How far will you drive vs fly?

[itsreally4mommy]

Those of you that live a decent distance from WDW (12hrs or more) do you see yourself driving indefinitely as airfare continues to skyrocket? (Earlier I recvd quotes of 400-500 each for airfare in December)

Do you think the burden of driving for days, plus the cost of food and lodging along the way is too taxing on the trip? Is it enough to permanently change your outlook on frequent trips to The World?

What is the max distances/hours that you think driving is still worthwhile?

 

[Chuck S]

We are about a 20 hour drive from Disney, so we spend one night on the road each way. We are flying in December, only because I had a free flight and Mom's ticket was $220 r/t. Unless we get a really good deal on flights, we drive. We had flown to California when the planes went into the towers, and fortunately we had a rental car to drive home, so we just don't fly anywhere without getting a rental car...and that figures into our cost, which usually makes it much cheaper to drive our own car to FL and back.

We stop at rest areas or restaurants every two hours or so, get out and walk around. Don't push yourself to exhaustion, have a soda or coffee, even if it means a few more rest area stops It really isn't that bad. One thing we have changed to save a little $ is we stay at Super 8 and Comfort Inns more than we used to, we used to stay at the slightly fancier Hampton Inns & Marriotts and those types of places, but a lot of the traditionally lower tier motor motels are really fixing themselves up, and are just as comfortable for us , and a little bit less $.

 

[JimC]

I used to say that 500 miles was the limit to my driving to get to a destination. Now I generally balk at anything over 200 miles.

Alternative to flying is Amtrak. For those in the northeast the auto train is a nice way to drive with much less hassle.

 

[Laneychris]

We fly and we live 16 hours away.

 

[bbluvsdis]

We are about a 14 hour drive away. We drove down in 2 days at Christmas. I hate the drive but it usually depends on how many are going.We took our son and my mother-in-law on that trip. My husband and I are going alone this week and we are flying. It is worth it to fly when there are only 2 of us. We will probably continue to do a little of both depending on the prices. The nice thing about driving is you can take so much more stuff (food and pool stuff). Either way I'm just happy to be there!

 

[janni518]

We just can't give up the vacation time it would take to drive from NJ. That may change as prices continue to soar.

 

[bwvBound]

We recently tested this question with a San Diego/Seattle run ... and have figured that ~1400 miles is our driving limit for most trips (<5-7 days duration). This distance generally requires one overnight stop (minimum) but is "doable." We'll be tweaking and evaluating cost differences for each trip.

As SAN/MCO is a certain "FLY!" decision, I was thrilled to book our January flights on our preferred carrier for $240/pp RT (taxes included). Whoo-hoo!

Now ... when will reasonable SAN/LIH (Kauai) fares be posted? I really don't think we want to try swimming or paddling the distance ...

 

[vicki_c]

We enjoy the drive and don't enjoy the hassles of flying these days. We live 900+ miles away, so about 14 hours most trips +/- the inevitable bathroom stops with the kids! We've done it so many times, we don't really think about it.

However, we will not drive if we are going for less than a week. Normally, we don't do that, but we have 2 short trips this year (4 days and 3 days), so for those we flew / will be flying.

 

[kristenrice]

We live in Michigan and I believe the drive is about 20 hours. We will not drive straight through and usually leave in the afternoon and spend 2 nights on the road on the way down. When we drive back, we leave early in the morning and only spend one night on the road on the way back. With gas, food and hotels, driving costs us about $1300. With only four of us going, our break even point for airfare is $325. We can usually get airfare for less than that so it is actually cheaper for us to fly. Actually, I would still fly even if it was up to $200 more to do so. We can usually find airfare under $375.

In 2010, we're going down with my parents. With 6 people, our break even point is down to only $225. Since we are going over spring break, I am sure we won't be able to get anything under $300 so we'll be driving. Besides, the driving is part of the fun (or agony ) so we don't mind doing it once in a while.

 

[Chuck S]

I used to say that 500 miles was the limit to my driving to get to a destination. Now I generally balk at anything over 200 miles.

Alternative to flying is Amtrak. For those in the northeast the auto train is a nice way to drive with much less hassle.

We did Amtrak once from San Antonio to Orlando, it was fun, and reasonably priced. There is no autotrain service here. Unfortunately, there is no Amtrak service through New Orleans since Katrina. New Orleans is the stopping point for the Eastbound trains, and no resumption of service East to Orlando is even planned.

 

[della]

We used to drive from Jersey and stop at HHI on the way there and the way back (in our early years we used to drive straight through). My 3 yr old doesn't fly well and we toss about the idea of driving but always wind up flying. We are usually fairly flexible in our plans. We have adjusted when we go more than how we go. We tend to jump on good airfares ($40r/t, 32.r/t were our last two trips). We are a family of 7 so airfare can really add up.

 

[bookwormde]

I am about 1000 miles away (14 –15 hrs). If I can get a good airfare we fly if not we jump in the car and drive straight through.

bookwormde

 

[robandkelly13]

We drive nine hours. Driving through the night gives our DD a chance to sleep and we miss all the traffic.

 

[itsreally4mommy]

We live in N. Tx so our drive would be approx 20hrs. eek! Then again the airfare quote I mentioned in my original post was THE CHEAPEST rock bottom price, add that it had a layover the convenience is dwindling. But I find road trips to be an absolute beating LOL! I think I'm far more impatient than the kids. ALthough now w/laptops and in car DVD systems, I suppose I might could fare a bit better. I just hate the thought of losing 4 days driving.

 

[cogero]

we fly as our almost 7 year old gets car sick. anything over 20 minutes and oh boy. We tend to fly to Florida

We will be driving to Arkansas for a wedding in November with 2 kids I will let you know how that goes.

 

[blondietink]

We live a 24 hour drive away, so we drive if the time allows ... it is always cheaper for our family of 4. If we are tight on time, we fly. We enjoy both ways, but I would fly every time if I had the money to do it.

 

[marieNJkitty]

We plan on driving to WDW 3 times in one year, about a 22 hour drive one way. Airfare is expensive, but that is just one of the reasons why we are driving. For me, driving is easier with little kids. I look at driving as a fun adventure. I don't know if I will feel the same way at the end of the year though!

 

[HayGan]

All of our previous trip were flown (PIT to MCO) We were lucky enough to get deals on USAirways or SW and fly for $120 R/T or less per person. However, we realize those days are long gone. We are a family of 4 and really do not expect to see rates below $200/pp going forward. When this year came around and we started talking about buying into DVC, we knew that most future trips would be driven. So when we booked our Aug trip using our developer points, we knew we would be driving. (It is a little under 1,000 miles for us.) Well, we did drive and we had a blast! The trip down was straight thru (~16 hours with small stops for food, etc. and one stop at Flagler Beach.) On the way back, we spent the night in Statesville, NC and went gem mining the next day. It was so much fun and we are doing it again next year. It was a nice way to break up that long trip home (especially after driving thru TS Faye's fury for 8+ hours.) In addition to the cost savings for us, we really like having our vehicle on site to go wherever we want, whenever we want. Trips down to Walgreens or Publix are so easy. So is going off-site to eat. DH and I have both said that the only time we will likely fly in the future is when he and I go for our no kids trips!

BTW, driving roundtrip from SW PA cost us less than $400 (including oil change/tire rotation) in my Toyota Highlander.
Less than half of what it would have cost to fly

 

[n2mm]

We will never drive to WDW. We live in the Wash DC area and will always fly. (Also we will NEVER take the train either... ). So instead of 4-6 trips a year with each trip being 6-12 days long, we would just take 3 two-week trips a year if airfare gets too high. Actually we don't find the airfare to be high in our area right now. The average price is around $200 rt and in the past we were getting it at $150 rt. That difference is not going to break us. We normally fly out of Dulles (1 hour drive from our house) and there are 4 carriers that offer non-stop, so those are the ones we fly. The worse case scenario for us is that we would have to fly a connecting flight....so that would be the only alternative for us.

 

[Mickey Moose]

We drive 16 hours from NE PA area. Works out perfectly when the kids have a week off from school. Leave Sat whenever we get up and finish packing. Sleep on the road at about the 8 to 10 hour mark. Arrive on Sunday at DVC. Stay till Friday and take advantage of SUN to FRI best point values. Leave Friday, sleep on the road at the 8 to 10 hour mark. Get up and arrive home on Saturday with SUnday to get rested for back to work and school on Monday!