WWYD Fly or Drive

[Skellingtonj]

I've got to say that is one seriously planned road trip.
My bladder would never allow for any kind of schedule LOL

Same but that is impressive.

 

[sam_gordon]

I think you have to look at the net. Figure on 3-4 days total driving, and 1 day total flying (1/2 day in each direction). So, the “cost” of driving is 2-3 days, depending on how hard you are willing to push on day 1 in each direction.

I get it. But look at what I quoted. Poster said "driving time is really only one day. Not 4 days total." I'll buy that the round trip is 3 days looking just at hours, but I know after our 12 hour drive, the last thing I would want to do is go another six the next day (and then go into a park for six hours? )

 

[mnrose]

That's a crazy schedule. Leaving at 4 am, means I've been up since 3, and I'm not in bed till 10. NOT the way I want to roll, but more power to you if you can convince your family to go along. For me, this would be hard NO and DH would know better than to ask again if he wanted to live long enough to see the trip. We have gotten up at that hour to get to the airport in time for an early morning flight, BUT, big difference, we are at our destination by 1-2 in the afternoon, with no long drive the next day too.

 

[Micca]

If you have limited time, I'd fly. You lose almost two full days with the drive each way.

This is what I was thinking, 4 days of vacation to spend in the car? Not my idea of fun. Maybe if you're getting tons of vacation time--like 4 or more weeks per year.

 

[apirateslifeforme]

We drive from Northern CT (on the MA border) to Clearwater, FL to visit my in-laws every February. DH takes 2 weeks off from work; I'm a SAHM. We stop overnight in Springfield, VA; Florence, SC; and usually Jacksonville, FL before making the final 3.5 hour drive to Clearwater. This year, however, we will be driving directly from Florence to Orlando, as we're going to Universal for a few days. On the way home, we'll be stopping in Kingsland, GA; Wilson, NC; and Harrisburg, PA before arriving home. We are also "members" of a particular hotel chain (NICE hotels, too, not some hole-in-the-wall), and this year we prebooked/prepaid our stops, so all of our hotels cost less than $300 total. We find that we only need to stop 2x a day for gas and it usually costs around $20 each time. I get restaurant gift cards from doing other points programs/surveys, so we stop for lunch and we bring food for dinner in the hotel room (or we stop at the Target in Florence, which is right behind our preferred hotel).

We just prefer driving. We HATE flying; we like spending the time together, being on our own schedule and enjoy stopping when/if we feel like it. Plus with a toddler, we have to bring extra stuff. We'd have to rent a car with a car seat when we get there anyway, so it's easier and cheaper for us to just drive. DH is quite familiar with the route, too, as he began driving with his parents 20 years ago when they started snowbirding (they just recently started flying about 5 years ago).

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I get it. But look at what I quoted. Poster said "driving time is really only one day. Not 4 days total." I'll buy that the round trip is 3 days looking just at hours, but I know after our 12 hour drive, the last thing I would want to do is go another six the next day (and then go into a park for six hours? )

I agree the 1 day drive was completely unrealistic. I’m just saying to be realistic about the time lost via both methods.

Example, we recently flew to Denver. It’s a 14-hour drive or a 2-hour flight. But, that 2-hour flight actually chewed up a total of 7 hours door to door, and that’s without delays. And we were feeling pretty much the same at that point as we would have had we just finished 7 hours of driving.

 

[brockash]

I'm trying to convince my DW the savings we would get if we drove to FL this April break instead of flying. Just wanted to see what other folks would do in my case. We are traveling from CT to Orlando.

Right now we have enough points to book a hotel for the way down and the way back so there is no cost for that. Figuring fuel will be about $225 for the whole trip and since we are well under our mileage on our car lease which is up in May I figure it is a good way to use miles we have technically paid for. Also, budgeting about $200 for food on the road. Not sure if I should budget that though as we leave on a Friday and me and the DW buy lunch at work anyway and typically go out to dinner on Fridays with the family. Saturday breakfast is included in the hotel stay and we will be in Orlando at lunch time anyway. Lastly, flights are running about $800 pp round trip and there are 4 of us.

The way I see it is we are saving a bundle other than time. Just wanted other folks thoughts in case I am missing something. Hopefully I can get my DW on board with this.

Thanks

Yikes, that's a rough one. Normally I'm totally in the boat of just fly if it's more than like 10 hrs and/or if you have limited time but with 800/person...ouch.

 

[sam_gordon]

Example, we recently flew to Denver. It’s a 14-hour drive or a 2-hour flight. But, that 2-hour flight actually chewed up a total of 7 hours door to door, and that’s without delays. And we were feeling pretty much the same at that point as we would have had we just finished 7 hours of driving.

Oh, I agree. Let's say you have a two hour flight. Add getting to the airport two hours ahead (ok, 90 minutes), 30 minute drive to the airport, then 30 minutes from plane to rental car/transportation, then 30 minutes to WDW. It's still 5 hours of travelling. If you have a layover, add some more time to that. For us, our 12 hour drive would be cut to 6 hours. Saving 6 hours wouldn't be worth $800/ticket to me. It's ~$200 though.

 

[_19disnA]

If flying around a holiday, it is best to book your flights as soon as you know when you will be traveling. Tickets book up quickly and then the fares jump to the next higher price category. Check other nearby airports as sometimes that can make a big difference. All depends on which airlines services what routes and how much competition there is. Being flexible on travel dates can also save a lot of money. Also depends on how much your family enjoys being in the car for a long drive. If you are all exhausted/cranky by the time you arrive at your destination, your vacation will be far less enjoyable. Some of those factors are much harder to quantify in dollars/cents.

 

[tvguy]

While I like to drive, my family pretty much feels if the drive is 4 hours or more, we should fly. I'm guessing your drive will be about 17 hours each way, basically 4 days. We just don't have enough vacation time to use for 4 days of driving on vacation.

 

[sasywtch]

I see that it wouldn't take any additional time off your WDW part of the trip. My decision would be based on if I had the extra money to fly. When I lived in OK and now ex was military, we could have flown back to CA but would be uneasy with the money we spent in CA and probably would have had to put it on a charge card.

We did 1400 miles one way. I would drink a glass of wine at 8pm (always puts me to sleep), got up at 4:30am and we were out the door at 5am. Put the kids to bed in sweats and a tee shirt so they could change later. Packed the car up the night before. We drove a lot the first day so the next day it was a breeze. And yes we did a cooler with sodas, water and small oj for the morning with granola bars.

So if you are eeking out the budget, drive. If you're okay on money, fly. 1700 miles is a long drive but doable with 2 people.

 

[Alicenwonderment]

Here is our driving plan from 2014. Pretty much hit the times as outlined!

View attachment 378138

Wow! Now that is organization to have all the stops mapped out. As for the hotel do most people make reservation before you start the trip or wait until the day of? Even as a kid my parents wouldn't make the hotel reservation until the day of because they wanted to be flexible with how far they drive. Every year growing up at Christmas and summer we would drive to KY from New England with 3 kids and 3 dogs. Lol Usually we were able to find a room when waiting to make reservation until the day of. As for cooler we would fill it with bottle water, soda, snack food cheese and crackers, cookies.

I did drive with a friend from Falmouth MA to Orlando when I started my college program. We started late at night and we went straight almost 23 hours before we stopped someplace in Georgia. We were so tired we almost fell asleep at dinner. The next day we only had a few more hours to get to Orlando. I also did this trip a few other times but we stayed 2 nights on the road. Enjoy your trip.

 

[auntfrannie]

I prefer driving and have made several of those 16 hour trips solo. When I drive I don't have to worry about trying to cram everything I want to take into one suitcase. As @Gumbo4x4 said, your flying time also needs to include the time to get to the airport plus getting there 2 hours before the flight and then hoping there aren't any delays.

I'm going again in early March and the only reason I booked a flight is because the weather can be iffy in early March. I am driving from the Pittsburgh PA area and would have to drive through the mountains in WV. However, if the forecast looks decent I might ditch the flight and just drive!

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

I would drive--but I have wanderlust! I love long drives with the freedom to stop when and where I want, visit little roadside attractions, see new sights, etc. Sure a plane is faster but there's not much I enjoy about that whole process. My ex-husband and I never ended up driving because we preferred to vacation in the coldest part of winter (when he was off work) we live in SW PA and would have to drive through the mountains which is risky in January-February, or bypass the mountains and extend the drive time by almost a whole extra day, plus I'm a nervous wreck driving in snow, whether I'm the driver or passenger. But it was so tempting because we had the flexibility to take a few extra days and we would have saved so much money!

Anyway, just my opinion but I'd rather drive than fly one of the cheap, discount airlines. Maybe you can look up some stuff to do on the drive down that your wife would be interested in? Maybe a stop in Philly for some historical sightseeing, or a romantic stop in Savannah? It's hard for me to make specific suggestions but you get the idea. Do some research and present it to her with spreadsheets and pictures, she'll see how serious you are about it

 

[maxiesmom]

Long Island here, and we always fly. 2 hours on a plane beats 24+ in a car.

I have about the same drive from Michigan, but I haven't made it in years. Huge waste of time, imho. 2 days down, 2 (really grumpy, tired) days back home. No thanks!!

Plus, if someone tried to give me a flow chart and tell me when I could take bathroom breaks, I would kick them out of the car.

 

[joedplumber]

I remember that for the 2014 trip that we drove and friends of ours flew out that Saturday morning. We pretty much all met up at the resort pool for lunch that Saturday. They had just flown in from NYC and had been up since 4am to arrive at the resort by lunch time. After lunch we hit MK and the family that flew had to call it quits by 7ish as they were exhausted. I would say that whether you fly or drive you will lose at least one day to travel. We felt we were more rested since we were exhausted the day before from the long haul but got a goods night sleep for Saturday. I understand though that everyone is different in terms of rest. For us we are ready to go with 7 hours of sleep.

On another note, my DW and I came to a compromise that if we can get direct flights including baggage fees for $275 or less per person and the flights get us to the resort by Saturday lunch time and leave anytime the following Saturday we will fly.

 

[Allison]

No way do I spend that much time driving.

 

[Floridaman999]

If I was going on more of a road trip, where the whole point of the trip was to drive, then I'd spend that much time in the car. If my goal is to hit Disney World, then I'd want to get there ASAP and would fly. Anything over about 5-6 hour drive time would result in my flying instead of driving unless the point of the trip was to drive to begin with.

 

[gillep]

I would fly, but I have started flying to DL which is only a 6 hour drive because of how unpredictable the traffic can be, and how exhausted we always arrive after dealing with said traffic. That said, we are frequent flyers so going to the airport is pretty normal of an occurrence for us and our preferred airport is only 15 minutes from our house so it doesn't add much time. I wouldn't do anything that would require taking an extra day of PTO, I have quite a few days saved up and never know when I may need them.

 

[leebee]

What are you looking at... 18 hours? Just last week I drove 17 hours, did all the driving myself even though DH was with me. I think we stopped 3 times for gas and once for lunch (about 90 mins once we drove around, got gas, ate etc). I might be tempted to go straight through- although we didn't have kids in the car, thankfully!

Honestly- I'd fly. Have you checked Southwest out of Bradley or Providence? I could handle the driving on the front end of the trip, but I can't imagine anything too much sadder than having to leave Disney World of my own volition. At least when we have plane tickets, we HAVE to leave at a set time. If I were driving, I might just never come home!!