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Results 41 to 60 of 64
  1. #41
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
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    McHenry, MS-594 miles from the World
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    Around 11 hours from south Mississippi...we also stop for lunch


    Dec.11-18, 2021 Port Orleans Riverside
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  3. #42
    Join Date
    Apr 2012
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    11
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    We drive too. It's 10.5 hours for us and I consider it part of the fun. If we had to pay the price of the airline tickets, we probably couldnt afford to go.

  4. #43
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    Pasadena, MD
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    Quote Originally Posted by ANG View Post
    So I got quite excited about the opportunity to use the train. Looked it up and it will cost our family of 4 like $1,700. I couldn't imagine traveling with my young kids without getting them a bed to sleep in. And since we are purchasing 3 tickets (youngest is under 2), it says we can't purchase the smallest room. What a bummer. It also says it cost almost $400 just to check our car each way.
    Sorry to hear about the train fare. I probably should've clarified with more details for us though. Sorry!

    We booked coach and only for a one-way down. We tend to add stops on our trips when we go on vacation and this one is no different for our trip back with another full week of stops in other states for other interests. SUV is a Traverse which they count as over-sized. We're also taking the train on a Sunday vice Friday or Saturday. Rates also are higher for the weekend days as well. That's what made us decide for a Sunday departure vice a Friday or Saturday departure. Add a Triple A (AAA) discount in there as well for each member...price starts coming down.

    Understand about the sleeping car. That usually jacks the price up. Our DS15 and DD9 are older now and sleep through just about anything these days.

    Regardless of how you get to Disney though...Hope you and your family have a wonderful time! And a safe trip down and back!

    On a side note...I really wish they'd speed up those "Trek" inventions and make a transporter!
    POFQ - 1995
    CBR - 1999
    POR - 2001
    WL - May 2006
    BCR - April 2010
    PPH (Disneyland) - July 2011
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  5. #44
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
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    We drive now. We're in Michigan and it's about an 18 hour trip, not counting stops. We get up early one morning and drive as far as we can. Our goal is to make it into GA just past Atlanta. Then the next day it's a shorter trip and we're usually there by early afternoon. There's no way we'd try to drive straight though. We're fatigued enough with just that amount of driving. Stops for lunch and to stretch our legs help a lot.

    Driving takes longer, but the amount of money we save actually allows us to stay in WDW longer! We typically stay 10 days now. We also love the freedom of just packing whatever we need and being able to stop and take a break when we want. Even with the overnight stay, we save so much more money than we would if we flew (not counting staying longer in Disney of course ).

  6. #45
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Location
    Lake Orion, Michigan
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    624
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    We are in Michigan and we always drive. Sometimes we take a few days to see some sights along the way. One year we drove straight thru (with 4 drivers). We left in the early afternoon and arrived in WDW around 10am. It was a DISASTER!!! The drivers all felt like it was midnight when we got there but the kids were WIDE awake!! We are going to drive straight thru again this year but this time we are leaving super early in the morning in hopes to arrive WDW that night. That way we can just go to sleep and be ready for our vacation the next morning, nice and rested!
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  7. #46
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
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    We always have our first park day the day after we arrive. It makes a huge difference! On our arrival day after nearly two days on the road, we just hang out by the pool and eat at the resort. By the next morning we're rested and refreshed and ready to hit the parks.

  8. #47
    Join Date
    Mar 2012
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    The trip for us is around 12 hours. We plan to leave around 5pm the day before our scheduled arrival. We will drive as far as we can, hopefully crossing into FL. We'll get back on the road early the next morning and hope to be at WDW property by noon on arrival day.
    Off-site August 1986
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    Animal Kingdom Lodge May 2017
    Port Orleans Riverside June 2022 (planned)

  9. #48
    Join Date
    May 2000
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    Chicago
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    We drove when the kids were little and always had a blast. We'd make it past Atlanta the first day (13 hours or so) and then the rest the next morning.

    Now that they are teens, we fly . Besides, gone are the days when we all are available 10+ days in a row due to work schedules, and XC training.



    May/1999....CBR - Jamaica
    May/1995....CBR - Martinique
    May/1998....Wilderness Lodge
    June/2002...Wilderness Lodge
    June/2005...Wilderness Lodge
    Aug/2007....Wilderness Lodge
    June/2010...Wilderness Lodge CL
    July/2013 ...Wilderness Lodge CL Celebrating Our 25th Anniv.!

  10. #49
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
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    Overland Park, Kansas
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    We live in Kansas City and it would be about a 22-24 hour drive for us. We have considered the drive (have 2 boys ages 21 & 12 who are old enough to know better than to fight in the car! LOL). However - NONE of us can manage to sit in a car longer than 7-8 hours at a time. Even driving to Colorado (a 12 hour drive) is split into 2 days for us.

    It would take us 3 days to get there with 2 hotel overnights both there and back (so 4 nights of hotel) as well as the gas, food, snacks, and stocking up on games, movies, etc... for the ride down, not to mention the 6 days driving there and back which eats into the actual vacation time AND being exhausted when we get there. We are simply NOT the family who enjoys being in a car for very long.

    We have determined that the cost of the airfare is well worth it to us to have a 3 hour non-stop flight to Orlando. We leave at 7am, get into Orlando at 11am, at the resort by lunchtime and we are well rested, happy, unstressed, and ready for our week of fun.

    I wish we loved the road trips because it would make driving to places much easier and affordable, but for US, just not worth it. But KUDOS to those of you who do!!!!
    Melinda

    Trips:

    Offsite - June 1997
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    RPH - Universal - May 7th-11th 2014
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  11. #50
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Blacksburg, VA
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    If it's just the wife and I for a quick trip, then no. We fly from Roanoke to Sanford ($120 round trip per person) and rent a car there.

    If we're taking the family, then we always drive. It's about 12 hours for us. I-81, I-77, I-26, I-95 (spending the night in SC), and finally I-4. Love having a car there, and it's cheaper than flying everyone.

    For the drive home, we usually spend the morning in a park, have a nice lunch, and then leave in the afternoon, driving to S.C. and stopping for the night. Then, get up in the morning and head home, usually get there mid-afternoon. If you break it up over two days, it's not bad *at all*.
    2002 - 2022: 20+ visits (POR, BW, All Stars, VWL, CSR, BLT, BC, SSR, CB, Dolphin, OKW, Poly, offsite x8)
    DL - 1996, 2019
    Next up - January 2023 short trip! We just want to try that 50th Anniversary chocolate monstrosity at Mexico!

  12. #51
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Location
    Chaska, Minnesota
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    579
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    Thumbs up We drive

    We drive all the time. We are in Minnesota and it is around 1600 miles.

    We usually leave around 4 or 5 pm on a Friday night and stop for dinner around an hour into the drive. We drive all night and the whole day Saturday only stopping for gas, potty, stretch our legs. We will stop for breakfast Saturday morning and eat supper at the hotel. We get a place to stay Saturday night, usually right in Valdosta, GA. Then Sunday morning we get up have the free breakfast where we are staying and hit the road again, making it to Disney around 11 am Sunday.

    We have 3 kids right now, and have taken the 2 older ones since the middle child was 15 months. We will do this again next October when our youngest will be 2 1/2.
    When the kids are little like that we do spend a bit more time on stops to let them run for 10 extra min or so. My kids travel very well in the van.
    I don't think unless we won a trip we would fly, too much money, and I like the not being tied down to schedules and packing what I want and as much as I want.
    1999 off site- July
    2001 All Star Movies- Sept
    2004 CBR-Oct
    2005 Poly won free from Disney-Jan
    2007 POP-Oct
    2010 POP-Oct

    2013POP - Oct First trip /all 3 kids- DD's 1st
    2014 All Star Movies-Nov / Mother son 2 day visit, after college tours
    2016 POP-Sep

  13. #52
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    Raleigh, NC
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    With plane ticket prices, it is much cheaper for the 3 of us to drive. It will be about $100 each way driving (gas and tolls). With flights being ~$250 each, that is $500 in savings. I simply cannot see spending an extra $500.

    It is about a 10 hour drive each way.
    1 Week at Wyndham Bonnet Creek 06/17/17 - 06/24/17; 1 Week at Orange Lake Resort 06/24/17 - 06/30/17; 1 week at OKW 12/03/17 - 12/10/17

  14. #53
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Location
    Oak Park Heights, MN
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    This will be our first time driving to WDW. We will be coming from Twin Cities, MN, does anyone know if there is a lot of toll roads along the way or is there a place we can find that out? Just want to prepare for bringing change.
    Off Site-- All Star Movies-- Pop Century-- Coronado Springs-- Port Orleans French Quarter
    Walt Disney-"Disneyland is a work of love. We didn't go into Disneyland just with the idea of making money."

  15. #54
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
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    1,303
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    From Iowa. We start off heading to St. Louis.
    The only tolls we hit are the Florida ones near WDW. They are cheap for the 20 + miles we are on them. It is worth the money to avoid the interstate I-4.
    Boardwalk
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    Riverside

  16. #55
    Join Date
    Aug 2003
    Location
    Winter Garden, FL
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    733
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    We have four kids ages 10, 9, 3 and 2 and we have driven our 19 hour drive every time we've gone since our kids were little. The cost is so much better than air fares. Plus we have made traditions on the way out.

    One thing we did on our second drive out in 2007 was we left at 8:00 at night and drove twelve hours. When our kids woke up, we were in Destin and spent a day and night at the beach then drove the last 7 hours the next day. We've done that a few times and other times, we just drove during the day and stopped at night.
    07/95 FW
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  17. #56
    Join Date
    Aug 2003
    Location
    Winter Garden, FL
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    733
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    We love taking our car, we can head out to the parks and not wait for buses on late nights. We stop at the Target outside of WDW and stock up on groceries. Plus we can bring extra items and have room for the extra goodies we buy without worrying about checking it at the airport or security problems with liquids and all.
    07/95 FW
    12/96 Off Prop
    11/97 CBR
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  18. #57
    Join Date
    May 2000
    Location
    Chicago
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    Quote Originally Posted by DVC2004 View Post
    We are in Northern IL, so it's about a 21 hour drive for us. We have driven 3, maybe 4 times. It really depends on air prices and how much time we have. If we drive, we need the entire week.

    We don't drive straight through. We usually leave Sat morning and drive 12 hours then stop for the night. We get there Sunday evening. Sometimes we've left Fri night to get there Sunday morning, but if we do that then we have to pay for 2 hotel stays on the way down.

    I really prefer to fly but the drive isn't too bad if it's spring, summer, or fall. I would not drive in winter because it can get pretty treacherous
    where we live and then down through Tennessee with ice storms, etc.

    We've made it in 19 hrs from Chgo - leaving at 2am and stopping in Macon, GA for the night, the continuing in the am, arriving at 3. The drive was always fun until on the way homewe hit the dreaded I65 into 80/94 and the never ending horrible Chgo metropolitan traffic!
    May/1999....CBR - Jamaica
    May/1995....CBR - Martinique
    May/1998....Wilderness Lodge
    June/2002...Wilderness Lodge
    June/2005...Wilderness Lodge
    Aug/2007....Wilderness Lodge
    June/2010...Wilderness Lodge CL
    July/2013 ...Wilderness Lodge CL Celebrating Our 25th Anniv.!

  19. #58
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Location
    QUEENS,NY
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    We always flew down, that is , until we both retired. I always wantd to drive, but while still working, time was too precious.
    Now, both of us are over 300# and would need a third seat to fit.
    I am the only driver, and not in great health, so we pace ourselves to take 2 1/2 days driving each way.
    Our first road trip , we made the most of it. We stopped at Kings Dominion for a day, and then a day at Busch Gardens, Williamsburg. Then on to WDW for ten days, then another four days in Kissimmee to visit the non Disney places.
    We had a cooler with drinks and sandwiches, and stopped whenever we wantd to.
    PETE FROM NYC
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    TWELVE TRIPS FROM 1975 - 2007 all by plane
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  20. #59
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    New Jersey
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    63
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    Our last trip my husband and I drove from NJ, but stopped in SC on the way there (10hrs) and NC on the way back (10hrs). This time however we are giving a straight thru drive a try, so it should take us about 18hrs. We like it, because this way we have control of everything from how long it takes to get there and back, plus we don't always have to rely on property transportation or a rental.

  21. #60
    Join Date
    Apr 2002
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    Chattanooga, TN
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    704
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    If we were to drive straight through, it would be about 9 hrs. But we choose to spend the night in Ocala and then a leisurely drive the next day will put us at our resort by noon. We can drive and stay the night on the way down and back for around $400. If we were to fly, our cost would be over $1200 for the 3 of us.
    Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or imbeciles who really mean it - Mark Twain

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