Is this insane?

[Shannon G]

Not really WDW related, since we're renting a beach house over April vacation, but since we're looking to fly into tampa I thought folks on the boards would be helpful.

We live in CT, and have flexibility to fly out of Bradley, Providence, White Plains, Newburgh, or Boston without too much difficulty. Problem is airfares are really high for all of those in April! So I've been exploring alternatives...JFK and LA Guardia are a bit cheaper, but a complete PITA to get to from what I've read and been told.

S here's my thought...we can take Amtrak down to Baltimore, and get pretty cheap flights from there. There are 6 of us travelling - me, my two daughters (5 & 7), my mom, and my two nieces (11 & 14). There is an Amtrak station on the grounds of BWI, with a shuttle to the terminal. Total cost for the train and the airfare is $227 each.

I'm hoping that maybe fares will drop around here once SW releases fares for April, but I have my doubts, given that it's peak travel season. If they don't is this alternative completely crazy, or does it make sense to anyone else?

 

[goofy4tink]

Makes sense to me...as long as you don't mind the extra time involved. I doubt that any fares are going to be coming down,..not even when SW brings theirs out. Theirs will be pretty high as well. It's that whole 'supply, demand' thing, especially for spring vacation time.

 

[TheWog]

If it works for you, why not? Make it an adventure... could be a lot of fun.

 

[DC7800]

BWI Airport Rail Station is one of the easier train-plane connections you can make, and probably your best choice, though there is also a station for Newark Liberty, and there is a Thruway bus shuttle from Penn Sation New York to both JFK and La Guardia. Beyond that, you could really transfer at any point, though it would mean a (probably constly) taxi ride out to the airport, and take more time. Miami, Florida also has a more convenient air connection, if it would help to do the reverse of your plan, and fly into Miami and take the train to Tampa, perhaps.

Of course, you can always take the train all the way from CT to Tampa.

 

[Shannon G]

Thanks for the feedback. I think we're probably going to do it. It will save us a significant amount of $$$, and I like the idea of making it an adventure. The trip down should actually be pretty easy, since we can get a 12:45 am train out of New Haven and sleep until we get into BWI just before 6:30 am. We can then get an 8:52 flight to TPA, arriving at 11:14 am. This is a relaxing beach vacation, so if we're tired from the trip we can all have naptime once we get to our rental cottage.

We don't want to take the train all the way, simply because of the time involved - it would take us a day and a half. And flying into Miami then taking the train to TPA doesn't help, since airfare to Miami is high too. But thanks for the suggestions.