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

[SlightlyGoofy]

Tammysue5, you tell those youngsters of yours that "The Reading Lady' says that if they do not get good educations they will end up working such a place and you will just drop in to say hi to them on your way to and from DW as they will not be able to afford such luxuries.

They will spend their entire paycheck buying burn cream because of wicked old ladies like me.

Slightly Goofy

 

[CSI007]

No changes here. I had toyed with the idea of using the auto-train for the trip down and then drive back, but after reading the reviews from some sites it just seems that it is too much of a gamble. We may leave a day earlier now though about 2pm and drive until 11pm or 12am and then drive the rest of the way through in the morning.

 

[loribell]

No changes here. It is still cheaper than flying.

 

[Amirah95]

A new week is upon us and gas prices continue to rise nationwide as the price of a barrel of crude oil reaches yet another all-time high. Any 2,000+ mile drivers rethinking forthcoming plans?

Nope, it's still cheaper than flying. Plus, we love the open road. Too bad we won't be able to straight gun it this time because we'll have a 12 month old on board, but we're glad we still get to drive.

The real problem with the driving down would have been trying to take my six month old down next month. I'm glad we decided to move it a week before her 1st birthday. She doesn't do well in the car seat at this stage of the game.

Gas prices? Not a problem for us.

 

[pilgrimr]

We are from north Texas and we are with two small children. We flew once and then we drove. Driving was the best way. It was such a hassel going through security with two little ones and with driving we stop when they get fussy and let them watch movies on the way there. I don't think we will fly anytime soon with them.

 

[Maverick Mike]

We will be driving down from St. Louis here 3 months from today with our new daughter, who will be 6 months at the time!

She does really well in her car seat, but we have never gone farther than 3 hours from here yet!

I'm hoping the experience is as good as we've had in the past!!

 

[pilferk]

A new week is upon us and gas prices continue to rise nationwide as the price of a barrel of crude oil reaches yet another all-time high. Any 2,000+ mile drivers rethinking forthcoming plans?

We're still "discussing" flying down this December.

We'll see what happens when SW comes out with fares for December and what we can fly the 5 of us down for.

Even if my cost of gas doubled (which would put prices at about $6 a gallon), we're talking about $950-ish dollars to drive vs $1600-ish (based on fares, today) to fly. Still a wide enough gap to make the drive more economical....but close enough that we'd really have to think about it.

At $4 to $4.50 a gallon, I think we're still going to drive.

 

[bangzoom6877]

We're still driving in July...first of all, I checked Jet Blue and it is $3200 for 4 of us to fly (I am paranoid and would insist on getting a seat for my little guy who is turning 1 next week). Second of all, I do not want to lug all that stuff through the airport with two little ones in addition! Third, driving down makes our trip longer and allows us to see some things along the way. Here is our final itinerary, all booked and planned out:

Day 1: Drive from home (Brooklyn, NY) to North Carolina (9.5 hours drive, the longest driving day) & stay over
Day 2: drive to Savannah, GA (detour along the way in Columbia, SC for the children's museum) (4.5 hours drive total that day)
Day 3: Drive to Boca Raton, FL to visit relatives and friends for a few days (6 hour drive)
Day 4-7: staying in Boca Raton (should be the more relaxing part of our vacation)
Day 7: drive up to Disney (3 hour drive) and check in & go to MK
Day 8: Epcot!
Day 9: Disney Hollywood Studios!
Day 10: Animal Kingdom!
Day 11: Another day (this time a full day with morning EMH) at MK!!
Day 12: check out and have breakfast at Chef Mickey's at 7 AM (have ADR already) then hit the road; stay over in North Carolina (8 hours drive)
Day 13: drive to Maryland (outside of DC) to visit old college friends of mine (I attended UMCP) (5.5 hours driving)
Day 14: in Maryland
Day 15: head home (about 4 hours drive)

If we were flying, we would not be able to do all of these nice things! We also love road trips, especially DH! We have been doing cruises for a while, plus smaller road trips since having children. The last big road trip we took was in 2003 (BC...meaning "Before Children!") up through the New England states. We stayed in Stowe, Vermont; Bar Harbor, Maine; and NEwport, Rhode Island on a 1-week trip. We stopped in Boston for lunch between Bar Harbor and Newport. That's another road trip I would take with the kids in the future, when they are much older and would appreciate some of the things we saw. That trip was a graduation present from me to DH when he graduated from the Swedish Institute and became a licensed massage therapist. He loves road trips and those were places he had always wanted to see, so I gave that to him as a gift. He still says it was the best gift I ever gave him for an occasion! He still says it was right up his alley.

We are planning on this first road trip to WDW as a family to be the first of many! Every 2 to 3 years sounds about right for us as of now. I think the kids will be fine in the car, especially with the portable DVD player. Some people tell me I am crazy, others say we are going to have the time of our lives. I tend to listen to the latter of those comments.

I think road trips are what you make of them. If you go into a long car trip knowing you will have a wonderful time even while in the car (who isn't excited in anticipation of getting to Disneyworld?), it will be a blast! If you dread it, it might be another story. I know we are all looking forward to our trip in July. Can't wait!

--Bonnie

 

[BC1836]

Bonnie:
What a wonderfully planned 2-week trip!
Indeed, your summer trip can't come soon enough! Hopefully gas prices will have peaked by the time of your journey south.
We wish you and yours all the best.

 

[BC1836]

Two gas stops (one in VA and one in SC) get us from NJ (starting with a full tank) to WDW.

Here's a comparison of our recent gas price totals (via our Honda Civic):

9/30/07: $46.50

12/09/07: $50.00

3/22/08: $59.25

The pattern of increasing gas prices is easy to see. Our forthcoming trip should set a new price-at-the-pumps record.

Anyone else have similar stats to share?

 

[kimgof]

We are about to take our third trip down We drove every time. The first trip the kids were 18 months, 4yrs old and 9 yrs old. Plenty of videos and we stopeed A LOT. This trip their ages are 5, 7 and 13. It just gets easier to drive with less stopping. The driving is part of the vacation. We look forward to it. The kids like to watch the states change and to look on the map to see where will be going next.

 

[TSMAMI]

may I ask what reviews? We ate thinking of taking the auto train home and would like to make sure its worth it?

No changes here. I had toyed with the idea of using the auto-train for the trip down and then drive back, but after reading the reviews from some sites it just seems that it is too much of a gamble. We may leave a day earlier now though about 2pm and drive until 11pm or 12am and then drive the rest of the way through in the morning.

 

[kathiep]

We've just started re-thinking our 3rd consecutive drive down for this September.

We usually stop overnight on the ride down; drive straight through on the way home. Considering gas prices, the hotel for the night plus meals, we are beginning to think that maybe flying is an option this year.

We usually ruled out flying because we enjoy have our own transportation while there. We drive ourselves from park to park for the simple convenience. But this year, we are staying at the Poly. So, we would only need to worry about transportation for DHS and AKL which is only one visit per park.

Suddenly, flying seems like a likely possibility.

 

[annieb727]

Well...we drive about once a year to Disneyland - we're in WA state (for now), and it's 2200 miles round trip.

If we attempted THAT to WDW, we'd be driving well over 6000 miles. Nope!

However, we will soon be moving to South Carolina (military), and I am happy to say that we will have less than 1000 miles round trip (and plan to become WDW Ap holders and go there several times a year).

 

[CSI007]

may I ask what reviews? We ate thinking of taking the auto train home and would like to make sure its worth it?

Do a google search, there are lots of opinions out there. I have pretty much given up on the idea now because of other reviews and the fact that the prices just went up 70 bucks for the date we are traveling.

 

[YellowXterra]

We are only 650 miles from Fort Wilderness to our driveway. However this year we are doing a 2 week road trip From TN thru NC,SC,GA then to WDW gonna be over 2000 round trip. We will get 14 mpg towing our camper which is still less than flying and hotel rooms. Plus no where near as much fun!

 

[BC1836]

May has arrived, all of you 2,000+ mile only drivers! Is anyone making THE trip this week?

 

[Goofy's_Biggest_Fan]

We live about 30 minutes north of Cincinnati, so a quick hop onto I-75 isn't a problem. It's 955 miles from our door to Pop Century. We do turn it into a two day trip with a overnight stop. I have never done the drive straight through. My DW has done it in her earlier years, and said that she was so tired after getting to WDW, that it took her a couple days to recover, and it just wasn't worth it. My DD is 16, and can now take on some of the driving, however, when she drives, I think we would end up doing more praying, than sleeping!

We have made about 4-5 trips over the last 8-9 years using this plan, and we'll do it again later this summer:

We usually leave around 4:30-5:00 AM and shoot through Cincinnati before morning rush hour. With a quick stop or two, we're in Knoxville about 10:45AM, and usually hit the GA state line right around 12:30 PM or 1:00 PM (with a stop for lunch). Our goal is to get through Atlanta before the afternoon rush hour, and we can usually hit the south end of Atlanta (near the airport), right about 3:15 PM, BARELY before the worst of the traffic hits.

Then comes the boring part of the drive: that stretch between Atlanta and the FLA state line. We will usually plan to stop around Valdosta, GA for the evening. We usually arrive in Valdosta around 7:00 PM and will grab a quick bite to eat and the two DD's will hit the pool.

On Day 2, since Valdosta is only 15-20 minutes from the FLA state line, we usually stop at the Florida Welcome Center right about 9:00 AM, and get our free orange juice. After being entertained by the "We Bare All" signs for a couple hours , we usually hit Ocala about 11:15 AM and grab a quick lunch (used to go to the Disney Visitor Center before they closed it!), and then take the Florida Turnpike on down. By 1:45 PM, we can be in line, waiting for check-in at Pop Century.

 

[robin09]

may I ask what reviews? We ate thinking of taking the auto train home and would like to make sure its worth it?

We did the autotrain in Feb of 2007... Never ever again. DD was8 at the time.. The train didn't leave for 4 hours (earlier train was late). Our dinner that was to be served I believe at 7 pm did not get served till 11pm... Very unhappy, tried to get dd to eat, but she was asleep. Thankfully I did bring a couple of snacks on with us. Train that was to arrive I think at 8 in the morning did not make it until noon, we finally started driving about 1 pm. It made for a much longer trip, and we still had to stop at a hotel in PA because of being so late. For us it was a total lose lose. I tried saving some driving time and to make it a change.. but Never ever again. DH had kids behind him that were playing movies till 2 in the am and kicking the back of his seat. No matter what was said to the kids, they continued. Their parents were in the dining car the whole time... DH ended up spending the train trip in the smoking car, and I got to stay up with DD, just not any fun.... No apologies either, or even trying to make the situation any better....

 

[robin09]

We were wondering how many of you good folks drive at least 2,000 miles roundtrip to WDW two times a year? We're getting ready for 2,000+ mile roundtrip #3 this year. Exit #67 on I-4; here we come!

Does it count if we do it once for universal, and once for Disney? LOL... We do it in February (presidents week) to universal for the $90 7 day tickets. And then we do it in AUgust for FREE disney Dining. Dh is definitely not happy! He says he needs a change of scenery! I tell him to look out the window as we drive, enough of a change! Anyway we drive from upstate New York to Orlando twice a year! Getting ready for our August vacation now! Especially with the weather we[ve had ... 25 degrees at night.. ridiculous... and my vegetables will never grow now! Poor seedlings!

Beleive me August can't come soon enough!