Driving vs. Flying

[jadelsp]

I am trying to decide between driving and staying at the Grand Californian or flying and staying offsite. What would you do? By driving we would save enough to pay for the difference between the offsite and the Grand. I am driving myself crazy with this choice.

 

[ColdNeverBotheredMe]

I would most definitely go with driving, although I don't know how long of a drive it is. Our family LOVES road trips, and even if you don't, I'd say it would definitely be worth it to stay at the Grand Californian. We always have lots of fun on the road trips, and it builds the anticipation well

 

[chrisaman]

I am trying to decide between driving and staying at the Grand Californian or flying and staying offsite. What would you do? By driving we would save enough to pay for the difference between the offsite and the Grand. I am driving myself crazy with this choice.

how far of a drive?

 

[SweetAlex]

Can't offer advice without knowing the distance . Are you taking 1+day of driving? Then yes, I would definitely fly because for us, that would mean 1+more days in the parks. But if you're talking about less than that, then I would opt for staying at the GC. I never have before but so many people rave about it that I would if I could afford it!

 

[jadelsp]

About 900 miles is the drive. Salem, OR is our starting point. I have wanted to stay at the Grand forever and love road trips but for some reason am still torn.

 

[Midnightred]

I like road trips too. The nice thing about road trips is you can pack so much more stuff than what you can take on a plane, like water, wine, snacks, etc. We are planning a road trip to Disneyland this upcoming July, and will continue to the PCH and then who knows? We did fly summer of 2013 and it was fun., my boys really enjoyed the plane and it was less time off work. Either way is good.

Midnightred

 

[jadelsp]

My small child has never flown and I am not totally sure how he would do
I love road trips and am not even sure why I am struggling with this decision.

 

[crystal1313]

Drive!

I agree with the PP, as you can pack more and you said you love road trips! Plus, it's the GRAND!! How cool to stay there!! And, I myself prefer to drive because I don't enjoy flying all that much.

 

[chrisaman]

I would drive. The only time I don't drive is on holiday weekends where I5 is crazy the whole way from Stockton all the way to l.a.

 

[jadelsp]

Thank you all for your help. I also do not like flying much so was leaning towards driving but the short flight was making me waver. Now off to book the Grand

 

[cmpeter]

That's a 14-15 hour drive...can you split it up into two days? I wouldn't want to drive that far in one day. But, if I could split it into two, I would take the drive. Just depends on how much time you have.

 

[jadelsp]

I will definately split it in 2 days. We have done this drive a number of times in the past and try to break it up with stops and staying over night part way. I am glad that I am not the only one who would make the choice to drive.

 

[jina]

If time is not a constraint and your little one will be OK driving for many hours each way then drive- staying onsite at least once is such a treat.

While your little one may not have flown before, if he/she is at one of those high energy ages and would not be entertained by watching movies or playing games on a tablet for hours on end and/or you're in toilet training territory, I highly recommend flying - yes GCH is fun but you do not want to be a total basket case after having your child throw a fit for 6 hours straight because he/she does not want to potty in the gas station toilet and won't go in a pull up. Or asking your child if she has to potty and then the second you pass the last exit for 60 miles she announces she has to go and then screams her head off for the next 60 miles. We've had this happen a few times and my most notable was sitting in I-5 gridlock (typical) just south for downtown LA while my child wails and finally goes in her pull up only it's so much it leaks so we're on the side of the highway with onlookers watching us do the clean up/outfit switching. All of us were wrecks after that trip and the next time we flew -MUCH easier. Now that DD is 5 and is mostly OK w/ public toilets we will be driving this next time but if I had to do it again I would have not done any long road trips during the age range 2-4yo. <2 they're still sleeping most of the time and mostly OK going in diapers so the long road trips were fine for us.

If your little one is in that sweet spot of age I recommend flying and stay onsite sometime when your lo is older and can enjoy stuff like the water slides and kids club at the GCH.

 

[GatorChris]

I can see how you're torn. A road trip that requires two days.... That's a long trip. Flying is so expensive, and you can't take squat with you. You should.....move to Anaheim! Money is money. If you can save it, do it.

 

[luulu1999]

We have drove both of our trip....27 hours from MO....it is a long agonizing drive but that is the only way we would be able to go DBF won't fly so it is worth it our trip over the summer we actually drove all the way to Las Vegas before stopping 24hrs!!! But I think the worse part is the drive home it seems to take twice as long!!

 

[ClaraOswald]

For me, it would really depend on the age of the child...and the personality of the child. Someone a few posts up really detailed all the things I was thinking.

With no kids...I'd drive just because I love road trips so much. But we have a toddler now and I would much rather take 1 day to fly than 2+ days to drive.

And since we're not in the hotel much on a Disneyland vacation, I don't really mind staying off site.

 

[Paulakoala]

We've done both, from Calgary, AB. Flown when the kids were younger for their first trip (ages 2, 3, 9 and 13) and drove for their second trip. Left home at 0500 on Friday and pulled into the Desert Palms in Anaheim at 1300 Sunday. 5015 km on the truck, and three weeks gone. It was an amazing trip, lots of sights seen. We stopped in Vegas for 5 days on the way home as well, then did Vegas to home in a day and a half...we were *done* by that point.

Next trip (May 2015, baby!) we're flying again. Don't have as much time to be leisurely...and this time we're staying ONSITE ))

 

[jadelsp]

Such great advice here. My small child(4 at trip time) has been on the road trip to Disneyland 1 time before he was just under a year old and that one was a bit rough. We have done a number of 3+ hour road trips so he is used to being in the car so I feel like if we start early the first day and make several stops where he can run and play he could do it. Flying worries me first because I hate flying and second he has some pretty serious sinus and ear issues that I am not sure how they would do on the flight, it could constitue 2 hours and 20 minutes of pain for him and screaming child torture for everyone else.
Staying at the Grand is a dream for me and being close to the parks and getting the extra hour each morning would be important since my small child is a morning person and we do spend time at our hotel between nap, that he still needs and swimming that he loves, these are all the reasons I am torn.
Sorry for the novel.

 

[ClaraOswald]

YEah, I'm worried about my toddlers ears on the flight, for sure. But for us, the only other option, driving, would add 4-6 extra days to our trip. And we just can't do that...unless we only want 2 days in the parks (no thanks.)

 

[jadelsp]

I would make the same choice if I had to cut my park time to accomodate the drive for sure.