DVCers do you drive or fly?

[cpdwiz]

We have always flown. This time driving. Leaving on a Friday morning @3:00am and hoping to make HHI by around 7pm...then sleep and leave saturday morning and make wdw around 12-1pm. We plan on $400 gas for the truck and we have a cap so we can bring and buy everything without worries. In October the 2 of us will fly southwest again

 

[DVCGeek]

For WDW trips we fly (to MCO) and use Magical Express. In the past we did non-stop Continental flights from CLE (Cleveland Hopkins), but the last three trips we've flown direct on Airtran out of CAK (Akron-Canton) and it was a LOT cheaper! We live in the suburbs between the two airports, so we can easily chase the best fares.

For DL, when we went in Nov. 2008 we flew nonstop to LAX on Continental from CLE and got a rental car there. We are likely to do the same for our Oct. 2010 trip (our first VGC stay!) but I haven't booked airfare just yet...

 

[JWG]

Fly.
It's 1,304 miles (1,310 now on Delta) from MSP to MCO.
If we were to drive, it'd be about 22-24 hours of actual drive time. That's two very LONG days (12+ hours) in a car.

3 hours on a plane is much better.

 

[edk35]

We fly. We drove once from MD about 7 years ago and decided to fly from that point forward. However I think if we ever did drive it, we would probably stop at HHI for a couple of days to break the trip up.

 

[jpolak]

2.5 hours on a plane wins over 24 hrs in a car everytime.

 

[gillep]

Fly!!! I just couldn't stand being in a car for 14 hours knowing that I could have flown there and been at WDW in under 2

 

[maryloubsw]

Just wondering how many of you choose to drive vs. fly to the world. Prior to DVC our family of 4 always flew as we are about 1,000 miles away and don't mind not having a car there. Now that we are new members and anticipate yearly trips, I am considering if in the long run it makes more sense for us to start driving despite the long distance to save on years of airfare. Thanks for the input!

I have a 5 and 2 year old so its easier to fly, but once the 2 year old is older I wouldn't mind driving. Although, we live in PA so itsbasically a 2 day drive, and I wouldn't want to lose that time in DW!

 

[twinklebug]

Prices on SWA went up by about $30 over the weekend for our upcoming summer trip. If a good Ding! comes along we'll be flying, but if not driving is in the plans. It's shame as this trip would put me over into earning a free flight through credits - I always get so close but not quite.

Driving has a few bonuses: See the country (show the kids Charleston & see the cousins, some 'real' farms, the capital), Meet people, Leave Disney as late as we want, even hang out at a park all day & DS will love that he can finally buy a 'big toy' to bring home. (& the kiddo in me really wants a mickey balloon ) Although I've been asked many times, bringing home fireworks are not in the plans as they're not legal here in MA (I did note however that even Walmart in FL sells sparklers and those are my favorites)

 

[DiznyMagic]

Every time we have gone we have flown and that has limited the amount of time we have gone back :-( . It would take us about 2 days or so plus hotel expenses so either way we are too far to experience the magic often...

 

[Harlemgirl720]

I used to fly. 2.5 hours but since my son all of a sudden doesn't want to fly, we take the Amtrak from NYC. Its around 23 hours. Don't mind. Load up on snacks, DVD players, movies, laptop and Ipod and we are good to go.

 

[dmoore22]

We drive. We live 964 miles from WDW. The nearest airport is a 2 hour drive. Cost wise for our family of 8 it is much cheaper to drive. The family really enjoys the Civil War and Cherokee Nation sites along the way plus the scenery near the Smoky Mountains. Perhaps someday flying will be in our future, when we become empty nesters.

 

[loveswdw]

ALWAYS fly. 16 hours in a car with 2 kids? No savings there on my sanity or my pocketbook. If you're lucky, you can scrouge up a deal on airfare. We are flying NS RT from LEX to MCO in June for $605+ for the 4 of us. We couldn't drive that cheaply. So far, the most we've paid for airfare is around $1200 for the 4 of us but I wouldn't pay much more than that. We'd just not go probably.

2 hours on the plane vs. 16 hours in the car...no question about it for us. FLY.

 

[DenLo]

Once we retired vacation days were not a premium anymore so we now drive. It takes 16 hours which we usually split 11 - 5 in order to have lunch at WDW on day two. Then we shop at Downtown Disney stay at a nonDVC resort (Holiday Inn on Hotel Plaza Blvd. this last week) and checked into our DVC resort (BLT) for 7 nights and then back to the Hotel Plaza Blvd. resort to save points since we have to leave early in the morning for the drive home.

 

[PinkTink63]

There is no way I'm driving over 3,000 miles one way!! That is precious Disney time wasted in a car!

 

[bwvBound]

There is no way I'm driving over 3,000 miles one way!!

So flying to WDW is out ... how about the shorter trip to DLR?

Edited: I'm thinking it is still easier to fly PDX<->LAX/SNA or nearby?

 

[PinkTink63]

So flying to WDW is out ... how about the shorter trip to DLR?

Edited: I'm thinking it is still easier to fly PDX<->LAX/SNA or nearby?

We fly to both. We have driven to DL a few times, but still prefer to fly.

 

[Nikisha421]

I dislike just about every aspect of driving...especially from NY to Orlando...too much driving that routw when I was a kid...so we always fly :smile:

 

[DVCGeek]

Oh, forgot to mention- took a Grayhound bus from OH to Orlando once. HATED it and cashed in the return ticket and bought the cheapest I could find to fly back because the money just didn't seem to matter relative to 30 hours on a bus!!! I also drove down with a group of people split across 2 cars in 2004 IIRC; that was a long drive. I sorta' blocked both of those out. Also used to drive when i was a kid growing up, but my parents usually split the trip up into two days driving I think. We started flying most of the time while I was still in school; might have been as far back as junior-high or late grade-school!

 

[ShuisFan584]

No way would I ever drive! It would be a good 20+ hour drive from NJ to Disney. Even Boston which is only a 4 hour drive I had to fly to. I don't have the patience to sit in a car that long.

 

[southtexasmom]

We have always flown but for our upcoming trip in July we are driving for the first time. Our oldest is graduating from high school in May and he says this will be his last trip to Disney for a long time so I decided to drive to make the vacation last as long as possible.