to fly or drive? that is the question

[mrskay9]

I know its far off, because we aren't going til Sept 2005, but I feel like if I knew this part then I could figure out the rest of our schedule.

So, its not really the money we're concerned w/ as much as the aggrivation. I live in VA so I think its about a 12 hour trip. I have a dd -she will be 3 1/2 then. We have the dvd in our van.

We could hop on a Southwest flight for cheap, but when we rented a car for our honey moon it was a nightmare! I can't imagine doing that w/ a child too! And I know someone else suggested to me getting the car service and then just renting a car from Enterprise ("they pick you up").

I'm guessing we'd split up the 12 hour trip into 2 days. We're staying at my parents timeshare, not onsite so we definitely need a car if we fly.

So if money weren't the main thing, would you fly or drive?

Thanks for any info!

 

[lck33]

I would probably drive.

Infact, we live in New York and have a 3 1/2 year old DD and have driven twice this past year. It was so easy... My daughter just watched movies or sang disney songs, colored, and we would stop every couple of hours to stretch our legs, eat, etc.. and we drove in two days. It was much easier for us then having to rent a car, lug around our lugguage, car seat and stroller at the airport.

We also got to bring things from home for snacks, water, juice boxes, etc... that we would have stopped at store to get later on for probably more money than what we pay at home.

But the drawback is that it does eat up four of your vacation days. It doesn't bother me that much because I am spending the time with my family anyway, which is something I don't get to do too much at home being that I work full-time.

Good luck with your decision. Have a great vacation!!!

 

[Desnik]

We drive every year for the past 7 years. DD is 6yo and DS is 14mo. DD has been with us 6 times and DS once! We drive not because of saving money, even though it does save us some. We do it because my DH won't fly and I prefer the drive. We also have the DVD in the car and it is a life saver. We live in NY and have done the drive different ways. Straight through, sleep over one night, straight through at night and on our last trip we left at 4am and arrived at WDW at 10pm. That works best for us and we will be doing that from now on. We love it. I have a special bag I pack for DD with a bunch of activites to keep her busy. Things like coloring/activity books, magna doodle, small toys/dolls. We bring disney music CD's. We bring lots of long movies like Harry Potter. The longer movies make the time fly!! We stop for gas/potty. We usually stop for dinner and bring lunch, drinks and snacks in a cooler in the car. The best thing about driving is we can bring whatever we want and not worry about lugging it all with kids at an airport. Plus we like having our own car and carseat when we are away. We always stay onsite but use our car to get to DtD and the other resorts for dinner. We usually stay for 9 or more days so we have at least a full week at WDW.

You live in VA!!! You are so close!! Better than where I am anyway LOL!!! If I were you I would drive, you never know if you'll like it until you try it. It's also a good bonding time for the family to talk and enjoy the road trip together.

Good luck deciding!

 

[Desnik]

Hey, lck33 we're not that far from eachother!!! I live in Goshen! It's good to see more of us Orange county DIS'ers!!!

 

[Grendel]

We live in NH and we have done both. We go back and forth between the two...but if I lived as close as you do I would drive for sure...heck you could leave really early and be there for dinner!!
I always look at flying into Olrando as a day trip anyways...by the time we gotten to the airport...gone through security...landed..gotten a car and then get to the resort weve probably spent 12 hours anyways....

 

[Rafikifan]

We've done both. It's a 14 hour drive and my dh said he much prefers to fly but then again he drives a lot for his job (outside sales) so it's not much quality vacation time for him to drive. Plus it adds 4 days onto our trip. The ride there isn't bad but coming home it's a bummer. Is the Southwest flight a direct one? We flew Southwest from Jackson, MI and got to Orlando in no time. It was the first time we had flown SWA and we were impressed. The staff was very friendly, plus we got CHEAP airfare. It's all a matter of personal preference, but if you do decide to fly and need to rent a car, I highly recommend signing up from whatever company has the best rates express check in programs. National has a program and we have rented from Dollar and signed up for the fastlane program which we have used twice and since they have all your information ahead of time you get to go to a seperate Fast Lane line and it has been a breeze both times to rent from them using that. Funny story about that (or maybe had to be there to be funny) but we got to the airport in Orlando and went to rent the car and I reminded dh to get in the Fast Lane line since we are members. They were about 5 or 6 people deep in the "regular" line. DH walks up and an employee comes up and takes care of dh in about or less than 5 minutes. I was standing back with the kids and the luggage and I saw an elderly lady whose son or sil must have been retrieving luggage and I heard her dd or dil say that she needed to take her child to the restroom, and for "grandma" to stay there and hold their place in line. Well the lady saw my dh go in the Fast Lane line and you could tell that she was ticked! She gave him the evil eye and made a comment I couldn't quite hear and when she saw that the employee went immediately to help him she was huffing and puffing and I thought was going to blow her top. My dh is signing for the car and has no idea what is happening and I'm sitting backand couldn't help but giggle. She marches up behind my dh and I thought she was going to hit him over the head with her purse or something! Dh turns to leave and she called him a swear word that I can't say here. He had NO idea why. If you knew dh he is the sweetest man and gets along with everybody so he was shocked. We stood and watched a minute and she proceeded to give the guy at the counter the business and he explained that this line was for Fast Pass members only and if she wasn't a member she'd have to get back in the other line (someone else was walking up that was apparently a member). About this time her dd or dil (I have no idea which) walked up and said, "What are you doing out of line?" The lady started to chew HER out for not being a member of this "club" and cursed at her. I began to wonder if she had some cocktails on her flight lol. This all happened fast so it's not like we stood there and gawked or anything and then we left. I'm sorry that she had to wait in line but dh wasn't doing anything wrong, that's WHY they have the program. What were we supposed to NOT take advantage of the perks since we are members? I guess it shouldn't surprise me because I remember getting snide remarks and dirty looks when we got in the Fast Pass line in the parks when it was fairly new and we'd go back at our time and walk past the other line. I can't help it if people don't know about these things!

 

[laceemouse]

We almost always drive. We do it is two long days. I don't like to fly and driving is cheaper for 6 people anyway. We would love to live as close as Va!!!! We would do it in one day!!!! We will be driving to Va (Williamsburg) the end of next week!!!!

 

[liznboys]

We live in Maryland so it's about a 15 hour drive for us. We discovered after driving last year that it's really not that bad! (And we don't even have a dvd player in our van!) On that trip our boys were almost 3.5 and 17 months-they did awesome. I brought plenty of little (new) toys, and lots of snacks. We also had several Disney books on tape, and Disney music cd's. We split the drive into two days, and stay overnight in the Carolina's.

The best thing is that we absolutley loved having our van down there with us!! Wouldn't trade that for anything. We had a stock of bottled water in there, and all the other things we needed. It was great.

 

[kelscross]

If money were no object...I'd fly definately.

The way I look at it is...I am limited on the days I can take off, if I fly that means more days playing and less days traveling.

We flew direct from Dayton, Ohio to MCO and got a town car to pick us up and take us to the resort. It was my mom, myself, and my two girls (2 at the time). We used Disney Transportation the whole week and it wasn't bad at all. Yes it was a pain to fold up the strollers and unfold them when the busses came, especially when they were asleep, but we managed.

We are staying at a monorail resort this year because the girls like the MK the most (of course) and we love EPCOT. We are flying again this year.

If you are flying with small children I would recommend finding a direct flight so you don't have to change planes.

Next year we are adding another adult so we will probably drive to cut the cost.

By the way..does anyone know how long it takes to get there from Ohio??

 

[disneysteve]

We prefer to drive. It does eat up vacation time, but that's the only drawback. When we drive, we can pack virtually anything we want, don't waste a bunch of time sitting in the airport, going through security, etc. Flying is a pain in the butt since 9/11.

Driving is not a big deal. We shoot straight down I-95. We usually do 12-13 hours on day 1 then the remainder on day 2 and reach Disney for a late lunch. Actually, for our next trip, we're planning to leave Friday afternoon when we pick DD up from school, drive 4pm-10pm, stop for the nite, and drive 12 hrs. Saturday. Get in around 8 pm.

 

[orvilleair]

By the way..does anyone know how long it takes to get there from Ohio??
Kelscross. 16-17 hours down I-75 and Florida Turnpike.

There is construction in Georgia south of Atlanta.