The heck with flying!

[bkelly65us]

Is there anyone else like us who have said "The heck with it!" and just ruled out flying altogether? I'm so sick of trying to chase down a good price for the six of us to Orlando that we're just going to drive. From Pittsburgh, PA. With 4 kids under 12.
Our last flight to/from was just a nightmare. Delays, really obnoxious fellow flyers, and airline employees who could have cared less about the whole thing. With the state of the economy and airline companies getting ready to fall like a row of dominoes I think everything is just going to get a lot worse before it gets better.
As for me, I'll be tooling down the highway in the minivan. And if you drive close enough to our back bumper, you can watch the Disney movie, too!

 

[sharadoc]

We are driving and have decided against flying for a LOT of reasons.

We feel the first day is the equivalent of the flying day, and the second day of the drive should be the easy one.

By the time we drive to the airport, check bags and go through security, fly and get to WDW, we expect 8-10 hours of time (we would fly out of Philadelphia). We are hauling bags, restricted as to what we can carry, etc.

In the car, we can stop when we want, watch or do what we want, sing out loud, play games, etc. We will use that time to talk and hopefully create great family memories.

We have driven before, without the kids. It's not awful when you know what to expect. We're taking LOTS of activities and surprises, and are planning some stops along the way, including a great barbecue restaurant in North Carolina!

I know we're in the minority, but flying just seems WAY too much work now. Might as well drive and relax!

 

[vellamint]

You know I would think about if I hadnt just sold the van that we all fit into....but it very well may be in our future. Just when I thought we were out of the minivan stage they pull me back in ...... lol

 

[kydisneyfans]

It's just not worth the cost, inconvenience, or hassle anymore. Gas prices are going back down anyway.

 

[MrsNick]

And if you drive close enough to our back bumper, you can watch the Disney movie, too!

Sounds like fun, I'll make sure to bring the popcorn
But, don't know how long the fun will last once I get engrossed in the movie and crash the car!

 

[Brian Noble]

Not me. Michigan is just too far---it's a full two days' drive for us.

 

[dis75ney]

We're driving from Chicago...looking at about 20 hours from our front door to Cocoa Beach (we're staying there for the night and hitting Kennedy Space Center the next day). With gas prices, luggage fees/restrictions, and a hyper 7 year old, we're WAY better off driving through the night while DS sleeps...

 

[jlewisinsyr]

No chance...my time is worth too much to drive the 24 hours it takes to get to Disney from CNY, even if it was 4 hours closer (ie. Pittsburg), it still wouldn't be worth it to me. Maybe if I lived within 4 - 6 hours, maybe, but no way more.

 

[grimley1968]

Yep, count me in. If we go to WDW this fall (not sure yet), we'll definitely drive. I'm a pilot and own my own small plane, and it's still a much better deal for me to just drive my family down.

I've always sort of tolerated obnoxious fellow passengers pretty well, knowing that on SWA, I paid dirt cheap fares for the privilege. Now that cheap fares are few and far between, I'm much less tolerant of those same passengers. I flew from Nashville to San Diego this spring on SWA, for a pretty decent rate for that long of a flight, but not as cheap as I could have a couple of years ago. I felt pretty good about it until I boarded the plane, and the guy who took the remaining seat on my side of the aisle brought along a huge guitar case, probably some sort of bass. It was in one of those containers properly, but there was no room to put it in the overhead compartment above our own head or across the aisle. As a result, this guy proceeds to walk about half the length of the plane, finds a bin that has just barely enough room to fit his case, and then jams his guitar on top of someone else's soft-sided carry on bag, and would have absolutely crushed this other guy's stuff in flight. Fortunately, this other guy noticed it and called him on it, and a flight attendant made the guitar owner rearrange things so as not to crush other people's things. To top it off, the guitar owner started yelling/whining to the guy with the soft-sided bag that it wasn't his fault, etc.

Meanwhile, other people were getting on the plane in the seats below the bin being fought over, and had no place to put their stuff, all because the guitar owner just had to bring that thing with him on the plane. They started getting angry at the guy, and he just shrugged and walked back to his seat beside me. After a few minutes, a flight attendant took some action and rearranged things so that the guitar guy could have his bass in the bin above him, and all the other passengers actually had a place to put their things. The guitar guy didn't offer to help move his own guitar when space was made available. It was bad enough that he grossly abused the carry on size limit, but to not take any responsibility for it made it much worse.

I could see the flight attendants, fellow passengers, etc. glaring at the guy. I wanted to hold up a sign that said, "I'm not with this guy!" with an arrow pointed at him. That guy earned a lot of bad vibes aimed his way, and they were bouncing off me. I find it difficult to fly on an approximately 3.5 hour flight and not make at least small talk with the passenger right beside me, but I made sure I wasn't talking to that guy. Wow. I'm glad my daughter was flying with me and gave me someone else to talk to.

Sorry for the rant, but hopefully this is but another illustration of why I prefer to drive to WDW than fly commercially, if possible. Fortunately for us, door-to-door it doesn't take that much longer to drive from Kentucky to WDW than it does to fly commercially. If fuel costs and my plane's small size weren't such big negative factors, I'd fly us down in a heartbeat.

 

[bkelly65us]

...Sorry for the rant, but hopefully this is but another illustration of why I prefer to drive to WDW than fly commercially, if possible.

I don't consider it a rant at all. This is why I believe things are going to get way worse. No one seems to care anymore and those that do only seem to care about themselves. I mean, where was that SWA agent that allowed that case thru when he checked in? And where was that agent that allowed him to board the plane with it? No thanks! I'll take my chances on the road.

 

[CarolA]

I don't consider it a rant at all. This is why I believe things are going to get way worse. No one seems to care anymore and those that do only seem to care about themselves. I mean, where was that SWA agent that allowed that case thru when he checked in? And where was that agent that allowed him to board the plane with it? No thanks! I'll take my chances on the road.

Well if it really was "illegal" the FA could have shipped it off.

Actually these are allowed as carry ons. (And living in Nashville you get a lot of them!)


I fly a lot. I learned long ago not to sweat the small stuff... and this falls under "small stuff"

 

[grimley1968]

Well if it really was "illegal" the FA could have shipped it off.

Actually these are allowed as carry ons. (And living in Nashville you get a lot of them!)


I fly a lot. I learned long ago not to sweat the small stuff... and this falls under "small stuff"

This wasn't a small guitar. It looked the size of slightly smaller version of a stand up bass, with maybe a slightly shorter neck. I agree with the above poster that someone should have made him check it, instead of allowing it to be brought on with him. Yes, I'm sure it's expensive, but that's just the risk everyone else must take when bringing items too big to be considered carry-ons. I was frankly amazed he was even able to get it into one of those overhead bins. Not as amazed as I was by his subsequent rude, entitled behavior, but still surprised. I guess I was dismayed more by his general lack of empathy for anyone but himself (my guitar is more important than what's in your soft-sided bag, so you won't mind if I crush it to pieces), rather than abusing carry on size limitations which are apparently not well enforced.

 

[pepe of ohio]

We've logged 40 trips to WDW since 1977, in the begining we drove alot, then a couple of Amtrak trips and then 3 flying excursions. I'm not a good flyer, after 9/11, no more even thinking of flying trips anymore. We're back to Amtrak, regular, Lorton's to far a drive for the Auto Train and we never rent a car or use ours when we're there. I'd say the last 10-15 trips have been by train, we're from northeastern Ohio, close to you, and its a 27 hour train trip, we enjoy the travel alot, relaxing and carefree and does not take away our Disney time, we stay 10-12 nights anyway. It cost the 2 of us, round trip 450 bucks, reasonable in my book. Now with the craziness of the airlines, security and closing, flying never will be one of our options. Nothing beats seeing the country from a train window, having dinner and a drink and napping when the urge hits. We board at 3 am, hit DC around 5, layover till 7 and we're in Kissimmee by 1:30 pm.

 

[m4travel]

We envy those of you who have alternatives for travel to WDW. With limited vacation time and living on the West Coast, driving just isn't an option! So we may grumble about flight changes, schedule changes, flight cancellations, rude passengers, and the like but our options are limited. And we're just having too much fun at WDW and on DCL to pass on them. We just discovered Florida in 2006!

 

[hearts8701]

count us in when airfare is low car rental is high i had enough i want to stay an extra day i do without the extra cost of an over booked airplane

 

[MOmousefan]

Count me in as one who would rather drive than fly. We are 18 driving hours from the World and when I flew down last year, the total time to fly was actually longer. We drove to Kansas City and spent the night, so there was another expense. This Xmas my son and I are driving while daughter and SIL will fly. They have already had their flight time changed once and we have 4 months to go. It will cost them $550 RT for both of them.
I have to say that flying Southwest last was a pleasure, but I love the drive and I plan on my 22YO son to do most of the driving. I will feel like I am being chauffeured to WDW!

 

[M4travels]

We envy those of you who have alternatives for travel to WDW. With limited vacation time and living on the West Coast, driving just isn't an option! So we may grumble about flight changes, schedule changes, flight cancellations, rude passengers, and the like but our options are limited. And we're just having too much fun at WDW and on DCL to pass on them. We just discovered Florida in 2006!

Gee, I could have written that!

Yup, we're only a few miles from the original park and have really enjoyed our recent discovery of WDW, but it will be flying for us. I just have the "life's an adventure" mantra going on all the time. M4travel will probably tell you I'm annoying, but it works for me!

 

[kjetjl]

We gave up on finding a deal on a flight for our family of 8 several weeks back and will be driving from the Detroit area. It is a looooooong drive but saving us hundreds of dollars. We flew for the first time last year but the kids and DH are actually looking forward to driving this time!

 

[kbbunny]

We are going in January and I have been searching for affordable airfare. We want to go from Sunday to Friday. Sun Country just released its January flights but they are not flying on Saturdays and Sundays. Unless they release their prices and we can get airfare for less than $1300 for us, we are driving from Minneapolis.

Vacation is about family time, isn't it?

 

[uva185]

I realize my views are probably opposite from most on this board but I'll be honest, I have had it with driving. I find driving stressful and I am always anxious to just get to my destination. I hate hate hate traffic and with rising fuel costs even driving isn't cheap anymore. I fly enough that flying is still quite pleasurable for me. I'd much rather be sipping a cocktail at 35,000 feet than driving in traffic. (Nothing made me feel better than flying over the Springfield Interchange on I-95 right before landing at DCA and looking at the parking lot of cars stuck in traffic below.) I use to fly anyplace over 6 hours away, within the past 6 months or so I am flying anyplace over 4 hours away.