Starting to get nervous abt Jan - shd we fly instead?

[laura428]

We originally planned on leaving the morning of 12/30 on a 2 1/2 day road trip down to WDW through Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and FINALLY Florida. We'll be there until 1/6, at which point we'll make our way back home over another 2 1/2 days.

We've been to WDW several times over the last few years, but this is our first road trip. I'm totally fine with keeping the kids (DS8 and DD6) entertained, and would normally be just fine with the drive, too. But we've had unusually mild weather so far this year, very little to no snow, and our weatherman said today that he thinks when winter does hit (soon), it's gonna hit hard with colder than average temps and higher than average precipitation. That could mean lots of snow up here in northern Indiana, and ice as we move further south....

I'm starting to wonder if we should bite the bullet and just fly and rent a car? We've already got another trip planned for September so we've tried to save as much on this trip as possible. Our four hotel stays there and back were going to be partially paid for by my hotel frequent traveler points (so out of pocket for all nights would be about $200), plus the cost of meals for those days at maybe $100 per day times 5 days. Gas is paid for because we'd use my company car, so approximate cost to roadtrip it would be $700.

If we fly and rent, the cheapest airfare I can find for all four of us is about $1350 including tax and fees, plus another $400 for rental car (incl taxes and carseat fees). Plus, we'd have to book an additional hotel night because to fly on our original dates, we'd have to leave early morning and lose our entire last day at the parks.

So... if we fly, we avoid the potentially treacherous roads but pay about an extra $1300. Eeeek...

For those who have driven, and especially if there are those who have driven this particular route in the winter, what would you do??? If we do decide to fly, we need to book soon as the fares I quote above are a special rate - not sure how long it'll last.

 

[LuLuO]

I've made the drive through Chattanooga many times and personally I would not want to drive through the mountains if there is a chance they'd be icy. When we drove down in September 2010, we drove into Chattanooga around midnight it was drizzling and the roads were slick. Going up the mountains wasn't bad, but coming down the wet road in the dark was scary.

 

[laura428]

I've made the drive through Chattanooga many times and personally I would not want to drive through the mountains if there is a chance they'd be icy. When we drove down in September 2010, we drove into Chattanooga around midnight it was drizzling and the roads were slick. Going up the mountains wasn't bad, but coming down the wet road in the dark was scary.

That's just what I'm worried about.

I've spent the last hour or so looking through airfares, and found a great deal through Hotwire that gives us airfare on our original dates (so no extra hotel room), plus a full-size rental car for $12.95 per day. Total cost would be $1,245 - $545 more than if we drove.

I'm thinking I'm gonna have to talk about this with DH.

 

[geniegirl]

Was in the same place as you a few weeks back and due to the weather issues and an infant in the car we are fly for the first time. I didn't want to risk bad roads and a crying baby for 18 hours. Ours wound up being about 400 more and we are doing without a car but it will be worth it in the end.

 

[Uncleromulus]

I wouldn't even think of driving that route in Winter---no matter what the forecast said.

 

[AllesonWonderland]

I wouldn't even think of driving that route in Winter---no matter what the forecast said.

Eek. I have family from Nebraska driving that route in January. Google shows an alternate route that skips Kentucky and Tennessee and goes down through Mississippi and Alabama instead. Maybe I'll suggest that and keep my fingers crossed!

Good luck deciding OP! Just be happy with whatever you choose, and don't second guess yourself. Because, you know if you fly it will end up that there is perfect driving weather on your dates. Murphy's Law!

 

[laura428]

Eek. I have family from Nebraska driving that route in January. Google shows an alternate route that skips Kentucky and Tennessee and goes down through Mississippi and Alabama instead. Maybe I'll suggest that and keep my fingers crossed!

Good luck deciding OP! Just be happy with whatever you choose, and don't second guess yourself. Because, you know if you fly it will end up that there is perfect driving weather on your dates. Murphy's Law!

I know! Watch... it'll be 60 degrees and sunny skies.

We ended up booking a flight in the wee hours last night, but got a great deal. First deal sold out before I could book it (ARGH!!!!), but found a second deal just as good - $1209 for airfare, $237 for car (only that expensive because we're adding two carseats at $60 each ). And we got the travel dates we wanted, so no extra outlay of cash there, either.

Thanks for the support, everyone. So excited we're only a few weeks away!!!!

 

[tlenzendorf]

I would gate check the car seats to save the money if it isn't too much of a hassle.

 

[donnaf516]

We just went over the same issue and decided to fly. This past summer we got really lucky and narrowly skirted Irene's path on the way down. I'm afraid to push our luck and deal with snow.

I'm another one who is suggesting you check your own car seats. Another option (what we did last time we flew) was me, dd & ds took the ME to the hotel and got us checked in while DH picked up the rental car and stopped at Walmart to pick up two inexpensive booster seats. It worked out a lot cheaper for us this way. I'm not sure if your kids are big enough to ride in a booster but it's an option.

 

[cassie]

I'm one who won't fly during the winter months as I live in New England and the weather can change suddenly.

Guess what? I was at WDW in Oct for a week, and flying home to Hartford I landed during a snowstorm that put over 800,000 people out of power. We had dinner and then no power for 5 days. Others were out 7-10 days.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Why not use save the $$ and use ME? I would gladly give up having a car in WDW to be able to fly instead of driving. At the very least bring your own car seats. Not only does it save money but the one & only time we rented a car seat it was disgusting: twisted up, sticky straps and the thing looked ancient. Never again. I went to Babies r Us and bought a car seat travel bag for $20 so it doesn't get damaged or stained when checked. We sure got our money's worth out of it over many trips and baby #2 also. Now they're 11.5 & almost 15 so many the car seat rentals have improved.

 

[kksmom92]

We usually would drive south from Michigan every Feb and would just keep an eye on the weather and work around that. There were a couple times we ended up leaving 1/2 day or full day earlier just so we could avoid a huge storm that was coming our way.

Plus when we did it we just drove non-stop. I know that doesn't work for most people, but with my husband working 2nd shift (3pm-1am) he is always used to staying up late. So he would take the 1st shift driving (we usually will leave just before dinner so a majority of the drive is when the kids are sleeping) and when he's driving I sleep and then when I take over driving he would sleep. That's just something that worked for us.

This year though we are flying as both kids are now in school and we just wanted to get there and back there faster.

 

[jcemom]

I would fly and use DME. I think it's a good compromise. Your cost would be higher than driving, but you'd still save the $400 for a rental car, plus gas.

 

[thejerseydevil]

I think you should always fly. Consider the opportunity cost of driving. Two days of driving each way = 4 days that you won't be enjoying your Disney vacation.

Flying cheap requires some planning:

I applied for Southwest credit card which gave 50,000 pts (enough for $833 airfare). My airfare cost $616 but paid by points so out of pocket was $69 (annual fee of credit card) plus $20 airport security fees = $89 total.

Full sized rental car for 10 days is just $132 total which is so cheap I passed on the free Magical Express.

 

[mom2maggie]

I'm in Indy, and we usually drive (we go in late Feb/March) - but this year I was worried about the weather too, even into March! I found great rates on flights (using Southwest points) so it made it much easier to make that decision, but I too feel like we're going to have a really snowy/icy winter.

 

[mom2maggie]

I think you should always fly. Consider the opportunity cost of driving. Two days of driving each way = 4 days that you won't be enjoying your Disney vacation.

Flying cheap requires some planning:

I applied for Southwest credit card which gave 50,000 pts (enough for $833 airfare). My airfare cost $616 but paid by points so out of pocket was $69 (annual fee of credit card) plus $20 airport security fees = $89 total.

Full sized rental car for 10 days is just $132 total which is so cheap I passed on the free Magical Express.

Where did you find a full sized rental car for only $132?! Do share!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I think you should always fly. Consider the opportunity cost of driving. Two days of driving each way = 4 days that you won't be enjoying your Disney vacation.

Flying cheap requires some planning:

I applied for Southwest credit card which gave 50,000 pts (enough for $833 airfare). My airfare cost $616 but paid by points so out of pocket was $69 (annual fee of credit card) plus $20 airport security fees = $89 total.

Full sized rental car for 10 days is just $132 total which is so cheap I passed on the free Magical Express.

Well done!!
I luv the Southwest credit card. They allow payments online every 3 days so it's easy to keep checking our account and keep paying right away. I think if I waited to see our bill every 30 days it would be overwhelming. We'd be up to our necks.
Paying it every 3 days lets us charge to get a lot of points but still keep very close tabs on our spending.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

I would fly! Why chance hitting bad weather and wrecking the car. If you hit bad weather chances are that your road trip may become a 3-4 day trip in just one direction. I would not want to spend precious vacation time waiting out a snow storm or bad weather. Remember a lot of southern states aren't equiped to handle snow and ice. We have family in Georgia and when they get as much as 2 inches of snow they close schools and people panic and stay home.
Fly and you will get there quicker and have more time to spend at WDW. If you have the option to fly southwest airline they are currently having so great flight prices. Just yesterday my flight went from $147 down to $87 each way on Southwest and my trip in is early Feb. Plus a few airlines are matching this price.