Traveling alone with 6 and 5 yr old should I drive or fly from PA??

[tlh0726]

Planning trip for first week of April.
Looks like DH work schedule will have him in Las Vegas. If so, he will definitely be flying in and out of MCO paid for by the company he works for. Which then leaves me with what the kids and I should do.

To drive, it is estimated (one way) 15 hours, 935 miles, fuel cost $120.00 based on 23 mpg which I should no doubt be able to beat.
I have done numerous 7-10 hour trips with the kids (and a dog) alone.

To fly we are looking at
compact rental car $230.79
airfare estimate for 3 $982.20
airport parking $64.00
total $1276.99
versus gas costs of $240.00 roundtrip

cost wise it is a no brainer to me - DRIVE

But is the approx. $1000 savings worth it be driving for 30 plus hours with 2 kids alone and losing 2 days at disney??

decisions, decisions, decisions

 

[Cruz91]

We are 2 adults and 2 kids and had the same issue going on our trip this month. In the end - I decided my sanity and sparing the children repeated beatings is worth the extra money. That's just us, though... If you decide to drive - I wish you safety and sanity!

 

[prncess674]

compact rental car $230.79
airfare estimate for 3 $982.20

Your airfare and rental car seem high. Are you staying offsite? Are you traveling at a high demand travel period?

 

[duffy]

Your airfare and rental car seem high. Are you staying offsite? Are you traveling at a high demand travel period?

I agree. I'm in Pa., and I've never paid that much for flights or a rental car.

 

[tlh0726]

Dates are April 2nd to the 10th.

staying on site

Flying from bwi to mco

Cheapest rental car rate at this time.

Hoping prices come down or it may make my decision on what to do easier to make.

 

[tlh0726]

We are 2 adults and 2 kids and had the same issue going on our trip this month. In the end - I decided my sanity and sparing the children repeated beatings is worth the extra money. That's just us, though... If you decide to drive - I wish you safety and sanity!

 

[tjmw2727]

I have done that drive from Southern DE twice with 3 adults and 2 kids - never would I do it as the solo adult. I know I couldn't drive a straight 15 hours so you would have to fingure in say $150 +/- for a hotel room as well.

I do however take my kids on vacation - including Disney as the solo adult and its lots of fun. I would fly - usually you can get swa flights from phillly for around 139 one way. Sign up for ding and click and save.

Staying at BWI there is no need for a rental IMHO - skip the rental and use DME. If you need groceries I recommend wegoshop - if you need groceries and such.

 

[Alesia]

I would fly and skip the rental car.

 

[ruddydvc]

I would fly and skip the rental car.

Agreed. Your time and sanity is worth the money. Fly and take ME

 

[sam_gordon]

Agree. Fly & skip the rental car. Take the rental car out of the loop and flying is now ~$1000. Add hotel on way & back ($100 each) and driving is now $440. So by driving you are saving $550. Let's call it $500 for extra wear & tear on your car.

So you save $500, but you're losing two days of vacation time. Is that worth it to you? For me it's not.

 

[sharadoc]

Planning trip for first week of April.
Looks like DH work schedule will have him in Las Vegas. If so, he will definitely be flying in and out of MCO paid for by the company he works for. Which then leaves me with what the kids and I should do.

To drive, it is estimated (one way) 15 hours, 935 miles, fuel cost $120.00 based on 23 mpg which I should no doubt be able to beat.
I have done numerous 7-10 hour trips with the kids (and a dog) alone.

To fly we are looking at
compact rental car $230.79
airfare estimate for 3 $982.20
airport parking $64.00
total $1276.99
versus gas costs of $240.00 roundtrip

cost wise it is a no brainer to me - DRIVE

But is the approx. $1000 savings worth it be driving for 30 plus hours with 2 kids alone and losing 2 days at disney??

decisions, decisions, decisions

I couldn't do it.

When you look at "savings", don't forget you are spending two more nights at Disney, and two more days worth of tickets for each of you into your total cost of flying, so that's a more significant savings to drive. With just you driving, though, you could easily get fatigued and would have no one to pass off to. That could be unsafe as well as unhealthy for all of you.

I'm a major proponent of driving, but in your case, I'd say fly.

 

[tlh0726]

Thanks for the opinions and suggestions. Just needed a little encourgement to say just fly.

We have AP's so ticket cost has already been covered.
Have a double bike stroller that we use so the cost of a rental car instead of using DME and bus transportation is worth it to me.
Majority of the room will be covered by Disney reward points. Even if we drove we would still be there the same number of nights.

So I guess I just now need to keep checking and checking and checking for flights and cheaper rental car.

Tina

 

[keishashadow]

Planning trip for first week of April.
Looks like DH work schedule will have him in Las Vegas. If so, he will definitely be flying in and out of MCO paid for by the company he works for. Which then leaves me with what the kids and I should do.

To drive, it is estimated (one way) 15 hours, 935 miles, fuel cost $120.00 based on 23 mpg which I should no doubt be able to beat.
I have done numerous 7-10 hour trips with the kids (and a dog) alone.

To fly we are looking at
compact rental car $230.79
airfare estimate for 3 $982.20
airport parking $64.00
total $1276.99
versus gas costs of $240.00 roundtrip

cost wise it is a no brainer to me - DRIVE

But is the approx. $1000 savings worth it be driving for 30 plus hours with 2 kids alone and losing 2 days at disney??

decisions, decisions, decisions

often people forget to factor in the wear/tear & possible trade in depreciation on their vehicles when making such long road trips. I agree w/the other poster. Save your sanity & fly!

not sure why u have a rental car factored in, if not a necessity/staying onsite u could easily take ME to cut expenses on rental/gas/tolls. You probably could arrange towncar service for more than 1/2 the price of the car rental.

Your dates hover around Easter/spring break - prime time. airfare deals certainly aren't currently the greatest (ive been pricing them for one of my kids for last minute trip). Might want to jump on 1st rate u see that seems reasonable...good luck

 

[PSUGuy]

What part of Pa? We got a good airfare out of Allentown on AirTran next March and an economy car for 8 days at Dollar for $180.00, total. South Carolina is a far as I'll drive from Pa since I can make that in one shift, I hate losing vacation time to travel. There's good rates out of PHL as well.

Bill From PA

 

[tlh0726]

What part of Pa? We got a good airfare out of Allentown on AirTran next March and an economy car for 8 days at Dollar for $180.00, total. South Carolina is a far as I'll drive from Pa since I can make that in one shift, I hate losing vacation time to travel. There's good rates out of PHL as well.

Bill From PA

Gettysburg area

The compact car came down to 217 including taxes and fees for 8 days

Bwi is about 40-45 min from us.

 

[NJBILL]

Have you considered Amtrak or Amtrak Auto Train? Very stress free. My kids loved it.

www.amtrak.com

 

[meloneyb21]

DH and I drove down and back last year (April 2009) with a 4 y/o and 4 m/o. It was fun but not ideal. We plan to drive again someday but no time soon. This past April we chose to fly down instead. Southwest was cheap and we just used Disney transportation.

 

[tlh0726]

Have you considered Amtrak or Amtrak Auto Train? Very stress free. My kids loved it.

www.amtrak.com

checked out the autotrain previously and was like
going down was great coming back the price was about double.

Did not check into just regular amtrak
but just did the price for 3 without discounts $448 roundtrip, but the time it takes to get there

tina

 

[NJBILL]

checked out the autotrain previously and was like
going down was great coming back the price was about double.

Did not check into just regular amtrak
but just did the price for 3 without discounts $448 roundtrip, but the time it takes to get there

tina

Time goes pretty quickly, especially if its your first time..
Good luck on your decision.

 

[Danibelle]

We are 2 adults and 2 kids and had the same issue going on our trip this month. In the end - I decided my sanity and sparing the children repeated beatings is worth the extra money. That's just us, though... If you decide to drive - I wish you safety and sanity!

I would definitely fly!