and it's fantastic! We spend about $250 I'd say in gas/food to drive and we don't have to deal with airports and I can pack as much as I want!

 

[starwood]

We are driving from NJ on Saturday (hopefully if I can dig the car out of the snow) so I'll let you know our costs when we get back. I have a Prius so gas should be great. As for the autotrain - I priced it out and with AAA for 3 it was over $1300! It's cheaper to fly.

 

[ChrisinNJ]

We drove from central NJ in the fall of 2008. Gas prices were low at the time. I think the lowest amount we paid was $1.19/gal. in VA. Total for gas (minivan) was $300.00. We stayed overnight in Florence SC for $115.00 coming home we stopped to visit a relative in GA so we didn't have a hotel stay there.

At the time I kept pricing a flight out of AC & the cheapest I could have gotten was $564.00 for the 5 of us (plus luggage & seat selection charges). We always want a car in FL so rental on top of that would have been $$$.

Having the car was great because we rented a condo & brought tons of stuff from home (cereal, water, coffee detergent).

Of course, our bad luck...we drove to save $ & had the ultimate budget buster when we got hit & totalled at the end of the trip 1/2 an hour from home......and had to buy a new car But that hasn't deterred us from trying it again this fall!

Good luck with your decision....

 

[kmvand1]

We are driving from NJ on Saturday (hopefully if I can dig the car out of the snow) so I'll let you know our costs when we get back. I have a Prius so gas should be great. As for the autotrain - I priced it out and with AAA for 3 it was over $1300! It's cheaper to fly.

Yeah, we have done Auto Train twice, my husband said never again. It was not fun to be close to the interstate and see the cars going faster than you were. And, it is not cheaper than flying in most cases.

 

[Pembo]

Here's a website to calculate fuel costs http://www.fuelcostcalculator.com/

We drive from Ohio. I figure $125 for hotel and food on the road. We bring a cooler so we eat breakfast in the room (or free at hotel) and make lunches. So only dinner out and by using coupons from Roomsavers that you get at the Rest stop we try to pay less than $80 for a hotel.

You do have to add in 4 extra days to vacation for drive time. Our drive is 17 hours. We've done it in 3 days and in 2. The worst part is the drive home for me.

 

[luvdisney00]

Thanks everyone for the great suggestions and for sharing your stories. I definitely would do it, I'd just have to convince DH and the kids. We have family in Greenville SC so we could stay with them eliminating the need for a hotel plus we have driven to their house before and done it in 1 day.

I am putting together alternate vacation plans as DH wanted me to do, but really all I want to do is go to WDW! I do think with the driving option we could do it within our budget. Thanks for he input!

 

[java]

Ah we drive! We are in NJ(Western Central) we are a family of 6!
Here is what works for us

I pack a bunch of new treats in backpacks.
We leave at 3AM!
Car gets packed night before.
Backpacks are not allowed to be open until after 7AM. (They usually sleep even longer than this-)
We can get a good 5 hours without having to stop. Then we do a quick gas breakfast break.
Drive another 4 hours
Break for lunch(and gas and bathrooms!)
Then drive through to GA where we stop for the night. This year we are thinking of driving all the way to Jacksonville-I read there is an Embassy suites there.

I find doing the MAJORITY of the driving day one is key! Second day nobody really wants to be in the car.

We also RED boxed a bunch of DVDS for the ride- only cost me $6 for 6 movies. We dropped them back off when we stopped for the night. Then got new ones on the way back

We like the flexibility. The ease of packing. No stress in the airport.