Is there anyone who has said they would NOT drive to WDW again?

[Deb & Bill]

We always drive. Our drive is about 14 hours each way. Our local airport is smaller (not a hub) so it costs a fortune to fly out of our airport. We recently bought the first Harry Potter book on tape (unabridged) and listened to it to and from Houston. (These books are wonderful. The narrator changes his voice for the different characters and does such a good job at it.) It takes about 8 hours for the entire book. So we will be getting Books 2 and 3 for the next trip to Orlando and listening to one on the way down and one on the way back. Usually we leave after school and get half way the first day. Then we cruise into WDW in the early afternoon.

This time we will leave at 6AM and get to Lake City Fl that evening and drive into WDW the next morning. We would have driven to Gainesville, but there's a football game in town the next day and all the rooms were already reserved. We have driven all the way to Ocala, but it felt very long. We've done the entire drive back home in one day - on Christmas day at that.

We've thought about flying, but it's cheaper for us to drive. That's the deciding factor for us.

 

[mikek]

like others have said-

if you have the time its a viable option.

I guess its kind of like the relax and smell the roses -vs- park commando thing. Some people like to sit back and soak in the parks without doing many attractions while others want to maximize their time and make sure they hit something every minute from EE to E-night.

We're someplace in-between (well at least on the way down), so if we have the time and can afford a few days extra to drive liesurely we might, but if vacation time from work is tight we generally fly unless we are totally strapped for cash and cant find an airfare deal.

 

[BarbOKW]

I thought I'd never drive, but last year we couldn't get any breaks on plane tickets (over spring break) so we decided to drive. We left at 3:30 when the kids got out of school, stopped at 7:00 for dinner then put the kids in their p.j.'s and drove over night. The kids didn't wake up until about 9:00 am, then we stopped for breakfast and were at WDW by 1:00. We spent the rest of the day at the pool relaxing and resting (which is what we ususally do when we fly). We were ready for the parks the next day. We thought it went so well that we're currenlty looking to by a Surburban and with a TV/VCR built in. We have a family of six so even when the airfares are good, driving saves us a lot of money. I plan on spending the savings on additional driving vacations. The trick for us is the over night driving, that way you don't have to entertain the kids.

 

[Yo Ho Yo Ho]

The only way we can go is to drive. We cannot afford the flight too. My hubby is a teacher so we have the time. In the last 15 years we have made probably 13 driving trips down - 22 hours one way. Needless to say it has been hectic at times, especially the time we were on the cruise, didn't get away til 10 am to begin to head home for a 13 hour trip, then a 9 hour trip the next day, and than School/Work the next. Call us crazy, but you do what you have to do!

 

[clm3]

We're driving straight through from Houston in June. I think its like
13 hrs. My husband works nights so he's use to be up at that time
of night. I hope if we leave about 8pm the kids can watch a movie
and then sleep until we get there (or close to it).

I did book an extra night, so we can check in as soon as we arrive
I don't want to have until 4pm check in.

I hope we survive !!!!!!

 

[Kirby]

We've done both. Our first trip we flew. While it was nice, I missed all the sightseeing that can be done from a car. On our second trip we drove. It was much nicer being able to stop and see a few things on the way there and back. We borrowed a TV/VCR and the kids watched movies. It was worth it with the money we saved. Will drive again on our next trip.

 

[skiwee1]

We usually fly to WDW but decided to drive last time. We will never fly there again! We drove from Maryland and took our time and took 3 days to get there. We had a blast. I admit flying is time saving but we don't have to be back any certain time when we go so there is no reason to rush. We make the drive a part of the whole experience. It was just my mom, me and my 2 y/o. She was wonderful the entire time and we had no problems. We just booked another trip at WDW for April and will be driving again. We will only do two days up this time but four coming back as we are going to stop at a couple of places we want to visit. We are also staying 8 days in WDW so it makes for a long and wonderful trip. It really was fun!

 

[momof9]

Well, we just walked through the door 30 minutes ago, and we drove! My DH and our nine children in our 12 passenger van, a 24 hour drive. I said no to a TV in the van, just music, books, coloring, and gameboys. I don't think we will fly again! It was so much more relaxing, the kids were great, no airports to rush through, much less stress! We stayed over one night each way, so as to break up the ride. It is 1400 miles each way! Can't wait to do it again next year. What a way to save expenses.

 

[melk]

momof9,
Welcome home! Glad to hear the drive went so well..wasn't expecting to hear it described as "relaxing"!!! I would love to hear about your trip, especially the challenges of having such a large family. Are you going to post a trip report? I hope so, I think we would all enjoy it. Did you drive with an rv, or did you just have the van and stopped at hotels? Also, where did you stay with such a large family? I think it's great that you went and had such a good experience.