Fly or Drive from NJ with twin 2yr. olds?

[twinboyz]

Any suggestions or experiences?

 

[DAISY DUCK FAN!]

Don't have twins.

But our suggestion if you opt to drive, would be to leave VERY early! When we drove in January of '04, we left at 4 am. We were in North Carolina by lunch. We stopped at the South Carolina/Georgia border for the night. And finished the next afternoon. Now, by choice we opted to stay off site until the next day when we checked in. That way we didn't pay for a day we didn't use.

The way back was different though. We didn't leave nearly that early. So it took longer.

We lived in Burlington County at the time we took this trip.

We've flown the three trips since. Looking for cheap? Try Southwest or Airtran.

GOOD LUCK!

 

[Va-bear]

We're in Va. and decided to fly until our boys were atleast 6 or so....
I wanted to drive but Dh, correctly pointed out that after about 45 minutes our 4 yo is starting to complain and by the 1 1/2 hour point he's whining "my butt hurts!!!" (and that time came a LOT sooner when he was 2....)

Our flight time is just under 2 hours (when direct...) and that is just do-able when they are 2 and 3 years old...it is work to keep them occupied that long. The rest of the time at the airport, etc is ok because you can walk them around, etc.

I think for everyones sanity fly......you can always drive once they get addicted to video games, etc!

 

[mx55mom]

We drove down one year from Cape Cod with a 4 year old. We drove straight through (24 hours). We left around 8 at night so he slept all night being it was time for bed anyway. During the day he was surprisingly good. I packed a few "new" items so he would be able to entertain himself. If you have a portable DVD player you might consider that to keep them entertained. We now fly as the time you spend in the car isn't worth it to me anymore. I like to get there fast and use every day of my vacation at my destination. Good luck!

 

[twinboyz]

thanks everyone!

 

[byoung]

Fly the 2YO are free.

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

My sister and I are four years apart and my parents drove us down about 7 or 8 times, the first time when I was 18 months and she was 5, the last when we were teenagers! We didn't have nearly as many gadgets and electronics as are available today and we survived. It's actually kind of fun. We would fight and be silly and dad would get mad, at times. Mom would let us take turns sitting in the front. We always brought pillows to nap, had lots of snacks and drinks and we had landmarks that we always looked for (ie, south of the border signs). I have some really great memories of our drives to WDW.

This was probably a time that it was a lot less cheaper to drive than fly so, all that being said, if it's all the same, it is really nice to get on a plane and be there nearly two hours later! But the drive home gives you time to unwind from a great trip.

Like the previous poster said, leave early!

 

[sticker231]

We are probably driving down with our kids (6/4/3). We will just load up on the DVDs and try to leave early. We are going to make it two days down so we aren't-well mainly me the driver-isn't drained and can enjoy the first day.

 

[dizkids]

I drove from NJ with my 2 year old DS at the time. I also have 2 older ones...they were DS7 DD 5. Minivan with tv and it was not fun. We made it to the Florida rest area and then the 2 year old puked all over his carseat. I came home from that trip swearing to friends never again. We flew the next few times, however, successfully completed a drive last spring and he was 4 that time. Its about 17 hours from Monmouth County to Disney provided there are NO delays on the NJ turnpike, washington dc area and I-4 to Orlando. If you can fly...i would def. go for it. Check Spirit from Atlantic City for red light specials and Southwest has great rates from Philly. Good luck.

 

[fan_of_small_world]

We have two kids and thought about driving from NJ too. After looking at the cost of that versus flying, though, we decided to fly. Granted, the airfare was a little bit more than mileage and hotel, but not by a lot. That, coupled with the sanity-saving factor of flying, made the decision easy.

 

[BoosGram]

I do have twins and an older child. We've done both the drive and the flight to WDW (from NY). Given the choice, I'd fly every time. Driving w/one small child is hard enough, but 2- !

 

[Disneytwinz]

I would make an extra day to drive down. Just make alot of stops and stay overnight. At age 2- neither of my sets of twins would sit still so I can understand your concern. They are so active at age 2, I know mine were. However, if you fly down in the middle of the night while they sleep it might help?

 

[summerlandjeff]

We've done both, drove down 2003, 2004; flew 2006. Some points;

1. Driving from NJ takes 19-21 hours. If you drive straight through you'll need to leave at 7:00 Pm the night before. If you break up the trip, it's best to leave very early (2:00am) to get past Philly, Baltimore, DC & Richmond rush hours. We left at 2:00am and were in Santee SC by lunch. Then the next day it was 8:00 hrs to WDW

2. Flying is what I prefer. We fly out of Atlantic City on Spirit . We leave freezing cold NJ around 7:00AM, arrive at Orlando Airport around 9:30Am and are lunching pool side in the sunny weather around 11:00AM! Plus a seven day vacation is just that, 7 days. You don't waste 2-4 days in the car.

Unless my DW gets an urge to drive (ride, she never drives!) again, flying is the only option for me!

Easter @ CSR can't wait!

 

[KimTinVA]

I have three year old twins and we live in Virginia/ DC. We are traveling down in April, this will be our third trip in a year and we have driven each time. We leave at about two a.m. and drive to hilton head, sc spend the day at the beach, stay the night and leave for disney the next morning around 5am and get to disney around 9:30. It has worked great for us each time because the kids have slept about 80% of the drive, and not that many potty stops. We also travel with the dvd player which helps. We drive to save money-- because we also like to have the car once we are there ( we usually drive to the parks). I think that we would prefer to fly--but its hard because we do save quite a bit of money driving.

 

[jkelly86]

I don't know where in Jersey you are, but you can fly from Newark direct with Continental for around $200RT. The kids are free, as another poster pointed out. You should be able to rent a van for about $200 including tax for the week. (check mousesavers.com for codes)

 

[the john]

I would fly if you can afford it.

 

[N&B'smom]

We've done both, drove down 2003, 2004; flew 2006. Some points;

1. Driving from NJ takes 19-21 hours. If you drive straight through you'll need to leave at 7:00 Pm the night before. If you break up the trip, it's best to leave very early (2:00am) to get past Philly, Baltimore, DC & Richmond rush hours. We left at 2:00am and were in Santee SC by lunch. Then the next day it was 8:00 hrs to WDW

2. Flying is what I prefer. We fly out of Atlantic City on Spirit . We leave freezing cold NJ around 7:00AM, arrive at Orlando Airport around 9:30Am and are lunching pool side in the sunny weather around 11:00AM! Plus a seven day vacation is just that, 7 days. You don't waste 2-4 days in the car.

Unless my DW gets an urge to drive (ride, she never drives!) again, flying is the only option for me!

Easter @ CSR can't wait!

Same here. We fly Spirit as well. We've flown with our kids when they were 13 months/5 yrs and again when they were 3/7. We're going again in Sept and we'll be flying Spirit again out of AC. It's only about 10 minutes from our house so driving for us just doesn't make sense.

Shelby

 

[jenseib]

Fly the 2YO are free.

2YO are NOT free. Under 2 is. And they have to be on lap when they are free as well.
I would fly. I have a 2 YO DD and she would never make that driving trip. She is good for awhile ,but we would be driving around 20 hours total. She would be so bored as well as she needs to move around. So if we did it we would basically need 3 days each way so we could drive for about 8 hours and then stop and have time for moving and exercise. And keep us all sane. Check to see if Allegiant flys in your airport as well. They usually are resonable. But they do take you to a different aiprot, so then you need to rent a car.

 

[jenseib]

We have two kids and thought about driving from NJ too. After looking at the cost of that versus flying, though, we decided to fly. Granted, the airfare was a little bit more than mileage and hotel, but not by a lot. That, coupled with the sanity-saving factor of flying, made the decision easy.

we looked at cost of flying versus driving too. If we used our car, then it would be better ,but not cheap, and wiht a few nights hotels each way, it was adding up. But usually if we drive somewhere we rent a car that is bigger. We get a good deal as SIL works for Hetz, but still it adds up. So for us the time wasted driving and money versus the flying, we chose flying!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I'd definitely fly. It's safer and you'll get there in 2 hrs. My ds's are 6 and 10 and we're been going since ds10 had just turned 3.
Only kids under 2 are free and that's only if they sit on your lap. If you can fly out of Philly, Southwest is only $49 each way. It's a sale so I wouldn't wait too long. We flew PHL-MCO last May, Sept. and Feb. and all times we were able to get Ding fares for $49 ow at the most. They have plenty of non-stop flights. If you decide to fly, make sure you get a non-stop. One less thing to worry about: delays and missed connections.