Flying or Driving

[daystar]

Hi,
We live in the state of New York and wondering how many people that live this way drive???Our first trip to WDW was at Christmas and we flew....My youngest son 5 years old did not like the plane, he refuses to go back by plane.....He had problems with his ears even though i gave him candy to suck on and gum to chew but i guess that didn't work, on the way back i bought earplanes at the airport they seem to work but i think the first time scared him with being in so much pain.....Just wondering if anyone knows how long it takes to drive???Do you stop over or drive right through???Driving so far i wonder if it is worth driving with the gas prices being so high....Has anyone drove recently and could give some kind of price range on gas???
Thanks

 

[Desnik]

I can't tell you how long it will take because it depends on where in NY you live

As you can see I live in Goshen, NY which is in Orange County. We are about 90min. from NYC.
We drive to WDW every year. Next trip will be our 8th time!! DH will not fly. We have done it both ways, driving straight through and stopping over night. DD has done very well on the trips. We have a tv/dvd player in our car and we bring a few movies to watch. I make her special goody bags with small toys, coloring books and such. It takes us 17-18hrs. depending on how many stops we do. The advantage to stopping over night is obvious. You get out of the car, good nights sleep, etc. For us it is a pain because all the "stuff" we need with our baby is not worth unpacking just for 1 night!LOL. It was OK when it was just us with DD when she was 3,4,and 5yo. Also we like to just get there and not have it take extra long! We will never drive through the night again because we were both so tired! We needed an extra day to get back to normal. What worked best for us was what we did last trip in Nov. 2003. We had the car all packed up the day before. We were in the car and on the road by 4am. DH is use to this because he leaves for work at 5am to drive to the city. I have a baby, so I'm up
Anyway both kids slept till 9am! I had packed breakfast for DD(DH and I don't eat breakfast)and we just stopped to feed/change the baby, potty for DD and we were driving again. We get good gas milage on our new camry so roundtrip was about $150-$200 for gas, can't remember exactly. We arrived at the hotel at 10pm and were well rested for the next day. We had packed lots of snacks and drinks to limit the stops and DH and I took turns driving. Another reason I liked doing it this way is because we only had to use a rest stop in the dark twice. With young children I just don't feel safe going into some of them at night.

Driving will almost always be cheaper than flying. Especially if you were going to fly, then rent a car. We like having our own car with us incase we felt like not using the Disney transportation.

Hope this helps and let us know if you have any more questions!

 

[Stimpy]

We drove a few times before we had kids from Long Island. I think it was about 21-23 hours drive depending on traffic, etc. We usually stayed over night in the Fayetteville area. The last time we drove was about 8-9 years ago and tolls, gas and motel cost about $500. Since it was just the 2 of us, the only money we saved by not flying was for a rental car. Good Luck!

 

[mudnuri]

We'll be driving from Vermont in April. With DD7 and DD6. This will be their 4th trip driving down...We have also flown with them to Montana, CA, Texas, and DD7 and I flew to FL once. Anyway- the reason we drive is simply FINANCIAL! It will cost us about 650 round trip, that includes food, diesel (averages 21.5 mpg so we dont fill up much with a 27 gallon tank)...and 2 hotels on the way down, and 2 on the way back.

If we flew- it would cost us about 100.00 with diesel and airport parking...approximatly $800.00 for our tickets, and then another $300 or so for a rental- which would have to be a full size or mini van. Thats 1200.00 versus our 650.00...savings of 550.00

We like a poster above, have ways to occupy the kids. We recently purchased each of them a tv/dvd player, they bring their gameboys, leappads, and cd players. They also bring books to read, crayons and coloring books etc... in the past we have had a tv/vcr combo that we brought.

We will leave here probably around 3-4 am...and drive this time to Roanoke Rapids, we have our hotels already reserved...We will arrive there around 4pm- the kids will swim in the pool, we'll eat, and then head out around 8am the next morning... We then stop in Brunswick, GA, arriving there around 4pm as well. Again- pool, eat, etc... then our 3rd day- arrival to WDW we will leave around 9am, stop in St. Augustine for a bit, and still arrive at ASMovies by 3pm check in.

On the way home- it's backwards- we will drive to NC, then CT, then home. I like to break up the lengths- our first night is always the longest, 2nd is shorter, then the last is a lot shorter. Helps keep the kids in tune if we do this.

We have done the drive in 1 night, however we feel exhausted upon arrival, this isn't a big deal if your only going to a beach but going to WDW on Monday- the first day for us in the parks, I wanna be READY!... DH and I before kids drove to FL non-stop...NEVER AGAIN!

Also- it takes us a bit longer than others, as we do not allow the DD's to eat in the truck. They may have drinks, but if they are hungry we stop. I have our stops already planned on what exits etc due to the truck being a Diesel, we cant just stop anywhere...DD's are used to not eating in the truck, so it's normally not a problem....oh- and its not because I dont want food all over the truck- DD6 choked in the truck at 2 years old and I will NEVER go through that again!

on a more personal note, DH and I have some of our best discussions/conversations on drives. It's a way for us to look forward to our vacation, and then on the way home to reflect...

oh- and DH doesnt drive from CT on- so he REALLY enjoys going this way..he gets to actually enjoy the scenary!

Brandy

 

[kaylajr]

We are in NY also
in the albany saratoga area

we drove in 2000 and are driving again this year
we flew in 2002

the kids and DH prefer to drive

we stop on either NC or SC depending on time and traffic
then we arrive refreshed late in the afternoon on check in day

we always rent a house so we just pull in and crash in the pool

the one thing is everyone said to me that the kids would sleep in the car
well not my two they stayed awske the entire time

this year my nephew is coming so i will have three kids in the car

but it is part of the fun


have a great trip

 

[daystar]

Hi Again,
I thank you all for your advice it is so helpful to plan our next trip.....Does anyone worry about how many miles you put on your vehicles???
Thanks Again

 

[Schmeck]

We drive from Massachusetts - about 21 hours of driving. We leave very early in the morning, drive about 14-15 hours the first day, and make it to "South of the Border" land the first night. We stop at a mid-price motel (about $80 a night?) and then we're off bright and early the next morning!

The hardest part of the trip down is the 4 hour or so drive to Orlando, once we're in Florida. It just seems to take sooooooo long!

We have a conversion van (though we've done two trips in a minivan) which has a built in tv/vcr, with built in headphone jacks as well. But most of the time the kids read, color, or we just talk about our trip!

We've done the trip when the kids were 2 and 5, 5 and 8, and 8 and 11. We're going down this August, and hopefully the AC will hold out! I'm also concerned about the van sitting in the parking lot all day. Our last trip, in October, our windshield cracked from the heat in the AKL parking lot! We're going to get one of those reflector shields for this trip!

Schmeck, glad to have a new transmission in the van, as the 1300+ trip is a long one. We're assuming that this will be the last long adventure for our 11 year old van.

 

[JVL1018]

We drive sometimes-we live in NJ, in a suburb of NYC, and it takes 18 hours for us.
The firsttime we drove we got up at like 4 am and left, it was horrible, we are not programmed to get up that early, and as such were exhausted. LOL
Now we leave at 6-drive until we hit Northern VA at 10, stop for breakfast, drive until lunch-we pack a lunch and stop at the NC welcome center. That way we can all stretch our legs and the kids can run around a bit. We drive until we feel like stopping and check our handy I95 Exit Guide(I highly highly recommend this, I wouldn't even go on the drive without it! You can order it at www.usastar.com)
We like to do the bulk of our driving the first day and just have 3-6 hours the next. Last time, we left after DH got home from work, drove 3 hours to Baltimore and stayed with my BIL for the night, that way when we left the following morning we were able to get to Brunswick GA in 12 hours, and just had 3 hours the next day. That will be our MO from now on.
We always drive straight through on the way home...and always regret it, it's hard.
The kids have been great everytime. We have a TV in the car, so that helps immensely, plus coloring, little surprise gifts every so often, etc. DH and I listen to books on CD.
What else?
Oh, I don't worry about the wear and tear on my car because I put hardly any miles on my minivan normally. Put it to you this way, I used to have Chevy Cavalier, bought new in Nov 1992. I traded it in for the minivan in March of 2000, and it had 25,000 miles on it. LOL And up until Oct of 1999 I was driving back and forth to work everyday.
An extra 2000 miles for a Disney trip doesn't bother me when I hardly put any miles on it to begin with.
Alos, I think the fact that we have a minivan is a big help, lots of room, makes it feel not so closed in.

 

[AspiringCindy]

We drove last time and are planning to possibly drive this summer again but...I just found airfare from Newark, NJ to Tampa for $59 each way. The drive from Tampa would be approximately 1 1/2 hours. With the expectation that gas prices will reach $2/gallon this summer...the cheap flight sounds very enticing!

 

[tink&cinderella]

Hi

We are driving next April and we live in Toronto. It takes about 24 hours and we are planning to leave on a a Saturday evening at around 10:00 p.m. DH will have a nap from 2-9 p.m. that day so he can drive through the night. I will keep the children (almost 3 and 6) awake until we leave and give them some Gravol for motion sickness - the added bonus is that it makes them tired. We are hoping to drive until Breakfast with me taking over at around 4:00 a.m. Drive on and off during the first day and stay in a hotel Sunday night. We plan to arrive on Monday at some time.

We've never driven before-but have friends who do it this way all the time. The question will be whether this will work for us and whether we would need to pre arrange the hotel on the way down.

Any suggestions??

Tink&Cinderella

 

[AspiringCindy]

Definitely book a hotel stay before you go! We booked 1 for the trip down, but forgot about the trip back! Every hotel was sold out along I95 for 3 states! We wound up driving home without a stop! I DON"T RECOMMEND IT!

 

[39CINDERELLA]

WE WILL BE DRIVING DOWN THIS APRIL FROM NE OHIO, I DID A MAPQUEST AND GOT A TRIPTIC FROM AAA TO GET THE MILES. WE ARE DEFINETLY STOPPING FOR THE NIGHT. I MADE RES. AT A HOTEL IN CHARLOTTE,NC. WE CAN ONLY DRIVE SO LONG BECAUSE MY DH IS THE ONLY DRIVER. AS FOR GAS JUST TRY TO GUESS AT THE AVG. YOU THINK IT WILL BE WHEN YOU GO. WE ARE TRAVELING AT EASTER TIME SO I KNOW IT WILL BE HIGH 2+. WE WILL HAVE 3 KIDS SO I AM INVESTING IN A CAR VCR/DVD PLAYER. KIDS ARE 3, 11.13. GOOD LUCK IN YOUR PLANNING HAVE A GREAT TRIP.

 

[slo]

We have done both. We live close to Chicago and we normally fly due to time. We always go in Sept and in 2001 we were flying out a week after 9-11. We decided to drive not because we were scared of flying but because I was scared of being stuck in an airport for hours with a 3yr old if the airport shut down for a breach of security or anything else at that time.

We left our house at 2:30am and reached Clearwater at 10:30pm - we drove straight through. It sounds like a nightmare, but this was my most favorite trip. Before we left I took my DD to the bookstore and let her pick out a ton of books, then we went to the grocery store for a ton of snacks. We took a small tv w/ a VCR and a ton of her movies and put it in the car for her to watch.

The only time we stopped was to use the bathroom. We did everything else in the car. We stopped at drive thru's and even ate in the car. We had a blast!!!!

This may not be for everybody and I miss doing it again. But as I said, due to time we fly, we leave at 7am and arrive in Orlando by 10:30am you certainly can't beat that.

Have a good day

 

[DeeCeeSW]

Aspiring Cindy--Newark to Tampa for $59 each way?? What airline??

 

[skippelm]

We were planning on driving (from NJ) with our DD who will be 9 mo. However, friends of ours pointed out that 3 hours of crying was a whole lot easier than 17!

 

[Simba's Girl]

We're planning on driving from Western MA (Springfield area) in early December. One of the main reasons why is because we'd need to rent a car anyway due to the fact that my parents will be living in Lady Lake FL then and we must tack on a few days to visit them. I am looking foward to driving more than flying because flying would be such a pain with 2 kids in carseats! Also, when DH and I were little we both took several car trips to WDW and have fond memories of them.

Heather

 

[beglluvr]

I guess I'm in the minority on this thread, but I prefer to fly. We were debating whether to drive this trip or not and when I figured out the numbers, it didn't make sense for us. I figured that it would cost us about $500 US to drive, not to mention lost time from work (I don't get paid vacation). There's always the extra mileage on the car to consider and I'd spend the whole drive worrying about what if the car breaks down and we have to get it fixed? That could blow all our vacation money right there.

I spent a lot of time searching for flights, sometimes searching expedia twice a day and found an incredible deal on airfare. For 3 of us to fly from Buffalo, New York, it cost only about $450 US round trip. Sure, we'll have to pay to park our car for the week, and get a towncar when we arrive in Orlando, but the time savings (not to mention the worries and car sickness) makes it worth it for us.

I have alot of respect for all of you who can make that long drive with little kids, I know our DD would make us crazy in the car for that long.

 

[sbrown]

We live in Michigan, and if we drove, it would take 24 hrs. We fly everytime. Our children are very "busy" and never fall asleep in the car. The drive down might be fun, but when the vacation is over, who wants to drive another 24 hrs to be home?

 

[Disney Princess 6]

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[AspiringCindy]

USA3000! found at www.usa3000.com Supposedly the planes are new with Seat TVs and all!?

Originally posted by DeeCeeSW
Aspiring Cindy--Newark to Tampa for $59 each way?? What airline??