Flight from Toronto

[Kurby]

So we're now thinking of flying down instead of driving for our stay in May 09

we can get from Toronto to Orlando non-stop for 1150 for 3 of us or 868 1 stop each way from buffalo

i've estimated the cost of driving at 1500 with 2 hotels, gas and food

cheaper to fly and even though it's cheaper to fly out of buffalo we'd still have to drive there and stay the night plus park the car.

the major draw back is 2 fold -1 we only get 1 bag and 1 carry on each so there's no "shopping" or should i say over shopping and 2 dh's aunt and uncle live about 1.5 - 2 hours from Orlando so if we want to go see them (and dh wants to) we'd be relying on his cousin to pick us up and drive us back to the airport. which prob wouldn't be a problem i just hate asking.

how much does it cost to rent a car for 5 days? that would prob remove any savings we had by flying in the first place except it would take 3-4 hours instead of 3 days to get there and back.


totally confused

 

[who's ur daddy?]

We snagged a great fare from AirTran @ $660 for four people. So keep your eye out for specials...

What are your travel dates?

Car rentals can be had for $100 week for economy cars. Your all in price would probably be about $150. The economy selection at some of the places is great. You can get a Chevy HHR (I think that's what they're called) for that price. Good sized car for our family.

 

[cdnmickeylover]

If you fly Southwest out of Buffalo you're allowed 2 bags each plus a carryon. (at least for now) Southwest also has nonstop flights.

 

[CanadianPaco]

We're considering driving next year too - bag limits, extra bags costs. For us, Detroit would be the closer US airport though. I agree -keep checking for sales. Ugh!

 

[mtmbyck]

I am still tryng to figure out how you both suggest you are getting flights for under $500 return from Toronto!! Taxes alone are over $200! Believe me I have looked at al of them and for March 09 - it is $600 per person and higher.

 

[Kurby]

i went to sunwing dot com check them out mtm you may find something

 

[who's ur daddy?]

I am still tryng to figure out how you both suggest you are getting flights for under $500 return from Toronto!! Taxes alone are over $200! Believe me I have looked at al of them and for March 09 - it is $600 per person and higher.

Wasn't me! I mean AirTran out of Buffalo. Not AirTransat.

Even Sunwing's amazing $49 one-way flights end up being about $275 per person all in due to the taxes, etc., so I'm convinced there are absolutely no deals to be had out of Toronto...

 

[fanoftinkerbell]

We found for us that it would be cheaper to fly out of Buffalo than Toronto even with the minimal flight discounts that DH gets on flights out of Toronto. There are 6 of us going and really the taxes out of Toronto are horrible compared to other places that we've seen... FIL is searching for us as him and MIL are the seasoned travellers now... lol...


It's great if you found a deal..

 

[dsneygirl]

Keep checking May is a long way off still. We are paying $180 pp/roundtrip from Buffalo next week. We also got a rental car for $130 for a week.

 

[dancin Disney style]

i've estimated the cost of driving at 1500 with 2 hotels, gas and food
:

Unless you drive something really large like a Suburban you are WAAAAY off on the cost of driving.

Roundtrip you are more in the $600 range and that would include hotels, gas and food. It all depends on what you drive, what type of hotel you stay at and how many people are in the car.

We have driven this year and last. This year was more expensive due to the extra cost of gas. This year we spent $623 total. We drive a mini van and are a family of 4.

 

[Kurby]

2100 km from toronto
5 fill ups x $75 bucks each
3 nights x $80 per night
2 days of food budget $100 each day

equals $815 x 2 (there and back)

$1630 for driving.

gas is the only question because i won't know the rate of gas come April that's why I budgeted $75 per fill up.

how are you getting down with hotels food and gas on only $300 if you're budget is $600 return??

 

[dancin Disney style]

2100 km from toronto
5 fill ups x $75 bucks each
3 nights x $80 per night
2 days of food budget $100 each day

equals $815 x 2 (there and back)

$1630 for driving.

gas is the only question because i won't know the rate of gas come April that's why I budgeted $75 per fill up.

how are you getting down with hotels food and gas on only $300 if you're budget is $600 return??

For the sake of curiousity I always keep very careful track of all receipts. First off, we pack a lunch in the cooler along with drinks and snacks. We only stay 1 night in a hotel going each direction. The hotels include breakfast and then we stop at McD's or somewhere similar for our dinner.

Is there a reason why you need to stay 3 nights in a hotel for your drive?

You didn't say what you drive. Unless you drive a large truck/SUV it won't cost you that much in gas. Go to www.fuelcostcalculator.com and use Buffalo as your starting point and then add about $45 to the roundtrip amount to cover the cost between Buf and TO.

I think I still have all my receipts from July if you want me to break it down further I will.

 

[Kurby]

our daughter is only 3 and although a great traveller, hard pushed to spend 12 - 15 hours in a car plus i suffer from really bad motion sickness and have to be the one to drive (can only do 15 - 20 minutes in the passenger side) so combine them and we stop the first night around Beckley and next around Savannah and the 3rd we're in Florida.

we have an old dodge caravan with a luggage thingy on the top (which sucks up more gas then without)

we could bring it down to 2 nights but that means a wasted day at Disney at a higher rate (both of us hate arriving in disney at night at paying $100 + and wouldn't get there until 7 or 8ish)

i'd love to save as much as we can

maybe we should look at actual costs and see where we stand only the best i can do is how many km do we get on a fill tank since that calculator is in miles per gallon.

 

[laura001]

For the sake of curiousity I always keep very careful track of all receipts. First off, we pack a lunch in the cooler along with drinks and snacks. We only stay 1 night in a hotel going each direction. The hotels include breakfast and then we stop at McD's or somewhere similar for our dinner.

Is there a reason why you need to stay 3 nights in a hotel for your drive?

You didn't say what you drive. Unless you drive a large truck/SUV it won't cost you that much in gas. Go to www.fuelcostcalculator.com and use Buffalo as your starting point and then add about $45 to the roundtrip amount to cover the cost between Buf and TO.

I think I still have all my receipts from July if you want me to break it down further I will.

We are a family of 5.

I did the fuel cost calculator...mini van was: $530.88 for gas
add 2 hotel nights 200.00
food 100.00/day x 4 days
(food allowance doesn't include cooler food) 400.00
--------------
Total $1130.88

Round off to $1200.00 and I really think it would cost us more than 100.00 per night for hotel, plus more for food so I think that the $1200.00 is a low figure but for the sake of argument will use it.

To fly.....$180.00 per person with Southwest and that could end up a little lower.... = 180.00 x5= Total $900.00 Editing to say that Airtran flights right now in May 2009 are 72.00 for the non-stop flight which comes out to $165.00 pp.

Difference being $300.00 more to drive, plus 4 days of my vacation time, plus being totally tuckered out from the drive. For us flying is the only way to go, we can leave home early morning, catch our flight and be checked into our hotel before 12:00 noon!

So...if there were 3 or you at flights $180.00 pp = $540.00.....huge savings!

 

[Kurby]

see that's closer to my calculations though i think i was too high in the gas prices.

we have a fridge cooler too and would have spent money on lunches, juices and snacks then bought dinner at places like applebee's jack asters etc. though we could save money if we skipped here and ate at mickey d's but that's only a small portion of the total travel cost.

3 days vs 2 hours is a big deal.

our second consideration came in the mail the other day. we are putting dd in dance class this year (she'll be 3) if we go for the driving she'll miss 4 weeks if we fly she'll only miss 2 because we can leave after one session and fly home the night before the last one.

just checked southwest (had to use January because they don't have April/May rates yet) but for 3 of us it would cost $837.00 from buffalo. plus driving down to buffalo and staying in a hotel the night before would be maybe $950 or so

 

[laura001]

see that's closer to my calculations though i think i was too high in the gas prices.

we have a fridge cooler too and would have spent money on lunches, juices and snacks then bought dinner at places like applebee's jack asters etc. though we could save money if we skipped here and ate at mickey d's but that's only a small portion of the total travel cost.

3 days vs 2 hours is a big deal.

our second consideration came in the mail the other day. we are putting dd in dance class this year (she'll be 3) if we go for the driving she'll miss 4 weeks if we fly she'll only miss 2 because we can leave after one session and fly home the night before the last one.

just checked southwest (had to use January because they don't have April/May rates yet) but for 3 of us it would cost $837.00 from buffalo. plus driving down to buffalo and staying in a hotel the night before would be maybe $950 or so

Again, you could look at Airtran....and the flights for you for 3 in May should be no more than around 180.00 - 200.00 per person which would make it even less....around 600.00

 

[Kurby]

tried airtran and they don't have the return flight info yet. i'll have to check them later.

 

[dancin Disney style]

I did the fuel cost calculator...mini van was: $530.88 for gas

What kind of van is this?

I just calculated my own van, '03 Venture, as well as an '06 Sienna and it was only $347.12. I then calculate an '07 Uplander and it was $361. These are all roundtrip calculations. You also need to add about $45 roundtrip for the distance between Toronto and Buffalo (which I drive about once per month so I know what it costs).

 

[laura001]

What kind of van is this?

I just calculated my own van, '03 Venture, as well as an '06 Sienna and it was only $347.12. I then calculate an '07 Uplander and it was $361. These are all roundtrip calculations. You also need to add about $45 roundtrip for the distance between Toronto and Buffalo (which I drive about once per month so I know what it costs).

I just checked again and it is right...a 2003 Dodge Caravan, 2wd = $530.88
I didn't add the $45.00 either....was just trying to ballpark it

 

[dancin Disney style]

I just checked again and it is right...a 2003 Dodge Caravan, 2wd = $530.88
I didn't add the $45.00 either....was just trying to ballpark it

Well that really surprises me. That's a BIG difference in gas between your Caravan and my Venture.