To drive or fly...

Need input from all you that travel to Disney alot. I'm going in Apr 2011 and taking my 6yr old nephew. Is it cheaper to fly these days or to drive. We'll be coming from central Illinos area which according to map quest is a 17 hour drive.

If it is just the 2 of you it is cost efficient to fly. We live 14 hours away and just came back from a trip down. There were 5 of us so it was much cheaper to drive, including the fact we stopped over for the night on the trip down.

Time to Fly > Time to Drive = Drive
Time to Fly < Time to Drive = Fly

That my travel algorithm... Mercy, I can't imagine being in a car with a 6 year old for 17 hours...

If you can make it work, fly.

For us, we get more vacation if we fly. :mickey:

We prefer to drive, we have been driving the 20+ hour trip since our youngest was 6 months old. He is now six and we have driven 5 times since then.

Before we decide to on how to get down to Disney, we check out the airfare prices and how long we are planning on going. We can do the drive for around $500 for gas and lodgings. So it has to be a really good deal to fly. We have portable DVD players , games and books to help keep our boys occupied. They seem to handle the drive quite well.

Plus now with all the travel security restrictions we find that we would rather drive than face the long lines and hassle of the added security screening.

Our trip earlier in the month for 2 of us took 16 hours (about 1000 miles). I figured it was $125 each way in gas (in SUV about 20 miles/gallon) and 1 night lodging each way. So I figured about $500 for the whole driving part if you consider the meals as well. My wife doesn't fly and I have problems with the whole airport security thing right now, but I imagine for 2 people it would have been about break-even for us. Of course the more people in your vehicle the cheaper per person for the trip down if driving. We found the anticipation of the trip down made the driving a little easier than the way back. Also driving on I-95 and especially I-4 in Florida is some high stress driving so isn't fun. That is why when I get to Disney I park the car for the whole trip and take Disney transportation everywhere. I am usually shot the first night I get there from all the driving.

We drive and plan to be there a day early and find a cheap hotel. (This year it was $25.)

The next morning go to our WDW resort hotel and check in knowing our room would not ready till latter in the day. We get our passes then have the whole first day to play!

I will be driving for next trip and have gotten some good information. Just want to say thanks :mickey:

4 of us drove straight through this past Aug, from MA. We all agreed, never again. And the youngest was 15 at the time. The ride down wasn't as bad as the ride back. The anticipation made it go by quicker. But we couldn't keep our eyes open on the ride home. I suppose if you stop and stay at a hotel on the way to and from, it wouldn't be nearly as bad. We needed to maximize our time because I had to hurry back to do payroll.
If I'm that valuable, I don't think I'm getting paid enough!!

With a possible 35/36 hour drive and only 2 drivers we will be spending 1 or 2 nights in a hotel each way. Also may be extending the trip by stopping in to see friends/family. :mickey:

We drive from Canada every year, and have for the past 30+ years! :thumbsup:
We have a 6 year old and a 3 year old now and have never had a problem. They've got their books, stickers, DVD players, video games... they're just fine for the long haul!

For us, it's about a 22 hour drive total.
We start driving at around midnight on Friday night (so the kids sleep the first major leg of the drive). When they wake up for breakfast, we are usually in the southern part of Kentucky.
We have lunch in Tennessee, then stop around 5pm on Saturday in Macon Georgia.

Then we get up early Sunday morning, and start driving - usually wind up at WDW just after lunch on Sunday afternoon.

I use my Air Miles to book the hotel in Macon, so that's essentially free for us, but normally would cost $59.00 for the night.
Our gas money is about $200.00 for one-way.

So if you figure $260.00 for the drive down, and $260.00 for the drive back up, that's about $520.00 round trip. That's still cheaper than us booking 4 international plane tickets.

I should add that we usually stay in Florida for 2 weeks because my Mom has a place down there, so the driving really doesn't chew up our entire holiday. On the years when we just go for one week, we sometimes try and drive straight through, 22 hours all at once, but as we're getting older, that's not so fun anymore!

I've never driven for any of our trips but I love that when you fly, if you are staying at one of the resorts, you get a free ride via the Magical Express to your reosrt and they also pick up and deliver your luggage to your room. And, of course at the end of your visit they take you back to the airport. Couldn't be easier!

We are in Central Illinois as well – Driving down in December for a Holiday trip. :mickey: Historically, we mixed it up – flown some and drove some. Usually the decision is this for us: You can save money, but spend time, or you can spend money, but save time…which one is the greater priority?
Holiday airfare this year was ridiculous – especially for 4 of us. It’s going to cost us a quarter of that to drive down,:eek: so it was an easy decision. It did mean that I have to burn a personal day at work in January to account for additional travel time home…when we booked our rooms we were making the assumption that we would fly. But it also provides the added benefit of taking food with us, and making grocery stops (food on a relatively normal grocery budget) rather than all restaurants all the time.:thumbsup:

Additionally though, I have to agree with some of the previous posters about the new TSA security measures at the airports. This will almost guarantee that we drive until/unless that changes. It’s not worth the stress to me – I already despised the shoe and sweatshirt thing, but I also seem to get picked for a pat-down about 50% of time for some reason; perhaps because I don’t hide my annoyance very well.:angry::laughing:
They aren’t a problem at our smaller regional airports, but they do exist at MCO. It will ultimately mean less time to “spend” in FL and WDW, and no business for the airlines…but all actions have consequences, some intended and some unintended.

Added Notes:
Pros for driving:
You already have your car with you – no need to spend additional $$ to rent a car when you get there – no parking fees anywhere if you are staying on property


Pros for flying: specifically Central Illinois
First make sure the flight you choose flies into MCO and not Sanford – Airtran out of CIRA in Bloomington has always been our choice – we shopped around and never found a better deal
MCO has Magical Express
Magical Express = free transportation to your resort and they handle your checked baggage for you – no hassles.

we live in SE michigan... its a 19hour driving trip... I love the knowing that our luggage will arrive at the same time we do and we have our own car down there if something was to happen.

We found that with the hastles of baggage limitations (and fees for them now) and with the timing to arrive at the airports and with possible delays that driving is always a first choice with us.

Fifteen trips from NYC.
The first thirteen we flew, the last two we drove.
I always wanted to drive down, and now that DW and I are both retired,our time is our time. We are both handicapped, and DWs scooter fits right in the back of my Expedition.With me being the only driver we do the trip in 2 1/2 days, with out killing myself. I cannot walk good but I can drive for hours without problems.
Besides, when I want to get inside my car, I do not have to get a full body scan or be groped.

When I went with my parents, we drove. When I got married, we flew. Our latest trip (in Oct), we drove, because the cost was about half of that to fly, plus we took a "babysitter" teen, and she is scared of flying. However, after 14 straight hours of driving, we swore we would never drive again.

And then came full-body scans and touching of private areas at the airports...

I wear an insulin pump which cannot go through a full-body scan nor the x-ray machines. It will void the warranty. And it will show up as an anomaly anyhow, warranting a pat-down. I refuse to be "checked thoroughly" by a stranger, much less in front of others. So I'm not sure how soon we'll be flying again. Good thing we aren't planning on it for quite a while.

No, I'd rather not spend 14 hours in a car with (by then) two babies. But right now, it's the lesser of two evils in my book.

Thanks for all the advice. I know my nephew would love to fly, but I think a deal will have to come up. Need to save a few dollars

We drove our first 2 trips. It takes us 2 full days. The 2nd time, we had our camper, so no choice. ;)

I will fly any day over driving. I just don't want to spend 4 days traveling any more. I might again when my son is grown and we're not missing school days, but as of right now, he's already missing 5 days of school even with flying and I would feel horrible making it 9. Plus, I found round trip for $180 per person. Driving would be about $500, so that's only a little extra for the 3 of us. My son is great is the car, but I'm not. :blush: