Driving versus flying

[autismgoesdisney]

We drove last year. It saved us about $800 I guess. We figured driving cost about $500 for our family of five including gas, tolls and meals. We drove straight through on the way down and back. My husband did most of the driving.

It honest to God wasn't as bad as I thought. The kids were good, but we used a ton of screens to entertain them LOL! Watched movies, played ds, etc.

Soooo now we are planning our Sept 2012 trip. We figured we'd use our miles this time and fly for "free". But then of course we figure we can use the miles towards the hotel package instead and our trip would be pretty darn cheap, especially if we are given free dining for our Sept 2012 trip.

The main issue I have with driving (ok just about the only issue) is that it eats up time that we could spend in Disney! Our plan is to spend 7 days at POR and then just one night at AKL. If we left Friday after the kids got out of school....say around 4:00 ... we'd get to Disney on Saturday at around 2:30 pm.

We would leave AKL at around 11:00 am on a Sunday and hopefully get home around 7 am on Monday.

I guess after writing it down, it doesn't seem so bad since we wouldn't be lessening our days (but instead taking our kids out of school longer and my hubby would take an extra day off work which isn't that bad). Lots to think about.

Any opinions?

 

[kydisneyfans]

When is comes down to it, we always drive. We love the flexibility having a car has at Disney. We can drive to a park instead of Disney bus service-standing in the heat for 30-45 minutes day in and day out when trying to take a midday break just isn't our cup of tea, nor is standing for a ride when tired at night. We can get items for the room at Publix, can have Giordano's pizza instead of Disney's, and basically go wherever we want whenever we want-that is priceless to us. We can also pack what we want, the government doesn't tell me what I can pack in my vehicle.

We live 865 miles from Disney. On average it takes 14 hours each way, so we do it in a day. Other families we know fly and after layovers, early arrival, etc, it still takes them 10 hours and the cost is 3-4 times what it takes us in fuel/meals.

Each person has their own preference-if you have points to use either on a flight or hotel, I would drive and use the points for lodging.

 

[OKW Lover]

We prefer to fly for two reasons:

• As you already noted, you use up valuable vacation time driving to/from WDW.
• Flying is safer.

 

[autismgoesdisney]

Two very good posts and I agree wtih both of theM! Decisions decisions!

 

[kandb]

Hi, we live in NJ as well. I really don't like to fly but sucked it up this past November and flew. It really wasn't bad at all, had 2 great flights on jetblue. From our house to hotel, it took around 5 hours, alot less then driving down. We have driven down numerous times and taken the autotrain twice. Personally, I think driving threw the night is dangerous and the trip can be fun but is long and driving home stinks!!! The autotrain was OK but was expensive because we had to get the family bedroom because we tried sleeping in the chairs once and it was beyond torturous. I hate to tell my husband he was right but flying was the easiest and most convenient way to go. We are going in September as well, taking the kids out of school and staying at the Dolphin for the first time.

 

[AnnieEMT]

When we went this past September (Myself, DH, DD22, DS22, & DS15) we drove down and flew back. We are just outside of Boston & it honestly wasn't that bad untl we hit the Carolinas By then we just wanted to be there all ready! But we rented the car that we took down, dropped it off at Hertz & they shuttled us (free) to POFQ. It saved us a bit, and we really didn't lose any time - although that first day was a long one! This was our second time driving down - the first time we drove both ways. I liked flying home alot better- I think the thought of that drive back would have put a damper on the end of the vacation

 

[MissDisney121]

has anyone driven over 20 hours to get there? My family is thinking about doing that in june. It will save a lot of money only cost about $600 compared to the $1200 it would cost to fly but it would take us about 23 hours each way. Who thinks it is worth it?

 

[happily single]

has anyone driven over 20 hours to get there? My family is thinking about doing that in june. It will save a lot of money only cost about $600 compared to the $1200 it would cost to fly but it would take us about 23 hours each way. Who thinks it is worth it?

I have! Twice! Alone with three kids!! In April, 2010 and April, 2011. We flew in October, 2011. If I had to do it again I may consider it. But not with the kids

The first time down wasn't bad at all. We left RI about 4am. and stopped in Lumberton, NC about 3:00 p.m for the night. Hit the road about 9am and arrived in Orlando about 2:00-3:00 p.m. again.

The second time (April, 2011) we hit a GPS glitch which literally had us take an exit in Pennsylvania and drive through dirt roads in a circle, then through DC traffic, then stuck on Route 95 in the Carolinas DURING A TORNADO! Then, due to (I beleive) the tornado a tractor trailer jack-knifed, blocking off the entire highway for the night We had to sleep in a parking lot (along with 1,000's of others).

The kids still talk about that trip

 

[Geoff_M]

I was on the drive/fly fence at one time about our next trip in June, but ran the numbers and found that flying was still more attractive. We live 1,200 miles from Orlando and have a family of 5. Here's how I ran the numbers:

96 gallons of gas @ $4/gal = $384
Hotel rooms (1 extra night each way) = $200
Extra food (5 extra meals) = $200
Extra "stuff" bought along the way (if I'm lucky) = $100
(intangibles: 2 extra days of vacation burned, 2,400+ miles of wear-n-tear on family car)

Estimated cost less intangibles: ~$884

(I'm in my upper 40's and I don't do "gonzo" all-nighter drives... we'd take two days to get there.)

I found flights out of Grand Rapids for $224 (total cost for five people: $1,120)

Estimated "savings" driving: $236.

Driving pros/cons:
- Pro: It's "cheaper"
- Pro: We can go off site and drive on-site without using buses.
- Pro: You "See America"
- Pro: Your 4th piece of luggage is still "free".
- Pro and Con: You add two days to your trip.
- Con: Breakdown/accident can put major dent in your schedule and cost mega-bucks (rental car) to salvage the vacation.
- Con: Showing up at Disney (and returning home) tired after a two day drive with the people you love in a small space isn't much fun.

Flying pros/cons:
- Pro: Leave my house and in 5 hours I'm in Orlando.
- Pro: I don't have to spend 1/3 of the vacation days driving.
- Pro: With ME, we don't have to rent a car anymore.
- Pro: Breakdowns aren't my responsibility... find another plane.
- Pro: I don't have to add 2.4K miles to a car that pushing 100K
- Con: It's more "expensive".
- Con: Weather can delay you.
- Con: You normally don't "overbook" your own car.
- Con: Union/Airline unrest can delay you (been there, done that.)
- Con(?): You're "stuck" on Disney property (oh, darn!).
- Con: There's a risk that you'll be separated from your luggage (never had that problem personally... knock on wood).

For us, flying still have the "edge" over taking the family truckster. We drove down once as a family about 8 years ago. I'm glad we did it and the kids got to see TN, GA, and FL from the ground. But it was a long haul and I'm not eager to do it again. For me the convenience and other "pros" of flying are worth a couple hundred bucks to us.

Now, factor in the fact that we're taking a 6th person along this time around and the scales swing WAY over to "fly". We don't own a car that'll seat 6. So add the cost of renting a mini-van (and a 2nd hotel room each way) and it's quickly WAY cheaper to fly.

 

[seus-mouse]

We enjoy seeing all of the fun things along the way while driving. Plenty of good food, beautiful sights to see. The mountains can get a little scary at night in the rain but they pass quickly.

It just feels like way back when I traveled with my grandparents, driving everywhere, pepper and egg sammies, hot thermos's of coffee

We used to drive straight through when the kiddies were little and slept all the time. Now we enjoy stopping twice and swimming and eating a nice dinner

Good travels for whichever way you go,
Holly

 

[Sandi]

When I retire, I may drive. Right now, my vacation days are too precious to be spent getting to my vacation. DH has a different kind of job and has time to drive and he hates flying. So, sometimes he and DD will drive across the country and I'll fly in and out for the "real vacation." We've done that with trips to WDW, California, Wyoming, etc. Until I have that kind of time, I'm flying.

We're using FF miles for our Spring Break trip this year (just DD and me). The posted cost of our exact flight exceeds $1,000 per ticket. It's just terrible this year!

 

[The 6 J's]

When I retire, I may drive. Right now, my vacation days are too precious to be spent getting to my vacation.

I agree with this sentiment. I know this line of thinking isn't exactly financially sound but this is how I look at it. The $ I would save by driving the 20+ hours or so is about $750. For my family of 6 the cost of an extra 1-2 days at WDW is over that. So would I pay $750 for the extra time there? Absolutely! So we fly.

 

[JennSaint]

We drove last year. It saved us about $800 I guess. We figured driving cost about $500 for our family of five including gas, tolls and meals. We drove straight through on the way down and back. My husband did most of the driving.

It honest to God wasn't as bad as I thought. The kids were good, but we used a ton of screens to entertain them LOL! Watched movies, played ds, etc.

Soooo now we are planning our Sept 2012 trip. We figured we'd use our miles this time and fly for "free". But then of course we figure we can use the miles towards the hotel package instead and our trip would be pretty darn cheap, especially if we are given free dining for our Sept 2012 trip.

The main issue I have with driving (ok just about the only issue) is that it eats up time that we could spend in Disney! Our plan is to spend 7 days at POR and then just one night at AKL. If we left Friday after the kids got out of school....say around 4:00 ... we'd get to Disney on Saturday at around 2:30 pm.

We would leave AKL at around 11:00 am on a Sunday and hopefully get home around 7 am on Monday.

I guess after writing it down, it doesn't seem so bad since we wouldn't be lessening our days (but instead taking our kids out of school longer and my hubby would take an extra day off work which isn't that bad). Lots to think about.

Any opinions?

Just curious as how you would use miles to book a disney vacation pkg??

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

In the past my family and I would drive down to WDW during the month of August and fly in the month of December. However now we like driving down from now on and this is why. We can pack whatever want, with our car we can purchase items which we couldn't take back on a plane or pack in our luggage, since we have a lot of Marriott Rewards and Hilton Honors points we can stay at Fairfiled Inn & Suites and Hampton Inn's locations for free off I-75 and it's very easy going to offsite restaurants/malls in Orlando. So for us driving down is a lot easier then flying.

 

[autismgoesdisney]

Just curious as how you would use miles to book a disney vacation pkg??

We use our Venture (I think its called) credit card by Capital One. They use the same points for airfare, hotels, Disney, etc. You can even get cash back (but its at a different payout and not worth it in my view). I love it!!!!! Right now we have $1223 in points. We can use it towards our airfare (it would just about pay for all our airfare) or use it for half our package.

As for the time factor, that is important. If we "only" got a week off, then I would definitely FLY! I don't want ANYTHING getting in the way of our actual time at Disney. My husband gets a lot of days off at this point, and my kids are young. So right now, we can leave on a Friday night, get there on a Saturday and then leave Sunday and get home on Monday. We try to go when the kids have a day or two off school so its 4-5 days off of school and my hubby gets 6 days.

As for driving through the night, my husband works INSANE hours and gets by on very little sleep. I, on the other hand, would be useless driving at 3 am. So we try to let me start the night and I drive until 11/12 and then he takes over. With one driver, there is NO WAY I would drive through the night for safety reasons, but with the two of us it works.

Its not for everyone, and I am only basing this decision on our first trip that we drove. Ask me in October and I may feel TOTALLY different!!!!!!

 

[pigletto]

Geoff makes some excellent points. There are some things that can't be measured in dollar amounts when making a comparison. For us, even if we drove straight through, it's still going to eat a day and half to two days each way in drive/sleep recovery time. Our upcoming trip is 9 days, and I don't want to waste 3 or more of them driving/sleeping.

Now, if it was a two week trip, the idea becomes more attractive. I am not against driving. I just don't want to rush to do it.

 

[maxiesmom]

has anyone driven over 20 hours to get there? My family is thinking about doing that in june. It will save a lot of money only cost about $600 compared to the $1200 it would cost to fly but it would take us about 23 hours each way. Who thinks it is worth it?

We have, but I don't think it is worth it. There is no way I would drive straight down, we would have to spend at least 1 night in a hotel each way. I hate driving and pushing pushing pushing to get somewhere. If you don't have time to slow down and enjoy the journey, then what is the point of driving? And driving home is always horrible. Everyone is tired and just wants to get it over with and get home.

I would drive again if we had at least 2 weeks for vacation, and could take time to stop and do things along the way. But not if we are driving just to get to WDW, and then have to drive like crazy to get home. That is not my idea of fun.