How far would you drive to WDW?

[dameodie]

This is true, there's the distance to the airport factor too. We could fly out of a more local airport, but all the best deals are out of Chicago... which either means leaving here 5 and a half hours before our flight is scheduled to leave (3.5 hrs to O'Hare, to get there two hours before departure) and then the drive home... Well, it'd be more like 6 hours because we'd drive to my folks' house to leave the car there and have them drive us, so that we don't have to pay out the wazoo for parking. Generally though, parking is another cost you have to consider when you fly... and I really don't want to have to pay $12-15 a day for my car to sit and wait for us to return.

Driving is still more difficult than flying, but flying has its own logistical issues.

 

[Princess Roo]

There is no way I would drive that long to save $1000, especially with so much time to save and find deals on the airfare. I think the limit for us would be 10-12 hours.

Another thing to take into consideration that many people leave out is the cost of the wear-and-tear on the car along with just the gas costs. Most sources have the total cost of driving at around 50 cents per mile right now (more for cars that have worse gas mileage)! Even if your car purchasing habits are such that the miles used don't have much of an impact on trade-in value, cars with more miles need more service, which adds up in costs.

 

[kevschickee]

I dont care if god herself came down and offered me $$ I would not drive lol

 

[dameodie]

...and if you keep your cars until they have no resale value left, that's not really an issue, other than needing a new car slightly sooner.

And I'm not sure what kind of deals everyone is finding... The best I found for us was about $700 to fly (for four tickets) not from our local airport, and not to MCO but the other Orlando airport (Sanford?)

Even Southwest out of Midway (cheep Chicago airport) was over $800.

It may be different if you're staying on property and can take the Magical Express. And while I'm not complaining about having somewhere to stay off property for free, if we flew we would definiatly need a rental car for two weeks... which isn't cheep either. When I rented one in CA on a really good deal, it was $300. Just did a quick search from the same company (Dollar) for two weeks out of MCO, with taxes et all it was about $400.

So $1200 vrs $450? No contest in my book.

Some of us simply don't have that kind of disposible income. The only reason we're able to go at all is because our family and friends are helping us (honeymoon registry) and we have free accomidations and tickets thanks to my parents.

 

[lillygator]

and I think 1 and 1/2 hours is bad! I could not imagine driving further than that. Our ride to the Gator Games in Gainesville (roughly 3 hours) is TORTURE to me.....!

 

[*KeepMovingForward*]

Some of us simply don't have that kind of disposible income. The only reason we're able to go at all is because our family and friends are helping us (honeymoon registry) and we have free accomodations and tickets thanks to my parents.

Definitely if finances are a major consideration, then flying may not be an option. And if flying means not going to Disney and driving would mean we do go...then I' drive (grudgingly...but I'd still drive).

When my kids were smaller, there were many times I did Disney on a shoe string (or less) and we cut corners so that we could just have the joy of being there. However, if finances are not a concern for someone, I'd certainly suggest flying. It all depends on your own unique situation.

 

[Barbers2005]

When we flew last May, it was $125 each roundtrip, but we did have to fly out of LaGuardia and pass up two closer airports (so about 4 hours driving). We ended up renting an Suv to drive to NYC and back because I didn't feel comfortable leaving both our cars unsupervised for over a week (took the inlaws, so no way we would all fit in one car). Even with the cost of renting a car for two days driving the entire trip would only have saved about $200-300 (just buying gas and food, not stopping anywhere to sleep). So, we didn't actually pay $1000 more to fly, but I would have. This year we plan on flying from the local airport to eliminate driving altogether (15 minutes in a taxi) and it will cost a few hundred bucks extra, but I would rather wait longer for the trip and save more money than arrive at WDW miserable and dread the drive back the entire time.

 

[dameodie]

This is very true. Given my druthers I would fly as well

I would much rather have extra money in hand at WDW and be able to say "Yes" to more, rather than having spent all our mone on getting there and back and have to be a Scrooge. The girls don't understand things like transportation costs, but they sure understand souviners!

 

[Tinkerbell424]

I would drive.You get to save 1000$,but if you can't stand screaming kids and stuff then I suggest the airplane lol.My brother and I are 13 and 12.We drive up and it take's us 4 hours and it's a nightmare

But If you don't mind your kid's screaming and stuff maybe then drive.

 

[arielsleepingbeauty]

I always find deals on flights , but then again, I am always checking every website I know for a deal. I found that if you fly out on a Tuesday or Wed, then it's the least costly, at least on Southwest. I found us flights for $59.00 in May. We fly out of Providence. I wanted to go in May and i waited for the flights to be posted for May and then i planned it around the best prices for flights.
I know that not everyone has the flexibility, but if you do, you may be able to find reasonable priced flights out there. YOu just really have to take the time and check and recheck everyday.

 

[mom4scrapbooking]

okay see this is so funny. We are planning to drive yes you heard it drive from Oregon. Around 3000 miles there and back. We have 4 kids. Ranging from 13 down to 3. For us it was about getting to stop and see everything. The grand canyon, Texas, Florida, New York, Utah you name it. My kids will probably be done speaking to us after this trip for at least a week. We are deciding to either purchase a use or rent an rv or just take our van. I think that we will have fun and hecticness and lots of memories.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

okay see this is so funny. We are planning to drive yes you heard it drive from Oregon. Around 3000 miles there and back. We have 4 kids. Ranging from 13 down to 3. For us it was about getting to stop and see everything. The grand canyon, Texas, Florida, New York, Utah you name it. My kids will probably be done speaking to us after this trip for at least a week. We are deciding to either purchase a use or rent an rv or just take our van. I think that we will have fun and hecticness and lots of memories.

This is completely different than piling in the minivan and driving for 2 days straight to WDW. If I had a month I too would love to rent an RV and stop everywhere. That's a little different. To spend 4 days roundtrip is not worth any amount of money for me. I would rather save longer.

 

[mm_ja]

I will throw my two cents in. It appears that geographically speaking I am in the minority here. We are a little over 500 miles away from WDW, or for us about a ten hour drive with two kids under 8. I dont like to drive, we can be at the beach in four hours and that is my limit. I have enough frequent flier miles for all four of us to fly on free tickets, but we will drive to WDW. We went last year and here are some of the reasons I am glad we decided to drive. Overall, we did not feel tied to the airlines schedule. About three am the night/morning before we left I got a nasty stomach bug, probably from being crammed on a plane earlier in the day (actually a bit of a funny story, I will save for a new thread). Needless to say by the time a flight would have been leaving a few hours later, there would have been no way for us to make it. The day we left I saw the line of people trying to get the ME back to the airport, and I have been through security at MCO, that can take a long time. We were able to check out enjoy the parks, and a nice dinner before driving a few hours and stopping for the night. We also quickly found out the convience of having our car there when my DS got sick and had to go to the Doctor and then a pharmacy (He had strep, not related to my stomach illness). Also we came home with a lot more stuff than we left woth and lugging that stuff through airports would not have been fun. Just my two cents.

 

[nicolita3]

when i was younger my family (mom, dad, brother and i) drove from arizona to WDW. we did it in 3 days and it was so much fun! on the way we stopped at six flags in texas, stopped at some zoos and aquariums on the way too, then we stayed in wdw for a week. it was the best! i would do it again in a heart beat.

 

[sk!mom]

DH and I will only drive places that are within a day's drive- say 12 hours max.

So for us, WDW is fly only although many years ago (1990) when we were younger and not debt free we drove to save money. I also only have 2 children and one doesn't always travel with us anymore. Our last Disney trip was only tickets for 3.

SO, I guess I'm saying that it's too far for me at this point in my life but if I had a larger family or it was a decision to save the money or stay home then I guess I would drive.

 

[almburr]

I envy all of you that are like a 20min ride to the airport.

The closest airport is DIA 3 1/2 hrs.

I just dont know wich driving route to take.

 

[DawnM]

I would drive. Are you staying on property?

I personally feel trapped when I am down there without a car. We have a Sequoia with a DVD player and we drove from CA to NC with just me and the kids! It was a 4.5 day trip but we made it. I have talked to DH about driving to CA for a vacation. We could make it in less than 4.5 days if we had 2 drivers and no trailer (cargo) to pull behind us.

Dawn

 

[mom4scrapbooking]

I guess in my previous posted I should have stated that we don't have an rv we just are looking into it. Even without it our van with a dvd player and 4 kids will be an interesting ride but one I am willing to make. It is all about time and money. I know that sounds weird but for us and there is so much we want to see around the world it is just easier to drive than to get off one place go to another plane and then another and then another. NO worries about renting a car. Can choose to offsite if we want. I am still unsure of this. For me it was about how we could stop at other states and still make the budget. The buget is hard. For me a dollar that my kids could spend for WDW that they have never been to is worth the drive.

 

[dbarker]

We have driven in the past--24 hours for us. I finally convinced DH to fly. If I were you, I would budget for the flight. Two full days of driving is horrible. The trip down to WDW is not so bad. But, the trip back home takes forever. We are tired, grumpy and want to be home already. I highly recommend flying if you can.

 

[almburr]

I would drive. Are you staying on property?

I personally feel trapped when I am down there without a car. We have a Sequoia with a DVD player and we drove from CA to NC with just me and the kids! It was a 4.5 day trip but we made it. I have talked to DH about driving to CA for a vacation. We could make it in less than 4.5 days if we had 2 drivers and no trailer (cargo) to pull behind us.

Dawn

we stay on site, We like hopping a boat for MK. we stay at WL.

We would drive and park at the WL and not drive again until it is time to head home. We like the transportation.