I am bummed...

[Jon99]

We have been planning a Dec 26-Jan 1 trip for several months, our plan was to drive and leave Christmas afternoon (arrive at WDW by lunch 12/26) and then leave in the afternoon of 1/1, drive to Atlanta for the night and return home on the afternoon of Jan 2.

Today we found out my wife has to be at work on Jan 2 for a teacher inhouse day.. Checked airfare and its doing to be about $1000 for DW, DD3 and DS1 and our budget is already pretty steep..

Any opinions on leaving WDW around 2:00P on NYE and driving part way home and driving the rest Jan 1? Are we going to be down having to leave on 12/31?

 

[ms.ojo]

SWA flies out of Chicago and they usually have some much better rates than that. They haven't released their bookings yet beyond 10/27 but it should be soon. I would add their website to your watchlist and sign up for DING! notifications. I bet you can still do this trip and fly!!!! Good luck.

 

[kaysmommie]

I Agree it would be better if you could fly. How much do you want to be there on NYE? I personally wouldn't mind driving to Atlanta and gettibg a hotel there and driving the rest the next day on New Years Day. The only good thing is there in no traffic on NYD. We drove from NJ to TN last year and no one was on the rode. How long is your drive to Illinois? Maybe you could leave early (if your not up late) and drive straight through. Not the best idea with a one and three year old. I would drive to Atlanta on the 31. That is lousy though about DW work. My DH has a little trouble getting time off so I can relate. Have a great trip whatever you decide.

 

[Jon99]

Yeah, I hope so.. We looked last year and the prices never did come down below $350/person. And driving wouldn't be that bad, only thing that would be different would be leaving 12/31 and spending NYE in a hotel in the Atlanta area, would just seem wierd..

 

[Jon99]

I Agree it would be better if you could fly. How much do you want to be there on NYE? I personally wouldn't mind driving to Atlanta and gettibg a hotel there and driving the rest the next day on New Years Day. The only good thing is there in no traffic on NYD. We drove from NJ to TN last year and no one was on the rode. How long is your drive to Illinois? Maybe you could leave early (if your not up late) and drive straight through. Not the best idea with a one and three year old. I would drive to Atlanta on the 31. That is lousy though about DW work. My DH has a little trouble getting time off so I can relate. Have a great trip whatever you decide.

We live in the Chicago area, its about a 17 hour drive. We drove straight thru on the way home last year and it was bad, our daughter did NOT want to be in the car, was a long trip and we got home at 1:00 AM and DW had to be at work at 8:00A...

Not sure how big of a deal NYE is, were there last year and left the MK around 9:00P because it was so crowded, watched everything from the resort.. Does cut our trip short a day though and I would get an evil eye if I even mention leaving on Christmas Eve instead of Christmas Day.

 

[Disneynutbsv]

Could your wife fly home on her own and you drive home with the kids?

 

[rlovew]

IOs there anyway she can take that day off. In Florida as a teacher I have 2 personal days that I can take whenever I want even a teacher workday and the school system has to let me off. In fact my school prefers when I take my days off on teacher workdays because they don't need to get a sub. If they ask I just tell them I have an appointment. They don't need to know it is at Disney.

 

[Jon99]

This is her first year at this school district so she is a little unsure what their rules are, in the past it was frowned upon to take a day off after Christmas and spring breaks.

 

[Zippa D Doodah]

You don't have exactly a long trip planned anyhow. I would see about maybe cutting your budget elsewhere and springing for the plane tix. I am sure you will all arrive back home much more refreshed

 

[bjakmom]

My DH always flies home from Chicago on NYE (always gets home before midnight) after visiting his folks for a few days. The fares are usually great on NYE day and he says the airports are pretty dead. If you can get good fares, why not fly home on NYE - have some special treats set aside for yourselves when you arrive - and watch your vacation videos while you toast in the New Year! I think that christmas day is also a pretty 'quiet' day in the airports - check it out. Yep, sad to loose a day of 'magic', but better than no magic at all!

 

[jsmla]

DH has flown several times while the rest of the family drove down. He has his own business and it was actually cheaper for him to fly than to pay for the extra help at work for two more days. He would take a late flight down after work and a very early morning one back. Not much fun for the driver (me) with two kids in tow but it gave us those precious 2 extra days! Have fun!

 

[OzFan]

We are from the Chicago Area also and we have driven straight through twice now. We have 4 daughters and 2 DVD palyers for our minivan. Would I reccommend driving? NO! It is really draining. I felt I needed a day just to wind down from the road. The kids did ok, only minor issues: she's touching me, she's breathing on me, she is on my side of the seat..yada, yada, you get the picture. Also take in account any snow storms that might creep up on you. We have been lucky in the past, but you never know. We have always driven down in the spring. Driving 17 or I would say more like 18 hours straight vs flying 2hours and 45 minutes is MUCH better. Southwest does offer cheap flights out of Midway and I have recently found that Air Trans Airways are beating those prices. Just keep checking! Hope it works out for you~

 

[KimberlyC]

Honestly, I could not imagine spending 2 days driving to WDW and 2 days driving back during a 7 day trip. You are spending more time driving than vacationing and its hard on the driver(s) and hard on the kids.

And after being grounded in Chicago during the New Years Day 1999 blizzard, being stuck there for 3 extra days waiting for the roads to re-open and it still taking over 8 hours to drive from Chicago to Lansing - I make it a point to NEVER have to be anywhere following a vacation. Sometimes it just doesn't work out. That's winter in the mid-west for you.

Sorry I don't have better advice. I would try to fly - weather may delay your flight, but it will delay driving more. Is it possible to postpone your trip until mid-winter break when, including weekends you would have 9 vacation days?

 

[Jon99]

Honestly, I could not imagine spending 2 days driving to WDW and 2 days driving back during a 7 day trip. You are spending more time driving than vacationing and its hard on the driver(s) and hard on the kids.

Not sure how you figure we spend more time driving than vacationing..

We drive straight down, takes us 17 hours from the time we leave home to pulling into WDW.. Last time we flew it took us 7 hours from the time we left the house to when we pulled into WDW.. Add in the fact that we have our own vehicle, can bring more things from home, seems foolish to spend $1000 on air..

 

[disnut8]

I'd say go with your plan of driving back and stopping in Atlanta on the way back. Atlanta has some pretty nice things going for New Year's Eve. I've been at Disney World for the past couple of New Years and we never hit a park that night because of the crowds. It's easier to be somewhere else. We have our own private celebration which is very nice.

I can understand about the driving versus flying. We're from the Atlanta area and are constantly asked why we don't fly down to Orlando. Given the length of time to get to the airport, check in, go through security, the actual flight, and get from MCO to Disney World, I figure we'd "save" about an hour at the most. Or spend the extra $$$ to fly. As long as your vehicle gets good gas mileage and you don't mind driving, it could be the better way.

 

[KimberlyC]

Not sure how you figure we spend more time driving than vacationing..

We drive straight down, takes us 17 hours from the time we leave home to pulling into WDW.. Last time we flew it took us 7 hours from the time we left the house to when we pulled into WDW.. Add in the fact that we have our own vehicle, can bring more things from home, seems foolish to spend $1000 on air..

I focused on the drive to Atlanta for the night part of your post and the fact that you are a midwesterner and assumed you split the drive into 2 days like many people do. 2 days there + 2 days back = 4 days of a 7 day vacation so that was th logic behind my math. Sorry if I didn't read your op closely enough.

We are about an hour north of Detroit, about a 20-21 hour drive straight through. I've done it (long before DS) and there are advantages but for me driving is tiring and my time - 2 full days driving and being tired thereafter versus 2 half days (5 - 6 hours from our door to WDW including getting rental car, checked bags etc) of flying and being rested thereafter is worth a lot to me. Now if it was a shorter trip that would be different. I usd to fly to Chicago, but now (given how early we must get to the airport, security, etc.) its quicker to drive so I won't fly. That's just not the case with WDW. To each their own.