What Would You Do?

[New To Mom]

I'm getting ready to book our first trip to WDW and I guess I'm having sticker shock.. I've been researching for awhile but now that I'm getting ready to buy, I'm having a hard time..lol.

We have a few different options on how we can handle this trip.

First, to fly or drive? It's about a 24 drive I believe from Iowa. I estimated it would save us between $400 - $500, that's off of today's prices. Or, I could book a cheaper flight that gets us in at like 9pm. I kind of like the idea of driving bc then we would have our car. But our son is 5 and the longest road trip we've done is 2 hours..lol.

Second is the resort. We have a friend who is very close to WDW and has offered her house for us to stay at while we are there. That would be a HUGE savings if we don't get any discounts or anything. We are thinking about going in the fall. Not sure of the exact month.
But I'm torn bc even though it's a savings, we'd be missing out on the hotel experience and the meal plan (which I would do if we stayed onsite). But the rumors I see have no free dining at the values which is where we would stay. But if we'd stayed at her house, we'd either use our car if we drive or rent a car.

To sum it up, if we stayed at her house, it would cut the cost of the trip in half, almost. It would save more if we drove. Do you guys think I should book a package and hope for free dining? If I book and pay $ on the trip, I can get that back if I cancel, right? I'm tempted to do that and see what discounts come out for fall. But I don't want to be out the money I already paid. Also, would you drive 24 hours, esp with a 5 year old?

TIA..I know this is kind of scattered brained. I just cant decide.

 

[lizloph]

The free dining won't justify the overall cost you'll save by staying with your friend and driving. Staying on property isn't at all about cost as it is about amenities. I always do the pro and con list. I tend to stay on property because of how easy they make it but I could easily save 40% just by staying off property and renting a car... And I don't have kids.

 

[New To Mom]

I also thought about if we are spending 5 days at the parks, I could do a split stay. Like stay 2 nights on site. Jack has never stayed at a hotel so I think it would be fun for him. Then we could have the best of two worlds.

 

[allthingsmickey]

I also thought about if we are spending 5 days at the parks, I could do a split stay. Like stay 2 nights on site. Jack has never stayed at a hotel so I think it would be fun for him. Then we could have the best of two worlds.

I like this idea. If this is a "big" vacation for him, I would want to stay on-site even if it is for just a couple of days. I think kids love staying in hotels. I know mine does. If it is not in the budget, then I'm sure your friend's house will be a great alternative.

 

[New To Mom]

This is def a big trip for him. We've never done a family vacation before and it will be a couple of years before we can do it again. So I think I've made up my mind about location. Now it's to figure out whether or not to fly....

 

[Micca]

That's an awful lot of drive. Underscore "awful". Especially coming home. Try to fly.

 

[nursie]

and I just booked airfare for 8 and it wasn't cheap.
I was tormented with drive vs fly for months now and we are going to be gone for an entire month so it would have made sense to drive....
However, we went for 3 weeks last year, never had a car, stayed onsite the whole time, had groceries and meds delivered, rode Disney transportation and never missed not having wheels.
We also have 6 children and a 15 passenger van so we would have had room to stretch out for a long drive but the thought of 26 hours of whining, potty stops, fatigue, husband driving with his eyes shut (similar to Chevy Chase in National Lampoon's Vacation movie), I decided flying would be the way to go.

Maybe we could have coordinated our trips and picked you up on our way.
In all seriousness, it's really what works best for your family. We thought about gas costs to drive our big vehicle, hotel stays and food on the way down, missing more work and using up 4 days of our life to get to and fro and decided a 3 hour nonstop sounded pretty darn good.
Good luck, decisions, decisions...

 

[marybogue]

Planning a trip to WDW is super exciting, so enjoy! With that being said, would I drive 24 hours with a 5 year old? Only if I were under duress (I have a 6 and a 4 year old).

The fact that you have a friend who will allow you to stay at her house, and consequently save money, is awesome! I say enjoy the friend's house, but buy plane tickets. How many miles does the average WDW guest walk in one day? I know someone can answer this - and it is exhausting. So I think making travel to WDW as easy as possible is the way to go. Happy planning!

 

[snorkelyn]

Apply for a Southwest Airlines Credit card, and 2 (maybe all 3) of you can fly for free. They are giving away 50,000 points with a new credit card.
Worth considering.

I would not drive with small kids. It would take forever ("I gotta go potty", "Are we there yet?", "MOM!!")- and you will be so stressed out before you even get there.

I agree a couple days onsite would be a great splurge. Depending on when you go- maybe they will offer free dining.

My husband hates when I say this, but I'm going to tell you anyways: You are creating forever memories with your family. You will never be able to repeat his childhood- so make it special! Especially if you will not be able to take a family vacation for a couple years.

Happy planning!

 

[Steph01002]

Fly. But also check out airports that may be a further drive from your house. We are driving an extra hour and it is less than half price where we normally prefer to fly out of. 24 hours is too long to drive unless you are making a fun road trip out of it, and I don't think I would do that with my kids if I had a choice anyway.

 

[MermaidMommy]

Don't overlook fall room-only discounts! The dining plan is great for convenience, but it's not a money-saver at all. If you work at planning -- i.e. load up on character meals, eat at the most expensive restaurants -- you can get your money's worth, but most people will actually end up better off with a discount on the room and paying for food out of pocket. If you like the convenience of the DDP, lots of people just pre-load a Disney gift card with the same amount and use it instead. Plus, at the values, you get the Quick Service Dining Plan, unless you pay to upgrade. Discounts won't be out for fall until sometime in the summer, most likely, but there's usually some kind of discount going on.

If you do end up getting Free Dining, though, make sure you go through Disney to get your tickets. You have to purchase a minimum 2-day ticket to qualify for Free Dining.

Also, our first Disney trip was a 20 hour drive from Dallas with our 4-year old. It was soooooooo long, and we were used to taking 12 hour trips to the beach with her. But, we were so worn out when we got there that we vowed never again. I vote for flying!

 

[CT Yankee]

We have driven to FL from CT with our two kids three times. We did manage to save some money by driving, but you do have to factor in the costs of gas, tolls, hotel stays and food on the way down. We also made the drive there and back part of the trip and made some stops at historic locations - so we did have that extra expense of paying for admission to certain museums, etc. Next time we plan on flying since gas is so expensive now. We did have tons of fun driving down, but it does get pretty tiresome and required LOTS of planning to make it as smooth a trip as possible. I also tried to spread out the road trip expenses by purchasing gift cards for gas and fast food/coffee stops that we would be making along the route. Side note - don't bother with Dunkin' Donuts gift cards - they are not as prevalent "down South" like they are in the Northeast.

The split stay sounds like a very good idea. Again you can try spreading out the costs by purchasing some Disney gift cards now and using those for meals instead of purchasing the dining plan. Pack your own bottled water and some small snacks for the time you will be at the parks. That will save you more than you think. We always book our vacation through an authorized Disney travel agent - she does a great job of monitoring discounts for us and if one is released after we have already made our reservation she re-books for us so that we can get the discount.

Good luck!

 

[MMrules]

I drove 15 hours with a 3 and 5 year old to Canada and after about 1 hour in and 1,000 "are we there yet?" I was ready to turn around and go home. I don't think I would drive a whole day with a 5 year old, but it depends on the child. I would keep watching for air fare to go down (it fluctuates) and see if you can book on a cheaper day,

I would also want to stay onsite for the whole Disney experience. You really do not need a car b/c there is free bus transportation (to/from airport and within the resort to the parks). I find that on vacation the last thing I want to do is drive. Anywhere. Let the people who know the area do it for me and I arrive much happier and less stressed from driving. Also I am not a fan of staying at other people's houses. Even though it saves money, I feel like I am inconveniencing them. My boys get up early, can be loud, if you come home late from a park will you feel bad going to her home etc?.

Chances are there will be an offer in the fall as there usually is. Room discounts are often a much better deal than free dining. If you choose a value resort the room discount would be decent and then you would have the extra for food to pay out of pocket. With a child sometimes all those sit down meals get boring and the kids just want to eat on the fly. Also gardengrocer.com will deliver food to your rooms (I believe values have small refrigerators) so you can get snacks, pbj, bread, juice boxes etc. which also saves money,

SO personally, I would fly, stay on-site and use the DIsney transportation. If you book now and an offer comes out later, you can call disney travel and change it without a penalty as long as it is less than a month in advance. I had to cancel once the day before due to illness and got all my money back but $50.

 

[collegeprogram01]

Fly Fly Fly! if you can of course. I cant imagine driving home from there...its hard enough leaving and going to the airport let alone a 24 hour drive! My favorite part about disney are the resorts and how each one is unique in their own way. if you do stay at a disney resort you will find they make it very easy to get around with transportation. It is a great experience staying on property.

 

[HerRoyalHighness]

I would choose flying first. You could rent an inexpensive car through Hotwire or Priceline. I'd save the onsite until the end if you're staying with your friend part of the time.

 

[wishing4PA]

I love road trips, but if I could swing it, I think in your shoes I would fly and rent a car. I wouldn't stay on property for just one night, but for the last 2 nights, it would make sense imho, and be a lot of fun, no matter which level resort you pick.
2 other options I would consider (not that you want to -- just if I were in your shoes, coming from Iowa, I would consider them):
- visiting Legoland first
- or not staying in a Disney resort at all (gasp!) but booking a night or 2 on the beach in the Daytona or Clearwater areas if the kid hasn't seen the ocean/gulf. (I'd probably set that for the first night and wind up at Disney, not the other way around.)
I'd certainly take your friend up on her house offer. How nice of her!
Whatever you do, even if you do drive), you will have a marvelous trip!

 

[jennabcassell]

I too have a five year old and the hotel is the highlight of his stay!! The Disney hotels are amazing!!! I wouldn't worry too much about the price right now,as there are usually specials that come out later including free dining. The hotel absolutely makes the experience. It was really nice of your friend to offer her place but I think the hotels are the way to go! Take a look at all the hotel threads here on the boards. Pop is my favorite value and Caribbean Beach is my favorite Moderate resort. The pool at CB is awesome! It will still be warm enough to swim in the fall do be sure to bring your bathing suits! You can not beat the convenience of using the bus system when you have a tried kid (and mom) to take back to the room. Instead of getting in the car and trying to drive and find you way around, you can hop on the bus, snuggle with your boy and let them take you to your resort! Totally worth it! As well as the dining plan. You dont have to worry about how much it costs or carrying cash, its all paid for. I have done the math over and over again and if you like to eat at the sit down restaurants it is definitely the way to go. As for the plane...as we are lucky enough to live 2 1/2 hours away, I can;t help you there but I do know Disney has the magical express that takes you to and from the airport and takes your luggage for you. For me the ease of just hoping on the plane, then the bus to the resort would be so worth it! Keep an eye on the rates, I'm sure new discounts will be coming for the fall sometime in the summer!! Have a great trip!

 

[iheartdisney123]

Definitely fly!! I don't know about you but driving 24 hours on vacation makes it feel less like a vacation. And if you can afford it stay on site. 1/2 of the magic at Disney is staying onsite. They transport you to another world.... Makes me feel so relaxed. Plus if uou stay onsite you wont need to rent a car.... they pick you up from the airport and take your resort and then transport you to all the parks. Not to mention the memories you'll be making. I've stayed offsite one time and it wasn't nearly as magical as staying onsite. It is an expensive vacation BUT to my family worth. every. penny.

 

[Peanut]

We were just debating the fly or drive thing too. We're going in March. Ultimately, we chose to fly, as we usually do. We have a 2 day drive there and 2 day drive back. That's 4 less days at Disney. The savings wasn't worth giving up all that time in Disney! Plus, we have a 7 year old and I think all that time in a car would have exhausted all of us before we got there!!

 

[almburr]

Fly!!! When you drive think of all the stops you will have to make, someone is always hungry, tired, sick of sitting in a car seat, and the always happening potty breaks.

We fly, its not worth it to drive for us, we are over 20hrs away. You could try and drive it straight through, but think how exhausted you will be. If you stop you will need a motel for the night so you could be looking at 3-4 days of driving. as opposed to a 3-4hr flight. Plus the drive home would seem so much longer because of all the fun you had in WDW.

You will walk about 13miles a day in WDW.