How do you get to the Dis?

[bunneysvg]

We live in New Orleans and it is about a 10-11 hour drive with DS(3). We have an F-250 Diesel Truck and I figure the gas would be about $300.00 round trip but you have to consider wear and tear on the vehicle, mileage, food, sanity, etc.

If we fly it is an hour and a half plus however much time it takes to get through security etc. We flew to the Dis on SouthWest in Sep 07 and it was about $700 for all three of us round trip.

How do you travel to and from the Dis and why?

 

[wildernessDad]

We go by plane. I don't want to drive the 14 hours it would take to get there anymore. I don't want to drive - period. We stay on property and let Disney transportation haul us around.

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

I'm sure everyone would prefer flying, but if that isn't a good option...a lot of people rent a car for the drive. You might want to look into it as there are usually pretty good deals on weekly rates and you could choose a vehicle that would be comfortable but gets better gas mileage than your truck. My sister-in-law does this when they drive down from NC.

 

[DVC Jen]

In our 8 trips to Florida/WDW we have only flown once. We always drive. My husband travels a lot with his job so those frequent flyer miles add up. We convert them to Hilton Honor points - take our time getting to Florida and use those Honor points for free hotel rooms. Then we usually get home as fast as we can.

I grew up with long road trips just being a fact of life when it came to vacation time. And - I HATE to fly.

Two years ago we drove from the Dallas are to Ohio to see family - then from Ohio to Florida and then back to Dallas. It was over 3000 miles round trip.

For my family - it works and we actually enjoy it. Plus we have our own transportation and don't have to feel like we are a part of the cattle call to get on the bus at the end of a long day.

 

[DiznyDi]

It's a 16+ hour drive for us...so we fly. Frequent Flyer miles have helped with some air transportation but you have to watch for 'blackout' dates during peak times.

 

[Safari Queen]

Childhood road trips made me hate long drives and I don't want to use vacation getting there. Business travel gives me frequent flyer miles and we always fly. Once I retire, I figure we might drive but we'll make our stops part of the vacation by stopping for a day or so and sightseeing on the way.

 

[browniemtb]

We fly........once the stay is booked I keep an eye on airfare. Southwest seems to be the best as far as pricing goes from our area unless we fly out of Boston.....which just gives us more choices of discount carriers. Once there we get a limo with booster seats, kids love this, to the resort. Its fast and convenient.
Brownie

 

[HUFF590]

AL here, about 10 hour drive. Never fly.

 

[photobob]

We have a nine hour drive, about 1100 miles round trip, under $150 for gas @$3 per gallon. I'm very excited on the drive down and the drive doesn't seem bad at all, the drive home is a different matter. We are tired and it seems to take forever to get home, we always joke that is because we are going up hill.

While we have the car onsite we rarely use it, we prefer not to drive once there. It is part of the reality escape for us.

 

[billmac50]

Most times we fly, but we have driven several times. The last time DW, 2 DD and spouses went (It was my treat) they all opted to drive. Yup, 24 hours each way in a minivan. Call us crazy, but we love the time together.

 

[DVC Mike]

I drive -- it's a 8.5 to 9 hour drive.

 

[kimsuenew]

We drive to WDW from Ohio. It cost a little over $350.00 in gas and a motel (one night each way at about $100.00 each) so we had less than $600.00 in expenses and it was far more than that for the three of us to fly down and back. We also like having our own vehicle to explore!

 

[global_mom]

We drive. We are in Georiga about 7.5 hours away if we only make 2 potty stops.

DH and I are going to WDW in Feb. w/o kids and so we are going to fly. We have never flown to WDW in our 20+ trips! Spirit airlines out of Atlanta does some great deals to Orlando. For $200 round trip (for both of us) we are happy to skip the drive this one time. Sometimes they do fares of $8 each way but those never match our schedule. I would try flying with all the kids if we could find $8 fares on the correct dates.

But, we actually enjoy the drive down to Orlando. Picture the Chevy Chase "Family Vacation" movies but in a good way!! The drive home is nothing but pure torture.

 

[GusMan]

We usually fly. However we drove last August since we had more vacation time than money. Took us about 18 hrs, not including stops and the like. It was long, but we had a good time with it.

And I swear the longest part of the drive is from the GA/FL... Its 3 hrs, but boy does it seem longer.

 

[TLSnell1981]

Childhood roadtrips, with no bathroom breaks, ruined me from driving. I hate to drive. Anything over 4 hours, I fly. We also have a F250 diesel, so I know the kind of gas mileage you get. You will also pay more for gas around WDW. The price difference in flying over driving isn't that much.

 

[Tissa]

When it's the whole family we drive the 16 hours, when it's a solo trip or I take my oldest ds then we fly. I'd rather drive than fly.

 

[eva]

We enjoy the drive, even though it is about 18 hours. It's a great time to catch up on our daily lives. I always tell DH it is my chance to have him as a captive audience. The only times we fly is when the trip is a week or less.

 

[DisDaydreamer]

From Virginia we take the Amtrak Autotrain. Typically we get our car loaded on the train and leave at 4pm Saturday. We usually get a (very small) sleeper compartment. Once we start rolling they have a wine tasting of Virginia wines, and we typically choose a 5pm dinner seating. Dinner is very nice and you usually have 5 choices of either a beef entree, a chicken entree, a pork entree, a fish entree, or a veggie entree. All restaurant quality cooked to order. After dinner we will take in the 7pm movie. Around 9pm or later we will tuck ourselves into bed... not the most comfortable, but a bed and privacy. The next morning we get up and maybe take a shower. Then we go get something for breakfast (muffins, cookies, fruit, etc. is available). Then we arrive in Sanford (very close to Disney) at around 8am Sunday. Then we drive to our resort and hope they have a room ready. More than half the time they do.

We do this because it is sooo much easier than driving the whole way, which we have, done. And it is sooo much easier than flying, which we have done. AND... we bring everything we could want with us.

All things considered.... we pack our car with everything we want, like beach chairs, umbrella, boogie boards, beach towels, some food, wine, whatever clothes we want, and whatever else we want to fit into our car. We don't have to stand in a line to go through security and we just hop the train... have a blast (sometimes we'll stay up late playing cards with other riders) and arrive near our destination with just about everything we need. And we don't need to rent a car. We enjoy the train trip and taking in the views and neighborhoods along the way. We typically reserve the Sunday to Thursday days at the resort, but the train trip to and from makes it a nice 7 day trip.

We are fortunate to have this arrangement available. We are happy with it.

 

[nunzia]

We only went to WDW once and the kids were little, so we were in the big family Suburban..3 days to get there from New Mexico. We took a long time so the kids could really see the country,. They also saw snow in Crestview Florida, got to experience tornado warnings and were treated to what was called a spring hurricane. We went in March. Anyway..next time, we will probably fly, since you can't take AMTRAK to get threre anymore since Katrina.
For DLR, even though I hate to fly, the last 2 times we have, next May we are taking AMTRAK and previous to that we drove..but the traffic is insane and I'd rather risk a plane at this point.

 

[disneybass]

We drive. It's a 7 hour drive from here. As a matter of fact, we are going to drive down there this Sunday!!!