Flying or Driving?

[AllyBabes]

My family and I are DRIVING to Disney this year.

Reasons Why:

1.) I recently started to become afraid of heights
2.) I'm scared that we'll crash and I'll die (I know the odds of that happening)
3.) Expensive to fly in first class (We always fly in first class)


Which do you prefer and why?​

 

[TheresaNY]

We drive down every summer and sometimes in November. Love the freedom of having own car and not being restricted by flight times etc. We can come and go as we please. We add days to hit Clearwater, etc. if we feel like it. It is a lot cheaper for the 4 of us to drive from Long Island than fly. We have a lot of fun "family time" during our 17 hour non stop drive. We are pros at it now.

 

[spiceycat]

have done both.

fly - but don't like it.
also don't like heights, but main reason - control - somebody I don't know has control of the plane. In the old days when you could meet the pilots - it was different. but now - you are surpose to trust that some unknown person will get you there safety.

no thanks

so mostly drive - live around 8 to 10 (okay sometimes 12) hours away.

last couple of times going thru ga it like 8 hours and 20 minutes - including stopping for gas & reststops. go at night so generally don't eat.

flying because I have control issues - must be at the airport at least 2 hours before leaving - it possible would do 3 hours. takes the plane around 1 hour and half - then go stand in the DME line (10 to 20 minutes) - then stand in the bus line (1 to 10 minutes) - then get on bus and wait (45 to 60 minutes) - then go to WDW 45 to get to WDW - but 55 to get my resorts.

so only saving like 3 hours by not driving.

well since I don't like to fly - it takes me more than 3 hours to calm down.

so it is a wash.

when I drive ready to hit the parks immediately!!! (leave the driving to WDW)

 

[Smithington]

have done both.

fly - but don't like it.
also don't like heights, but main reason - control - somebody I don't know has control of the plane. In the old days when you could meet the pilots - it was different. but now - you are surpose to trust that some unknown person will get you there safety.

no thanks

so mostly drive - live around 8 to 10 (okay sometimes 12) hours away.

last couple of times going thru ga it like 8 hours and 20 minutes - including stopping for gas & reststops. go at night so generally don't eat.

flying because I have control issues - must be at the airport at least 2 hours before leaving - it possible would do 3 hours. takes the plane around 1 hour and half - then go stand in the DME line (10 to 20 minutes) - then stand in the bus line (1 to 10 minutes) - then get on bus and wait (45 to 60 minutes) - then go to WDW 45 to get to WDW - but 55 to get my resorts.

so only saving like 3 hours by not driving.

well since I don't like to fly - it takes me more than 3 hours to calm down.

so it is a wash.

when I drive ready to hit the parks immediately!!! (leave the driving to WDW)

I should say so!!

 

[*KeepMovingForward*]

I prefer to fly. The past few years the airlines have been offering such cheap fares that I can't justify driving. It takes 1-2 days (depending if we drive straight through or not) to drive to Disney for us. Using up that much of my vacation time to be on the road is a huge tradeoff. Flying doesn't bother me. We also don't have to recover from the drive. We leave the airport and are fresh and ready to hit the parks. If Disney wasn't so far for us, then driving might be an option we'd exercise more often. I think the last time we drove down was in 2003 and the memories of that road trip still haunt us, so it'll probably be quite a while before we do it again.

 

[rrobin3051]

We live in Cleveland Ohio, so driving isnt my cup of tea. I thought about it this time around and it really didnt save that much money for us. Even with renting a car. We got our tickets for 140 bucks each including tax. So that for me was worth flying. I dont mind flying at all, and we get there in about 2 hours, Hubby waits for luggage and I go get the car, pull around and he loads up. We are off. No waiting for the magical express. I have never drove down there and not sure I want to anytime soon.

 

[isla bonita]

We are down 2 times a year. In Feb. on school break and during the summer.

I drove down this Feb. and it was not bad at all. It is a 2 day drive from RI with me the only driver. I thought I would either loose one of the kids or loose my mind but neither happened. I would not drive again in Feb. to short of a holiday but am planning our summer drive down.

I have always flown but not any more. We saved so much $$$$ when we drove, no rental car it was great. We will only fly now when we go in Feb. Our holidays will cost half from now on.

 

[Brian Noble]

I'm a full two days' drive. We can fly down in a half-day with direct flights. So, the difference in driving vs. flying is three days. Even with four people, the cost to fly is much lower than the value I put on that three days' worth of time.

Really, though, it all comes down to how much the time difference is vs. how much your time is worth it to you. We often drive to the outer banks in the summer---that's 1.5 days each way to drive vs. a full day to fly (because it's another 3 hours drive to the rental house from the Norfolk airport with traffic).

 

[Mommytwotwins]

We are flying. We got a pretty good deal on airfare so it would cost us atleast the same driving with gas and staying over midway through since there is no way my two 6 year olds would be able to drive straight through. I am NOT a fan of flying but 3 hours on a plane or 24 in a car...I will take the plane. I might need to medicate myself lol but I will get thought it!

 

[4Seasons]

I fly whenever possible. My body can't take those long hours cramped in a vehicle anymore, even in my comfy conversion van. About the farthest we go anymore in 1 day is Hilton Head, SC and that's a good 8+ hours. We have to stop MANY times along the way too so I can stretch and it makes my kids crazy, LOL.
I've flown more times than I could ever count (used to work for an airline, gotta love those employee perks!), it doesn't really bother me much. Get a glass of wine, read a bit while drinking it and take a nap, boom we're there. My son, he absolutely hates it but is much better than he used to be about it.
Unless there is a really good reason why we can't, we fly.

 

[Vivianne]

We've always flown because of distance and time. I usually take one week vaca and would be too tired driving from the Northeast and doing the parks and the drive back. Although, I would do it for a 2 week vacation, just to try something new. The furthest we've driven is VA. My hat's off to those that do.

 

[Lorix2]

We've driven down 3 times with our kids.

On our way there, everyone is excited and in a good mood, but always on the way back, it seems to take SO much longer to get home and the kids start to get cranky because the fun is over and they know how many hours it takes to get back to their own beds, that I dread the drive back and that's what stops me from wanting to do another road trip.

I'd love to drive down and fly back

 

[TinkerBellToo2]

We are traveling to Disney in 26 days. I did want to drive this time but OH NO, dh said that it was to long a drive from RI. We would of had to rent a car, as not to put the wear and tear on our car. Tried adding up the cost to drive, renting car, meals, tolls, motel room (as I did not want to drive straight through) and the cost was more then the flight which we got for $79 each way, and the rental car for the 10 night stay. So we are flying.

How do people drive down on a budget?

 

[PrincessBetsy]

Even though it takes more time, we always drive. Everyone in my family is afraid of heights, except for my dad. We like to have our own car when we arrive and we save quite a bit of money.

 

[rentayenta]

If the kids could handle 3 days in the car without killing each other and me wanting to kill myself, I would drive. Utah is just too damn far but I truly hate to fly.

 

[isla bonita]

We are traveling to Disney in 26 days. I did want to drive this time but OH NO, dh said that it was to long a drive from RI. We would of had to rent a car, as not to put the wear and tear on our car. Tried adding up the cost to drive, renting car, meals, tolls, motel room (as I did not want to drive straight through) and the cost was more then the flight which we got for $79 each way, and the rental car for the 10 night stay. So we are flying. How do people drive down on a budget

We also live in RI.

On Feb school vacation our flights were going to be $1,740.00 that is for 4 my DH was not joining us this trip. Rental car was $589.00 for 11 days. It cost me $204.45 for a hotel halfway point, fuel was $205.55, tollas were $53.55.

Savings of $1,865.45 so well worth it.

In the summer we vacation for about 3 weeks, we will be driving. Not so good for the Feb. trip because it is so much shorter. I will do it for now on in the summer I thought it was going to be a nightmare but it was not a problem at all.

 

[cey]

Use to love flying before DH was retired and we could only go for March break. Now that he is retired we will be driving down, taking our time 2-3 days and seeing the sights! We will be staying for the month of March and then driving back at our leisure!

Bonus is not having to worry about when flights will be posted and the cost factor , pay for a rental car, deal with flight delays and baggage charges and hassles!

It will also be nice to not have to worry about the weight of our suitcases, and what we will be bringing back.

Yes, the drive is long from Canada, but the rewards are worth it!
We now will be able to view the drive down as the pre-florida vacation, relax and enjoy the trip!

 

[HayGan]

We do both. Last Aug was our first time driving and we really enjoyed it. We drove straight thru on the way down and made a stop in NC on the way back. We like having our own car at WDW. We like seeing new things on the drive. (We stop in NC for gem mining which is a blast!) It is so much cheaper for our family of 4 to drive than fly (even with great rates on SW.) Last year it cost $350 for 5 of us to drive (my dad went with us.) That was with ~$4/gallon gas rates. That also includes the cost of an oil change and 1 night hotel in NC (I don't fator in food as we would have to eat no matter where we were.) This year it will be far less.

If you are planning on renting a car to drive to FL of course you aren't really going to save anything. The point of driving is usually to use the resources you already have. I don't quite get the argument of not using your own vehicle but to each their own.

For us, we will likely continue to do a mix of both. We will fly for short trips or if we get fantastic rates. Otherwise we will drive.

 

[maidenfairy]

We have done both in the past and I prefer driving. Airports can be such a Hassle. Getting through security at Orlando can be a nightmare. And with the 4 of us now it's just more affordable to drive. And I like stopping at interesting places along the way. The only bad thing about the drive are those horrible billboards on 75 in southern GA.

 

[TinkerBellToo2]

I myself would love to drive down, but the dh says that it will be more expensive,. He would never take our own car as he worrys about putting the mileage on it. He is a very tight pocketed person. And now that he is retired he buys pants with no pockets. LOL. So SWA has become our only means of getting to Florida. For him the faster the better.