Who here lives in Maryland? (Added a little poll)

[HollyJoy]

We drive. DH HATES to fly! Growing up, we always drove to WDW! I can remember stopping at the visitors center in Florida and getting a complimentary orange juice. Do they still do that?

 

[Parkhopper]

I am in Gaithersburg, just outside of Montgomery Village(if you cross the street you are in Mont. Vill.) We fly when we go to WDW. The two times we drove, Husband insisted on driving straight through with only one bathroom break and one 15 min breakfast at McDonalds. I was exhausted and it took several days before I felt right again.

Suzi

 

[liznboys]

Originally posted by mom2boys
{QUOTE]after driving .... we realized that's how we'd choose to do it anyway! It is SOOOOOOO nice to have our minivan with us down there, gives a lot more freedom to go anywhere, anytime and not have to wait for the WDW buses.

We our minivan too. We stop overnight on the way down so we are rested & ready to go when we arrive. We drive straight thru (about 16 hrs) coming back. That gives us more time at WDW. The last couple of trips we have prolonged out departure from a few hours to a full day. We love the flexibility. It is much to stressful to be at the airport at a specific time - sometimes we are ready to leave sooner & sometimes we just need a little extra time. [/QUOTE]

Wow, you drive straight thru coming home?! I don't think we could handle that right now..with our boys being as young as they are. They get sick of being strapped in those carseats after awhile! We stay a night in the Carolina's each way. Last year we started driving on a Friday evening, drove 5 hours, stayed the night then drove the last 10 on Saturday. So we arrived at POFQ in the evening, around dinnertime. That worked out well. Then on the way home we did the same thing. Spent as long as we wanted at DTD (did our souvenir shopping!), then drove 5 hours on that Saturday, then 10 hours Sunday. Doing it this way allowed us to have 7 nights in WDW but dh only had to take off 5 days from work.

 

[liznboys]

Originally posted by HollyJoy
We drive. DH HATES to fly! Growing up, we always drove to WDW! I can remember stopping at the visitors center in Florida and getting a complimentary orange juice. Do they still do that?

We didn't stop at the Florida visitors center last year, but that would be a nice way to be welcomed in! Yummy!

 

[liznboys]

Originally posted by Parkhopper
I am in Gaithersburg, just outside of Montgomery Village(if you cross the street you are in Mont. Vill.) We fly when we go to WDW. The two times we drove, Husband insisted on driving straight through with only one bathroom break and one 15 min breakfast at McDonalds. I was exhausted and it took several days before I felt right again.

Suzi

Holy cow, ONE bathroom stop!? I couldn't hold it! lol I don't blame you for flying!

 

[skiwee1]

We usually drive down. It ends up costing us more then flying but we enjoy it a lot more. We generally take 2 nights to get there and two nights back. We decide how long we want to stay at WDW and then add on our driving time. That way it doesn't interfere with our WDW time. We did fly down in October and will be doing this same this October though as time is more valuable and I would rather spend it at Disney!

 

[Lisa F]

We live here for two more days! We've been here the past 4 years and have really enjoyed it, but all of our family and many friends are up in NY and if I never have to sit on the NJ Turnpike on thanksgiving weekend again it will be too soon!

 

[caitycaity]

Originally posted by Lisa F
We live here for two more days! We've been here the past 4 years and have really enjoyed it, but all of our family and many friends are up in NY and if I never have to sit on the NJ Turnpike on thanksgiving weekend again it will be too soon!

omg -- were you on it two years ago (on the sunday after thanksgiving)?

that was the first and last time i will ever drive to NE for thanksgiving.

i have never ever ever seen traffic like that before. we were literally sitting in the same spot without moving for an hour. it usually takes us about 7-8 hours to get to my parents in northeast connecticut. that sunday it took us close to 13 hours to get home.

 

[Lisa F]

One year it took us 9 hours to get home (it generally takes us between 4-5 hours with stops and reasonable traffic, the fastest we ever made the drive was 3.5 hours at 5am on a saturday morning). It could have been 2 years ago, I know it wasn't last year. The two most evil words in NJ are "THE MERGE." We were generally able to avoid the worst of it going up by heading up on a tuesday instead of wednesday but let's just say I won't miss those days.

Oh and we fly to WDW, but we DID take the opportunity to take the auto train once since we are so close and really enjoyed it, BUT in order for me to enjoy it we need to get a room and that gets to be expensive.

 

[jk1]

I can remember stopping at the visitors center in Florida and getting a complimentary orange juice. Do they still do that?

Yes, they do. I always liked stopping there for the orange juice. But lately, we ahve been driving overnight and getting to the FL welcome center before it opens at 8am.

For our trips of 10+ days (we usually have a 2 week+ trip every summer), we drive. We leave late afternoon/early evening and drive overnight. I have teens+, so they help drive.

For shorter trips, we fly.

 

[Carole]

We've both driven and flown - lately just driving. It takes us 14 hours to drive straight home with stops for gas and take out food. I'm hoping for some cheap airfare in December!

 

[Breezy_Carol]

We have always flown. Our vacation time is limited so we don't like to spend it in the car. This last trip we only had 4 nights.

 

[1928mm]

Montgomery County and loving it!

 

[liznboys]

Hey! My post got resurrected I see! Hi everyone! Isn't it a refreshing morning with this cool, clear, crisp air?!?!?!?!! BEAUTIFUL!!!!!

 

[Luckymommyx2]

It is BEAUTIFUL this morning!! It's actually a little on the chilly side. Slept with the window open and the fan on and nearly froze my butt off when I woke up!!! I'll take this over all the heat and humidity any day.

 

[disney4us2002]

Okay, I think I found the 'poll'. It's how do we get to Disney right?

We've alternated between flying and autotrain. Funny, I didn't even realize that we've alternated til I actually thought about each trip, lol. I'm not thrilled with the autotrain although it is nice to have our own vehicle. We took the train in '97 because I couldn't imagine driving with three small boys. We flew in 2002 because the two younger boys picked up a virus and threw up the entire way home on the train last trip and it was an awful memory (not any fault of Amtrak's though!). This time it's back to autotrain (just down to FL) because we're going for Christmas and have to take Santa stuff so way too much to fly and we're driving back to stop at family in NC on the way back to Maryland. I think it's 11 hours from Disney to NC so that should be a yucky day.

 

[HollyJoy]

Not sure when the poll was added, so sorry if I'm repeating myself! LOL You know, that sort of thing happens as you get older. heehee.. anyway... we will be driving to WDW. DH doesn't like to fly, so let the road trip begin! I'm actually looking forward to it. Growing up, we always drove down to WDW and had the best time. I can remember stopping at Stuckey's along the way for something to eat and a bathroom break, then of course there was the OJ at the Florida Welcome Center!

 

[Tinkerbell04]

Hi! We are from south east Baltimore County and we always fly to Disney. I have a little bit of ADHD and can not stand the drive!

 

[Tigger&Belle]

I found this post when I was looking for auto train threads...

We're in Montgomery Village (East Village if you want to be very specific) and I see quite a few people from the Mont Village/Gaithersburg area, and several more in other parts of Montgomery County.

We've flown and driven to Orlando. I'm thinking about taking the auto train when I bring my 4yo down in December, but wonder if that would be insane without any help (will both of us even fir in the restroom?). Just pricing it out at this point.

Anyhoo, hello all you folks from Maryland!



T&B

 

[flyinglizard]

We're from Perry Hall in Baltimore County. We always fly to WDW. Time is too scarce to spend in a car!

Charter member of the Baltimore Chapter, NFFC!