If you had to choose flying or ddp?

[Leajess99]

I would so cancel the dining plan. I actually hated it and will never do it again.

 

[emmababy]

Thanks everyone for all your tips!! For us the second trip is what makes us do dvc. We can use AP's twice sometimes 3 times. The maint. fees are a lot easier to swallow. I redid the Math and it would save $500 if we drove, so maybe I will fly once and drive once. We drive to Iowa a lot for family. That is 7 hours and the kids handle it well

The ebay is another idea to raise money. Thanks everybody for your tips! We are also thinking of doing Disney and HHI or somewhere not so spendy.

 

[Sammy]

I would eat PB & J all week before I would drive.

What she said!

 

[bratmomma]

If I had to choose, I would drive and get the DDP. In fact, depending on what airline prices are around the time of our next trip, we may just drive anyway.

Good luck with your decision and have a fantastic trip!

 

[bigbabyblues]

We drive it from Ohio; we've flown twice, but much prefer to drive. We leave just after school (not sure if the ages of your little ones, but you get the idea) and arrive around 6:30 or 7:00 in the morning. It works great for us. But, it's almost a 3-hour drive to the airport for us, also.

 

[MinnieGi]

The ebay is another idea to raise money. Thanks everybody for your tips! We are also thinking of doing Disney and HHI or somewhere not so spendy.

Just had to say this is what we do. One longer WDW trip, 10 days in the fall or winter months followed by a one week stay at HHI in the summer. It works out great and our summer week gives us Disney touches at the resort. There staff is fabulous and so many fun things to do!! Our family loves it there!!! It is also a much cheaper vacation as no park tickets, we buy groceries on the island and pack sandwiches and snacks for the beach and combine that with a few restaurant meals and cs beach house. Plus we do drive the 12 hours so we can bring our own beach chairs, umbrellas and sand toys.

For our WDW trips we also do AP's and just take them within 11 months of each other. For instance we'll do a CHristmas week one year followed by Thanksgiving week the next year. Each of those trips we stay at least 10 days to get our WDW fill and maximize those AP's!!

 

[momto2js]

We have about a 14 hour window, if it is within 14 hours we drive more than that we fly. I HATE to fly with my kids. At least in the car we have some control over things, we eat when we want, stop when we want, if the kids cry it doesn't bother anyone.

We drove (from Northern AL) last year, 3 adults and one child cost $175 round trip so it is an enormous savings for us.

The other advantage for us is we get to take all of our stuff which I really like.

 

[thompsons4disney]

We drive from Kentucky about 13 hours of just driving plus all the stops for kids (10,6 and 3) and meals. We have a Durango with a DVD player (wireless headphones!!) Since we are a family of 5 even if airfare was cheap I just couldn't justify that much money spent. I guess I am very, very lucky that my kids have always traveled well. Give them movies, snacks and their handhelds and they are very happy.

We only go to Disney when they offer free dining and for me eating our way thru Disney is a big part of our trips. I have a food allergy and going to Disney where they are so good about finding and making foods for me to eat is a HUGE deal.

So my vote is to drive and do the dining plan if doing table service is big for your family like it is for mine.

 

[emmababy]

We drive from Kentucky about 13 hours of just driving plus all the stops for kids (10,6 and 3) and meals. We have a Durango with a DVD player (wireless headphones!!)
We are in Cinti. With stops how long does it take? Do you stop at a hotel?