Road trip from Alberta to WDW

[bjensen25]

I was just curious to see if there has been anybody here that has tried doing a road trip to Orlando from Alberta. We are from Calgary and we had looked at doing a trip there but being that it is such a long drive we thought if we did it, that we would make a vacation out of the road trip and then still spend a week at WDW. If anyone has done this from around alberta, what route did you take and what areas is nice to go through along the way. This year we plan on flying but next trip (probably going to be next year) we would like to try it out. Any comments or suggestions???? Thanks

Brandon

 

[ChisJo]

I live in edmonton- we were thinking about driving down there for our upcoming trip because we though we would be saving money....but then we found airfare for $345 each, return. We tried to factor in the price of a rental car to drive down there (we don't have the type of vehicles to want to put that kind of mileage on), and then the cost of gas (right now, yikes!), the cost of the hotels while on the road, plus the amount of extra days it would take for us to get there and back (would we be able to take off extra days, or take those away from the time we are there??) and we ended up deciding that in the end it was better to fly. Now, I don't know how many people you are travelling with, so it may make a difference if there is 6 of you that you have to pay for for airfare (or passports if you don't have those too!!). Anyways, good luck, and welcome to DIS!

Jo

 

[bjensen25]

Jo
That is pretty good prices on airfare how did you find such a low price? Just through the airline websites? There is only my wife and I but have friends of ours that would enjoy coming and we originally thought driving might be cheapier for them as they want to spend as little as possible, but looks to be not the case. We Actually just moved to Edmonton recently from Calgary. I totally understand the rental car thing because that trip alone would be putting like 10,000 kms on in just that trip.

Brandon

 

[drag n' fly]

We flew AC in February to Orlando return to Calgary including taxes for 2200cad for the five of us. I would never do the drive with kids, I would not even do the drive with dh but hey if you can swing it let us know!

 

[bjensen25]

Being that I havent flown much how is it that you find such low airfares. I just went on AC website and they quoted me 640 with tax and that was the lowest price out of the 10 day stretch I picked. I am just curious how or if there are tricks to getting low priced airfares.

 

[drag n' fly]

You have to watch for seat sales. Sign up for West Jet "get set" that alerts you to seat sales. Sign up for any newsltters from Air Canada and watch the seat sales. Kayak.com also is a good place to compare prices. I faithfully watched the prices for 5 months before I got my seat sale and then be prepared to pounce the minute you see a deal. AMA also has good prices on flights if you do not mind not flying direct.

 

[bjensen25]

That is really good information. It is definately worth the time finding sales if you can get them at that price. I guess I kinda went off my topic of my road trip to WDW from Alberta I might have to start a new topic called "why road trip when you can get good cheap flights" Well if we do take a road trip next summer Ill let ya know but as of right now I think we might be swinging more to finding some cheap flights. Thanks everyone

Brandon

 

[LoveDopey]

Have you checked into Northwest flying out of Edmonton? We got $350 per person in March. I think I booked the flights near the end of December.

 

[ChisJo]

I usually start by looking at expedia.ca for the time I want to go....If I am flexible, I may look a couple of days before the flight, or a couple of days after the flight, just to see if it makes a difference. Then, when I see the airline with the best deal, I go directly to their website, and usually they are cheaper by another $10...I usually look months in advance. It seems the closer you look to the departure date, the more expensive it is unless it's a sell off.

The other thing I do is look in the Edmonton Journal on Saturdays in their travel section. The companies that have cheap flights are usually travel within the same week, but sometimes they can help you get a cheap flight, if you give them the right dates...but beware, sometimes they aren't always getting you the best deal!!

What dates are you thinking of going??? Let me know and I will see what I can find you. I have never paid over $450 to go to Orlando...

Jo

 

[BraMax]

My sister just did this drive from Edmonton to Orlando this past Febuary. I believe they did it in 4 days but they drove crazy stupid long days. I felt so sorry for my niece. But they said they would do it again because they seen so much. Me personally would fly. We are going in Feb of '08 and are looking into the airfair. I could of had it back in March for 4 of us for $1200 now it's gone up so we area waiting again to see if the seat sales come and they come down again.

 

[bjensen25]

We haven't quite narrowed the dates down for next years trip but as for this years trip we are going to be going october 5 to october 13th. We have already got tickets to fly and so we will be set for this year. We were given free flights from my mother in law lucky us I know. Flying wasnt always an option us but see what kind of prices we can get I think will be more of an option now for sure.

 

[tracyvansmith]

I usually start by looking at expedia.ca for the time I want to go....If I am flexible, I may look a couple of days before the flight, or a couple of days after the flight, just to see if it makes a difference. Then, when I see the airline with the best deal, I go directly to their website, and usually they are cheaper by another $10...I usually look months in advance. It seems the closer you look to the departure date, the more expensive it is unless it's a sell off.Jo

I do the expedia checking and then go directly to the airlines website thing too.

I also check oneway flights. On july 3 I found the return flight I wanted for $142.82 each on united.ca. The flight down I wanted was close to $300each so I did not book it then, thought I would wait and see if it came down in price. Just today I checked and I got a flight down to orlando for $185.64 each through united.ca.

So the total cost for our flights is $328.46 each for Sep. 4-18.

So check one way tickest too. To book on line with united from Canada you have to use their ca address.