Planes, Trains +Automobiles - how did you get down to your DFTW?

[MegKate]

It's only 27 hours from Northern Maine to Orlando. I'm starting to seriously consider driving with all this crud that we have to bring down. I'm looking at the cost of driving against the cost of shipping/luggage fees.

How did you get down to your wedding? Do you wish you had gone another way?

 

[arubio0801]

27 hours!! Wow and we think were far we live in atlanta which is about 7 hours that's nothing compared to you guys. I donno I guess it all depends how much time you wanna spend getting there and how much stuff you have alot of people ship alot of their stuff. How much is the price difference?

 

[lpizzuro123]

Hey Meg - we live in NJ and we did the autotrain. You pick it up in Virginia (right outside of Washington DC) and it goes to Sanford FL (about 40 minutes from Orlando). You need to be in the train station no later then 2:00 to get your car on the train and it leaves at 4:00pm. It includes snacks, coffee, tea, dinner and breakfast the next morning. You arrive in Sanford FL by 9:00 or 10:00am the next morning. You need to wait for the car to get off the train (could take 30 minutes to over an hour depending on where you car is).

We do the autotrain quite often. Price depends on how far in advance you book and the size of the car (a regular car or an SUV).

We just got back from spending my DH's birthday in Disney and we took the autotrain down and then drove home. It cost $319.00 for the two of us and the car going down. All the snowbirds were heading up north for the return trip so the price was over $700.00 for the same thing. This is why we drove home.

Let me know if you want more info.

Linda

 

[BaBeeCee14]

We flew down to FL from NY. There was no other option as I hate sitting in a car for that long. I managed to fit almost everything in our suitcases and had family members help bring some stuff down for us. It worked out.

 

[disneygal922]

Hey Meg! I'm from Chicagoland so it's approx. the same distance... i think.

Originally, I was going to drive down with my dad and my sister was going to follow us with her two little boys in her mini-van. After much contemplation, my dad decided he probably couldn't handle 25+ hours in the car anymore. (We used to drive to all our vacations when i was little) Anywho, my sister may still drive but my dad and i are going to fly and ship everything UPS or Fedex so we can get a tracking number.

We considered Amtrak, but just the thought of lugging everything around exhausted us!

HTH! Good luck with your decision!

 

[tiggersam00]

I like Linda's idea of the autotrain if you really don't want to fly (or have too much stuff to fly). 27 hours driving will make you guys so tired, and you want to arrive in WDW fresh and ready to go, not exhusted from trading off driving shifts. Driving to DC won't be too bad and you will get a chance to rest up overnight on the train.

Dave and I just booked our plane tickets down to fly Delta (188 r/t out of BOS in case you are looking for cheaper flights) it is $15 to check a bag and $25 for a 2nd bag... I figure the worst case is that we have to pay to check 2 bags each on the way down and just pack up an empty duffle bag for the way back inside one of the cases...

 

[lurkyloo]

Well, I don't really count cuz I live in L.A. and had to fly, but I will say that by shipping my dress to Carolyn Allen's and shipping a box of junk to our hotel, it made flying sooooooo much easier.

 

[disbridemimi]

Meg Im in Mass, and I am planning to drive! Im hoping to take my best friend with me, and the guys are going to fly down to meet us there. I want to be able to fill my car with stuff! I have driven back & forth from Fl a few times in my life, and here is what I have learned:

If I force myself to drive straight through and get there asap, it takes at least 30 hours, then I spend the day sleeping when I get there. If I drive half way, stay over for a night and then continue on the next day I get there feeling refreshed and awake.

So either way, plan for 2 days. There is no traffic at night, so you can make better time, but if your tired its difficult. The drive down is REALLY fun, the drive home REALLY sucks. SO Id say road trip it down with some good tunes and auto train it back if you can.

 

[Tink&PirateMama]

We're up in southern Michigan, and when we go for the VR it will be our 5th trip driving down to FL (our 3rd to orlando), and it takes about 18 hours or so depending on traffic and stops (which can make things vary by a couple of hours- it once took us about 22 hours, the longest, other times I think 17 has been our shortest drive to FL). Usually we stop overnight, but sometimes we go straight through- maybe it's about 50/50 on that. I personally WAY prefer driving to flying. But I hate flying too, so I'm not a good judge of it... but really, I love having my car, being able to easily hit the outlet malls, go to wholefoods for groceries for the kids, drive out to eat if I want to, etc. Not that we don't use the disney transport, we do, but it's just so much easier to have a car. And, it's more flexible. Last time we decided to leave 2 days early because there was a great deal on rooms and we extended our trip for next to nothing. Or once we decided very last minute to go to the beach a few days. It's just nice to be able to do that, and with a flight, it would have been very difficult to do something like that. Do I like the drive? Not really, once we hit georgia I'm sick of it (or KY on the way back home!)... but it's totally worth it. And actually I really enjoy visiting atlanta on the way down too- maybe you could find a good spot- the smokey mountains are another good halfway point for us to stay overnight. What would yours be? North carolina maybe- that might be fun! Even it it's boring, at the same time, it's relaxing, we talk, the kids watch movies, I listen to podcasts, books, it's fine. Just do whatever feels the calmest and most peaceful to you, everyone will be different as to what that is for them!

 

[Bride-to-be]

FedEx ground is typically much cheaper than the post office - and usually quite a bit faster too.

Honestly. I would fedex everything so that you just have a carryon and fly down. If you want to drive - drive to providence and jump on southwest. Its going to be sooo much cheaper in the long run. Think about all of the gas and tolls and stress that driving causes. Its probably 27 hours on mapquest. That doesn't include any traffic. If its just the two of you then I really think you are nuts to drive and I would fly. Even if it is a little bit more I really think its worth every penny.

 

[DISNEYMAGIC2005]

I'm with Linda and the auto train. I took it when I went down for my College Program and it was great! I just loaded up my car and drove to the station and it was great. I live about 1 hr away from the station. I don't mind the drive but I don't want to do it twice so I will probably just take it down and then drive home. Also we were maybe thinking about stopping at a beach on the way home so that could be nice.