Fly or Drive

[OklahomaTourist]

So I am in the drive or fly dilemma and can't determine what would be best. Driving would be 17 hours, driving from Waco, TX, in a PT Cruiser that averages maybe 20mpg. There are four of us, including a 14 year old son and 4 year old daughter. Flight would cost about $1200 and I think gas for the drive could be in the $450-600 range.

Any tips or suggestions?

A few thoughts:

PT Cruiser is a little tight, but doable. I sure wouldn't be crazy about driving four in anything much smaller. Think your gas expense is a little high: you're looking at about 2300 miles round trip, and with a bit of luck your PT might avg about 25mpg at sustained hwy speeds, so that's about 92 gallons. Even at $4/gal, that's only $368.

Keep an alternate route in your hip pocket just in case weather along the gulf gets dicey. I"m assuming you're planning the southern route right along the gulf through NO and Mobile, etc.

I'm about three hours farther away than you (up here in Central OK). Odd as it may sound at first, a tactic I have adopted on my last three drives to Disney is to do most of my driving the first day. That way, my second day drive is short, and I get into Disney proper about mid-day, and I get to spend that time in maybe Downtown Disney, or maybe take in a parade at a park, or grab a supper at a fun restaurant. That longer first day can be made even easier if you can split the drive, but I'm a goofball who LOVES to drive and doesn't mind it That can mean leaving extra early on morning, but its worth exploring. Just set your first day's destination a chunk more than halfway, and see what you can work out.

I'm a big fan of driving. Its expensive enough to do WDW these days without the airfare, and since we end up as a party of five, flying would be cost prohibitive (almost certainly in the $1,200-$1,500 range), where driving is just gas + one night at a hotel (for us, about $325 gas and $100 for a hotel), meaning we save about $800 in the exchange.

Besides, I *love* putting "Life is a Highway" in the CD player and cruising down the road!!!! Can hardly wait for this summer.

Please have a great time, and hope you find these tidbits helpful in some way.

-OklahomaTourist

 

[OklahomaTourist]

After I typed my response I asked my son (13) would you rather drive of fly to Disney. He said "drive, the road trip is fun". Guess all those trips did make some good memories!

Bingo, This, and all that good stuff.

We've been fortunate enough to make four trips in the car to Disney in 13 years, one when the kids were young, a couple in the middle-age ranges, and now one more before we start having to face graduation and college expenses.

I wouldn't trade the memories of our road trips for anything. Don't tell anyone else, but part of my heart tucks away the road trip part as more memorable than Disney itself. Don't misunderstand, WDW is awesome, and I love it, but the stories and experiences we all had as a family give me during those trips give me great laughter and happiness now that they're older.

A few examples:

* I'll never forget the monstrous soft-serve cone my mom got at a DQ somewhere off I-75 in Florida. It was more than three people could eat. My son laughed his head off at how she really tried to eat some of it before it started to melt.

* We were leaving our hotel for our last day back, and when the hatch of the van opened, an improperly packed bag tumbled out and went *splat* on the asphalt with an awful glass-like *carunch*. Turns out it was a souvenir mug. Rather than it being a source of disappointment, we turned into a gag about how my mom (who had opened the hatch and felt awful about it) was on a search-and-destroy mission for all the souvenirs. We replaced the mug, and we all just laugh about it now.

* Driving through Alabama, the GPS we had was unaware of the new highway along US78, and went into a fit of "Make a UTurn. Make a UTurn..." It became a mantra for the whole family. "Dad, you've gotta Make a UTurn..."

My daughter and my wife would organize MadLibs, we told stupid jokes, ate too many snacks, played dumb car games, imagined how some 18-wheelers were really secret invaders, and decided Arkansas had *the* highest protein bugs in the US based on how they stuck to our windshield....and had a priceless time doing it.

Like I said, I wouldn't trade for those memories. For anything.

 

[maxiesmom]

After I typed my response I asked my son (13) would you rather drive of fly to Disney. He said "drive, the road trip is fun". Guess all those trips did make some good memories!

Would he say the same though if you told him you were driving straight thru, and only stopping for potty breaks, the way many people do?

I think there is a huge difference between a Road Trip and driving just to get to WDW as fast as possible. The first is torture. The second means making the drive a part of the vacation, and not everyone can or wants to do that. I can only take one week of vacation at a time, so taking 3 or 4 of those days to drive to WDW just seems crazy to me.

Guess for now I'm stuck making my memories in WDW! Ones like my youngest niece scream/laughing the first time she ever road BTMR. Or the one where one of the CMs mocked me out of a bad mood by standing next to me, and waving his arms around the way I was. Or the tooth my other niece lost the minute her mom left her in my care, and how I freaked out when I saw blood coming out of her mouth. And realizing the Tooth Fairy at WDW goes way above and beyond!! Great memories can be made anywhere!

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I posted this on another thread today when the poster was asking about driving or flying.

We've driven from GA to MN a few times. That's a 24 hour drive. I will never, ever do it again.

Both kids get car sick so *I* was dealing with that - husband was no help, he'd pull the car over to the side of the road and have me deal with clean up.
My husband only wants to listen to talk satellite radio - no music. At the time I didn't own an Ipod so the radio was all I had.
Then he wanted to stop at every roadside Antique place we saw. I hate that. I just want to get where we are going.

You know on Spaceship Earth when you are choosing your vacation info of the future at the end of the ride? I'm always about the fun when we get there, not the journey on the way.

I thought I was going to kill him the last time before we got there, it was just such a horrible stressful drive.

So if it was me - I'd be flying. Driving that long of a distance wouldn't work for us.

 

[dana1003]

Sorry to hear so many negatives trips in the car.. My hubby had been talking me into driving for years and I always said no- until last summer. We grouped a couple of trips together and were on the road in total for about 15 days. We drove from jersey to fort Walton beach to pigeon forge( which was awesome) came home for a few days and then left once again for Ohio. It was the best vacation( besides our honeymoon in Disney) that we've ever heard. This was my kids first road trip and they never got sick, had iPads, hubby connected the wii in the odyssey, we had movies etc. we did not drive thru to fl. We stayed overnite which I think helped. We stopped whenever the girls needs to stretch etc. ( they're 9) we are going to Disney in August and are considering driving again. Airfare would be between 1100-1300$ more than we'd like to spend. Consider Dramamine , they have a kids version, which helped my girls. Don't let one bad trip set the tone for the rest of your life. How many times have we all been delayed, bumped, cancelled, yet we still continue to fly?? Good luck to everyone on their adventure and try not to make into a race..

 

[OklahomaTourist]

One thing we did for our very first trip in 2001 when the kids were little was to leave *early*, but send them to bed just a little bit late to make sure they were more or less exhausted when we woke 'em up and put them in the car.

We started out at 3AM, the kids were ballistic, excited, plopped 'em in the car, and we weren't one hour out of town before they were sound asleep again. They didn't wake up until our first scheduled pit stop for breakfast. It worked like a charm.

 

[mjwheelerali]

We are currently considering driving from just west of Toronto...we could leave around 3pm on Friday and drive, drive, drive!!! After a friend's advice and lots of reading, we would try to get to Flat Rock and then finish the drive the next day. We've got a 4 year old who is easily entertained and likes the car. Flights at this last minute stage are too expensive, but the March Break discount at WDW is too good to turn down!!! DH is still on the fence though since we might hit bad weather!!

 

[dana1003]

Found flights on southwest out of jersey but they have stop overs and some go to Chicago which is waaaay out if our way but the price is under $1000 for 4 people. It would make our travel day into about 9 hours from start to finish and I almost feel like I'd rather just drive the xtra day what would you do? Our drive is about 20 hrs but we stay overnite somewhere. This trip will include my parents which adds an extra driver...

 

[sam_gordon]

Found flights on southwest out of jersey but they have stop overs and some go to Chicago which is waaaay out if our way but the price is under $1000 for 4 people. It would make our travel day into about 9 hours from start to finish and I almost feel like I'd rather just drive the xtra day what would you do? Our drive is about 20 hrs but we stay overnite somewhere. This trip will include my parents which adds an extra driver...

Add in two hotel nights and flying "costs" $800. I would definitly fly and "gain" 20 hours... 10 there & 10 back.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Add in two hotel nights and flying "costs" $800. I would definitly fly and "gain" 20 hours... 10 there & 10 back.

True and that's 2 nts you would be spending in WDW hotel instead of a Comfort Inn for the same amount of time gone from home/work.

Are you close to Philly? SWA usually has several non-stops per day though they have scaled back in the last year or so. There used to be around 6, now 2-3 but still beats flying to Chicago. PHL is right off I-95 so chances are you would drive right past it unless you're from the "deep south."

 

[dana1003]

Philly is 2 hrs from where I live so that would make it longer than a 9 hour day... I have noticed that Newark ( which is only 20 min and where we usually fly from) has very little nonstop flights also. Most of them connect and right now are about$ 308r/t. Not sure if I should book flights cuz I'm afraid if I wait the price will go higher or seats will be crappy

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Philly is 2 hrs from where I live so that would make it longer than a 9 hour day... I have noticed that Newark ( which is only 20 min and where we usually fly from) has very little nonstop flights also. Most of them connect and right now are about$ 308r/t. Not sure if I should book flights cuz I'm afraid if I wait the price will go higher or seats will be crappy

No crappy seats; it's open seating like a bus. Have you ever flown SWA before? Before you panic, we have 2 kids and have been flying SWA since they 1st came to Philly which was probably in 2003 or 4. We've never been separated from our kids.
Even in worst case scenario: we had great "A" boarding passes but due to snow back in PHL, our flight is cancelled while at the gate so we quick switched to an "earlier" flight that ended up leaving the same time as our original. We got checked in late so we had high C boarding passes and still found 2 seats together. Dh sat with 1 ds, I sat with the other. We weren't all together but our kids weren't alone. This same scenario could have easily happened on an airline that allows passengers to select a seat. It was a last-minute switch (luckily had carry ons) so we had to take what was available.

http://www.southwest.com/html/customer-service/airport-experience/boarding-school/

http://www.southwest.com/flight/ear...=yes&disc=&ss=0&cid=&companyName=&memberName=

 

[dana1003]

No never flew SW.. So once you called to board do people push and scramble for seats?? This is what I picture in my head.. Do they charge xtra for windows or aisles??

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

No never flew SW.. So once you called to board do people push and scramble for seats?? This is what I picture in my head.. Do they charge xtra for windows or aisles??

No extra charges and no pushing. People just line up in numerical order and calmly walk on. I found it more chaotic boarding on USAirways where people tend to huddle near the end of the line. So you can't tell who's in line and who's just standing there ready to pounce.

Snack & drink are free. Please read through all the links I gave so there's no surprises. We do buy the optional Early Bird check in for our return flights so we don't have to deal with worrying about checking in exactly 24 hrs before check in while on vacation.

Boarding groups A, B, & C and numbers within each group, are assigned to boarding passes as people check in online (or from cell phone, etc.) So the later you check in, the later you'll board. Family boarding 4 & under is after the A group.

 

[sam_gordon]

No never flew SW.. So once you called to board do people push and scramble for seats?? This is what I picture in my head.. Do they charge xtra for windows or aisles??

Everyone is assigned a boarding number. The boarding number you get is dependent on the type of ticket you purchase and what time you checkin. Purchasing EBCI (Early Bird Check In) will automatically check you in 36 hours before your flight. Otherwise you can manually check in online 24 hours before your flight.

 

[DSLRuser]

No never flew SW.. So once you called to board do people push and scramble for seats?? This is what I picture in my head.. Do they charge xtra for windows or aisles??

LOL...not at all.

We are a civilized society after all.

You line up at the gate when your group is called...no different than when you have assigned seating. When you board the plan, most people just take the 1st available seat, and put their stuff in the overhead. the person behind, waits untill they can move by.

No one is climbing over seats in order to get a "better seat".

Some people acutaly preffer to sit in the rear of a plane and choose to ski a few rows.

The only time you may have issues not sitting with family would be if are one of the last 10 to board the plane. yeah, then you may have problems sitting together, or get stuck sitting next to a fat person. (sorry to all the fat people, but you know its an issue).

Love southwest.

 

[trishwal]

Bingo, This, and all that good stuff.

We've been fortunate enough to make four trips in the car to Disney in 13 years, one when the kids were young, a couple in the middle-age ranges, and now one more before we start having to face graduation and college expenses.

I wouldn't trade the memories of our road trips for anything. Don't tell anyone else, but part of my heart tucks away the road trip part as more memorable than Disney itself. Don't misunderstand, WDW is awesome, and I love it, but the stories and experiences we all had as a family give me during those trips give me great laughter and happiness now that they're older.

A few examples:

* I'll never forget the monstrous soft-serve cone my mom got at a DQ somewhere off I-75 in Florida. It was more than three people could eat. My son laughed his head off at how she really tried to eat some of it before it started to melt.

* We were leaving our hotel for our last day back, and when the hatch of the van opened, an improperly packed bag tumbled out and went *splat* on the asphalt with an awful glass-like *carunch*. Turns out it was a souvenir mug. Rather than it being a source of disappointment, we turned into a gag about how my mom (who had opened the hatch and felt awful about it) was on a search-and-destroy mission for all the souvenirs. We replaced the mug, and we all just laugh about it now.

* Driving through Alabama, the GPS we had was unaware of the new highway along US78, and went into a fit of "Make a UTurn. Make a UTurn..." It became a mantra for the whole family. "Dad, you've gotta Make a UTurn..."

My daughter and my wife would organize MadLibs, we told stupid jokes, ate too many snacks, played dumb car games, imagined how some 18-wheelers were really secret invaders, and decided Arkansas had *the* highest protein bugs in the US based on how they stuck to our windshield....and had a priceless time doing it.

Like I said, I wouldn't trade for those memories. For anything.

OMG the bag thing - we'd stayed at Bonnet Creek and the family before us had left some lovely Yuengleng beer in the Pay It Forward bin. We'd heard great things about it so were bringing two bottles home. At a rest stop we opened up the hatchback remotely and CRASH! the bag it was in had shifted... sob. We gave the other one to a friend here who has now declared it to be her favorite. Beer. Ever.

Road trip stories are awesome. Remember the Vietnamese staff at the original Cafe Du Monde in New Orleans and how utterly irate they were when you ACTUALLY TRIED TO CLEAN YOUR OWN TABLE but you can't understand their words because they're all gestures and broken English.... ? Stuff like that.