FYI ~ Just for Fun! Check out my Flying vs. Driving Budget!

[SandraC]

Hi all, we flew to WDW last April for $1100.00 (CDN) 2 adults, one child, one free baby. This coming April 2002, we are flying again, this time we must buy the baby a ticket since he'll be over 2 years old. So, I thought, well, maybe we should drive to save $$$. I calculated 11 airlines (WOW, big job) and came up with 4 tickets from Toronto to Orlando, the range was $1729.00 to $2700.00 (CDN). I'll round it up to $1800.00, adding in Airport Limos to and from the airport and add $300.00 for a car rental. So car & air total $2100.00 (CDN).

Driving, I thought would HAVE to be cheaper. We would definately have to do two nights stop overs there and back. We are not long distance drivers. Three days driving at 8 hours each day, add stops, 10 hour days in a car.
COST (all in Canadian Funds)
4 nights of extra hotels $400.00
Gas $500.00
Loss of pay (only counting 4 days of the 6, since we would take off two air travel days anyway) $1200.00
I won't calculate extra food since we'd be eating those days anyway.
TOTAL $2100.00

WOW! I was shocked to see that if works out the same! Definately FLYING is the way to go for us!

This summer we are taking a 2 week driving trip, traveling 5 hours per day. If that goes well, MAYBE I'll consider a FLORIDA driving trip in the future. S

 

[MICOL]

Plus it is so much safer to fly than it is to drive. From Mass. its a 21-24 hour drive. We have a direct flight from Delta in April and we are there in 3 hours.

 

[4nana]

We felt it might be cheaper to drive too - but after some caculation came to the same conclusion. We recently traveled to Europe and with all the airport security it seems to be much safer. Why spend your vacation driving when you could be in sunny Florida in a few hours relaxing.

 

[sueg]

We live "closer" to WDW than you do. We drove NJ to WDW in a day and a half, staying over one night on the road and staying the second nt. at WDW. I think that you have some inflated numbers in your driving budget. First, we we never spent $100. per nt. for rooms. We stayed at nice places, for e.g. Spring Hill Inn, which was a suite and included breakfast. I found almost all places included breakfast and all the breakfasts were good buffets. I've never tried Holiday Inn Express, but their prices are resonable and inc. breakfast. I also think that your gas prices are a little high. I don't know what you drive, but the steady drive of I-95 gives good mileage and the gas prices are currently less than $1 per gal. If you want to fly, of course you should. But if you are relying on your numbers to decide, I think your numbers are high.

 

[lawgs]

the dollars she is quoting are CANADIAN DOLLARS....which means for each USD she has to figure 1.60 CDN......

that might make the numbers seem out of wack...it would be like 1300$ USD

 

[kellymonaghan]

Remember, sueg, that SandraC's figures are in CANADIAN dollars. The US dollar equivalent would be less. $100 Canadian dollars equals $63.67 at today's exchange rate. That seems about right for a decent hotel for a family of four, although you could probably do a little better.

I found this an interesting thread because I was considering doing a similar calculation for my next trip. Believe it or not I actually like driving down sometimes, just for the time away from ringing phones.

But I think SandraC's got it right. Especially when you take into account the value of the time you lose, it's probably cheaper to fly.

 

[Orky15]

As kids, my sister and I loved driving down to Florida from Ohio... we usually did make a stop over on the way down but not the way back. But it was fun time to spend in the car... (of course, we got along well ;o)

Recently, I flew down and found that to be great... it's such a short trip, it was amazing to just suddenly be in Florida... and all the extra time we got to spend at the pool splashing around rather than in the car was nice in a different more relaxing way!

 

[BoyLovesBuzz]

Oh I totaly disagree with your numbers as well. Here is how I calculate it:


$400.00 - Hotels
$500 - Gas
$1200.00 - Pay Loss
$1,000,000 Minimum amount it would take to get me to drive from Canada to Florida with two small kids


TOTAL $1,002,100.00

I think it would be much cheaper to fly;-)

Have a great trip!!!!!!!

 

[Orky15]

<giggle>

I can see how costly that could be...

I'm still in awe that my parents were able to make it down in the car with my sister and I... though really, we were very self-occupying and liked to pretend the back seat was our own kingdom!!!

One advantage to driving... every mile you go, your anticipation grows. By the time you get to Disney and see the signs you are in ectasy!

But I personally recommend flying, for time/entertainment value

 

[DisOrBust]

How I figiured it was 0.25 mile. 1300 miles from WI .
325 cost each way. That is figurring in Wear and Tear.

2 noc at hotel 100.00

The rest is pretty much even. No vacation days lost because we are leaving after work and arriving late the next day.

We have flown the past three year and I am tired of it. I e hate the 1200 in airfare, 400 in car rental and last year the straw that broke the camels back was the 125 in parking at the airport when we got back.

We flew direct Midwest Express great flight but you still burn 2 days fllying. It is still a "hassle" getting to and from the airport.

We will see if I am singing a different tune after January, LOL!

 

[Ballybunion3]

We are 14 hours drive from WDW. One night at hotel, plus dinner, each way = $400. Two tanks of gas (!) each way for a total of $80. Throw in lunch each way & it's a total of 530 bucks. I definitely don't count loss of pay - we drive 3/4 of the way and use the hotel pool, have a nice dinner together - part of the vacation & anticipation for arrival to WDW!

To make flying worth it, we'd have to get an airfare of < $90 per person. And that doesn't take into account rental car, parking, potential loss of luggage, etc.

For Canadian visitors, I can definitely see flying as the best option. But for a large family within 15 hours drive, driving is worth considering.

 

[hercamore]

Another point to consider flying vs driving is what time of year is your vacation?

I do not want to be driving from Minnesota to Florida on treacherous roads in the dead of winter.

 

[SandraC]

I thank everyone who posted a reply. It's wonderfully interesting to read your great posts! THANKS!

Another nice thing about flying is the whole airport thing ~ WHAT ~ YOU SAY! Well, last April, dd was 7 and ds was only 15 months and not really walking much. We had such a nice time in the airport. We got there early and rested. We feed the baby his breakfast, enjoyed a cup of coffee, watched the airplanes take off and land, meet great folks who were also going to WDW. The flight attendants were great too. The sound of the engines getting ready to go was cool! The minute I wake up in the morning to go to the airport, I feel like I am on vacation. I guess driving would be like that too.

The greatest thing is being in the MK by 4pm the same day! I am tearing up just thinking about it!

 

[mike80124]

we have alway driven to disney world from colorado. it takes us 2 1/2 days getting there and 2 days back. here what it costs to mile is 1857 each way. we take our minivan. gets 24 mpg. depends on gas price but avg is 250 in gas 3 nites of hotels at 60 a nite is 180 food for five we figure fast food on the way so 55 a day for food total is about 230.. lost of pay 0 i have the time paid off 4 weeks a year plus sick days . so the total for driving from colorado to wdw is about 700. give or take a few dollars. here is fly 5 full round trip tickets cheapest i could find from dia was 305 . that is 1500 not including transportation to and from the airport.. we like driving have and we have fun with it... plus saves us about 800 dollars which make more trips to disney. i rather drive and go 2 times a year than fly and go once

 

[hockey mom]

We drive from Ont. also and never spend that much. In gas total for round trip is $300 CDN tops. We don't like to stop so no motel money and only stop for one breakfast, lunch and dinner. For the first time ever we flew from Buffalo which was nice, but still over $1200 more than driving down.

 

[SandraC]

I wish we could drive straight thru, but I can't see it right now. ds is 2 yo and not a great car kids ~ 24 hours in a car would NOT be fun. dd is 8 yo, better than ds, but still "ARE WE THERE YET" would drive my nuts. We drove down as kids with dad at the wheel. My dad was used to LONG car drives with the line of work he's in, but my dh is not. I don't think he'd be much good behind the wheel on a long drive. We considered driving thru the night, but I can't drive good at night, I can't see depth, weird eh? I think dh would get too tired. He's tired at the best of times. Still, I think I would like to drive sometime. dh makes a good wage and would lose it with added days to drive. I make good money too, even thou I am PT. I don't count the cost of food because we would be paying for food anyway. Thanks to everyone who wrote, keep them coming! S

 

[marli]

I have always taken the plane to get to florida, but i have to say that since my kids came along the airport thing is not so relaxing anymore. I'm starting to feel anxiety at the thought of all the baggage we would need to take (not to mention carseats for three kids since renting carseats can add up fast). I am hoping(!) that we will go back to Disney in Nov or Dec of next year and I'm already considering the option of driving vs flying. Living in Canada is great but why do we have to live so far from Disney . I have read something about an 'auto train' fron Lorton, Va which is- according to Mapquest -around 11 hours away from Montreal, it seems as if it may be an alternative to driving the full way down to florida- you only need to drive halfway and the train takes you and your car the rest of the way! Sorry that I don't know anything about pricing but I only read about it here recently on the boards. Anyway, no matter how you get there you are sooo lucky to be going ! Enjoy

 

[Bunchkin]

We were all set to drive to WDW for our upcoming trip in early Feb. BUT...when airlines drasticly lowered their prices we decided to fly. We were able to get an awesome price of $408 round trip for the 3 of us (from Chicago).
Facturing in driving cost (fuel), one night's hotel stay each way, plus food and the loss of my husband's pay (he does not receive paid vacation time); the difference was a saving of almost $600. Which includes the cost of a rental and parking at the airport.

So we will be flying this trip! Which is probably a good thing, because I'm not sure how long our 4 yr old DD would remain the normally pleasant child she is! AND I'm pregnant and I don't know how long I would remain pleasant being stuck in a car for hours on end!

 

[BelleBeautyandtheBeast]

I know for us I WANT to fly. As a kid we drove the 20 something hour drive every single year and by the time I turned 18 I dreaded that looong trip. Unfortunately the long trip was to visit relatives we did not have the money to fly or visit Disney except for once. When I got my 1st job & saved enough money I flew to FL while my parents drove down & they met me at the airport. That one trip was all it took to get me hooked on flying to FL. I have not driven down their in years and years.
Now with two small kids and a new baby coming soon I really have zero desire to drive all the way to FL. Driving vs. Flying is a decision that is different for everyone. I am impressed at all the different reasons and calculations everyone is coming up with! It is great to read all the different posts!

 

[momejay]

I used to drive down all the time when I was in college. My brother owned a house about an hour away from Disney World. After all that driving, we used to drive the hour each way four or five times that week to save on hotel bills. I can't believe how stupid I was then. We probably spent a fortune on gas, wear & tear on the car, & not to mention driving an hour home at midnight from Pleasure Island.
I have thought about driving with my three. We have a minivan with a VCR. How bad could it be? We drove about 3 hours for Thanksgiving dinner & spent the night. (as a test run) I will NEVER drive to FLORIDA AGAIN!
I have always been able to get a flight that doesn't break me. We are going in Jan. & I paid $130 per person round trip. Three hours trapped on an airplane is much better than three hours in a car. I have to drive & referee. On the airplane, they MUST do homework or they can't go to the parks. You can't believe how silent they are when threatened with not seeing fireworks at the castle until their homework is done.