NJ/MA to HH - do you drive or fly?

[tdrcDVC]

If you calculate correctly it is not really between time and money. From cental NJ, HH is 800 miles or 1600 round trip. The average vehicle cost about 50 cents a mile to operate. That equate to a r/t cost of $800 plus tolls and all those in between breaks. For a family of 4 flying and driving cost the same amount.

 

[luckytso]

I guess you are including the depreciation of the car. Otherwise, if you just compare out of pocket expenses:

gas (1,600 /20 * $1.50 = $120 assuming gas mileage is 20 miles per gallon and gas price being $1,20, plus tolls here and there, I would think the total will be around $150

versus if you fly,

$200 per person for 4, plus the transportation to the airport (around $75 for me rt) plus car rental from Savannah for one week, I would think it will be around $1,100.

so to us, it is a lot cheaper to drive than to fly.

We still have not decided how we will get there yet. Thanks

 

[VMS]

We have driven the past two years in April, and both times it was fine. We live in lower Fairfield County, and one year we left about 5 am and we were in Charleston for dinner, and spent two nights there. Great city to spend time in. This year we left when the kids got out of school at about 3 pm, spent the night at my sisters in MD, and left the next morning at 5 am and were in HH at about 3 pm. We have 3 kids -- 11, 9, 6. Had TV with videos with the car, which is a tremendous help. If you flew, you would miss all of those South of the Border signs that my kids love!

 

[luckytso]

Thanks

What are these "south of the border" signs?

 

[Corinne]

Originally posted by Cora
I guess I'm the lone dissenter. We've driven and flown and only fly now. You know it's bad when your own child says "please let's fly!"
Cora

I noticed you are from MA also--how long of a drive is it? One of my frustrations is there are no direct flights--flying is not enjoyable to me, but I prefer it over driving!

 

[Macnjac87]

Hi all-
We will be leaving in about 2 weeks for our first trip home to HH with our 3 kids ages 13, 10 and 6. We plan on leaving on Sat. 7/19 around 2 pm and driving to Emporia, VA, and spending the night, then getting up and on the road by 8 am on Sunday, hopefully to arrive in HH by 1 or 2 pm. We've driven to WDW 6 times so we are pretty familiar with the route. There is a great website at www.usastar.com/i95 that has all kinds of info on exits services, gas, food, lodging and construction updates from Maine to Florida.
We will let you all know how the drive goes!! Can't wait!!

 

[sumessefui]

We live in Mercer Co. NJ and always drive to HHI. The last time we left about 8AM and stopped overnight in Fayetville NC. We have found that driving straight through leaves us too tired when we get there. We drive home without stopping. Taking 301 is good, but it has some areas of heavy traffic and we get back on 95 at Fort A.P. Hill.

 

[BIERMUGG]

One Option to bypass the Baltimore/ DC area is to take route 301. Get off 95 in Delaware Exit 8 (?) the exit before the toll and get on route 301 south. Goes down thru Annapolis and picks up 95 at exit 104 by Kings Dominon in Virginia. Took this Easter week down and back up and will be doing it again in 12 days.

 

[Cora]

Corrine,
From Franklin (on the RI border) it was about 16 hours. Hope this helps!
Cora

 

[Disneyaholic]

Originally posted by luckytso
I guess you are including the depreciation of the car. Otherwise, if you just compare out of pocket expenses:

gas (1,600 /20 * $1.50 = $120 assuming gas mileage is 20 miles per gallon and gas price being $1,20, plus tolls here and there, I would think the total will be around $150

versus if you fly,

$200 per person for 4, plus the transportation to the airport (around $75 for me rt) plus car rental from Savannah for one week, I would think it will be around $1,100.

so to us, it is a lot cheaper to drive than to fly.

We still have not decided how we will get there yet. Thanks

You also have to consider the convenience of bringing all the "stuff" you might want. Since we eat in more at HH than we do at WDW, we bring more food/kitchen stuff than we do for WDW. We also like to bring beach chairs and umbrellas, and of course DH and DS must have their golf clubs. By flying, you would have to probably spend more $$ there to buy some of that stuff, or do without.

 

[JVL1018]

Originally posted by luckytso
We are very excited about our trip next August to HH with us going from NJ (right outside of Manhattan) and my Brother-in-law's family (Boston suburb). As we were talking yesterday how we will get down there, it seems that the big debate is whether we should fly or drive.


What did you get there mostly? Any tips? Thanks

We also live right outside of NYC, and flying to HH never crossed my mind, while flying to WDW is always our first choice, isn't that odd?
Anyway we drive to Lumberton the first day and then have 3 hours the next day to HH. We could drive straight through no problem, but as we'd get there late at night, I don't see the point, when we could be there before noon the next day.

 

[JVL1018]

Originally posted by icy-dog
We live in Cental NJ ( East Brunswick). I guess we should leave at 2:30 or 3:00 AM to skip the traffic. Nice to know there is actually a time when you can get around Washington DC

We have driven back and forth to HH twice and WDW twice in the past 2 years, and I have not in the 8 times I've driven around DC had any traffic problems. If we leave Northern NJ at 6 am, we are in the DC area around 10 am, and there hasn't been traffic to speak of at all. This has been on Saturdays and Fridays.
The one time we had to sit in traffic was last month in SC b/c of an accident ahead of us.

 

[icydog]

Well my husband and I had a good laugh. You have been extraordinarily lucky. My brother in law lives in Springfield, Va right outside DC, and he tells us that the only time to drive through DC is 2 AM. I know he is joking but they avoid 95. They come to NJ a couple of times a year but never, never go on 95.

 

[luckytso]

Vicki,

Thanks. I am pretty close to where you live, I think.

How do you keep your little ones entertained for such a long trip? I have a 5 and 2 year old. As soon as we get into the car, my older one will start asking "are we there yet?"
She goes ON and ON like an Energizer Bunny..........

I sort of cringe on a long trip like this.

 

[SafariTigger]

My DH and I are leaving from MA and traveling to NJ to pick up our parents and then we are driving to HH from there next month. We plan on taking 95 the whole way. We've booked a motel 6 in Fayetteville, NC so that we only have to drive 9 hours (from Jersey) and then we can do the last 3-4 hours on the day we check in. Flying didn't really seem like a cost efficient plan, but after spending 12 hours in a car with my in-laws I'll let you know!

 

[Tomskatt]

My guys are 5 and 3 (actually we will be driving on his 3rd birthday!) and Julia is 13 months.We have made many long car trips with them. Prepare for everything! Have coloring books, magna doodles, anything they can look at for more than 2 1/2 minutes. Most importantly travel as much as possible while they are sleeping!!! Oh I feel your pain! GOOD LUCK!
Kathy

 

[JVL1018]

Originally posted by luckytso
Vicki,

Thanks. I am pretty close to where you live, I think.

How do you keep your little ones entertained for such a long trip? I have a 5 and 2 year old. As soon as we get into the car, my older one will start asking "are we there yet?"
She goes ON and ON like an Energizer Bunny..........

I sort of cringe on a long trip like this.

Well my daughter (3) is *okay, but my son(1), because he can't talk yet, is sort of a pain on trips. LOL Julia is typical 3 and asks a million questions but we try to drown her out with the radio. It drives my husband crazy, and me too, she's like that on a trip around town, and we are now at the point where she's sometimes not aloowed to talk in the car. LOL
Seriously, we have a TV/VCR in the car which helps IMMENSELY. Magna Doodle is a lifesaver, as were new crayons and sketchpads. My daughter likes me to draw a picture out of dots and then she traces it, so I did that alot. WE have a minivan with the 2nd row having 3 seats, so DH or I sometimes sat in between them and read books or just sat there, they seemed to settle down if we were next to them. I also have lap desks for them that they can use to color on, I brought Duplos and they built towers. I gave them push up lollipops, and the tubes of mini M&Ms. Yes, I fed them junk to keep them quiet.
Drinks and snacks helped. We also wrapped up a bunch of cheapie dollar store gifts and gave them each one whenever they were especially antsy. It was not bad at all really, and once Matt can talk instead of just screeching when he wants something, I know it will be even better.
That said, I am VERY glad we are flying this time when we go to WDW. Next June, though we will be hitting the road to HH.

 

[luckytso]

Thanks everyone. I will print out this thread and keep it in my Disney folder for next year.

Kathy, have a great HH trip!!!

 

[buzz5985]

We drove to DW and not HH in Feb 2002. But we will drive to HH in the future.

We (me, DH, DS - 5, Dog - 11) left at 4 am on a Saturday, hit no traffic until I reached Orlando on Sunday.

As for depreciation of the value of my car - I have a hard time figuring that out. It's a 1993 Pathfinder with, at the time, 122,000 miles on it. LOL

 

[sgtpet]

Last June my family and I drove down to HH from Northern NJ. I left around 11:30pm. My son was 20 months and I wanted him to sleep during most of the trip. We made numerous stops along the way but it was fine. The way back I stopped overnight in Fredericksburg to break up the trip.

I will do it again in the future.