Would you book a moderate and fly or drive and do a deluxe?

[FairyDust2008]

We are currently kinda debating whether or not to book POFQ and fly for our 1st family WDW trip or drive and stay at a deluxe resort. It is about a 12 hr. or so drive, not including stops which will make it a little longer but not too much. We enjoy roadtrips as a family but flying also gets ya there a bit faster, LOL but flying can be quite the headache as well. I'm just wondering if we should put our money to fly and save on being on the road and stay at POFQ or to drive and book a deluxe. Also, I'm kinda debating as well if our money would be better used in the parks, tickets, souvenirs, food, etc if we budgeted and did a moderate but then I like some of the deluxe resorts too and kinda want pampered. AHHHHHHHHHHHHH, the dilemma of decisons. One thing is for sure, we are definitely doing Disney, just not quite squared away on where to stay and how we decide to travel. Still fun planning. Just wanted some opinions. THANKS!

 

[northriver]

12 hours driving each way, I'd arrive exhausted. But I also hate to fly, not so much if I get a direct flight. If it was a connecting flight, I'd probably drive. It is a 2.5 day drive for us and I did that last in 2000 and decided about 200 miles from home that I won't ever do that again - and I was much younger then! But 12 hours, I'm just not sure, I wouldn't do it all in one stretch though, so for me I'd have a hotel expense added in each way.

I love staying at the monorail resorts! But nothing wrong with POFQ, I'd love to stay there, too, and actually I'v been thinking about staying off site again. Years ago we stayed at some really nice suites with so much space, and so much cheaper than the on-site.

So I'm not much help, am I? LOL! Happy planning!

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

We live 9 ours away from WDW and flew for the 1st time recently. We do not have a direct flight. We were only gone from Thursday night until Tuesday night.

It took us just as long to fly, but we weren't nearly as tired because we were only stuck in our seats for a little over an hour instead of 9 hours. (That makes a big difference.) We decided to fly directly out of Atlanta because we could get a flight that landed at 8:30AM. I did not realize that a 7am flight means getting up at 4am to get out of the hotel at 4:30, to get to the airport at 5am to get on the 7am flight. Since, we live in Alabama...it actually seemed like we had to get up at 3am. We got a hotel, but if I ever do that again I will head to Atlanta from home at Midnight. DH got some sleep, but I didn't.

To recap...we had to get up at 3am to make our flight that landed at 8:30am. After ME and check-in, we were in Epcot by 10am, and yes we could have left home at 3am and have been in Ocala by 10am. (I was ready for sleep that night.)

We will probably do it again because of DH, but for me...I think its a toss up. I may see if I can get DH to drive down at 3am and see how that works out.

Except for the standard beds, we actually like POR better than the deluxe hotels. 12+ hours on the road takes a lot out of you.

I guess I would fly and stay at a moderate.

 

[Buzz2001]

12+ hours on the road takes a lot out of you. I guess I would fly and stay at a moderate.

Ditto

 

[enyaj40]

fly and stay at a moderate

we're approximately 20+ hours away, and although i've done a RT drive before from chicago to orlando, i really have no desire to repeat it

it's 12 hours to my mom's and 5ish to my sister's and i don't even like the thought of driving that anymore

we will be driving from here to kansas city (3.5ish hours) so we can fly direct to orlando

everything from tulsa has a connecting flight, i've never done that before, and have no desire to try for the first time when i'm such an inexperienced flyer

plus, going to KC saves us quite a bit of money

 

[Pixiedust34]

I'd fly and stay at a moderate.

 

[jhalle]

Not sure what the airline tickets would cost you but I made a 24 hour run to Florida a couple of years ago and it nearly cost me the same as flying. Between the hotel for 1 night and the fuel which was only $2.00 at the time it was really expensive to drive. Add the wear and tear on the vehicle and the fact that your vacation is shortened by a minimum of 2 days for driving and your exhausted. Fly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[rotlex]

Fly and moderate. I HATE driving anything over 3 hours, LOL. Besides, IMO, the mod rooms aren't any different than deluxe. The big difference with the deluxe resorts is the atmosphere, monorail etc. A room is a room - save the bucks to fly, spend in the parks, eat, etc.

 

[IMGONNABE40!]

Have you actually done the math on driving vs flying? You may surprised by the results.

 

[BluOrchid2]

Yes, be sure and do the math correctly...with gas at $3 a gallon, and comparing that to Southwest's DING fares, our family of 3 can fly for about the same price as driving - but we have a 21 hour car trip.

If we could drive it in 12 hours like you, we would start out at night, letting the kids sleep in the car all night, trade off the driving between the adults, and stay at a Deluxe. But we have NO complaints with POFQ, either. Love it.

 

[ekmom]

Due to work and school schedules, my dates are pretty locked in and I never seem to have much luck getting good fares. The last 2 times that we've flown we've had all kinds of flight delays and problems. The 3 hour flight from Detroit turned into a 12 hour ordeal last year! I would drive and stay at a deluxe.

 

[icecreamlover]

Every year we look into flying, but in the end we drive. We drive from Boston and stay deluxe every time with the savings. Sure we save some money driving over flying (not too much), but my kids now look forward to the drive every year, somewhat of a tradition now. We plan a special stop along the way. We have visited Savannah, Washington DC, Charleston SC, etc. and the ride gives us time as a family, believe it or not.

Also, last year my sisters family couldn't fly out of Florida to Boston because of a snow storm in Boston. They were delayed almost 2 days coming home due to booked flights, etc. A car would actually have been quicker that time! hahah

 

[conmama]

How old are your kids and how long is your stay? Those two factors would make a difference, I think.

If you have older kids and plan on spending most of your time at the parks, then definitely do the moderate. If you have small kids and will be spending more time at the pools, or the other hotel offerings, I would go for the deluxe.

Our first visit was in 2005. Our boys were 8 and 11 and we stayed at the AKL (we drove so decided to go all out, like you are considering). Although it was a very cool hotel, it wasn't worth the extra money to us because we were hardly there. Now, we stay at POFQ and love it and FLY!

However, just to confuse you even more....I'm glad we got to experience a Deluxe, they are very special. I might just do it again if I only had to drive 12 hours (vs the 18 that we would have to).

 

[Capt'n Tom]

12 hour drive is the kicker I see here. Anything over 8 hours driving it is worth flying. We live in Atlanta (and on the south side) so our drive is 5 to 6 hours - manageable. I have to say after staying at POFQ a couple of years ago I was disappointed. My family loves the Poly and WL. Fly and stay at a moderate would be my vote - but look at some other moderates as well.

 

[LSchrow]

i would norm pick flying over driving in a heartbeat, but you have a lot more things to consider (your drive is a lot shorter than mine would be):
~ how long is the vacation? if you're going for 5 days, it might not be worth driving. but if you're staying for 10 days, 12 hours (times 2) is a "drop in the bucket" of your time.
~ time considerations: how long would flying take "door to door" (getting from your home to to your airport (arriving no less than 1 hour before flight), parking, waiting on security lines, the flight itself, then getting luggage & time for ME or rental car). when we fly, it is only a 2.5 hour flight, but takes about 7 hours "door to door").
also consider the pricing for each:
flying:
cost of a limo to & from the airport or parking your car.
will you rent a car while there?
driving: gas & tolls

if you add up each, you might very well find driving not only less expensive, but not much more time consuming than flying (& i would prefer flying literally everywhere, so be assured i'm not biased toward driving )

btw, you may want to consider the financial ramifications of staying in a deluxe for your first visit ~ you may find it difficult to "downgrade" in the future (we started with one off-site (never again, just not for us), then a few moderates (CBR, POR), FW cabins, leading to BC, AKL, poly, GF (love the tower rooms, btw ), YC concierge, & then finally DVC........now we are literally addicted to all the amenities (location, service, room size, etc) of our most recent choices *sigh* lol).

good luck with your decision

 

[BabyFu18]

I would drive, you can make the ride fun and if it'll put you into a deluxe resort, that would be my choice.

 

[wulfgeat]

I would drive but one of the biggest factors to me is the ability to take all kinds of junk in the car that would not get taken in a plane. We take breakfast food, water, snacks... There is also lots of room to bring back souveneirs.

 

[LuvsTinker]

Fly and Mod.

After flying the first time a few years back, I doubt we'll ever drive again.

And that was even with us lugging a car seat, stroller, diaper bag, etc.

 

[cruiserkaren]

If I could be there in 12 hours I'd probably drive.

 

[frdeb1999]

I'd fly and stay moderate. We live nearly 14 hours away and have only done the drive once.....and that was more then enough for us!! We were totally exhausted the first day and then dreading the drive for the last couple days there. Just way easier and less stressful to fly IMO.