Flying vs Driving

[mhconley]

I would drive, too...

Consider your options:

1. 90 minutes to ATL, 60 minutes at ATL, 90 minutes ATL to MCO, 120 minutes MCO to WDW and you're at 6 hours.
2. Add one more hour to that and you've driven, saved the $304 difference between flights and round trip gasoline plus you'll have the convenience of having a car at WDW. I don't know which resort you're in but sometimes having a car is a real time saver.

Martin

 

[rcraw45425]

I had no idea that DME took that long to get you to the resort, my family would have a fit! When we stay on the monorail we have a "back way" where we actually exit off the Turnpike at Winter Garden and take back roads in, come in behind Space Mountain. WE've been using the toll road route lately since we've been staying EPCOT resort area. IF we had to wait around that long from the airport they'd mutiny!

 

[busymommy2pink]

For 7 hours I would drive, but my kids are used to longer road trips to visit family. Unfortunately, Disney is over 24 hours for us. We will do the drive one day I am sure, but for now we fly! We live in a large city, so we currently only rent cars when needed instead of owning one. I would love to have our own car down there, if for nothing else than going to and from DTD.

 

[dianna_nc]

I would have a 10 hr drive and we are electing to fly this time. I got a really good rate from Southwest and with other commitments that we have before our trip, we would just be too tired to drive down. Plus, the kids have only flown once and think of this as the first adventure of our vacation.

 

[IndyRnRfan]

120 minutes from MCO to Disney??? WOW!!! We are usually only at disney during summer or Christmas and have never waited that long. You must be a saint for being that patient, I would be fuming. I would say the longest we have waited once landed was around 1hr-1hr 10minutes and that was us being the 3rd stop off of DME. Of course we either land early in the morning or usually after 7pm at night when traffic isn't that bad. However, last time at Christmas, there were at least 100-150 people standing in line for DME when we got there.

 

[busymommy2pink]

120 minutes from MCO to Disney??? WOW!!! We are usually only at disney during summer or Christmas and have never waited that long. You must be a saint for being that patient, I would be fuming. I would say the longest we have waited once landed was around 1hr-1hr 10minutes and that was us being the 3rd stop off of DME. Of course we either land early in the morning or usually after 7pm at night when traffic isn't that bad. However, last time at Christmas, there were at least 100-150 people standing in line for DME when we got there.

We've had under an hour..and we've had longer than two from MCO to Disney... The latter one really sucked, the kids were VERY restless by that point and were ready for downtime at the pool! It was in May and we were staying at Beach Club. We were VERY happy to arrive lol. Thankfully, it was our third trip, so it didn't traumatize us from using ME again..in fact we still prefer it, we just now grab a drink and snack before getting in line *just* in case lol

 

[rainboots]

We drive almost everywhere, but to WDW, we flew. It would be a 24 hr drive.

We will be driving to Gulf Shores for spring break, and that will likely be 20 hrs with a 4 & 7 yr old... eek.

 

[Moms]

We do both. It is a 24 hour drive but we love road trips and will almost always elect to drive if we have time. We enjoy the freedom of being able to stop for bathrooms, snacks and outlet malls whenever we want along the way and we often add a day for a special stop in another town ... our favorite is Charleston S.C.! When we are there it is nice to have a car for quick trips offsite for things we may have forgotten ... and of course Orlando has some outstanding outlet malls (sense the theme here?).

We will fly when we are on a tight schedule and love the convenience of DME.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

It's 8 hours for me to drive but I still prefer to fly it if I can. I normally can only go for 5 days total. I was thrilled to find the 49.00 sale on Southwest a few weeks ago. So I booked it!

It would have cost me more than that to drive. And this way I basically get another almost full day in a park.

When the whole family goes, we always drive. It's cheaper then.

 

[amber_cntrygrl]

We will be driving to Gulf Shores for spring break, and that will likely be 20 hrs with a 4 & 7 yr old... eek.

I know I'm going OT here, but I LOVE Gulf Shores! It's my favorite little beach town. I live about 3 1/2 hours away from there!

 

[tasha99]

I would drive. Flying is so unpleasant now, and with the drive to the airport and having to get there so early, flying only saves a little time.

 

[mickeyfanachey1999]

We live just south of Atlanta and would never even consider flying. Several of the reasons already mentioned here come into play. We can pack whatever we want and not worry about it at all. We can stop along the way whenever and however may times we choose. We drive straight to OKW without worrying about MDE or shuttles or anything. When we resort hop to go to dinner we drive and cut the travel time down to nothing. And if we decide we just haven't had enough magic we'll stay at the park until close on the last day and drive the 6 hours home after seeing the fireworks one more time.

 

[pheonixheart]

We live in upstate NY when I was a kid we drove on every vacation to Disney or anywhere else. When I became an adult I flew to Disney for the 1st time and I believe 7 trips since 2000 all flown. On our last trip Feb 2014 my hubby (who isn't a traveler) and 2 of my 4 kids stayed home and I took 2 with me the day we got there my husband had a near fatal chainsaw accident.....it would have cost 2000 for just me to fly home....(we certainly didn't have that money to spare) then as it was February and I live north our flight home was cancelled 3 times! Then my oldest dd18 got a sinus cold and needless to say she wasn't happy on the flight to Philly she was so miserable I got off the plane and rented a car and drove the 4 hours home. Talk about air travel from hell!!!! I'm planning a mom daughter trip for my mom and I and have finally convinced my mom to drive down like we did when I was younger. It's roughly 24 hour drive I'll do it in 2 days....I also love driving and used to travel for work and in the summer travel every weekend for my daughter's softball team and drove to Myrtle last year for her tournament with no problems.
But it's what ever you really want to do. If the drive was only 7 hours I would be thrilled! Lol

 

[carlamouse]

I live about 10 minutes west of the Atlanta airport. I prefer flying. I have driven numerous times, but I hate road trips. 3 hours driving is about my limit. I just want to get there already! Plus, driving home is a real drag at the end of your magical vacation. If I can get airfare for $200 or less, I'll fly every time. We rearely get to the airport before 3 hours for departure. Usually we give ourselves about 90 minutes lead time. I haven't missed a flight yet, and I know Hartsfield-Jackson ATL like the back of my hand. Of course we are usually departing on a Saturday before 9:00 a.m., so your mileage may vary.

 

[HopperFan]

I would drive, too...

Consider your options:

1. 90 minutes to ATL, 60 minutes at ATL, 90 minutes ATL to MCO, 120 minutes MCO to WDW and you're at 6 hours.
2. Add one more hour to that and you've driven, saved the $304 difference between flights and round trip gasoline plus you'll have the convenience of having a car at WDW. I don't know which resort you're in but sometimes having a car is a real time saver.

Martin

Plus OP said the shuttle from home to airport is $300. So it is $800 flying vs $200 driving, to save the hour.

 

[rcraw45425]

Correct, $72 per person round trip. and the fares also jumped by $30 each ticket for an additional $120. So now it would be ~$900 vs that same ~$100 for fuel. That's an additional two nights lodging!

 

[ilovebassets]

I live in the heart of Atlanta, and we always drive. The drive from Atlanta really isn't that bad, and I DON'T love long distance driving by any means. The highway is 3 lanes wide the entire way and in good condition. Having your own car is awesome once you actually arrive at WDW. And avoiding the airport hassle and potential delays is priceless. Hartsfield-Jackson is BIG, and even though I think it's a great airport, there is no way to get around it or in and out of it quickly.

 

[tstottle]

Another advantage to driving...you can set your own schedule on your arrival and departure days. Want to maximize your time at your hotel on your first day? Get up at 5, leave at 6 and be there at 2-ish. Same with your departure day...you can leave when you want, without the worry of whether you will get to the airport in time or cut it too close. Schlepping through airports and being squeezed on a plane is just as tiring as driving. And with driving you eliminate the chance that your flight is late, your luggage is lost, those kind of things that seem to happen more and more these days. That said, we are flying this year, but that is vs. an 18 hour drive; which we have done all of our previous trips. But if you want to fly, fly! I'm sure your TA can get your shuttles figured out and you can get your flight info into MDE. Have a great trip.

 

[rcraw45425]

I live in the heart of Atlanta, and we always drive. The drive from Atlanta really isn't that bad, and I DON'T love long distance driving by any means. The highway is 3 lanes wide the entire way and in good condition. Having your own car is awesome once you actually arrive at WDW. And avoiding the airport hassle and potential delays is priceless. Hartsfield-Jackson is BIG, and even though I think it's a great airport, there is no way to get around it or in and out of it quickly.

See you're lucky to have Interstate the entire way. We have ~ 130 miles of four laned highway full of small towns and speed traps. That stop and go traffic eats into our time, otherwise it's a straight shot down 75 to the Turnpike.

 

[ilovebassets]

See you're lucky to have Interstate the entire way. We have ~ 130 miles of four laned highway full of small towns and speed traps. That stop and go traffic eats into our time, otherwise it's a straight shot down 75 to the Turnpike.

But if you have to do the small town back roads just to get to the airport in the first place, then it seems to me that there's no way around that anyway. Sincerely, I'm not trying to be argumentative here, but flying from Hartsfield-Jackson to Orlando bypasses the straight shot down 75 part which is the easy part. It doesn't sound like there's any way for you to bypass the hard part (unless I'm missing something here).

I used to live in small town north Florida, so I know what it's like having to go through those speed trap, four lane road towns. It's not fun at all.