Help me with this air/car situation

[3girlsfun]

In my travel party are 3 adults, 1 child, and 2 infants. So, we will be buying 4 plane tickets total for our party of 6.

Here is the predicament. Our original plan was to fly on October 2 (Saturday) arriving the airport around 2pm or so, ride ME, then settle into the hotel resort, and go back to Chef Mickey's for dinner at 7:10pm. Pretty straight forward, and low key.

Or so I thought....

Since we are flying, I need to have diapers, formulas, wipes, baby food, baby wash, all in the room. (All things I don't want to pay for in luggage fees and it will all be gone at the end of the trip.) I will also want a few snacks/drinks for the room, as well as sunscreen for our trip. I thought Garden Grocer and diapers.com would be my answer to this. (Although, once I add up the costs to do these things we will no longer be saving money by flying, but it will be easier on us.)

Then, I decided I would run in the Wine and Dine 1/2 Marathon. When I decided to do this, I didn't think it would add that much stress because the race is at night, even though it is on our arrival day.

Now that I have looked more into this, it means that I have to have the race packet picked up by 4pm on Oct. 2nd. (Saturday). Assuming I need to allow 3 hours for ME to deliver us to the resort, then I would need time to get back out to pick up my race packet at the Expo, I would assume I need to be at the resort (Pop) by 2pm.

Ok, not sure about your family, but my family that involves 3 children, two of which will be under the age of 2 when we travel, trying to get to the airport in order to make an 8am flight is a complete nightmare!

I have thought of several options:

1: Me and one of the children fly down on Friday night, ride ME to one of the race hotels, spend the night there, and then wake up Saturday morning, ride the bus over to the EXPO, pick up race packet, still have GG and diapers.com deliver everything.

2: Same as above, but instead of having everything delivered, rent a car, and go to Walmart or whereever, shop, check into hotel, etc.

If I do either of these, the rest of family will arrive in Orlando like we originally planned.

3: Arrive on Saturday by taking a flight that lands at Noon, take my chances of ME not taking the 3 hours they say to plan for, cab over to the Expo for race pick up, still have everything delivered.

4. Same as above, but rent a car for the day to get to the Expo, and then get packet and shop for myself.

I am open to other suggestions.

I am all for saving money when I can to an extent, but, I also want to make sure that I get everything needed for my family, and I am there to get my race packet on time.

 

[seashoreCM]

Leaving on Friday would be a good idea to avoid the anxiety of not being able to complete the errands after you get there. If your older child cannot help you letr alone your having to take care of him then you would be better off going alone and all three children go with the rest of the family.

Have someone else do the shopping trip while you get the race packet.

By the way, can you run right after a good dinner? Maybe you need to cancel the Chef Mickey's dinner so you can eat something light or much earlier for the race that evening.

 

[Tara]

One mistake you are making is including the cost of the diapers, formula etc itself when you decide that using Garden Grocer and diapers.com will mean you are "no longer saving money by flying." You have to buy those items regardless - if you bring them with you, they aren't free. All you are paying for if you use the services is the delivery fee (small) and whatever fractional price difference there might be. That is SURELY still less than 1 checked bag fee.

You don't need to allow 3 hours for ME to deliver you to the resort - it should be no more than 2 hours, or really 90 minutes.

That said, I would go with the plan of traveling on Friday with 1 child. This plan will only work if the child is one of the infants, though. (I don't think the other adult will be allowed to fly with 2 lap children.) If you decide to rent a car through Alamo or National, you could always pick it up at the airport, do the grocery shopping, get your packet, then return the car at the Car Care Center (they provide a shuttle to return you to the resort).

The reason I say travel on Friday is not only to make it a little less hectic, but that travel can be draining and dehydrating and doing the flying on race day might not be as easy as it sounds.

 

[3girlsfun]

You are so right that I would be buying diapers anyway! I LOVE the idea of Garden Grocer and diapers.com, that all around makes my life so much easier. I think eliminating the shopping trip would be huge for time. I use to live in Orlando, and the traffic is yuck around Disney, so, going to the grocery store isn't as "quick" as I would like it to be.

I will have two other adults flying, so I could leave both lap children with my DH, and take my 5 year old. She is super easy to take care of.

For Chef Mickey's, I'm not really planning on eating tons by any means. I will just be grazing at that point. I normally run about 15 mins. after I eat dinner at home, so, I should be fine with the 3 hour difference.

I am really leaning towards flying in on Friday, as it seems like way less stress! I just hope I'm not putting too much stress on my DH by keeping up with two babies, and my 82 year old grandmother if I do that!

 

[tjmw2727]

A few thoughts and some clarification:

DME - You can plan to arrive at the resort about 70minutes after checking in at the DME desk. Sometimes it can take up to 90 and as little as 60 but my average trip is 70 minutes. That also seems to be the consensus on the boards. Your luggage will arrive up to 3 hours after you check in at your resort so you should carry necessities and what you need for 24 hours in your carryon (advisable regardless of DME).

Lap children, you can only have one lap child per row on the aircraft due to the need for an oxegyn mask. So make sure you book accordingly, let the airline know there are two lap riders and make sure each adult can handle the baby/toddler on their own.

Grocery delivery, I LOVE this, we use wegoshop but I have heard great things about gardcen grocer as well. You would have to buy food/diapers formula ext anyway so the only extra expense is the delivery charge which IMHO is very reasonable.

One way you could all fly together on Saturday is to have most of the party take DME, use the luggage delivery and garden grocery. You and the 5yo could take a cab directly to the place to pick up your race info and then disney transportation back to the resort. Of course the ony drawback is if there is a flight delay and you can't get the race package in time. The cab should run about $50 +/- but less than a resort room for you and the 5yo.

Otherwise - If you think the two adults can fly comfortably with the babies then I would arrive the day before if you plan to run. I have traveled with my kids as the solo adult and ITA that a 5yo will be very easy to travel with and probably love the mommy and me time.

Finally, maybe you can all fly down a day earlier, you will have to get a room for the two of you either way?

Have Fun and good luck in the race.

 

[3girlsfun]

The cab idea is definitely a great idea! I guess I would just need to take her booster seat. I had no idea about the oxygen mask thing, so I am glad you let me know about that. I talked with my DH about them riding ME and then me renting a car, going to get the race packet, and then stopping by the store (or going ahead with Garden Grocer) and him just getting to the hotel. He said he thinks he can handle all of the kids and my grandmother by himself, but, I am not sure.

These are all such great ideas! Thank you! I just need to decide and go with my gut instinct about what is best. I knew if I posted on here I would get some additional ideas.

 

[lastminutemom]

I don't know where you are in GA, but if you are flying out of Atlanta Hartsfield, have you calculated the time and hassle factor as compared with simply driving? By the time you drive to the airport, park, get there a couple hours early and then fly, you could already be looking at 4 plus hours...

 

[Inkmahm]

I am really leaning towards flying in on Friday, as it seems like way less stress! I just hope I'm not putting too much stress on my DH by keeping up with two babies, and my 82 year old grandmother if I do that!

I personally wouldn't expect an 82 year old to handle a lap baby on a flight. Taking my 76 year old mom with us is like taking another child as she is in a wheelchair. Just moving luggage around takes extra effort because she can't handle her own. Could the 82 year old grandma handle her luggage AND a baby,too? I think you're asking a lot of both your husband and the grandma. If you want to fly on Friday you should take one of the babies with you, IMHO.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Or buy a ticket/seat for one of the infants. Or, yeah, I second the suggestion to just drive. That four hours cited by lastminutemom? Double that if you take two separate flights, plus the added-added time for someone to drive you to the airport Friday night and drive home. Too much - and I NEVER advise driving, unless you're already in Florida
If you do go with the grocery delivery, it's 100% pointless to also use diapers.com unless you already use them for a very hard to find diaper. Garden Grocer has a 'notes' section where you can order items not on their list. If they can't accommodate you, WeGoShop surely can. This company doesn't shop at a specific store, they use the store of your choice. If your diapers are available only at (for example) Target, they'll do all your shopping there.