To fly or drive ... How do you decide?

[HeatherC]

I think if I were in Virginia, I'd definitely consider driving. We are in Massachusetts and it's quite a bit longer. I think something like 22 hours from where we live.

I hate the hassle of flying, but do like being there in 3 hours...once the plane takes off.

We always go over school vacation week and so far we've been lucky enough to get airfare for under $200 pp rt nonstop. So that makes it doable.

Have fun on your trip!

 

[PoohsFan1]

I agree with the PPs that mentioned that time is a huge factor. We live in a suburb of Chicago and it takes us 2 days to get to WDW....too much time in the car and less time at Disney. So we decided that whenever we go to Disney we like to take the earliest flight out with nonstop and leaving we take the latest nonstop flight out. It basically gives us 2 extra days to play and have fun. If money is a factor (and I know it always is) try flying on either a Tuesday or Wednesday because those are historically cheaper days to fly on (couldn't tell you why)....those are the days that we fly in and out on as well.

 

[Marshay]

I think if I were in Virginia, I'd definitely consider driving. We are in Massachusetts and it's quite a bit longer. I think something like 22 hours from where we live.

I hate the hassle of flying, but do like being there in 3 hours...once the plane takes off.

We always go over school vacation week and so far we've been lucky enough to get airfare for under $200 pp rt nonstop. So that makes it doable.

Have fun on your trip!

yeah, the airfare is actually reasonable (under $200 if we do JetBlue) but it's the rental car that is hitting us hard since we'll be going 10 days. And skipping the rental car for us is not an option. We'll do it when the kids are bigger but right now, we really feel we want it.

I just need to sort out all our costs and see how much we'll really save.

I agree with the PPs that mentioned that time is a huge factor. We live in a suburb of Chicago and it takes us 2 days to get to WDW....too much time in the car and less time at Disney. So we decided that whenever we go to Disney we like to take the earliest flight out with nonstop and leaving we take the latest nonstop flight out. It basically gives us 2 extra days to play and have fun. If money is a factor (and I know it always is) try flying on either a Tuesday or Wednesday because those are historically cheaper days to fly on (couldn't tell you why)....those are the days that we fly in and out on as well.

Our dates are already set (Sunday and Tuesday) so we did hit one of those cheaper ones.

Yeah, if we were a lot more than 14 hours away, I wouldn't even consider it. but 14 hours is really do-able...esp if we can time it so we're driving at hours when the girls may sleep or nap.

 

[jlewisinsyr]

In general, if I can drive there in less then or around 4 hours, I'll drive over fly because most often the time frame to fly is very similar to driving by the time you factor in time needed at the airport before departure, flight time and transportation to and from the arrival airport to my destination. Beyond that, I fly, time is valuable to me, and wasting it driving 5 + hours is too expensive in my eyes.

 

[ADAMANDLISA]

Hi! We're driving down at the end of the month. Our trip is a couple of hours longer, but I'll let you know how it goes!

We are splitting the trip up so no one is tired from driving all night. It's vacation and I want everyone to have fun.

 

[clkelley]

yeah, the airfare is actually reasonable (under $200 if we do JetBlue) but it's the rental car that is hitting us hard since we'll be going 10 days. And skipping the rental car for us is not an option. We'll do it when the kids are bigger but right now, we really feel we want it.

I just need to sort out all our costs and see how much we'll really save.



Our dates are already set (Sunday and Tuesday) so we did hit one of those cheaper ones.

Yeah, if we were a lot more than 14 hours away, I wouldn't even consider it. but 14 hours is really do-able...esp if we can time it so we're driving at hours when the girls may sleep or nap.

Have you looking into the Autotrain?? No driving and you have your own car.

Also, what we do is break up the drive. At 5pm the night before vacation, I am done with work and at 5:05 pm I am on the road to vacation. We usually put about 5 -6 hours in the first night, then finish up the next morning. (I go home for lunch, then DH brings me back to work and picks me up with everything loaded at 5pm.)

 

[Marshay]

Have you looking into the Autotrain?? No driving and you have your own car.

Also, what we do is break up the drive. At 5pm the night before vacation, I am done with work and at 5:05 pm I am on the road to vacation. We usually put about 5 -6 hours in the first night, then finish up the next morning. (I go home for lunch, then DH brings me back to work and picks me up with everything loaded at 5pm.)

Yep, I did price out the Autotrain and it is somewhat reasonable if we just get seats (ugh!, that's a long time 4pm - 9am or something like that) I assume the seats are similar to airplane seating...can't imagine sitting there for 16 hours..

Now a Family Bedroom would be nice but that comes in at $500 for the 4 of us and a car, one-way. However, that's cheaper than flying and renting a car...

 

[Marshay]

Hi! We're driving down at the end of the month. Our trip is a couple of hours longer, but I'll let you know how it goes!

We are splitting the trip up so no one is tired from driving all night. It's vacation and I want everyone to have fun.

Oh, I'd love a report, esp as you have a young child, too. Are you doing a TR?

 

[Donald is #1]

So up until my DCL cruise in September, I have always flown to WDW. Like you, (even on solo trips in my case) I always get a rental car. Although I use WDW transport for most if not all of my park visits, often enough I have meals planned at other resorts and I prefer to drive then taking the buses when traveling between resorts. I also tend to drive to DTD.

For me, on a personnel trip, I will drive instead of fly for any drive 8 hours or less (now probably being raised to 10 hours or so). The reason I prefer to drive is that I enjoy the sense of freedom that I have using my own car plus:
1) leave whenever I feel like
2) can take as many bags as I want and don't have to worry about the weight
3) Can have a cooler so that I can carry soda & water
4) I just love driving (I don't dislike flying but the hassle factor seems to be getting higher each year)


So if you have the time to drive, I say go for it. In my case, I loved driving down to Port Canaveral for my cruise. We added a few days to the trip and stopped in St Augustine before the cruise and Savannah after the cruise.

Thanks for all the thoughts.

I just checked the airfare and rental car for our July trip and it went up significantly since I last checked around Christmas-time.

The rental car went from $338 for a SUV to $517 for a car and $713 for a SUV. Airfare went up only by about $60 total for 4 tickets.

Since we aren't willing to go without a car at this time, we have just decided to drive.

I'll keep looking for a good rental car and airfare deal but unless the price goes back under $1000, we're going to drive.

So do any of you have a spreadsheet you use to factor in all the costs for driving to WDW? I'd love to have a copy.

So far I'm thinking:

Gas (AAA says it will cost about $275 RT for my vehicle)
Hotel
Tolls
Wear and Tear (not sure how to calculate this)
Food
Entertainment

I didn't end up putting together a formal spreadsheet, but here is what I ended comparing against:

1) Gas (I went online to AAA and did a triptik from my house to Port Canaveral (or WDW in your case). I then took the round trip distance and divided it by the average gas mileage of my SUV. I then used the gas price that I am paying here in NH.

2) Hotel cost for both the trip down & back

3) Additional meals


I didn't include wear & tear because I wasn't sure how to quantify it. I then compared that against our airfare plus the cost of the rental car.


I will definitely drive again sometime even for a solo trip. My next 2 WDW trips will be with my nephew ('10) and niece ('11). Since I don't want to puch my luck on how long I am taking them away, I won't push my luck and add days to drive. However, I can't wait to drive again.

 

[Marshay]

So up until my DCL cruise in September, I have always flown to WDW. Like you, (even on solo trips in my case) I always get a rental car. Although I use WDW transport for most if not all of my park visits, often enough I have meals planned at other resorts and I prefer to drive then taking the buses when traveling between resorts. I also tend to drive to DTD.

For me, on a personnel trip, I will drive instead of fly for any drive 8 hours or less (now probably being raised to 10 hours or so). The reason I prefer to drive is that I enjoy the sense of freedom that I have using my own car plus:
1) leave whenever I feel like
2) can take as many bags as I want and don't have to worry about the weight
3) Can have a cooler so that I can carry soda & water
4) I just love driving (I don't dislike flying but the hassle factor seems to be getting higher each year)

Yes, we like to eat at the different resorts or just go there to explore, rent the Sea Raycers, etc. It just isn't convenient at all if you do Disney transpo.

My DH told me we have to pack as if we were flying! But I'll definitely pack a little more and we won't have to get as much down there (just get the perishables but save on diapers, wipes, snacks, water).

 

[DISFANSTHREE]

If we have 10 days or two weeks we drive. 1ooo mile drive for us. We will be flying in march to WdW, only have a week. Lots of things to factor in, Gas price, miles on car, Hotels cost, food and time. Don;t mind the drive , but is nice to get on flight at 7 am and be walking thru the gates of Magic Kingdom at 1 pm.....

 

[ADAMANDLISA]

Oh, I'd love a report, esp as you have a young child, too. Are you doing a TR?

I probably won't do a TR only because with school and 3 little ones, it's hard to find time for the extras. I will definitely give you a report of the drive though. I am really (and I can't stress "really" enough) looking forward to not having to use the buses to get around.

While they are wonderful and very convenient in most situations....I won't miss trying to get 3 kids, 2 strollers, a diaper bag and camera bag on all at the same time.(Thank you to all those who helped us out in the past!)

 

[hearts8701]

love the drive it takes us about 18 hours we always stay more than a week i drie mainly because of all the hassle of flying i like to bring cr=ertain things with us that would be a problem when flying such a my shampoo.. pool stuff..i know i could shop around when i get there for these items but once i get there i just want to have everything already and relax

 

[keishashadow]

I hate losing precious vacation time to travel so we fly anywhere that's too far to cover in a single shift behind the wheel. I can make Myrtle Beach from northeast PA in one 10 hour overnight haul so we drive there. Any more than that and we're in the air. Since 2000 we've managed to capture most of the first day in WDW and often take a late flight home so we can stay in WDW until about 4 pm. Based on our yearly trip to Myrtle and the gas costs for that I'm sure that driving to Disney from PA would cost almost the same as a flight for 2.

Bill From PA

it's another 2 for us depending on traffic & it's as far as i'll bother driving and approx the same additional time to Orlando

when my boys were little tykes it equaled the approx # of hours i could keep them in check w/o ducktape

jhmo, even if it costs more to fly & rent a vehicle vs driving, i'll make up the difference in price somewhere else on the overall vacation costs. Some things are just priceless.

 

[Marshay]

I probably won't do a TR only because with school and 3 little ones, it's hard to find time for the extras. I will definitely give you a report of the drive though. I am really (and I can't stress "really" enough) looking forward to not having to use the buses to get around.

While they are wonderful and very convenient in most situations....I won't miss trying to get 3 kids, 2 strollers, a diaper bag and camera bag on all at the same time.(Thank you to all those who helped us out in the past!)

Yep, I hear you on the Disney transpo...

Please let me know how the drive is. I'm already thinking about when to leave, where to stop, if I can find a good rest stop with playground, etc

I'm hoping we can do 8-10 hours on the first day, esp if we get up early and the girls go back to sleep (?). That way we can take our time on the 2nd day and go to Wal-Mart and gas up before checking in and unpacking. I'm making the first full day after arrival a pool day in the AM so we can relax a bit and decompress before hitting AK later in the day.

 

[BC1836]

From comment #1711 on P. 115 of the "For 2,000+ Mile Round Trip Drivers Only!'" thread [updated!]:

There are advantages and disadvantages to both flying and driving; however, if you drive...

You leave when you want.

You take whatever you want with you.

Bathroom breaks in areas bigger than an apartment pantry.

No turbulence.

You don't have to take off your shoes.

No full body scans.

No fear of airport evacuations due to security problems (real or not-real)

You don't have to lock your luggage.

You don't have to pay for luggage.

Only you can lose your luggage.

Although it fits in your trunk it may not fit in the overhead bin.

You can stick your head out of the window.

No connecting flights.

Snacks are unlimited and come in large sizes.

Beverages from your cooler. Anytime

You decide who travels with you.

If you sit in the back of the car, you can de-car in about 5 seconds; if you sit in the back of the plane it might take 15 minutes to de-plane.

You can stop whenever you want to.

A flock of birds can't shut down your engine (but they can mess up your windshield).

No waiting for ground transportation.

You can drive your vehicle into the MK parking lot.

You have "freedom."

All the best!
__________________

 

[Coach81]

Driving - Pros- Cheaper, more convenient, faster transportation at WDW
- Cons- Hours and Hours of Driving, travel time to WDW is much longer
Flying- Pros- Travel time is much shorter, more time spent on vacation and less driving
- Cons- Can be very expensive, must either rent a car, or depend on WDW busses

Good luck with your decision.. fyi we flew this past Christmas and LOVED IT.. and we are flying again this coming May for our annual summer trip.

 

[Marshay]

From comment #1711 on P. 115 of the "For 2,000+ Mile Round Trip Drivers Only!'" thread [updated!]:

There are advantages and disadvantages to both flying and driving; however, if you drive...

You have "freedom."

All the best!
__________________

Thank you for this list!! It was both helpful and quite funny!

And we always sit in the back of the plane -- and it does seem to take forever nowadays as everyone has so much carryon!

I saw that thread but didn't go to it since we aren't anywhere close to 2000 miles...now I need to find a thread on driving to WDW from the DC area...

 

[ADAMANDLISA]

Yep, I hear you on the Disney transpo...

Please let me know how the drive is. I'm already thinking about when to leave, where to stop, if I can find a good rest stop with playground, etc

I'm hoping we can do 8-10 hours on the first day, esp if we get up early and the girls go back to sleep (?). That way we can take our time on the 2nd day and go to Wal-Mart and gas up before checking in and unpacking. I'm making the first full day after arrival a pool day in the AM so we can relax a bit and decompress before hitting AK later in the day.

This was my original plan for our arrival day since we won't be arriving until late afternoon, but I guess Mother Nature has other ideas. Now I'm just praying for some warmer weather!

Our first day will be a shorter drive, about 6-7 hours. We'll be leaving as soon as DH and DFIL get home from work. We have our hotel booked thanks to DFIL's points!The next day should only (did I just say only?) be 8-9 hours.

We booked this trip less than 2 weeks ago and I forgot how much planning goes into this...it's driving me nuts that I have so much to do and so little time. Classes start on Monday for me, so I have to push hard through the weekend.

 

[TheWog]

We live in NH so we fly.