For 2,000+ mile round-trip drivers only!

[pilferk]

A HA - but it's not just 2 hours to fly. We factored in the drive to the airport, long term parking, 2 hour advance arrival to get through security, waiting to board, flying, plus retrieving the baggage and transportation to your hotel. We would want a rental car, not ME, so add in another hour at least to get the car.

We figured that at 8 to 10 hours of time that first/flying day. Our drive will be 14-15 hours, plus the hotel stop in between, so we feel we're only adding the second day's driving (around 4 hours), plus the freedom to have lots of bags, eating, drinking and entertainment at will.

For us it would be more like 6 hours of travel time, total. Last time we flew out, which was for a conference at the Contemp, we left our house at 5 AM and were walking into the Contemp at 11:20 AM. We're 20-30 minutes from the airport, and only need to arrive about an hour-ish before (flying down) because we're a SLOW airport. We do online check in, etc, so basically it's arrive and head to the gate. We also like to fly out EARLY in the AM as we're all early risers, so that helps.

On the way back...you're right...closer to 8 hours, especially if using Magical Express.

Long term parking would run us another $50 to $70, that's true. Luckily, I have the ability to use on site long term at a substantial discount as a "work perk".

Still...6 hours vs 20-ish is still compelling. It just has to be "worth" the extra cost. Right now, it isn't. Not by a LONG shot. If I could get, say, $175 round trip airfare....it might be worth a look see.

 

[BC1836]

There is one aspect of the long drive that it absolutely a downer: the drive leaving WDW.

The feeling begins with the drive out of WDW onto I-4...and then the connection to I-95 north...and then the drive out of Florida! Then the drive gets really long.

Still, we're preparing for our next 2,000+mile round trip next month!

 

[cinnderly]

I just did this drive from NY. Just me and my 6 year old son, and it went REALLY well. I was pretty nervous. We left Saturday 8/23 at 5am and drove to Savannah, which we got to at about 7:45. The next morning we were on the rode at about 9:45 and got to Port Orleans French Quarter a little after 2pm, checked in, changed and headed over to Blizzard Beach, had dinner at MK that night. Sounds like a lot, but it really couldn't have worked out better.

We left 8/31 after breakfast at Kona. Got on the rode close to 11am, and drove to just outside of Richmond. Got back on the rode at 5:15am and got home right before noon. It wasn't bad at ALL. The way back I thought I'd be depressed, and I was a little, but mainly we just wanted to get home.

I spent a little less than $250 in gas. We have a Corolla.
I definitely preferred it over flying. It didn't shorten my trip since we left on a weekend and came back Labor Day. In fact it made things so much easier because we could take what we wanted, and we didn't have to wait on anyone for transportation. I would ABSOLUTELY do it again.

 

[mom2princessj]

We'll be driving for our first family trip and we are coming from just over the Indiana/Illinois state line. It's about a 16.5 hour drive but with two small children it will be longer We are hoping to do the bulk of the drive in the first day with just a few hours left for the second. We are talking about leaving at 12a or 1a in the morning while the kids will sleep in the car and then take turns driving. If we can actually do that we may be able to do the 16 hours in one day however since we are leaving in January the weather for us will be a deciding factor of how far we will actually be able to get the first day. If weather dictates (due to storms coming or whatever) we may have to leave that night when dh gets off work to get ahead of whatever is coming our way.
As far as airfare, we have been looking but for the 4 of us as it stands now out of chicago it would cost us about 1500 not to mention parking for a week plus any extra baggage charges etc. It will be more cost effective for us to drive. We'll be able to take anything we want without worry and although the drive will be long for the kids I think it will be ok as long as we have enough to distract them (I plan to bring new movies and we'll get them out of their seats after every movie ends) and stop when it seems they just need to stretch their legs.
1125 miles each way so we are definitely in the 2k+ driving club!

 

[MickeyMomOfThree]

We too drive to Disney, every trip. If we didn't we couldn't go nearly as often. The drive down we go straight through, with a few hour nap in the car. The kids watch movies, play games, do homework, it is fine. Coming home is always more difficult, but not awful (usually, more in a minute), but that is because we are sad to be leaving. We stay in a hotel on the way home. We do a late breeakfast at Chef Mickey's and use up CS credits at DTD to pack in the cooler for later, and get that one last thing we meant to buy. Also, we don't have the "drive" to get home as fast, so we spend a night in a hotel. Our last trip, however, the ride home was awful. I woke up on leaving morning with the stomach flu. It was awful, so we did what we always do (CM, DTD) and got on our way. That didn't last long so we got a hotel and figured we'd do a straight through thing the next day. Well, I woke up better but DD then 7, got sick. My husband HAD to be back the next day as did oldest DD, so we had to get home. The thought crossed my mind to stay at the hotel with DD and fly home, but wasn't sure how to make that work. The poor kid got sick on and off from Northern Florida to Buffalo (about an hour from here). Around then she said she felt better and was hungry. What a miserable ride for her (and all of us). While I am so glad we didn't get sick during our vacation, and would take that ride home over a missed day in Disney, I hope neither hapens on our next vacation. and next time we won't plan anything for the day we get home, we learned our lesson...

 

[BC1836]

We'll be driving for our first family trip and we are coming from just over the Indiana/Illinois state line. It's about a 16.5 hour drive but with two small children it will be longer 1125 miles each way so we are definitely in the 2k+ driving club!

That's just about our total driving (+gas and bathroom stops) time over approximately 1,080 miles.

We did our first straight-through drive last May departing the Jersey Shore at 4:45 a.m. and reaching Exit #67 on I-4 at 10:27 p.m.

Good luck on your first official 2,000+ mile round trip club journey!

 

[JERME81]

We will be driving from Central Illinois. Mapquest says the drive to WDW is 16.5 or so hours. We split the drive by stopping overnight 1 time. Last time we went we left our house at 1pm and only made it to Macon Georgia. This year we are leaving at the butt crack of dawn at 5 am. Our stay this time is in Lake Park Georgia, just south of Valdosta not too far away from the Florida border. That way the second day we are only 3 hours away from Disney. I think on the way home we will stay in Clarksville Tennessee.

We will be driving our Honda Element this year, last time we took my tiny Honda Civic. I just traded in my Civic for Jeep Wrangler. Not taking the Wrangler because it only gets 18 mpg. The Element gets around 28 mpg. Plus the Element is bigger inside so I can take more stuff that I probably won't need (We are over packers). We will each have a huge suitcase, probably a cooler or two, the dvd player and movies, a bag for personal care stuff, a case or two of beer, wine, vodka, pillows, and who knows what else.

I actually like the drive, I'm not a good flyer. I love seeing the landscape change the further south we get. I get very excited when I see my first palm tree in Georgia, I just love palm trees, very tropical.

 

[BC1836]

On July 11, 2008 a barrel of crude topped the $147 mark and today (as of five minutes ago) it was under $97 a barrel. A $50 drop in two months. Hopefully, that will translate quickly into lower prices at the pump.

As for the the "members" of the 2,000+ mile roundtrip club, this is good news.

[But this finanacial break is rather meaningless to those who have suffered through the destruction of hurricane Ike. May each day bring improvement to all of them!]

 

[blackjackmark]

We will be driving from Central Illinois. Mapquest says the drive to WDW is 16.5 or so hours. We split the drive by stopping overnight 1 time. Last time we went we left our house at 1pm and only made it to Macon Georgia.

Me too! Leaving on a Friday around noon and hoping to make it to Atlanta on the trip down. I'll be in my MINI Cooper, and looking forward to 40+ MPG!

 

[monkey68]

When I was little, my grandparents used to take me and my sister to WDW every winter during our Feb. break, and we would drive from NYC. According to mapquest, it's 1,103 miles each way. I seem to remember stopping a couple nights along the way. We would leave fairly early, drive, but with the 2 of us, plus my diabetic grandma, we made a lot of stops. But it was fun, my grandparents would pack up the cooler, load up the mini van, my sister would get the back seat, and I would get the middle seat. We would have "beds" made up on the seats so we could lie down.

It was always so much fun. I remember once, driving back from Disney, we got caught in a blizzard. We ended up at a Pizza Hut where they gave us free pizza as the power had gone out and they needed to get rid of the food, and then they found us a motel nearby and they held us the last room. People ar every friendly in Virginia.

Another time, when we were at Disney, we were staying at a hotel nearby, it was probably a Days Inn, or some chain like that where there are tons of them. This was before the days of mapquest and GPS's. I guess my grandparents didn't realize that there was more than one Day's Inn, and I remember driving around for hours trying to find the right one. Eventually, I think they must have found our location somewhere, because we showed up at the hotel, but my sister was crying cause she didn't have a fresh pair of undies in the car.

We stopped going to Disney when I was around 10, (I'm 23 now), but I still remember going every single year. I don't know why we never flew, it was just a given that Feb. break, we were driving to Disney. But to all the parents (and grandparents) that make the long drive, chances are, your kids will remember it forever. I'll be honest, I remember more about the drives there and back than I do about the actual parks. But it's still a great experience.

 

[SlightlyGoofy]

After reading so many posts about Atlanta construction and such I had to drop by to tell you all not to fear.

I went through on a Friday night, Labor Day weekend, and had no trouble at all and I am a big scaredy cat. Not much traffic on the roads either, probably caused by the high prices.

The only problem I encountered was in coming home after Ike had hit. I had filled up on $3.56 gas at Disney before leaving but felt the need to make sure I would not get caught in any sort of traffic hold up in Atlanta so I was forced to put some $4.69 gas (half tank) in at Adele. I saw much higher prices elsewhere even over $5 a gallon. It was worth the $8-10 hijack price to be secure though.,

Driving home with the high winds was an interesting experience and it made me utter words that I seldom do.

Glad to be back home and already planning the next trip.

Slightly Goofy

 

[famsen]

Here is our trip plan:
Driving from the Northwest Chicago suburbs.
Leaving at 7:30am on September 26th after we pick up the rental car.
We plan to stop for the night around 8:00pm in Cartersville, GA. That is a 10 hour drive.Then we will leave around 6:30am for our 7.5 hour drive(not including stops) to WDW. Hopefully, we will arrive at WDW by 3:00pm. We are staying as DVC members and they usually don't usually have the rooms ready for us until at least that time.

 

[BradyBz12]

We're only on the once a year schedule (sadly) but it's 2600 for us round trip (coming from southern NH)

We usually leave right after DH gets out of work. I actually pick him up with camper in tow and a cooler full of sandwiches and snacks. I drive the first bit through the night (my preference) until I just can't go another mile - usually gets us into VA somewhere. Then either DH drives, or we park for a nap. Upside to driving at night is a TON less traffic (especially between here and DC).

We travel with 2 dogs, so gas/potty/leg stretching breaks are every few hours. Thankfully our pooches are fantastic travelers!

Lately we've been stopping the 2nd night for 8 hours or so (usually just at a Walmart) to get off the road and get one good night's sleep. Usually gets us to FW by noon 2 days (36 hours) after we've left without being totally exhausted.

Bringing our own food/snacks not only saves us $ but lots of time not having to find/sit in a restaurant.

Last year we left the night before Thanksgiving and I made turkey dinner with all the fixins ahead and ready to reheat. We had a lovely meal in the camper in a Walmart parking lot.

This year we leave the Friday after Thanksgiving. Planning to pack doggie bags at my mom's for turkey sandwiches for the trip!

We have satellite radio now, but before that we used to really enjoy renting books on tape from Cracker Barrel. I'd stock up before we left home, and then we just turned them in along the way (since there's a CB practically ever other exit!) Definitely helps the time pass!

 

[mi*vida*loca]

So we WILL be driving from NJ. We did this before in 2003. We drive through the night so the kids sleep and don't torture us.

We had dinner and left around 6 pm. DH drove until about 2-3 am. Then I picked it up and drove until Georgia....6 amish. WE stopped had BF and then went straight through to Orlando. Arrived around 10-11 am. So about 16 hours. Once you get through Virginia it is smooth sailing.

We have this same plan for our March trip. I do not like driving but it's DH's preference. We are also going with MIL, SIL and BIL. They may just follow us or we may rent a big SUV and go altogether. Haven't decided yet.

 

[JWollman]

We have done the drive several times, even when i was 6 months pregnant!
Its not bad. Last year we stopped... we have a toddler and stopped in Hilton Head with our DVC points to stay at the resort. That worked out nice, left CT around 11pm-- got to HH around 4ish....but it was rush hr.. so almost an hour to Resort.. then left the next day at 9am, got to OKW at 4.

we made the decision to drive in November this past weekend. Air far was 1400 and change for three of us. Then we added in our parking, the delivery charge for the groceries we had ready to order and decided it was just better to drive. We can take whatever we want. I normally bring some non perishable food from home (water, juice, pasta, ect) and then we stop at the Publix or WinnDixie when we get there. We were going to fly until we saw the price of tickets. Today i saw they went down- SOME.. it was 1200 and change for us...
We are not paying to stay overnight, so its basically gas and some lunch/dinner on both days.

 

[pilferk]

We have done the drive several times, even when i was 6 months pregnant!
Its not bad. Last year we stopped... we have a toddler and stopped in Hilton Head with our DVC points to stay at the resort. That worked out nice, left CT around 11pm-- got to HH around 4ish....but it was rush hr.. so almost an hour to Resort.. then left the next day at 9am, got to OKW at 4.

we made the decision to drive in November this past weekend. Air far was 1400 and change for three of us. Then we added in our parking, the delivery charge for the groceries we had ready to order and decided it was just better to drive. We can take whatever we want. I normally bring some non perishable food from home (water, juice, pasta, ect) and then we stop at the Publix or WinnDixie when we get there. We were going to fly until we saw the price of tickets. Today i saw they went down- SOME.. it was 1200 and change for us...
We are not paying to stay overnight, so its basically gas and some lunch/dinner on both days.

Yeah, flights out of BDL are still REALLY high. For 5 of us we were looking at about $300 a ticket-ish (after taxes and fees) in early December.

We looked at JFK, specifically at Jet Blue. Prices were better, but then we have to do long term parking at JFK, possibly an overnight hotel stay (the cheap flights were EARLY), etc. It was cheaper, overall, but not by much

 

[JWollman]

we considered Air Tran out of white plaines, but same deal... either leave the car there or get transportation, plus then the ride home from White Plains... which probably is not that bad.. maybe 1.5 hrs.

good luck on finding cheap airfare.
I know that today the flights I wanted went down some... that was on deltas' website.

 

[BC1836]

Despite the lower price of oil per barrel, the Ike Spike has caused an inflationary bump (big time!) at the pump. Has this affected any marathon drivers of late?

 

[mntman]

we will be driving in march 09 3000 rt from new mexico 28hrs one way.

we will be leaving around 1pm we have 3 drivers so 1st night we will probably just stop at a rest stop for a few hrs then on our way to wdw

 

[LovePug]

Yep! Add me to the list!