How do you get to the Dis?

[byoung]

We fly Southwest from Philly.

 

[Donald is #1]

For me its a 24 hour trip if I drove so instead I fly. However, I will drive one of these days just for the adventure of it.

That being said, if I was only 10-12 hours away, then I would always drive.

 

[Island Mouse]

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

We fly because............well because we have to cross 2500 miles of ocean and then about 3000 miles of land. I wish I lived within a 10 hour drive from WDW. But then I'd probably need more points since I would go more often.

 

[GEB@okw]

It's 2400 miles round trip and at 50 cents a mile that is $1200. (Now I wish I find a car that cost only 50 cents a mile to drive) Two tickets out of Detroit at 139-199 a piece and free Disney transportation and it's a no brainer to fly. I can get up at 6am and be at Disney before 1pm when flying. Also you can get bumped at least every fourth trip for $300 and a couple more free tickets. I love NWA!!!!

 

[Coach81]

Before we got DVC, we always flew. So convenient to leave New Orleans at 6 pm and check in at the resort at 9 PM!!! Now that we have DVC we will be driving to save money. Kids will have their own DVD players, CD players, and anything else we can think of to keep them happy and QUIET while we trek!!!

February can't get here fast enough!!!

 

[sjdisneywedding]

usually always drive. its about 18-20 hours for us, but we love driving. Theres just too many places up and down the east coast we love so we always make short stops in a couple places on the way down or back or both. We always try to make a stop in Baltimore(Inner Harbor), Annapolis(for crabs), or Charleston

Plus we love having a car there as we usually do at least one off site activity and lately have been combining WDW trips with cruises

sometimes we drive our own, especially now that we have better and more comfortable cars to make the trip, but we have also rented in the past and drove that down

 

[mdoc]

For our past several trips we've driven. It's a 20 hour drive and we usually do it in 2 days on the way down and straight through on the way home. There are 7 of us, so those airline tickets add up. Plus I personally hate to fly (not the in the sky part so much as the airport/getting to the airport/parking at the airport hassle). Back when we took long weekend trips, instead of the week+ trips we've taken lately, we did fly.

 

[disneymom8589]

Being from WA that pretty much means flying for us! There is a direct flight from Seattle to Orlando on Alaska Airlines.

 

[Tinkerdreams]

As a kid we always drove down. We currently fly and I prefer that. It is approximately a 20 hour drive and with gas prices going up, we will have to do some serious comparing of the cost of an airline ticket to driving down if airfare goes up significantly. I am fortunate to own a hybrid (Prius), so for 3-4 people driving down, it would be a savings.

 

[lulu71]

We also drive from New Orleans. With an infant and a toddler we have too much baby gear to fly with, although I'm sure we could scale down if we absolutley had to. I would rather fly, DH would rather drive so we go round for round on this.

We usually stop in Tallahassee or Lake City for the night on the way down so that also adds to the gas cost so I don't think we are saving much if any money by driving.

 

[Pocahantas]

We are from Lafayette. Drove to Disney once a few years ago. It was our first trip. We have flown ever since. We love the Southwest nonstop flights out of New Orleans! We leave home around 7 a.m. and drive to New Orleans. Usually try to book a flight around 11 a.m. which puts us in Orlando around 2 p.m. By 4 p.m. we are usually checked in at our resort and have already headed into one of the parks!!

 

[jemiaule]

We live on the west coast so our only feasible option is to fly. I just mapped it and we are 2837 miles from WDW. We drove to Orlando once, when we moved there...that took 4 days and will not be a trip I will EVER repeat now that I am back in California.

Even with flying it takes us about 10.5 hours to get to WDW when you factor in arriving to the airport 2 hours ahead of departure, a layover in Dallas (I wish there were direct flights from SFO) and the fly time.

 

[kgc07]

We are in Missouri and we fly. It is so much easier than driving. When I was younger and lived in New Orleans we drove. My dad still lives in the area and has started to fly. I say, do what it easiest for you.

 

[tjcj]

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.

This sounds fun, we took a look at the amtrak web site and are considering doing this on our next trip down. Do you get the sleeper car with the private bathroom or without? How bad are the fold out beds?

Our normal deal is to fly down on a Sat from Regan National, rent a car and stay offsite (or SOG) and then check out and head home on Fri. So when you look at the cost of the 1st night hotel room and rental car this is about a wash....