DVCers do you drive or fly?

[BrentR]

We have never driven to WDW but your question got me thinking so I mapquested it. It is 2482 miles (one way) for us to drive. I think we will stick to flying!!!

 

[Paulie656]

We come from Long Island, NY and have driven twice a year for the past five years. My wife has an unhealthy fear of flying so we have always driven. On the way home last year in February, our normal 19 hour return trip took well over 24 hours due to the weather.

I finally convinced my wife to fly this year, so we did

Even though we typically spend about 350.00 round trip in gas and flying was a bit over 1600.00 for the four of us (our son was a lap passenger) it was well worth it to hear "Welcome to Orlando" only three hours after getting on the plane.

 

[FOXFIELDZOO]

We drive, My DH would rather fly ,but a family of 8 would be far too much $ to do that ,I love to drive and do most of the driving ,there is so much to see on the way down ,I think It's also good to show the kids the U.S. and how different it looks in other states ,we on leaving 2 days before Disney ,stop off half way and spend the night and get to Florida a day before we check in ,that way we can sleep good the night before.there are fun games for the car you can play with the kids ,however I find the ride down is always better than the ride back

 

[FOXFIELDZOO]

we drive, my dh would rather fly ,but a family of 8 would be far too much $ to do that ,i love to drive and do most of the driving ,there is so much to see on the way down ,i think it's also good to show the kids the u.s. And how different it looks in other states ,we on leaving 2 days before disney ,stop off half way and spend the night and get to florida a day before we check in ,that way we can sleep good the night before.there are fun games for the car you can play with the kids ,however i find the ride down is always better than the ride back

sorry for the double post ,didn't know my dh posted lol

 

[hsmamato2]

it costs us less to fly from Ct than to drive for 4 people- we look for specials- gas is expensive-plus we factor in the extra days off work dh would need,the cost is always cheaper to fly

 

[WDWFERN]

Thanks all, I am enjoying everyone's responses and am definetly considering a driving trial run for our next trip this fall. I should also have mentioned this idea has been more appealing after missing our plane home out of Orlando on our last trip due to a foodcourt delay and getting caught up in a longer than usual security line. As if leaving "the world" isn't depressing enough! Needless to say DH, especially was not thrilled (granted he was the one lugging a myriad of souveniers/carryons while sprinting for the gate only to be told our seats had been given away to stand by passengers) and vowed our next trip would be a driving one. I am looking to make the best of the long journey and maybe save some money along the way!

 

[DisDaydreamer]

We sort of drive. We are fortunate to have the Amtrak Auto Train in Virginia so we drive about 90 minutes to the train station in Lorton and put our car on it. We stay in a "roomette" usually. The train leaves at 4pm and you get a great dinner with wine, we watch the on-board movie, go to bed, and arrive in Sanford (Orlando) at around 8 am. The cost is greater, but you have to factor in the savings in gas, car rental, and you get to pack EVERYTHING you need in your car. Plus we love the train.

 

[Sandisw]

We drive every time since it is a 22 hour drive from Syracuse. We did it straight through once (left at 10:00 pm) and managed since we couldn't wait to get there.

However, the drive back (and we stopped one night) was horrible as after about 6 or 7 hours, I am so done with being in a car and just want to be home.

That was the last time and told my DH that flying was the only way. Now we have a direct flight to MCO which is just under 3 hours--no matter how expensive, that is the way we will go!!!

 

[lagunn]

We would love to be able to drive..

 

[House_of_Mouse Fan]

We're about a 24-hour drive away from the World, so flying is a much better option for us. It only takes about 2 1/2 hours by plane...a much better proposition!

 

[DizGirl20]

I am not a big fan of flying but I can't imagine driving from New Jersey. Maybe some day when we retire, I would like to take our time and make it a nice drive with stops along the way. As long as we have kids I can't see ever driving!

 

[tinkerfan1]

We're about 550 miles away and we drive. I like have the convenience of a car if I want it (although we never use it) and I also like being able to bring things home with us. Plus, I'm scared of flying!

 

[entropy63]

I have done both. I prefer to fly, but driving is just as fun. It takes me 19 hours straight through from Broken Arrow OK, to AKV. That includes a stop for dinner in Tupulo MS.

This time we are driving to Dallas, about 3.5 hours and flying from there. I got round trip tickets for 219 per person which was just too good of a deal to pass up.

 

[DiznyDi]

We fly. Maybe one day when we retire we'll drive, but not now.

 

[NARM Forever]

This will be our third time driving (24 hours drive), the advantage is that we get to see friends in NC. Last time we drove, we all got sick just before we came back so it was a really hard drive. We've also flown a couple of times but find the taxes from Canada really bump the flight price up.

NARM

 

[delaneyc52]

We always fly....same airline (Jet Blue!!) out of the same little airport in Newburgh NY and always get a great price -- this time 189 round trip each. We only do that because of time constraints and the price is right. However, I can't wait for retirement so that we can take a leisurely drive down and back!

 

[BWV2001]

We've done it both ways. Currently, our local airport has very few flights to Orlando and we haven't lucked into any great rates. When we have flown, we've had to drive 2 hours to the nearest major airport, arrive approx. 2 hours early, flight time is 1.5 or so hours, and trip from airport to hotel is about another 1/2 hour. So we are only saving approximately 7 hours, and we are spending anywhere from 1000 to 1600 to fly (for the 5 of us). Until we can fly out of our local airport for a reasonable fare, we'll probably continue to drive.

 

[photobob]

We are 540 miles away 8-9 hours by car so we always drive. The trip home no doubt sure feels longer.

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

Flying for us is a really dumb thing to do.

To get decent rates...we have to drive 3 hours to get to Atlanta, arrive at the airport 2 hours early, another 2 hours in the airplane, another hour for Magical Express. We could be in Ocala after we do all that!!!

Unfortunately, DH loves flying and begs and begs to fly to Disney. I've given in twice.

 

[quirty30]

We only started going to Disney after several years of vacationing in the FL panhandle. I'm a single mom and the drive from Chicago was just getting to be too much for me as the only driver. So we fly to Orlando now; at least until the kids are both over 16