Seriously thinking about driving

[denneg]

I'm in the same boat as you, TeresaMc. We are going for two weeks in October, and the flights plus car rental right now is way more expensive than driving. I know the car rental prices will come down, but even so, I think it might make more sense to drive. Only problem is, my son gets car sick, and often can't even make the drive to Logan without throwing up! So we'll see if maybe he outgrows it a little, or if we can make it work somehow. I think I would be okay with the drive down, not sure how I would handle 20+ hours coming home!

 

[capegirl]

The fly/drive debate is happening in our house as I type this post. I've been checking Southwest fares for our week in July, and it would cost us the same amount to drive from Mass, as it would to fly. We drove down last summer with one overnight stop each way. What with the gas prices, hotels, and meals on the road we honestly did not save much money. All I can say is that family road trips can be great; when everything goes smoothly. Unfortunately this was not the case for us last August on our way home from Disney. We drove through a killer rainstorm in NC and VA.....I don't know how DH managed to see where he was going. Parts of I 95 were flooded, and we were forced to make detours that caused a huge delay. I think I just about kissed the ground when we arrived safely at our hotel that night. So I'm on a campaign to try to convince my 'fear of flying' family members to take to the skies this summer.
I would not want to discourage anyone from driving to Disney, I just wanted to share our experience. Bad weather can have an impact on travel on the road or, in the air.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I'm in the same boat as you, TeresaMc. We are going for two weeks in October, and the flights plus car rental right now is way more expensive than driving. I know the car rental prices will come down, but even so, I think it might make more sense to drive. Only problem is, my son gets car sick, and often can't even make the drive to Logan without throwing up! So we'll see if maybe he outgrows it a little, or if we can make it work somehow. I think I would be okay with the drive down, not sure how I would handle 20+ hours coming home!

Why not just skip the rental car & use ME? It's so easy not even having to go to baggage claim. Your bags show up in your room like magic.

 

[deb010305]

We drove from MA during April school vacation, because airfare for that week was outrageous - 675 a person ! The ride/drive wasn't that bad and we brought snacks and drinks. We stopped each way and spent the night in a hotel. If you can get reasonable airfare I would fly, it saves so much time. But we would drive again.

 

[techb]

I'm in the same boat as you, TeresaMc. We are going for two weeks in October, and the flights plus car rental right now is way more expensive than driving. I know the car rental prices will come down, but even so, I think it might make more sense to drive. Only problem is, my son gets car sick, and often can't even make the drive to Logan without throwing up! So we'll see if maybe he outgrows it a little, or if we can make it work somehow. I think I would be okay with the drive down, not sure how I would handle 20+ hours coming home!

Check flights from Logan. I was looking for sept and found direct flights for $200 RT

 

[monorailsilver]

I say if you are seriously thinking about it, do it. You won't know until you actually drive what it is like.

Dh and I drive many times before we were married to car shows in his 2 seater car. We live in CT and the farthest we had going was St. Louis but Nashville/Pontiac,MI were pretty close to far. And we drove to Ohio, Louisville, Indy, etc....

I actually loved the drives.....back then. We would stop for gas and that is when you went to the bathroom and if it was meal time we'd eat/I'd grab lunch from the cooler. And a few times we stopped for the night.

Again, it was fun, we had no Internet (I don't think anyone did then) but we did have a AAA book with a list of hotels and he had his mobile phone. Te kind attached to the car!

We drove to myrtle beach a few times as well and figured how bad could the drive to Ft. myers be, right?

Well my kids were great. The ride other then some traffic south of DC/north of Richmond was great but....driving thru the tree lined roads of NC and the long states of VA & SC were not fun. There were little to no cars driving down so it made the drive longer. The way back the snowbirds were coming home so it went by quicker to see constant cars.

Anyways, we decided that we couldn't do that drive again. Day 1 we left at 6am and stopped in santee, SC at around 9:30-10pm. Finally got to sleep and left the next morning at 6:15 and arrived at my sisters at about 3:30.

So we are going to try the autotrain next April vacation. Current flights are comparable to the price of the AT but it doesn't include a car rental, parking at the airport or a limo to the airport.

So we will see. If we hate the train, we can fly in 2015...

 

[maxiesmom]

I think I would be okay with the drive down, not sure how I would handle 20+ hours coming home!

That is where I have the hugest problem. I've done many road trips to Florida, and the drive down is fun. The drive home is the worst! You are tired from vacation, you are facing down a long drive, and all you want to do is get home and sleep in your own bed. The excitement is gone, so you don't have that to raise your spirits.

If there was a huge savings, and I had 2 weeks of vacation I could use all at once, I would drive. If I have limited time and only save a small amount, flying is the choice.

 

[sugarloaf10]

I am in the same boat right now trying to decide whether we will fly or drive. We live in central Oh and the drive is about 15 hours. We have a 3 yr old (getting ready to potty train) and an 18 month old. I am worried about the stress of flying with them, plus it will be about $750 more to fly when you add in the price of a car rental, which is a necessity for us. Plus we need a suite if we intend to relax at all due to the early bedtimes, which is $700 extra if we stay onsite vs offsite. So, driving is really looking appealing, but I agree, the drive back does not seem fun!

 

[NYDisneyKid]

Did you take into consideration that its 20 hrs each way? round trip 40hrs