Fly or Drive?

[sanjacprof]

Hey everyone...I'm planning a trip maybe next spring break/summer. We live in Houston. We have been to Disney 3 times in the past...now we have a 2 year old, so I want her to be a little older, plus it will give us time to start saving up $$$. So my question is this.....should we fly (2 hours or so)...or drive (I think someone said around 18 hours?)....is there a beach that we could stop of at (AND would it be worth it?)....OR since we are saving up anyway, just save up for 4 airline tickets? What is your advice?? Thanks!

 

[daddyof2]

Hi we just got back not too long ago and our travel time was almost exactly the same a 2 hour flight or 18hour drive

to drive it would use 2 days down and 2 days back including resting from driving

and flying i got great dings from SW and round trip for 4 was a little under 500
gas would have cost that much if I drove

so basicly 4 hours flying and be done or 4 days driving and pee breaks i would fly

even if it cost 800 to fly you are buying 4 days of not driving

in my opinion

 

[blessedby3]

FLY FLY FLY FLY FLY FLY FLY FLY FLY FLY

2 days on the road with small children is no picnic. 18 hours- yikes!! Flying for 2 hours definately sounds better for a more pleasant trip.

try sw - they have some great dings

 

[tkhkroberts]

We drove from Wisconsin the first time down a couple of years ago with a 4 and 6 y/o and it was not too bad, about 20 hours straight through. Last year we flew and we will be flying again this August. I guess I look at it this way. By the time we take off and land in Orlando, we would have been only just south of Chicago in driving. I would rather pay the money and fly all the time. DH thinks driving is the better idea. Now that they have the ME and bus service there really is no need to have a car, so I would make a longer vacation of it and fly.

 

[laceemouse]

Hey everyone...I'm planning a trip maybe next spring break/summer. We live in Houston. We have been to Disney 3 times in the past...now we have a 2 year old, so I want her to be a little older, plus it will give us time to start saving up $$$. So my question is this.....should we fly (2 hours or so)...or drive (I think someone said around 18 hours?)....is there a beach that we could stop of at (AND would it be worth it?)....OR since we are saving up anyway, just save up for 4 airline tickets? What is your advice?? Thanks!

We have driven many times from various places and our kids are pretty good about it. But money wise you need to factor in gas prices and a hotel if you plan to stop. We never did straight through on a long trip like that, it is exhausting (plus I don't trust myself or dh to drive when we get that tired.) The hard thing about driving, to me, is you need a lot more time off work. The nice thing about driving is you have your own vehicle when you get there.
Beaches on the way, Mississippi coast maybe, although with the casinos and hurricanes I am not sure how nice it is now. Then you will hit south Alabama and then the gulf coast of Florida. How long were you planning to stop? If you want a full day at the beach you are really looking at two nights in a hotel. The beach is nice, but then you will have less time at WDW.
We have done it both ways, there are lots of pros and cons to consider. We will be flying from DFW in a couple of weeks.

 

[JMCDAD]

Personally I have driven twice
Remember when comparing time and money you have to really think about it cause there any alot of little things both ways that can be overlooked
i.e a 2 hr flight is not the total time, you have to be at the airport a couple hours ahead of time, usually some type of delay in there, then you have to get you bags and get to the hotel. Obviously its less than driving but it ain't 2 hrs. Also when you drive you have your car, when you fly you have to get to the airport, and then possibly rent a car.

 

[OhioFamily]

We're a driving family. It takes us about 18 hours and we do it straight through starting at about 7pm. (the kids sleep most of the way). But we stay off site and like to have a car handy... If you're staying on-site keep an eye out for some deals on flying.

 

[kstgelais4]

Well, we drove this last time because we figured it saved us somewhere around $1200. We are about 22 hrs. away, and we took a day and a half and drove pretty much straight through both ways. We have 4 kids, so the tickets at the time (school vaca) were astronomical. Plus we were staying off site, and a rental van was going to be a lot for 12 days too.
All in all I thought we fared well. My dh went to bed around 4 pm, and we left at about 11 pm, so the kids slept for a really big chunk. then we stopped for the morning into the afternoon, and got back on the road again after dinner. They fell asleep early that night, and when they woke up we were in FL. I packed TONS of things to do for the trip, and lots of snacks. For my 2 older kids, I found blank US maps, and we colored in every state we drove through, and talked about it. I think it was a great expirience for us all.
However, I do hope to be able to fly this next time! Good luck on your decision, and have a magical time!

 

[lindakmonty]

we've drove 1/2 of our trips. we're driving down this month... it takes us about 16 hours. We do it all in one straight shot. we leave late at night so ds5 can sleep most of the way. He does great in the car. we take plenty to entertain him. he also did great on the 2 day drive to Yellowstone!! We prefer to drive. I like getting to the parks and having my own car to drive around. DH was in the air force for 26 years...he doesn't like having to fly anymore it saves us $ and nice to have our own car. It would be nice to be there in just a few hours...but we're a good drive to the airport anyway...

 

[DreaminDisney]

Fly

 

[Bibbidi]

we've drove 1/2 of our trips. we're driving down this month... it takes us about 16 hours. We do it all in one straight shot. we leave late at night so ds5 can sleep most of the way. He does great in the car. we take plenty to entertain him. he also did great on the 2 day drive to Yellowstone!! We prefer to drive. I like getting to the parks and having my own car to drive around. DH was in the air force for 26 years...he doesn't like having to fly anymore it saves us $ and nice to have our own car. It would be nice to be there in just a few hours...but we're a good drive to the airport anyway...

I was looking at your sig and saw that you're doing POFQ and a cruise. What do you do with your car while you're on the Disney cruise? We aren't cruising this time, but we always drive down from OH and I've always wondered what people do with their car if they are cruising too?

 

[txaggiemomof3]

We are also in Houston and had the same dilemma with our trip this past fall. We drove to DW for our honeymoon 12 years ago and although it was fun (we sidetracked to New Orleans on the way back ), the drive seemed to last forever.

We now have three kids and really wanted to fly but the airfare was looking too expensive when we booked our trip. We managed to get a great deal through Southwest flying into Tampa ($88 roundtrip tickets) and grabbed those up. We had to rent a car but got a great deal on that as well and then had the choice to use our rental car or Disney transportation while we were there. For us, the drive was something we really did not look forward to, esp. with kids, so we didn't want that taking up a big chunk of our vacation. It was really nice to wake up in Houston on Saturday morning and be in Florida by 10:15 AM. If you can afford it, I would fly!

 

[NotSoNewMommy]

If you have the option to fly - GO FOR IT!!!

 

[myprincessgirlisa]

I've driven & flew down

It all depends on several things

Cost: depending on the time of year, flying can cost a ton

time: do you have time to drive or are you pressed to fit in as much as possible...but driving straight threw isnt to bad...but you can be kinda tired from it.

kids: nowadays cars have dvd players or they make portables...it worked for me & boy does it help the time go by.

family: We will be going with several family members....sometimes its easier to hop a plane, but in some cases its costly.

When you drive you see scenery, when you fly you get there quick

Its really depends on what your up for

Good luck

 

[Jon99]

Last time we flew it took us 7 hours from our door to WDW, when we drive it takes us 16 hours, to us saving 9 hours each way is not worth the $1600 it would cost us to fly and rent a car.. Plus we can pack things in the car that we couldn't take on the plane..

 

[mwehttam]

My DW and I have decided for our July trip to drive from the NYC area with our DS, who will be 8 months then. I like the idea of packing the car with what we need for us and the baby and not worrying about baggage on the plane. If the baby is on some type of baby food at that time then we can pack it and not worry about taking it on the plane or buying down in FL where we would have to rent a car or get a taxi to get anything the baby needs or pay Disney's prices. The trip down will be one stop after about 13 hours then the last 4 hours the next day. On the way back we might take an extra day and stop at friends in NC. Maybe when he is older and doesn't require much baggage we will go back to flying.

-Matt