Driving vs. Flying from NC

[shandee1407]

We live near Raleigh and have always driven to the World. We usually make it part of the trip by stopping in Charleston, Savannah or St. Augustine and checking those places out. We have really come to enjoy the trip, and it's not a bad drive. There's nothing greater than heading south on 95 knowing your headed for WDW.

With that said, we will be flying down there direct on Southwest next weekend. (DH is running the half marathon and we're pressed for time.) I would suggest loading the Southwest Ding! application to your computer, they often have flights to MCO. Last May they had a $25 one-way fare from RDU to MCO, although I haven't seen it since, I often see them $59-$99.

 

[Zippa D Doodah]

We have flown and drove. SW out of Raleigh is probably the best deal on flights. We're going that route in 10 days. Driving is OK (9-10 hours from most places in NC) but you have to add a day on each end of your trip for travel if you do that.

 

[aquaticmom]

I'm on Topsail Island & go to Orlando every couple of months. We've driven, flown USAIR (from Wilmington via Charlotte) and flown Allegiant Air out of Kinston, and much prefer flying Allegiant Air. We found driving to be exhausting and very expensive given the current price of gasoline. We prefer Allegiant Air because it is non-stop and super cheap. Allegiant doesn't fly into MCO, the Orlando Airport, it flies into Sanford Airport, which is about 20 miles outside Orlando, so you can't use ME. Also, it only flies on Mondays and Fridays. But current advance prices from Kinston to Sanford are $19 --with taxes about $38. And it is free to park at the Kinston Airport. We rent a car at the Sanford Airport to get back and forth to the airport.

Your living my dream. To live on Topsail Island and visit the world every couple months. I was wondering how far Disneyworld was from Topsail. We vacation every August in Topsail and since I have AP's this year, I was already thinking maybe I could add a couple days to the Topsail trip and drive down to Disney World. I was hoping it would only take about 6 hours. But it sounds like it's a lot longer trip than that.

 

[ashef]

Aquaticmom, you made me lol! It takes about 9 hours to drive from Topsail to Orlando. I think it is very do-able for your family next summer if you have two drivers.

 

[summersalt]

Aquaticmom, you made me lol! It takes about 9 hours to drive from Topsail to Orlando. I think it is very do-able for your family next summer if you have two drivers.

I live in Morehead City, NC. It takes about 12 hours (with stops) for us to drive to Orlando. The drive down is a breeze but the drive back is bad! No one wants to come home. We're flying from RDU this time but I'm beginning to wonder why? It's a 3 hour drive to RDU and then a 2 hour flight if you tack on the waiting around time it would probably be about the same amount of time as driving (and I could pack much more and have my car).

 

[torinsmom]

I agree that the drive back is just LOOONNNGGGG! I always say it takes twice as long to drive back as it does to get there, LOL. I always think we will stop halfway and get a hotel, but then I think about the $ and keep driving. I end up eating chocolate and drinking Mountain Dew all the way home.

Marsha