I have driven down to WDW from Syracuse NY and back on two different occasions. The first time I drove down and stopped in Savannah Georgia. I believe we left at 6am and arrived at like 9pm in GA. The exit had plenty of nice hotels, however they were all booked when we arrived and we ended up in a Red Roof Inn. I was scared. Would not stay there again but had no choice. Woke up early the next morning and drive maybe 4 hours and arrived at our resort. Wasn't burnt out really. Drive back we made it to NC.. Mount something. because of a heavy rain storm that was delaying our travel. Woke up next day and drove the rest of the way. Was burnt from the trip and driving.
The second time we made reservations at a nicer hotel in Savannah. Made it there around the same time, woke up next morning and made it to the resort around the same time. The drive down always seems the easiest because your excited and going somewhere nice. This time I decided to drive all the way back. BIG MISTAKE. We both took shifts on and off on the way back and I can tell you that at 1am, 2am we were both very zombie like but were so close to home it didn't make sense to stop for a room. So we toughed it out. Made it home at like 3 or 4am.. Crashed and slept till like 8pm that night. Our sleep was off for days. We were zombies and just miserable. I vowed after that I was done driving to WDW and the few extra hundred dollars it takes to fly is well worth not having to risk all the things that can go wrong driving, the time spent driving, the cost of driving. You have to calculate all costs into driving. The gas, the hotel, then the food, the things that could go wrong mechanically or saftey/accident, and lastly and probably most importantly the time involved with driving. if the difference is $100-$200 per person for flights you save. Trust me it isn't worth it. You would need to save $500 or more to make it worth it after you have calculated all the costs.
otherwise you are buying your airfare and nothing else. you wont need meals since your there in 4 hours or less usually, you wont need gas, you wont need a hotel in between, the risk of you getting into an accident or something mechanical going wrong is slim to none and the responsibility is on someone else to make arrangements if something does go wrong.
I'm sure with some friends you guys will do fine and it will be fun but I think eventually you will see the savings isn't really much.
BTW I got a speeding ticket in Virginia once. So that washed any and all savings and then some vs. flying that year. Was not fun..
Def recommend getting a trip tik through AAA. they show you known construction for your planned route. Def use WAZE on your smart phone. Its live reporting from other drivers reporting traffic, accidents ect.. so you can look ahead for any issues. and have a good GPS. one you are familiar with incase of traffic that you can reroute around it and save time.
Good luck and safe travels.
