Help deciding on travel to Disney

[Anthony1971]

I will have to add to the bad part. Tunnel vision is very real when driving a lot of hours. I did the drive once when I was in my late 20's maybe 30 it was ok drove all night stopped at some rest stops.... Fast forward 15 years driving 5-6 hours to a much closer sate and I felt like I was in driving through a tunnel. I did have an other driver but that was lunch break hungry or not..... If you can take your time and do it over a longer time it is fine but having to be somewhere the next day could be rough. On a side note if you have or rent a very late model Toyota/Lexus and others but I can not speak to how well it works- It will have driver assist which will keep the car in the same lane at the speed you set. It works very well will slow down speed up with traffic people changing lanes etc.. You still need to have a hand on the wheel and look straight most of the time otherwise warnings will come up... It will help a lot with driver fatigue 95 is 100 mile stretches of nothing.

 

[beccasmom]

We are also in SE PA, but closer to PHL. We are not thrilled with airline prices these days either, but so far we’ve decided to fly rather than drive. We flew SWA for several years almost exclusively to WDW, but they now offer very few non-stops from PHL and the fares are not any better than the ”legacy” airlines. We’re now flying pretty much on American, and have had decent experiences so far and PHL is a hub airport for them with a huge presence. The fares aren’t great, but aren‘t all that different from SWA.

We are both close to retirement (one of us may retire a bit earlier
than the other) and have discussed driving to WDW in lieu of flying because we’ll have more control of our schedules. We haven’t made a decision, but my guess is we will drive on at least one of our trips (we visit twice a year, but that may increase when we’re no longer tied to a work schedule). Having a car available while in Orlando can be valuable, but flying there in just over 2 hours does add to my indecision on this topic.

 

[Stratman50th]

We lived in north east MD and always drove. (Westminster). It was about an 18 hour drive. We always stopped overnight after a long day one. Usually Kingsland Georgia. In your case I'd try and stretch the drive south until you start to get tired. Hotel, then get a fresh start in the morning.

 

[Chuck S]

We drove to Disney many times, however, consider the cost of hotels along the way, if you plan to stop for the night. Many will be $200+ per night, so that made the cost of flying reasonable in comparison for us, on our last couple of trips. If you live near more than one airport, price both. It is substantially cheaper for us to fly out of Austin rather than San Antonio

 

[gottalovepluto]

If he’s set on driving some things aren’t worth arguing. Sounds like hell to me so I would vehemently disagree lol but I’m a flying type person.

However an overnight hotel is a requirement, your family’s safety comes first. Even someone who thinks they are the best caffeine hogging overnight driver in America cannot stop other tired drivers from wrecking their lives.

 

[jimmymc]

We drove from Jackson, NJ to Orlando once and my parents decided never again (I was 14 at the time). We left in the morning and stayed the night in South Carolina somewhere off of 95. You effectively lose two days off the trip, since even if you get to Disney early enough on Saturday to go in the parks everyone will be dead. Compare that to flying Friday, getting a good night's sleep, and hitting the parks the next day.

In your case, I would leave Friday night, stay in the Rocky Mount, NC area, and continue on in the morning. You'll get there at a reasonable time on Saturday, probably not enough for the parks but enough that Sunday isn't ruined.