Will I save ANY $ driving from Buffalo?

[JoyG]

Hello,

I'm planning a trip to WDW from Buffalo in Aug 2005. I'm trying to decide whether to fly or drive. There are five of us going.

According to my estimates,

to fly it would be about $1000, I think I'll be able to find tickets for about $200 each round trip.

To Drive it would be about $400 in gas, tolls and snacks on the road roundtrip, another $150 for three nights of hotels on the road (2 nights going down and 1 night coming back, I want to check in at WDW first thing in am, so will spend an extra night before check in).

Then, if we end up renting a minivan for this trip, it seems like it will be MORE expensive to drive, if we use our own minivan, we'll save $450, but we'll spend four days in the car with toddlers and put over 1200 miles on the van. Is it worth it?

I ask because, I've been reading for a few days and notice alot of posters from the WNY region. I'm wondering how you decide on driving vs. flying. FWIW, I really don't like flying and can't tolerate it unless I've had a few drinks (and that's the only time I ever drink; when I know I have to fly somewhere).

I also haven't flown since 9/11 or since I've had kids (although they're begging to go on a plane ride). But I'm really beginning to wonder if flying might still be the best option.

any thoughts?

Thanks
Joy

 

[AJKMOM]

You might want to check out the AutoTrain. You would only have to drive to northern Virginia.

 

[marymrg]

My dh and son drove down over Easter break. DD, other DS and I flew out of Rochester a few days before due to finding a cheap fare at the last minute. A friend there offered to shuttle us to the airport and look after our car. (we couldn't get cheap flights out of Buffalo for that time period) Dh and son only stayed one night in S.Carolina on the way down and one night in W.VA on the way back. DH estimated the gas at around $250. (he drove a Grand Caravan) Since it was Spring Break, he said the pace on the highways was unbelievable and total drive time was approx. 18 hours.

Even with all of the various expenses thrown in and my nights at Pop Century, it was still cheaper because of the high cost to rent a minivan for that time period. (almost 2 weeks) They both said they would do it again in a heartbeat. Maybe it was a male bonding thing Personally, I would drive if it was the only way to get there (i.e. outrageous flight costs) but prefer to fly.

 

[Julia M]

How much vacation time do you have?

Basically, you are looking at 2 days driving down and 2 days back.

Aside from any money consideration, for an average week long vacation, that almost doubles the time needed to take off work!

How old is your van? Do you buy a new car every few years, so the extra miles are no big deal, or do you keep your cars awhile?

Will you rent a car in Orlando if you fly? Or use some kind of car service?

You said you don't like to fly.......how do you like long car drives. I find myself very exhausted after long car drives, so that would be a problem for me. Also, the drive down isn't usually the problem for me, it's the drive home.

Anyway, just a few things to think about.

Julia

 

[JoyG]

We teach, so we have all summer, time is not an issue, although I think I want to go the last week in August, so I'll have to be back the day after labor day...even so, I think I'll have enough time.


We plan on keeping the van for a while, so putting the miles on it is a concern; it will have about 50,000 miles on it when we take the trip.

I was looking at some airline sites and I'm not liking what I'm seeing. I may not be able to get flights to FL for about $200 a person.

If I were taking the trip this year, I can fly for about $79 down there, but the flights coming back are more expensive about $150 or so, I guess that's because I'll be flying Labor Day weekend. I expect that will be the same next year...so maybe there'll be a bigger difference between flying and driving than I expected.

If we flew we wouldn't rent a car in FL, we're staying on property and not going to any other parks.

One advantage to driving is I can take as much stuff as I want and bring back as many souvenirs as I want without worrying about it on a plane.


so much to think about...

 

[BillPA]

An additional cost to drive would be food for the 3-4 days on the road, and if you fly you will need to rent a car or pay for ground transportation if Florida.

 

[deltachi8]

keep checking airfars, you have over a year left and time to make a final decision. We flew out of BUF last August on Southwest for $135 round trip, direct flights. In 2001, late August we paid $150 on Continental. You will have to wait a while (Next april or so) before Southwest comes out with rates for that time period.

This year, we chose to fly out ofSyracuse as we found fares at $118 (late August). Since we have family in Syracuse, its easy for us and worth the 2 1/2 hour drive.

What I would do is leave a cushion - plan the days you want to be in Orlando and leave time around it to drive. If you ebd up with great flights, you either have an extra couple days at home or in Orlando.

Because its only two of us, its always cheaper for us to fly, with 5, the economics become more hazy.

 

[gigi1313]

my first advice, having had two toddlers at one time (now they're bigger 7&9 yo!) i probably would have cut off my leg before i consdiered driving that distance with them, would be to take a road trip... pick a destination five or so hours away and see how they do going to/from... that may help you decide real quickly!

personally, i'd fly!

 

[SnackyStacky]

I personally would NEVER drive to Florida from here in Buffalo. It's just too much time on the road. And then my whole time in Florida, I'd be thinking - oh GOD - we have to drive BACK! I just HATE traveling. I mean I LOVE being other places, but it's the getting there and back that I don't like. So anything I can do to minimize that is okay with me!

I'm flying on JetBlue for $190 round trip. I've gone around labor day on Southwest and paid $185.

I really think that it's going to come down to your personal preferences, and basic math. Flying and driving both have their advantages and disadvantages, but for me personally, the advantages of flying FAR outweigh the disadvantages of driving!

 

[Esmerelda]

Personally, I hate to drive more than 4 hours to get anywhere. I'm in Ohio and still fly. I know that Southwest runs great specials. We got our October tickets from Indy in April for $118 each RT. If you pay close attention to SW..you can get a great RT fare right when they first open up their windows. In your case for August next year, it wouls also be April I'm thinking.

Anyhow, for what it would cost us in time in the car, time off work, mileage on my car that I hate to do, not to mention bathroom stops....wear and tear on your body (mine gets horribly stiff while sitting like that)....its just simply not worth it to me.

I can only take about 7 days straight off from the hospital and I would spend 2 of those 7 driving.

You really need to do a serious pros and cons on this one. I think you will find overall (and ESPecially if you have young kids) that flying is better for all involved. Both of my boys flew for the first time at age 3 and have loved it ever since! Besides, working in an ER I know my chances of dying on the interstate driving to get there are MUCH greater than my plane going down. I'll stick to the planes thank you...lol

good luck,
Esmerelda

 

[disneyagain]

My sister and I took our 5 kids this past Christmas.

We had 8 and 10 yr old girls and 10, 13, 15 yr old boys.

We decided in September to go (Our younger sister died unexpectedly in June, so we felt we needed a trip to Disney -we went there as a family many times as kids). Our husbands said "GOOD LUCK" LOL!

Yes, we were worried about the drive with that many kids in the car...figuring the drive down wouldn't be bad (everyone would be excited) we really stressed about the ride home, after a week of togetherness.....

It went GREAT!

Maybe it was a bonding thing, the cousins got to have fun together and it was wonderful for my sister and I. I really enjoyed spending so much time with my nephews (they're the 2 older ones)..they've grown up so fast. We all live in the same town, but our lives are so busy we never really get to spend quality time together.

We had a DVD player for the car, word games and gameboys...They played gamboy "who wants to be a millionaire" most of the way home it seemed until someone won it...

We actually were doing so well on the drive home, we drove straight through.

If you drive, just be prepared and know that any time you can spend with family is precious time....Life is sometimes way too short!