To Drive or Not to Drive

[larryz]

I don't fly any more unless it's on business trips that take more than 8 hours to drive.

Besides, the cheapest flights I can find right now for the third week in September would cost us $1,000 round trip (4 adults). I can drive it for a lot less than that.

 

[momof2n2]

We drive from Western NY. About 24 hours driveway to driveway (we rent houses in Clermont 10 mins west if WDW).
I can not imagine flying anywhere willingly. Yes, it's faster... but airports, airlines, and airplanes just suck the life out of travel. Limits on luggage. Security headaches. Cramped seating. And my favorite: hurry up and wait. Wait on Tarmac.

We love to drive. Pack what we want. Leave when we want. Stop when we want. And we genuinely enjoy it.

 

[the little marla]

we drive from northern NJ! about 18hrs! we usually leave at about 6-7am, drive until we reach Santee, SC and stay over for the night.. start up in the morning and its about another 6hours! i think driving is the way to go! i love having our car on property and it for sure saves us money.. sucks to put the miles on the car but.. lol better than pay a ridiculous amount in airfare

 

[danny1649]

Where it is a better fit. Danny

 

[Gumbo4x4]

With 4 people, there's no way it'll be cheaper to fly especially if you aren't on a time constraint. Plus, you're gonna need a car down there to go to Sea World anyway.

 

[Jetta8300]

When we drive, it is about 15 or 16 hours for us. We always leave as soon as we can the evening before (about 4 usually). Then we drive a lot that night (usually 9 or 10 hours- always through Atlanta at least to avoid morning rush hour). Then we find a motel to get a few winks. Then the next morning we do not have as long to drive and are more rested to enjoy the parks. For a family of 5 we usually save a lot of money flying (At least $1000, but usually more). When we could purchase cheaper flights and the saving was only about $500, then we would fly. We never find deals like that anymore sadly.

This is our strategy as well, although it may change next trip if we have our baby with us. We like to split it up, leave around 7am and drive 12-13 hours the first day getting to a hotel around 8pm to get got rest for our first park day, then driving about 3 hours the next morning well rested, and arriving around 10am! It's always worked very well!

 

[monorailsilver]

We are currently on the road our way home from warm southern Florida (Ft. Myers) to CT.

We left last Friday (a week ago) at about 6, between traffic and put stops we only made it to about an hour to savannah. We arrived in ft. Myers Saturday about 3pm.

On our way home we left yesterday at about 2:30 and stopped in Disney for dinner and saw all those tired faces and we were refreshed from sitting at the beach all week.

So basically I am saying while I don't mind the drive one bit, I went on a relaxing vacation and not a Disney vacation. I don't think I could spend a week at Disney after a long drive and I wouldn't be as relaxed for the drive home.

But if flights were way over priced then I would drive.

 

[imlsherman]

We go to the world about twice a year from NY during the summer months we can find get air deals. However when we go in December the savings by driving are incredible. I personally like driving its great family time and the. We always have our car if we want to do something and not wait for the buses.

 

[HoltDisney07]

We are debating this right now and have done both in the past. We have gone the last two Augusts. Last year we drove down from just north of Baltimore. We left about 8pm and drove straight through the night. We arrived in Disney about 11:30 am. We stopped for breakfast in GA for about 1.5 hours and maybe another hour for gas stops and breaks overnight. We also ran into I-95 road construction traffic in VA that slowed us down for about 2 hours. We made awesome time with only about 13 hrs of drive time even with the traffic in VA. We weren't so lucky on the way back. Terrible rain storms and traffic made us have to stop overnight in SC. Our drive home was much longer, more like 16-17 hours.

We are trying to decide between flying or driving this summer. Last year our costs for driving were about $300 in gas (minivan), $125 hotel room, $250 food costs, so about $700. I can get flights right now out of DC (as it is cheaper than flying out of Baltimore) for about $950 for 5 of us. I am thinking the $250 more is worth the hassle of driving 30+ hours round trip. Only downside, I hate taking the busses and would want to rent a car while we are there.

My husband and I have a long history of doing long drives (he was in a band before we had kids and we toured so we have done lots of long overnight drives). Driving isn't for everyone. Our kids are also very good with driving. Last year they were 5,3 & 8. They had no problem sleeping in the van and pretty much all night. My husband took off the Friday we left and slept a good portion of the day so he was good to drive through the night. It was cake on the drive down, but like someone said the drive home sucks...there isn't anything to look forward too.

We are also considering the Auto Train. It is more expensive, however, you save your gas costs and the wear on your car. I also thought it might be fun for my kids.

 

[minnierocks]

It is definitely cheaper to drive, especially if you are driving straight through. We almost always drive and for our trip a few weeks ago, we drove straight through and over night for the first time. On the way back, we drove during the day and we preferred the overnight. It was faster and less hassle due to almost no traffic. Our drive is a little over 16 hours. We packed sandwiches and munched when we got hungry. My husband drove until almost 2 am, while I rested. And then I drove for a bit while he rested. We got there just before 8 am and even though they had a room ready, we felt pretty good and decided to go to Epcot for a few hours. It is really not a big deal to drive...and it is so much cheaper.

 

[Capt_BJ]

I don't know where you are in Delaware

or what's the major concern on the question ... dollars ... time ... stress

but since no else has mentioned, have you considered AutoTrain?

Put your car on a train at 4pm in Lorton VA, sit back, enjoy a meal and sleep, be rejoined with your car in Sanford FL (about 1 hr from Disney) around 9AM the next morning after a continental breakfast.

You have your car while in FL .... you can carry anything that fits in your car .... you sleep rather than drive down 95 from DC to central FL . . . .

I've done it twice

(btw - this is NOT TSA security, so I bring a cooler with snacks and beverages with NO problems)

 

[sharadoc]

We drive around 17 hours. Our first day, we drive 12-13 hours, leaving home around 9 am so we're not tired when we hit the road. We stop around 9 or 10 pm, get a good night's sleep then hit the road again around 9 the next morning. We get to Disney World right around check-in time. We're totally refreshed, and ready to hit the parks with no exhaustion at all.

The only reason to drive straight through is to save the money on a hotel on the road. We tried it twice, both times it was a disaster with unexpected delays on the road leaving to a 20 hour drive. Never again.

I've heard many stories of arriving exhausted and unable to enjoy the first couple of days with a straight through drive. So instead of planning a rest day when you arrive, why not use that day on the road and pay $100 a night for a 95 hotel, rather than a few hundred a night for a Disney hotel for that extra night??

 

[granpoobah]

Thanks for the ideas , i just checked the auto train idea and thats out, it will cost me around $650 one way for that. I think i will leave the day before and take my time going down and maybe stay the night somewhere. I will just drive until i get tired and stop if i have to. But i think driving down is the way to go.

 

[bookwormde]

I am north Delaware and it is 16 hours. If you drive straight though you can save some money on the trip and more if you need a car while there. I will note that with some of the Frontier fares out of Wilmington it is cheaper to fly and rent.

Realistically you do have to put some value in the lost day at WDW from travel time and recovery time.

 

[Rendar]

I live in Wilmington DE. It's just the 2 of us and we drive down to Disney every time. It usually takes between 14 and 15 hours. The best part about driving is you can take everything you want with you. Anything you pick up while your down there will also make it home safely. Depending on kind of car you have gas costs can add up, but usually it is still cheaper to drive.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Realistically you do have to put some value in the lost day at WDW from travel time and recovery time.

I've often heard the "lost day" comment, and while true that lost day would have been an EXPENSIVE day too. So, there's a flip side to that as well.

 

[Ksquared]

Our upcoming trip in December will be our 3rd drive down. After we drove (and survived) our first trip, it seems to be the way to go for us. We live in NJ and it's about 17 hours straight through stopping for meals for us.

Our last trip we left around 3 a.m. drove all the way down and then stayed at a Marriott near Universal Studios arriving around 8 p.m. The kids got to swim, we ate pizza and turned in for the night. Got up next morning fresh and ready to go to the parks then check in to our hotel.

This time around we plan on leaving around 8 or 9 pm. and going right to our place to check in. We are renting a house w/ pool with other family members so we'll do some food shopping, have dinner and chill and get a good night's sleep so we'll be fresh at the parks the next day.

We kind of build our driving into the trip so I would add 2 additional days and then you are not tired or miss out on anything planned. I have friends who drive down, arrive early morning, get a few winks in the car and then head off to the parks at opening. I'm sure they crash later but it doesn't seem to bother them.

 

[momof2n2]

It's not only the money for us - it's freedom from airlines! I find dealing with airlines SO stressful. It's all about them.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

yes, it's almost always cheaper to fly.
To me, my time & sanity are always worth more than the savings. I'm not a big packer and in probably 30 vacation flights, I've never had any anti-family issues that pp mentions she read about.

I like that we can get an early am flight and be in MK by 10am or we could fly down Fri evening after school and all be in bed by 11pm.

I have driven back when I was young and was the only way I could afford to go & was still happy to be driving there. I'm a long way from being 20 now & not so desperate. Our rule is to fly to any place longer than 6-8 hrs drive.

To me cheapest way doesn't necessarily mean best. If that were so, we'd be visiting Six Flags instead of WDW.

 

[sam_gordon]

To me cheapest way doesn't necessarily mean best.

This is the true answer. "Best" is a relative term and will vary based on the individual.

If you're looking from a pure cost standpoint, driving would be cheaper, even if you do an overnight stay.

Some people enjoy (or at least don't mind) the drive. Others don't.
Others enjoy the speed of flying. Others don't.

I do find it interesting that when these threads come up, just about everyone advocating driving talks about how it's "not bad" and "we're so excited getting there, a lack of sleep doesn't bother us", but very few mention the drive back (and the "recovery").