Who drives to WDW

[dawz1026]

We have been driving from NY the past few years and almost booked a flight this time but ds 18months has changed our minds(he can be a bit loud at times).I was just wondering who else does the roadtrip and wher e from??

 

[Harvestmooner]

We are from NH and have driven down 3 times. We leave in 23 days and DH wants to fly-I am not so sure about it-so we have not bought the tickets yet.
We have been lucky on all 3 trips-good weather and have been safe!!! We actually have enjoyed the roadtrip with the kids!!!

 

[KatMark]

We used to drive it every year from Chicago when the kids were little. When they reached 13 and 11 we started to fly because we were tired of losing a day and a half that we could have been at theparks rather than driving (and this was like pulling teeth with me because I hate flying!).

 

[Harvestmooner]

(and this was like pulling teeth with me because I hate flying!).

How did you get over the fear of flying??

 

[BarbieGal457]

Oh boy..I've done this trip 6.5 times from Philadelphia due to my mom's fear of flying! My first trip, we had a connecting flight in St. Louis and she and my dad rented a car from there and drove, and I flew the rest of the way with my best friends and their mom and dad. They had to miss seeing my face when I saw the castle; my parents still say they regret that! Last time I flew both ways, which was lovely. My friends and boyfriend are driving down leaving on the 5th of January (five people inc. 3 boys who still love to gross us girls out!, one car, 18 hours through the night..no way!), however I'm flying and meeting them there when they arrive on the 6th! It was definitely a brutal drive, esp when I was young. It feels like forever getting there due to excitement, and then on the way back it feels like forever because you're sad it's over!

 

[RussellDisney]

We just got back early Sun morning. We drove from NE Kentucky, took 15 hours down, but 16 hours back due to more/longer stops. We left KY at 7 pm on a Friday night and drove straight through. That seemed like a good plan, as we couldn't wait to get to Disney, until about 2 in the morning!!! Anyway, coming back wasn't as bad as we left early am. We have flown in the past and probably will in the future, but this needed to be more of a budget trip for several reasons. The only way we will drive in the future is if we stop for the night and make a full two day trip of it.

One other thing, we got GREAT gas mileage!! Left KY on a full tank and didn't stop for gas until Charlotte NC, then again in Jacksonville FL. That tank also lasted us for the first 4 days of commuting from offsite to the parks!! We have an '05 Chrysler Town and Country and it was REALLY loaded down - you couldn't move inside of the thing!!! Also, the cheapest gas I found was the Hess stations on-site at WDW - who would have thought????

 

[KatMark]

How did you get over the fear of flying??

I didn't/haven't. My poor husband is black and blue by the time we get to Orlando (the only other place I will fly is Las Vegas when we go for his business trip). I squeeze his arm all during take off and landing. I try to not sleep at all the night before we fly so that I am so tired that I can sleep through most of the flight--unless there is turbulence, then I don't sleep at all. But it beats that long drive so I grin and bear it these days. And my husband is a saint to let me squeeze him and hurt him four times in a trip!

 

[dawz1026]

We are not fans of flying either and we were willing to fly this April until we realized my son would cause one of us a stroke at 20,000 feet.When he is a bit older maybe then dh and I can take a pill or something lol...we are not thrilled with the long drive but it adds to the trip lolol

 

[robin09]

We drive from Upstate New York. Not too bad with DD9, dvd player, plenty of movies, games... The fares from the planes have become high, so we drive. It's a 2 hour drive to any airport anyway I look at it, so 2 hours driving to the airport, 2 hours in the airport, 3 hours in the air... So not worth it. Along with my DD preoccupation with the airplane's bathroom, she must go there at least 3 or 4 times during the flight.

 

[KatMark]

We drive from Upstate New York. Not too bad with DD9, dvd player, plenty of movies, games... The fares from the planes have become high, so we drive. It's a 2 hour drive to any airport anyway I look at it, so 2 hours driving to the airport, 2 hours in the airport, 3 hours in the air... So not worth it. Along with my DD preoccupation with the airplane's bathroom, she must go there at least 3 or 4 times during the flight.

I hear what you are saying about the costs of flying; however, we figured in the gas, the wear on the car and we thought flying would be better if we could find cheap fares. When we went in September we were able to get fares of just under $200 round trip on American per person (and my husband had enough miles that we upgraded to First Class on the way back). We hope to be able to find a similar fare next September. Our other option is we got a free round trip ticket for our youngest son with my husband's miles to fly to Beijing, China. Unfortunately, the trip had to be cancelled a week before he was scheduled to go. He has a year to rebook. If he does not make it to China (and probably won't because of the Olympics being there and it will interfere with his reason of going), we will use the miles for our trip.

 

[disprincessatheart]

We drive from Raleigh, NC every trip - I think we've done 6 in the last 5 years. It's 9 1/2 hours for us. Until 2005 gas prices made it a no brainer. Even now though we use about 5 tanks of gas at about $40 each, so it's $200 for us to drive and would be more than that to fly. There are few direct flights from RDU to MCO, so we figure 30 minute to airport, 2 hrs in airport, 1 hr flight, 2 hr layover, 1 hr flight, 1 hr from MCO to Disney = 7 1/2 hrs anyway, and this way we have our car.

For the next trip we HAVE to drive as I'll need to bring a million things for the wedding!!!!

 

[ppan77]

We drive. We are spoiled and only live 4 hours from WDW. Since we had our ds2 we are making an effort to go more often. Our next trip will be our 2nd in a year. I am sure we will take advantage of it as we have more kids.

 

[graygables]

I drive from NE Ohio most times we go. I'm usually going in conjunction with a show somewhere in the vicinity and have to have my cargo trailer along, so that's the deciding factor for us. I do like to fly, but have found that I much prefer having a vehicle with me when I'm there, so by the time I factor in the cost of a rental, it's not that much more to drive. My last trip, from the time I left home to the time I was on property was 7 hours, it was 6 hours returning home. While that's better than the 18 it takes to drive, it's still a good chunk of time. We do stop overnight about 10-12 hours into the day, so we can arrive on property before noon. I always make a point of staying in a Holiday Inn Express (usually on points) so we get a free breakfast and DDs get a swimming pool. Makes it part of the vacation!

 

[guelde96]

We drive from north central Illinois. @ 18-20 hours depending on how things go. We have drove 3 times to Disney. Kids age's ranged from 2-9. We have 3 children. We have only stopped once on the way down when my youngest was 2. That worked out good because we were ready to go staight to the parks when we got there. I am afraid to fly. However, I am also too cheap to fly. No matter how you look at it, when you can drive straight through it is much cheaper to drive. Even with the inflated gas prices.

 

[KatMark]

You are probably right. And my husband used to drive straight through...he never wanted me to drive. But now that he is approaching 55 and me 50, the straight through just doesn't cut it anymore. So we'll hope he keeps accumulating miles or we keep getting lucky and get cheap fares. I was looking for next September and found $268 as of now...but I am sure it will come down (same as last year).

 

[Sarubo]

I live in Eastern PA and we have always driven. For almost every trip we had either a motorhome or trailer, and it was always a terrific adventure to drive. We even drove to DL! (Of course there were detours to places like the Grand Canyon and the Painted Desert along the way.) Camping afforded my family the oppurtunity to see almost the entire US. It's alot cheaper than staying in a hotel, and much more comfortable.

My husband and I will be driving down in a few weeks, and for the first time since I was a child, I will be staying somewhere other than Fort Wilderness!!

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

We drive almost everywhere we go (even a 21 hour drive to MN. UGH). Not sure I want to repeat that one.

We are near Atlanta and it takes about 7 hours with a stop for lunch. It's just so easy to get in the car and drive - much easier to drive to FL than deal with the Atlanta Airport.

 

[DizneyNutz]

We drive from Raleigh, NC every trip - I think we've done 6 in the last 5 years. It's 9 1/2 hours for us. Until 2005 gas prices made it a no brainer. Even now though we use about 5 tanks of gas at about $40 each, so it's $200 for us to drive and would be more than that to fly. There are few direct flights from RDU to MCO, so we figure 30 minute to airport, 2 hrs in airport, 1 hr flight, 2 hr layover, 1 hr flight, 1 hr from MCO to Disney = 7 1/2 hrs anyway, and this way we have our car.

For the next trip we HAVE to drive as I'll need to bring a million things for the wedding!!!!

But you have missed the timing badly. That is a major reason we fly instead of driving. We leave the house by 5:00 am and by about 10:00 we are on WDW property including picking up our rental at MCO. Just did this for our third time in a row Dec.7th! We drove the first three trips and have flown the last three trips. From walking out the door we are THERE within 5 hours and not tired or stressed out from driving I-95. It is no way close to an hour from MCO to Disney. 20 -25 Mins. is much more like it.

 

[pepperw23]

We drive from Southern Virginia. I have an almost unreasonable fear of flying. Last time I flew the flight attendant ended up having to sit with me and talk me through a panic attack...I get that bad haha. After the flight I got a set of wings though. Just like the little kids get...I think he was trying to tell me something.

 

[Tammysue5]

We drove this past Sept. (we were in WDW for 12 days) We live in Northwest Ill. It took us 21 hours down and 23 back. We made plenty of stops... I agree with the one poster .... it is not bad going down but the ride back is LONG! Still even w/the gas prices we were able to drive cheaper. (and we drive a Yukon Danali XL... the only way we would drive that long with 3 kids) We took a cooler w/snacks, grapes, apples, goldfish, sandwiches, water, etc. We also stopped for a meal or two both ways. We have the DVd player in the vehicle and took a portable along. The kids brought their Nintendo DSs', and X-Box. We surprised them w/a couple of new movies and games for the ride. They did VERY well! DD5, DD8, DS16. I am a heavy packer so driving helped as well. I should also mention that I did not have to worry about buying & how I was going to get things home that we bought.
We took four cases of water as well, that saved a HUGE amount of money.
Still we decided that we may try flying the next time. Not always can you have the extra time to drive... we probably could have added 3 days to our vacation if we would have flown.