Fly or drive??

[TamaraQT]

FLY !!! IMO you aren't saving enough $$$ to drive for over 20 hours. You will arrive in Orlando ready to take on the parks in less than 3 hours. Fly...Just do it !!!

 

[3 MEN AND A BOAT]

I'm going to go against popular opinion and say I would drive. I simply feel its part of the vacation but if it's strictly a financial decision as you make it sound $250 is not huge savings. Theirs no right or wrong it's just personnal preference.

 

[Omalley]

I can still remember having a 3 year old in the car for drives to NYC (DD now 10 and 8), and I live in SE MI. For that price difference, I would fly. You can do the All-American roadtrip when your kids are older, but take the flight now.

 

[Dizfan4life]

I hope you booked the flight do it when the cost isn't that huge of a difference. My hubby and I flew when our first child was 3 and it sure was the way to go. Now that I have a second child and my oldest in middle school we are in the early stages of doing Disney over our kids spring break in April and I believe with the cost of us booking flights we can rent a van to drive at half of what it would cost us to fly. Part of me is still going to hope that Airtran will show me some good flight prices for us to fly out of GRR, but I'm not getting my hopes up. Have a great trip!!!

 

[Cmbar]

My wife and I have ran the numbers and figured out that if we drove (from Michigan) we could save between $200-250 over flying, RT, to WDW. The trade off is that it would be 2 days there and 2 days back as well as 2 nights in a hotel. If we were to spend the extra money it would be 2.5 hrs and were there. Oh, did I mention our DD is only 3? Somebody help! Tell me what you would do. We have never flown either so that adds to the confusion.

We just drove 15 hours to catch the Fantasy a few weeks ago. It was such a breeze but I have teens with IPODS! We stopped first night so we only drove 10 hours the second day. For those of you are coming along the East coast the straight shot down I95 was really easy. No Construction along the way.

To the OP. I wouldn't even consider driving (even as easy as it is) for a $250 savings. Now when we drove for our cruise we saved close to $1000. Now that was worth the 30 hours of driving time. Flying can be exhausting too but it at least goes quickly! Good luck!

 

[Anniefrances]

I vote for flying. Driving can be exhausting and relative to the modest price difference it could really increase the quality of your vacation.

 

[vacationclub]

My wife and I have ran the numbers and figured out that if we drove (from Michigan) we could save between $200-250 over flying, RT, to WDW. The trade off is that it would be 2 days there and 2 days back as well as 2 nights in a hotel. If we were to spend the extra money it would be 2.5 hrs and were there. Oh, did I mention our DD is only 3? Somebody help! Tell me what you would do. We have never flown either so that adds to the confusion.

When you did these calculations, what did you consider as your "costs" for driving? Because you need to consider not just gas, and hotels, but depreciation and wear on your car. And the added risk to your family when doing that many miles in a car instead of the much safer method of flying.
And, not to mention, how much is your time worth? Do you have 4 days of your life to waste on the road and in a hotel somewhere? Is anyone taking more days from a job for those 4 days?

Even if you did factor all these things in....FLY. It's not worth saving the $200 or so for all of that. Not even a comparison. Book the tickets and enjoy your vacation, a nap on the plane, and a casual browse through the airport gift shop. Not a marathon in a stuffy car for 4 days with a 3 year old.

 

[kstorms27]

Thanks for all the great info everyone. I think we are gonna fly.

 

[njmom47]

I would fly. Just read up on the TSA website, get to the airport early, and in a couple of hours, you'll be on DME on the way to your resort!

 

[kstorms27]

Hello again everybody! So instead of starting a new post asking the same question, I figured I would just add to this one. This year we are looking to go to WDW and after running the numbers, based on trip #1 because we cant book flights for Sept. yet, flying would cost us Approx. $1000 for 3 of us direct from MI to MCO. Flight tickets are going for about $142 right now and Airtran just raised their first checked bag from $20 to $25. I did a trip cost calculator for our vehicle and it says $250 round trip. IM very skeptical of this figure. Even if its double, I would still save $500. So the ultimate question again is, Fly or Drive? 20hrs vs 2.5hrs. It wont affect our time there at all because were staying Sun-Thurs. Plenty of travel time. TIA everyone.

 

[theyoungs07]

Any idea how your 3 year old will do on a plane? That is one of my fears with my littles. My family personally loves having our own van/carseats at the parks. I drive 2 days (20hr per Google) and we love it as part of the vacation, but ymmv.

Direct flight might not be bad, I would never want connections dragging kids behind...

 

[Salrx95]

We are saving a lot by driving, closer to 800 to 1,000 I believe (figured it out months ago) especially since we would rent a car while in Disney for 7 days. Our kids are still young enough so we need things like a stroller still, so driving is easier and cheaper.

The other consideration right now is how sick everyone everywhere is. I will be glad to be in my car and NOT be exposed to the dozen or so people who will undoubtedly be coughing and sneezing and infecting the air in the plane.

 

[kstorms27]

Any idea how your 3 year old will do on a plane? That is one of my fears with my littles. My family personally loves having our own van/carseats at the parks. I drive 2 days (20hr per Google) and we love it as part of the vacation, but ymmv.

Direct flight might not be bad, I would never want connections dragging kids behind...

We flew this past December for the first time and my Daughter, who's 4 now, loved it. I think she liked it better than her parents. Not a concern at all.

 

[kstorms27]

We are saving a lot by driving, closer to 800 to 1,000 I believe (figured it out months ago) especially since we would rent a car while in Disney for 7 days. Our kids are still young enough so we need things like a stroller still, so driving is easier and cheaper.

The other consideration right now is how sick everyone everywhere is. I will be glad to be in my car and NOT be exposed to the dozen or so people who will undoubtedly be coughing and sneezing and infecting the air in the plane.

This is not a real concern for us because we wont be traveling until Memorial Weekend. Last year we rented a stroller from Magic Strollers for the week and it only cost us $50. Very nice if flying.

 

[mum2four]

For me, personally, if the savings is $500 or less, I would fly. Just not worth the driving time (unless you are one of those people who really enjoys driving and seeing the country).

For us, as a family of 6, driving saves us about $1500-$2000, so it's a no-brainer (even though it's a 24 hr drive)! Plus, we bring a LOT of stuff for all 6 of us LOL!

 

[kdog_1981]

I just flew with a 3, 2, and 11 month old. IF I can do it with 3 you can do it with 1. My worst fear is vehicle breaking down. It happened to us breaking down driving to D.C. Thousand dollars later ugh! Let Disney take care of the driving

 

[Salrx95]

For me, personally, if the savings is $500 or less, I would fly. Just not worth the driving time (unless you are one of those people who really enjoys driving and seeing the country).

For us, as a family of 6, driving saves us about $1500-$2000, so it's a no-brainer (even though it's a 24 hr drive)! Plus, we bring a LOT of stuff for all 6 of us LOL!

It's only 4 of us and we save as much as we do, around $1000 and maybe more, especially if you put a dollar value on things like lugging car seats, disliking most everything about flying. We pack food, snacks, drinks, stuff for breakfast each day. That is all stuff we would have to buy down there and pay a lot more for. Then once you factor in long term parking at airport, gas to and from airport, baggage fees, car rental. The kids also need some toys for the room and other things that would make the trip easier that we would need to leave behind if flying. Then there are other things you can't put a value on like, this time, we are stopping in Jacksonville to visit with my godfather.

Everyone is different. For us, it's a no brainer to drive. I forgot when we booked this back in September what the exact savings was to drive. Now I'll have to recalculate that because I'm curious. Last time, it was close to 800. This time, with airfare more, I think it was around 1000.

 

[KrazeeK120]

We are saving a lot by driving, closer to 800 to 1,000 I believe (figured it out months ago) especially since we would rent a car while in Disney for 7 days. Our kids are still young enough so we need things like a stroller still, so driving is easier and cheaper.

The other consideration right now is how sick everyone everywhere is. I will be glad to be in my car and NOT be exposed to the dozen or so people who will undoubtedly be coughing and sneezing and infecting the air in the plane.

I hate to tell you this, but you'll likely be exposed to all kinds of things while you're at Disney. You didn't mention how old your kids are, but if they are old enough to go to school, they have the same likelihood of being exposed to germs there as they are on an airplane. Parents send their kids to school sick all the time. You could be exposed to germs anywhere you go.

I only have 3 days this time, so driving is out of the question. I plan to wash my hands/use hand sanitizer frequently and keep my hands off my face. I got my flu shot in the fall. I am going to wipe down the tray and arm rest on the airplane with antibacterial wipes. I figure I'm just as likely to get sick from the plane as I am from the grocery store or church. The amount of people who come to church sick is absurd.

 

[Nissi]

We have finally come to the mutual decision in our home that we are going to drive this February. We went back and forth so much about it, but in the end, driving from Long Island will cost us about $500 with gas, tolls and hotel stays while flying will cost us about $1000 with airfare for three and minivan rental. So saving $500 is worth it to drive. For a savings of only $250, I'd probably fly. Not looking forward necessarily to the drive, it's a lot on the body and we are exhausted when we finally arrive. But we are going to try to make the best of it!. Btw, I agree with the post about germs on a plane. They are infamous for catching something while you're on them. I'd rather be with my own family in my own car as well for the ride, increasing our chances of NOT being sick once we finally arrive!

 

[Salrx95]

I hate to tell you this, but you'll likely be exposed to all kinds of things while you're at Disney. You didn't mention how old your kids are, but if they are old enough to go to school, they have the same likelihood of being exposed to germs there as they are on an airplane. Parents send their kids to school sick all the time. You could be exposed to germs anywhere you go.

.

You certainly are not telling me anything I do not already know, especially since I'm a pharmacist (and certainly exposed to more germs than disney, especially the last 2 weeks). But I do know their chances of picking up something is a lot higher in a plane than in our car. The 7.5 year old is home sick now so hopefully that means he is getting it out of the way and he likely passed it on to the 4.5 year old already. They often do that.