Driving vs. Flying from Houston.

[shannonstar]

I have tried and tried to find the cheapest way to fly to Orlando from anywhere in Texas without sacrificing Disney time. All the good flights are either ridiculously expensive, or early/late.

So..... we have finally decided to consider renting a car and driving:

Cost of rental car from Nov 14-26 - Chevy Aveo at Hertz 319.62

Approximate Gas Costs based on fuel efficiency 130 each way, so 260 total

Stopping in Biloxi there and on the way home, which is 8 hours from Houston and then 8 hours from Orlando, so it seems like a good spot. 53.34 on the 14th, and 64.29 on the 24th.

That puts my total at 697.25 which is less that 1/2 of flying out of Houston. Am I crazy to consider this? We are planning 2 days at Universal, so it would be nice to have a car.

 

[prncess674]

The Chevy Aveo is a ridiculously small car and I personally think would be miserable for a long car trip. Also there is no way I would waste 4 days of my trip driving.

 

[cruisingkat]

Although we don't live in TX, we have driven to Disney 2 times after visiting our grandkids in the Houston area. We usually make it to FL (between Panama City and Gainsville) on the first day. No matter where we drive, we try to get the larger drive done on the first day and the shorter drive on the second day - so we usually plan on about an 11 hour drive the first day. We only have one driver and there isn't as much stress on the second day.

 

[Aristocath]

We have driven from Fort Worth twice. You need to go further than Biloxi the first day. We have gone to Tallahassee, but you need to go to at least the Florida panhandle.

Also, I would hesitate to stay at a motel that costs so little in Mississippi. Granted, we are a little snobbish when it comes to hotels. But my husbands family is from Mississippi and our experience has been to fork over more money for a decent room or you won't get any rest for the drive.

Last, I don't know how many kids you have if any but a Chevy Aveo is tiny. Could make for a very long drive!

If you have the time to do it, it isn't a horrible drive. We decided we would rather have a little more vacation time on our last trip so we flew. And airfare has been twice what it was out of DFW since then.

 

[bwang123]

We have driven from Houston to Orlando the past two years in March. We drive our own car and do not rent. We are 2 adults and 2 kids (2 and 6).

This year, we left around noon on Friday and stopped in Biloxi (previous year we drove to Pensacola). I would recommend doing whatever you can to avoid Baton Rouge on a weekday around 3-6pm. You will lose about an hour time due to traffic. On the way back, we stopped in Pensacola (previous year we drove all the way through).

Like the previous person said, drive as far as you can the first day. Biloxi is 2 hours before Pensacola and we preferred making those 2 extra hours. We ended up leaving Biloxi at 4am so we could make it to Orlando at a reasonable time to be able to check-in the hotel and go to MK for the rest of the day. Also, remember, there the time changes between Pensacola and Tallahassee so you lose an hour.

We are driving again in December and are probably going to drive all the way through and then stop in Pensacola on the way back. Still debating this.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

If you are willing to fly from Austin, you can get tickets for $305.50 RT on JetBlue for your dates. Tickets from Houston on all airlines seem to be running at least $400+ RT.

 

[Lillabelle0]

I drive from South Louisiana to WDW. Depending on when I leave, I usually make it past Tallahassee the first day. I have made it as far as Lake City before too. I do not hit I-10 in Baton Rouge as the OP said..traffic gets hectic. I take Hwy 90 and hit the 310 which connects me with the outskirts of NOLA. I have just learned various shortcuts..like hitting 429 in Florida rather than hitting I-4. It isn't a bad drive and I am about 3 hours closer than you!! Good Luck!!

 

[OKW Lover]

No, you are not crazy to be considering this. However, there are two factors you also need to consider:

1. Flying is safer than driving
2. You're using up four days of your vacation getting to/from WDW.

 

[momH2the4th]

After flying the last 4 years, we are also driving from Houston this year. The last time we did this drive was in 2005, but with the cost of airfare what it is (and for 6 of us) we weren't willing to spend over $2000 to fly. We are driving 12 hours the first day and stopping in Tallahassee. The next day we will only have to drive 4 hours and be there earlier than what time we normally get to WDW when we fly. You might want to consider driving further the first day if you are able to, but I don't know your timeline of when you're able to leave Houston. Last time we stopped in Mobile, AL for the night and still had about 8 hours of driving time the next day. It made for 2 long days. I think getting up on the 2nd day and knowing we're only 4 hours away (much like a drive to Dallas) before we get to play in WDW will make for a nice trip. Good luck with your decision!