To drive or fly?

[CindyZMomof3]

Any advice out there.

Cast: Me and my youngest son 8 and then my friend (we're leaving the husbands and my oldest 2 at home for various reasons...but don't worry they all want to stay home)

Flights: Right now on Travelocity I can book to fly from Hartford to MCO for 163/per person. Then we'd need a car maybe once we got down there...maybe...most likely. I'm hoping that the flights will go down they always have and I want to pay 125/pp at the most. The last time I flew I paid 99/pp. But let's figure on 150.00.

I think that I can get a pretty good rate on a rental car to drive down. (DH hates when I take our van on long trecks...so I'd rent a car) Between my friends corporate discount...entertainment book, priceline, rentalcodes.com, etc I think we could get a 200/wk or less price for a medium size car. But then I'd have to figure gas and 2 nights hotel (we wouldn't drive commando style). Plus the food for the way down and up. Plus we'd have to add 2 or 3 days to our trip.

But....if we'd save a ton of money...then the extra time away could be worth it.

What do you experts think?

To fly or not to fly?
To drive or not to drive?

Dilemma of the day
~Cindy Z in CT

 

[bobcat]

That depends. Is time a factor? Since you will be renting a car to drive down flying would be my choice. Renting a car will negate any saving driving might give you. I personally prefer to drive but I have plenty of travel time adn I like the fredom and control that driving my own car gives me.

 

[TammyA]

Hi CindyZ! You didn't mention when you'll be going but I would suggest you try Southwest airlines for your airfare. I am traveling with SW from Baltimore to Orlando in both May and July. My roundtrip fare is $91 + tax for direct flights! I love travelocity for hotels but I usually do better on airfare by going to the airline directly. Keep checking Southwest because they often run "sales". I would say try to fly if you can. It buys you more time in WDW Good luck!

 

[vald1977]

Hi Cindy Z,
We have driven from CT and plan to do it again. If you can swing it, I would say fly. Are you staying onsite or off? How long do you plan to stay at Disney? We budget $200 each way for food, gas, and tolls. You would need to add money to that for hotels and rental car. Say you got your two hotel stays for $50 each one on the way there and one on the way back and the rental car for $200. You are still talking $700 and it's much more convenient to fly. If you get air tickets even for 163 a piece thats only around $500. Factor in a rental car or trip to your resort from the airport and you're probably about even.

 

[CindyZMomof3]

I have been trying the websites directly and Southwest is at about 180/rt pp for the dates I want (and i'm willing to mess with my dates a bit to get the cheaper flights). But i will keep trying!

Thanx for the advice!

~Cindy Z

 

[MouseClubMom]

Fly Fly Fly! Use the extra time to do more DISNEY stuff. Also you will avoid construction delays, traffic and having to drive thru possible bad weather.

Statistically flying is SO much safer than driving too.


MCMom

 

[pampam]

Flying is tiring, but I found when we drove down, we needed 2 days before we were rested from the driving. Unless you have a full car, flying seems to be more economical, and certainly less stressfull.

 

[CindyZMomof3]

After seeing gas prices go up even more this weekend, and factoring time and food costs and hotel and such I think that I will fly, even at the 163/rt currently available on travelocity. Cheapest so far

~Cindy Z in Ct
holding out for cheaper flights
and hoping for Room only discount codes......
KEEPING THE FAITH!!

 

[pkasbohm]

i think i agree with flying!! by the time you factor in your gas, food and hotel for on the way down and back it will almost be comparible to what it would cost you to fly. Plus, you get a couple extra days at wdw--that in itself would be worth flying!! Hope you get it figured out soon!

Pam

 

[Lisa BC]

First let me say,

you're lucky to be in a place with good airfare...
I live in upstate NY and the cheapest I can find is about $220 r/t without traveling a large distance to NYC or to Baltimore. With rising gas prices, and rising hotel costs, I decided to at least consider other options. In the end, all options (driving our car, taking the car train, flying & renting a car, and taking the passenger train & renting a car) came out about the same cost, except for renting a car here & driving the rental to Florida... it was quite a bit more, because of the added cost of the car rental.

We've decided to take the Amtrak car train. You board the train just south of Washington DC, in Lorton VA. The train leaves about 4pm and arrives outside of Orlando the next morning at 8:30. So we'll still only spend 1 day traveling, and we don't have to rent a larger car to drive down and we also then have our own car in Orlando.

It takes us about 6 hours to get to Lorton, VA. I bet it is about the same from CT. We can stand to be in our compact car that long... then the rest of the way is a breeze. You eat dinner and watch movies through the evening. Then in the morning have breakfast on board, get off the train and head to your Orlando destination.

I got a quote for our family of $680 including on-board meals. So with your $150 airfare, you are still ahead flying, but not with our $220 airfare.... I've never tried the car train before, but I have traveled Amtrak to Orlando before, and found the experience to be quite relaxing...

Just some food for thought....

 

[Grog]

you're lucky to be in a place with good airfare...

I know what you mean. We're lucky to be able to find fares for around $200, but it's usually a bit higher. We decided to do a budget trip in December and will probably drive. There will be four of us, so by the time you figure airfare, transportation from the airport to WDW, parking our car at the airport here for a week, we're looking at around $1000. We can rent a full size car (don't want to put 2K miles on ours in the space of a week) for around $300, and gas at around $150 if the price stays close to where it is now. We will save over $500. The drive is around 14 hours for us, but that's tolerable.

 

[DianeV]

Same here..I have never had such a hard time getting a decent airfare..I cant get anything under $200 right now ($225 is the lowest) and its very frustrating seeing all these specials from everywhere else! I saw the same prices for fares from Oregon for heavens sake!

 

[Jennylen]

Sometime, credit card company offer free or $99 round trip companion tickets, especially credit cards come with frequent flyer miles. And check the web site often , some sale last half day or a few hours only. I saw dicount pricing disappeared from screen while I was browsing - many times.

 

[drogerstn]

Adding a couple of hotel stays to your trip along with the cost of gas will bring the cost of driving up to where it is so close to flying that I would fly.

I don't know why people include food as a cost item when driving unless they eat for free at home and at WDW. I eat every day whether I'm at WDW, on the road, or at home.