To drive or fly?

[nboicepardee]

We just returned on February 1st from 8 wonderful nights in WDW. The only part of the trip that I dreaded was the flying. I cannot stand flying with children! We have 2 girls, 4 and 2. Security in Orlando is a nightmare!

I am thinking for our next trip, perhaps we could drive. We live in Rochester, NY (about a 20 hour drive). Am I nuts? The girls will be 5 and 3 the next time we go. Give me your thoughts, the pros and cons of each. When we flew, we left our house at 6:30am and were at the hotel by 2pm.

Thank you!

 

[badblackpug]

We live outside of Philadelphia, and it's about an 18h drive from here. I would fly (2 hours) anyday before I would subject myself to 2 days in a car with kids!

 

[mylilnikita]

Hi
Back in the day, I did do road trips, but that was before I had DD9. We fly!!!!!!
First time I took her on a plane she was 5 to MCO. She is a great little flyer. I prepared her for security-when she was 4, took a cruise to nowwhere for a couple days out of port near us, she wouldj['t give up the stuffed animal, but finally got her too to go through the xray machine. I made it into a game -"airport security" I kid you not. We also play airplane, but now she is getting alittle too big for that part. We do the security, then pretend we are going on a plane and I put her in a chair we lean back like at liftoff, play turbulence-which on a real plane she likes she is odd-. Our flight to MCO is usually 1 and 45 minutes.
Last year we went to Oahu, a little longer flight and the first time I had layover with her, but we made out great.
There is nothing I want to do that feels good for 20 hours let alone drive all that way. Last road trip I had that lasted that long, I was 6 months pregnant, not happy time.
How are your kids when they fly, are they occupied with stuff to do, is it just the security part that is hectic? just trying to get a feel for how your flights go.

 

[HelenePA]

We will be driving 18 hrs this year from PA, for the simple fact airfare is downright SCARY! Southwest who is usually the cheapest is 117$ each way per/person! So for our family of 5 its over 1200k$ (with tax and fee's) as much as I said you couldn't pay me enough to drive, I think I found my price! I estimated my gas money at about 400$ roundtrip, yes for 900$ savings I will drive! Even when we left by plane last year the 2 hr flight actually took almost 12hrs from start to finnish, leave here at 2am to get to the airport for 5am (2hrs before our flight as suggested on the philly airport page) have to lug the GRUMPY kid and our luggage and blankies and strollers and everything else with us on the parking shuttle bus then checking in then thru security, down to our waiting area, wait and wait and wait, hope and pray the plane takes off on time, 7:15 then we start to board takes another what 20-30min, then the plane ride itself OMG I wanted to jump out kids who have been up since 2am with ears that need to pop that refuse to eat or drink anything YIKES talk about a nightmare!! Land, potty, eat, get the magical express, wait for that to arrive, wait for it to get to our hotel, by the time we got there it was almost noon, so really it was like 10 hours, I'm thinking driving wont be as bad, we'll leave here around 6pm, drive a few hours eat, put on a movie and hope they fall asleep most of the way down, the worst that can happen is alot of crying and yelling, this happened on the plane anyway, at least this way I can yell at my kids with out getting dagger eyes from strangers who want to kill me and my screaming kids 10000 feet up.

 

[blm2003]

at least this way I can yell at my kids with out getting dagger eyes from strangers who want to kill me and my screaming kids 10000 feet up.

Amen to that, We will be leaving April 10th from Mass and driving to Fort Wilderness with a 6, 5, and 84 year old great grandmother. All things considered. I am more than happy to stuff everyone into the truck and take three days to get there, rather than try and get everyone and everything organized (kind of at least) enough to get packed and easily transportable by plane.

What an adventure lays ahead for my DW and I, thank god for portable DVD players and Car Bingo!!!

 

[taitai]

Wow, we all have different thresholds for discomfort. I would fly in a heartbeat. Security is a pain but it only takes a couple minutes to deal with and then you are off. 20 plus hours in a car when you factor in gas, wear and tear on the automobile, the cost of my personal time, the frustration of being cooped up and losing a day of vacation each way, absolutely worth more than $1K to me. However, we all have our own algorithms.

Have a safe drive.

Taitai

 

[brehan9403]

I'm sorry you had such a hard time at Orlando. We went in July last year and had somewhat of a wait in line but I thought it was a very easy process for such a large airport.

 

[julm26]

We always drive and we live in Pittsburgh PA. Last September we had our
DD2.5. She did fine in the car, she slept, looked out the window, watched the DVD Player. We drove straight through to DAytona Beach and stayed there for 2 days and then headed to WDW.

She loved the florida welcome center!! We are contemplating flying this year, but we love to drive, its an adventure for us.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

All of our kids are 5 and under. I like in NY as well. I would never ever drive. Yes I can say never. Airport security is nothing if you have a little experience. Take as little as possible for carry ons. Make the kids wear shoes that are easy on and off (like crocs!). Your 4 year old should be able to put their own shoes back on so that only leaves you to help the 2 year old and with crocs my 2 year old can put them on himself. Mentally you have to not make it a big deal otherwise it will seem like one. If I had to spend 20+ hours in my car I would throw myself on the road and beg God for mercy! Not because the kids or anything, I simply hate car trips. I cannot read, do a craft, anything except sit there and I am a person who needs to be busy. Good luck!

ETA- Oh and we learned the hard way that the earliest possible flight isn't always the best choice with young kids.

 

[monorailsilver]

We thought about driving this August but great airfares won out. Well that & the "are we there yet?" from my 6 yo & we were just going for a 30 min drive to a store.

I have a 6, 4 & almost 2 yo so my dh & I decided that we have enough gray hair & we would have a miserable vacation if we stuck all 3 kids in the car (we won't drive at night) for that drive.

If they were older, I'd do it though.

 

[katiesmom2]

We live just over the lake from you in Ontario and we always drive. We just got back from our late January visit and the drive wasn't bad at all (22 hours). Our kids are also 3 and 5.

It all depends on how your kids are in the car. Our kids have always been travellers, so we have no problem with them in the car. They watch their movies, do Color Wonder, play car bingo, make things with pipe cleaners, sing along with songs on their children's CDs, etc. They don't give us any trouble at all.

We also make the drive part of our trip. We drive in 2 1/2 days - 9 hours the first day, 9 hours the second day and then we get to our hotel on the 3rd day around lunch time. 9 hours a day isn't bad at all - we leave at 9, drive 3 hours until lunch, stop for lunch for one hour, drive from 1:00 until 5:00, stop for dinner from 5-6 and then drive until 9pm before stopping for the night.

Our kids have their favorite U.S. restaurants (Cracker Barrel, Chick-Fil-A) so we try to stop at those places to make it a little fun for them. We always try to get a suite hotel room so that there is a little bit more room for them to move around when we stop.

You know your kids best. For our kids, the trip is a breeze. We like to drive and see new places. We also really like to have our car when we get to Orlando.

Good luck with your decision!

 

[MickeyHereWeCome!]

We have four young kids, and the logistics of getting all of us, and our stuff, on/off an airplane sounds very intimidating. The last time we flew to Disney, we only had 3 kids, and it was very challenging, especially since the kids couldn't really be counted on to carry their own suitcases. I also stressed a lot about getting seats together. Oh, and we also ended up doing on of those mad dashes to get to the plane (although we had left WDW 3 hours before our flight), and in the process "lost" my dd (3 at the time) for a short time (probably 30 seconds that felt like 30 hours. We decided then that we weren't ready to fly again until all of the kids were older. Now that we have on more child, there is no way. In addition to the stress, it would cost a minimum of about $1600 to fly.

We drove down last year, and it went much better than expected. We split it up into 2 days (14 hours total driving) and made sure to make a few extra stops, just to run around. I got the kids a small game/toy (all Disney related) for each hour. Luckily, my youngest two took naps, which helped a lot. We have a DVD player in the car, which was a lifesaver.

It went so well that we're driving down to FL in March (not WDW), and are planning to drive for our next trip to the World in January '09. In March, we are also bringing our two dogs with us, so that will be an additional challenge.

Now that my oldest two are more capable of carrying their own suitcases, I am not totally opposed to flying with the kids. I would still worry about the logistics of sitting together. My oldest is autistic, so sitting by strangers would not be an option anyone would want. But right now, the cost is way too much. I did check, but I'd much rather spend that $1200 savings to upgrade to the savannah view at AKL!!!

 

[Darcy03231]

I think a lot depends on how much vacation time you have. If you can easily spare at least two days down and two days back (a day to get there and a day to recover going down and another day to get there and a day to recover going back) you could do it. Personally, you couldn't pay me enough to drive (I live in southern NH). I'd need plenty of valium for that kind of a drive. I don't even do 6-8 hours in the car well. Also, keep in mind that if your children don't travel well in the car, it can be a long 18-20 hours.

 

[disneydreamin-gang]

We have driven to Orlando 5 times with 6 kids. The drive has given us some of our greatest memories of our trips. Of course we had a 12 passenger van that pulled our camper to FWC.

I made sure I had plenty of things to keep the little ones busy. I bought those trays that go over your lap for them and gave them play dough, cookie cutters, rollers, etc. They also had crayons, coloring books, string beads, what ever I could find that they liked. They stayed busy for hours on end with the play dough. It was a little messy but we covered the seat with plastic and no problem with clean up.

I also bought little things and kept a treasure box up front with me. Every once in a while I would allow then to reach in and get a prize. They loved it.

Now with all that said. This year we are flying for the first time with DD12, DS9.

If you drive just plan ahead and have plenty of things for them to do. You'll be fine.

 

[bridgek]

For us driving wouldn't be a big deal, we lived in Georgia for 3 1/2 years and we drove to our hometown (Northwest Indiana) many times a year and that was a 14 hour trip and we did it most of the time in one day. This time we are planning on flying because of a couple of reasons (we now live back in Indiana) one is adding an extra day to our vacation would be difficult another is I am pregnant and that long car ride would not be good on my back. I think it just depends on your children and the cost factor. I just keep looking for good deal son plane tickets and car rental. For us either way would be good with our kids, they (especially my son) are excellent travelers. They play and watch movies and just keep busy. We had thought about traveling after the baby but decided it would be better before and that I was worried about the airport with a 6 year old a 3 year old and a 2 month old. I am so glad my husband convinced me to go before (not that going to Disney early took a lot of convincing )

 

[Sansa]

We drove this past summer from south-central WI - it was about a 24 hour trip straight through including stops and rest breaks. We stopped for the night on the way home, but that almost made it worse... but I don't think we could have physically handled an overnight drive after a Disney trip. Both of those days were really long, or so it felt. But I'm right in the same boat with you - flying is WAY expensive. It was the difference between like $400 to drive vrs over $1000 to fly...

You should buy, beg, borrow, or steal a portable DVD player for the trip - one that straps to the back of your headrests so you can remove it from your car easily. Make sure it's not on ALL the time - there needs to be SOME looking out the window time! But it helps. Espically if you drive at night, it really helped my stepdaughters fall asleep.

 

[kileybeth]

Did I miss something at MCO? I thought security was a breeze and that was with 2 strollers, 4 kids and a husband who is used to air travel alone!

And are my kids just especially good on flights? I thought 2.5 hours vs. 24hours was a pretty good trade off?

Maybe OP could be a little more specific about what her troubles were? Might be some ways around them.

PS we have also flown with infants, heart monitors, grumpy teens, liquid meds over 3 oz in carry ons. . . ??

PPS oh but we also have driven multiple times and although we are fine with it, the older I get, the more I want to just be there already.

OP??? what was the hardship?

only other input I can add is with gas prices and only 4 flying, you may be financially better off flying vs. wear/tear on car and gas.

 

[HelenePA]

only other input I can add is with gas prices and only 4 flying, you may be financially better off flying vs. wear/tear on car and gas.

Have you looked at ticket prices this year? Last year for 5 tickets I paid just over $500, this year its almost triple there is no way you could tell me its going to save me money to fly than to drive I dont know what ticket prices are from NY I'm guessing they are about the same good lord even at 6$ a gallon for gas I'm still coming out ahead, even factoring in wear and tear on my car (and my head )

 

[Goofy41]

We drove fore years. This past summer was the 1st time we flew since the 90's. I had 2 boys on our 1st trip, then #3 came along and we still drove. The speed limit changed and cut the trip time down quite a bit. Yes with modern times and with the birth of the cd players, video games, and now dvd players all make the driving trips go alot smoothly. When we did fly in Aug. 07, we did because we got great airfare and there is only 3 of us now, my 2 older boys are on their own, so driving is not an option.

 

[mom2aredhead]

I would never ever drive. Yes I can say never.
If I had to spend 20+ hours in my car I would throw myself on the road and beg God for mercy!

I could have written this myself! When I was a kid, we used to go to the Outer Banks every year 2 different weeks, and it was about 8 hours each way. I really think that ruined me for long trips. Thank goodness my husband feels the same way. Honestly, 4-5 hours is about it for us in the car. Anything further we're flying, taking a train or staying home.
Also I get motion sickness so I would either need to drive or sleep - I can't read, look at a map, play board games with my son or I'd be sick. Just the thought of it - UGH! No way!
Our Dec trip our airfare was about $450 total for the 3 of us, which was a great deal. Average I've found now is about $600-650 total. I will find $200 to cut out of the budget somewhere to make up the difference. Maybe no DDP and we do a few more CS instead. Maybe no hoppers. Maybe less souviners. Or no rental car. Or we use our AMEX points for 1 of the tickets. Something...anything...to not have to drive!