To Drive or To Fly Need Advice

[Disney-Chick]

Hi everyone;

We have been driving to WDW for 5 years now which we do in 2-3 days depending on weather (36 hours total). We plan on driving to DL next year. Were not sure if we will be doing Dec or not as we have to watch for the weather. If we drive it it most likely would take 7 days. Our plan was to make stops along the way to visit other places enroute. We are also planning on visiting several locations while visiting DL so we would need a car. We know it is cheaper driving to DW but not sure if this would be the case driving to DL. We live in Nova Scotia, Canada & I know the flights can be expensive. Any help would be appreciated.

TIA

 

[Sydnie]

I saw this thread title and immediately thought, "DRIVE!" but then I saw you live in Canda

We always drive because we are only 6 hours away. I can not imagine it would be cheaper to drive than fly in your case, unless you have a really large group going. If it takes 7 days to drive you would need to pay for not only gas but 14 nights in hotels for the trip down and back. Plus you will be driving in winter and dealing with snow in the Northern states. Heck you might even hit snow in California if you go over the Grapevine!

I would seriously, seriously consider flying.

 

[Sydnie]

Just priced it out and two adults can fly from Halifax to Santa Ana for $708 total

 

[Disney-Chick]

Thanks for replying. I know that we still have a year to go and prices will go up but wouldn't go up that much. So even if we flew out with 3 of us that is only $2100. Even with the prices my biggest concern also is the weather. We usually do DW in Dec but I have been telling DH that we should go in Oct/Nov. We just don't want it to be to hot.

Thanks again for all your help. We will now have price out the cost of a rental.

 

[jlp879]

There's this calculator to help you consider:

http://www.befrugal.com/tools/fly-or-drive-calculator/

The other thing to take into account is weather. You won't encounter snow in Southern California, but driving across the country you will probably have to travel mountain passes that may have inclement weather at that time of the year. At some point, you have to cross the Continental Divide, and in Colorado that's about 14,000 feet.

The weather in SoCal is not the same as in Florida. It will not be hot in December but actually quite cool. (Think 15-18 C) You won't swim or go in the ocean. You might even get that same weather in October and November. Early Oct. tends to be warmer, but it can cool down rapidly.

We used to live in British Columbia and would never consider driving. Now we live in northern California and always drive.

 

[Disney-Chick]

Thanks jlp879 for the info. I sent off the calculator to DH to figure out the best way. 15-18c is not that cool for us, it's actually only 19 here today Gotta love Nova Scotia weather. But I think if we do decide to drive we will do in Oct or beginning of Nov. I think DH's plan was to drive towards Florida then cut across to New Orleans. That's one of the places we want to visit plus we won't be in the mountains. I keep telling DH that even though it's a year away we need to figure out the best way so we can plan accordingly. Right now we are planning our trip to DW so we will have more time after that trip to get more detailed. I can't wait to visit DL & see the sites. We are only making this trip once so we have to try and fit everything in.

Is there anything that you recommend that we visit? We plan on doing San Francisco, Grand Cannon, DL, oh im sure DH has more but I can't think of them right now.

 

[jdb in AZ]

You must enjoy driving a lot more than we do, and we're only 6 hrs from DLR. Less than an hour by air, and we catch a shuttle so we don't have to fight So. Cal freeway traffic.

Since you're going to WDW anyway, you might want to check into getting multi-day non-expiring tickets with enough days on them that you can also use the tickets at DLR next year.