Calling New England Drivers

[coltow]

Can anyone give me a rough idea as to how much in tolls it costs to drive from Boston to Orlando? Our APs expire and August. Flight prices have been keeping us away from planning another trip. Today I began to think about if my kids could handle the drive. It's about 24 hours. Now I'm trying to figure out drive cost vs fly costs to see if we really do save a ton by driving. I want to have all the information I can before I even bring it up to DH.

 

[ronmeri28]

We have driven from Boston to Orlando with our 2 kids for the last 5 years. Last year, we spent about $250 in gas and about $30 in tolls.

 

[werblam]

Driving to Orlando

It was about $30.00 in tolls but have to tell you, very long long drive. My kids were great, we rented a van and had a tv with videos for them. It was my DH and I who felt it the most. Our back and backsides hurt and we were not looking forward to drive home...

Check out airtran and jetblue. They are offering some really good deals lately and you may find it affordable...

 

[betteratmk]

:wave: We are from the Northeast and have driven and flown before. We don't mind either! AirTran is having some incredible deals right now. When we drive we always spend at least one night on the road. We try to find a Hampton or Comfort Suite because they serve a free breakfast. I'm sure your kids would be fine. We packed a portable DVD player and his PSP and we were good to go!! Of course the first few times we drove he didn't have a PSP!! Drawing supplies are great too!

 

[WDW_Emily]

Can anyone give me a rough idea as to how much in tolls it costs to drive from Boston to Orlando? Our APs expire and August. Flight prices have been keeping us away from planning another trip. Today I began to think about if my kids could handle the drive. It's about 24 hours. Now I'm trying to figure out drive cost vs fly costs to see if we really do save a ton by driving. I want to have all the information I can before I even bring it up to DH.

I'm From Mass too!(Western though) we paid just under $30 last year for tolls and a total of about $400 in gas both ways(let me remind you, we went april last year when gas was around $3.80) i the end, you save about $200-$400 dollars driving. i think it's better to drive. we stopped taking planes awhile ago. Driving can get boring but being from mass, you pass though some good sites on the way down(New york, Washington Bridge, South of the boarder etc.) not to mention you get FREE oj when you hit Florida Also think about if your going to stop in the middle of the trip at a hotel for the night, if you aren't, you will save even more money.

From Western Mass(like 20 minutes from CT), it took us about 18 hours to hit orlando. We gps-ed it and it took us on backroads when there was traffic

 

[tobedard]

We just returned from our first drive with the kids to Orlando on Tuesday, and we (kids included) can't wait to do it again! Our kids are 6 and 4. We're from Western Mass and it took us 22 hrs straight on the way down. On the way back we split it in half by stopping for the night in Rocky Mount NC.

Gas was approx. $250 and tolls another $30. We figured flying would have cost well over $1,000 for 4 tickets during February vacation and rental car would've been another $500+ for two weeks rental.

Please feel free to send me an email with any questions you have or recommendations for directions. We had a GPS as well but didn't listen to it many times. I counted on my AAA TripTik and used the GPS as backup.

 

[smk]

AAA has a gas gauge on it's web site. Plug in the city you leave from, the city you are going to, type of car, year, make, model, and it will calculate the miles and gas useage. We have used for trips and it is very accurate. It takes into account the price of a gallon of gas in the various parts of the counrty you will be passing thru. Hope that helps!

 

[coltow]

THANK YOU!!! It will cost us about $1000 for the 4 of us to fly. I figured about $150 each way on gas. $30 in tolls is not bad at all. We have a dvd player in the car and my kids are usually pretty good in the car, however the longest trip we have done is 4 times a year to Albany (we have family there) and that's 3 hours.

We will be seriously thinking about it. We don't need tickets and can stay off site for free if we wanted to. So the trip would could cost us less than $1000 (including food) if we drove.

 

[WDW_Emily]

THANK YOU!!! It will cost us about $1000 for the 4 of us to fly. I figured about $150 each way on gas. $30 in tolls is not bad at all. We have a dvd player in the car and my kids are usually pretty good in the car, however the longest trip we have done is 4 times a year to Albany (we have family there) and that's 3 hours.

We will be seriously thinking about it. We don't need tickets and can stay off site for free if we wanted to. So the trip would could cost us less than $1000 (including food) if we drove.

It really does save you tons of money and you bond with your family more than you would on a plane.

We just returned from our first drive with the kids to Orlando on Tuesday, and we (kids included) can't wait to do it again! Our kids are 6 and 4. We're from Western Mass and it took us 22 hrs straight on the way down. On the way back we split it in half by stopping for the night in Rocky Mount NC.

Me too! where are you guys from?

 

[timeman]

I drive from Virginia whenever I go and from where I live it usually takes around 12 hours to get to Orlando. I know that when I went this past Christmas because gas had come down so much my total cost for gas for the whole trip was just a little over $100 while during the summer last year when gas was more expensive it was a little over $200.

If you plan your route with Mapquest you can check to see what the shortest route to Orlando would be from where you live or even a route that avoids toll roads. It even gives you an estimated travel time. I'm not sure if google maps also does this as I haven't used it to plan a trip before. Since Virginia is close to the halfway point to Orlando you may want to think about stopping and checking out Busch Gardens Europe in Williamsburg for a day.

The best site I have found for checking gas prices on the route is http://autos.msn.com/everyday/GasStationsBeta.aspx. The prices are updated nightly and are from actual sales. You don't have to know the zip code or city to check prices as you can zoom in on any part of the map to check prices along I95 or anywhere else. This great if you want to fill up at the cheapest prices on the route.

 

[coltow]

So armed with my gas/toll numbers I sat down with DH and explained that we still have our AP's and I think we should take full advantage and make one more trip before they expire in August. His response was not what I expected. He said he'd rather not drive, but said we could probably fly.

We also could stay at my grandfather's house (about 30 mns away from WDW) for free. Again DH surprised me with that he'd rather stay on property if we could.

So now I'm doing more research on flight and hotel prices. Ideally we like to go early August.

 

[DisneyPrincess5]

We've driven a few times from CT to WDW and I forgot how much the tolls are, but definitely get the ez-pass... makes it so ez! (hehe)

 

[rkelly42]

I just got back two weeks ago from driving down to florida and it took me 16 and a half hours from providence to get to St. Augustine where i stopped for the night( since my reservations at disney werent until the next day). It cost me just a little under 250 in gas and apprx. 30 in tolls. Drive is pretty easy once you get past D.C. I left at 1am on a tuesday morning and had no problem getting through baltimore and d.c, no real traffic at all.