Ever just said... "screw it, I'm driving!"

ddbowdoin

ddbowdoin

Well-Known Member
So my wife and I are pretty responsible people... while we certainly have our vices we're generally fiscally responsible and the types to over plan and think things through. This has to to do with pretty much every facet of our lives, whether it be saving on groceries or saving for our first home. I'd admit we often live in the future and some times forget to live in the now.

With all that aside my birthday is this weekend and my wife (a teacher) has a few days off in February. We're literally on the verge of just packing the car and driving from Boston. Who else has done this before?
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
PUSH

PUSH

Well-Known Member
We pretty much did that on our trip last year. Here's the story. We were getting that Disney urge around early March. Spring break was coming up in a couple of weeks. With a week to go until spring break we booked a room at POR. Then a couple of days later we questioned what we were doing. We were wondering if we could really be happy with this trip and whether we should go or not. Well, we finished packing our stuff the night before. Then at like 10 o'clock at night we said to ourselves that we couldn't do this, and it would be an upsetting trip and it wasn't worth all of the money. We then unpacked everything so we wouldn't have to look at it the next morning. So we went to bed thinking we were staying home. The next morning we woke up and had that urge again. Well, we ended up saying "let's go." We quickly packed everything up and were on the road by 11 in the morning. We live 21 hours away from the World, so 11AM is a pretty late start.

Long story short, we ended up having one of the most enjoyable trips we've ever had. There was nothing weighing us down, no ADRs to stick to, nobody but ourselves to worry about. It was a very laid back and relaxed vacation. I loved being able to just wander around and not feel rushed to get to an ADR on time. Don't get me wrong though, we did get some walk-ups at restaurants.

So that's my story. People thought we were crazy when we told them about this when we got home. Quite frankly, I didn't care. :)
 
Upvote 0
HatboxGhost

HatboxGhost

Well-Known Member
My wife and I will be driving down to Disney from Connecticut later this year which will be our fourth time. Its a total of about 20 hours and that includes stops for gas, bathroom breaks, and grabbing a bite to eat. I work nights so I drive the first 12 hours when we leave in the evening, then she will take over for the remaining 8. We love it.
 
Upvote 0
Gabe1

Gabe1

Ivory Tower Squabble EST 2011. WINDMILL SURVIVOR
ddbowdoin said:
So my wife and I are pretty responsible people... while we certainly have our vices we're generally fiscally responsible and the types to over plan and think things through. This has to to do with pretty much every facet of our lives, whether it be saving on groceries or saving for our first home. I'd admit we often live in the future and some times forget to live in the now.

With all that aside my birthday is this weekend and my wife (a teacher) has a few days off in February. We're literally on the verge of just packing the car and driving from Boston. Who else has done this before?
Click to expand...

I did it, but I flew last Spring. I called it my Stop the World I need to jump off sudden vacation. My airfare wasn't even that painful. I left in about 10 days. No pretrip report no time. The adrenaline rush is wonderful. Getting up at 3am for a 6am flight, not so much. lol.

I did it also about 20 years ago when my boss tore my last thread of patience. I called my husband, told him to tell his boss he'd be gone the next week and then some, went to the first floor travel agent that my company used, booked a family trip, told my boss, went home and pulled out summer clothing and we were off in 4 days.
I almost forgot to make arrangements for the dog, she had to go to Grandma's, it was that fast.

Both trips were better than jumping or quitting my job.
 
Upvote 0
Phonedave

Phonedave

Well-Known Member
ddbowdoin said:
So my wife and I are pretty responsible people... while we certainly have our vices we're generally fiscally responsible and the types to over plan and think things through. This has to to do with pretty much every facet of our lives, whether it be saving on groceries or saving for our first home. I'd admit we often live in the future and some times forget to live in the now.

With all that aside my birthday is this weekend and my wife (a teacher) has a few days off in February. We're literally on the verge of just packing the car and driving from Boston. Who else has done this before?
Click to expand...


I have never driven to WDW - I am in Northen NJ (came close once, then my oldest daughter looked at me and said "are you nuts?")

I have done plenty of trips (WDW and elsewhere) on the spur of the moment. When my job used to require me to travel more, it was not uncommon for me to find out Monday afternoon that I was wanted at an 8 AM Wed meeting in Texas, so spur of the moment traveling is no big deal.

I however fail to see the allure of driving to WDW, especially with just two people. The gas, the time, and somthing most people do not account for- the wear and tear and miles on your vehicle, do not justify it for two plane tickets. 4 or 5 people, yes, then driving becomes a financial factor (I still wouldn't do it, my wife would be throwing up the whole trip). If you were going to stop and do things along the way, the yes I would do it, but strictly to drive straight through does not appeal to me.


-dave
 
Upvote 0
GMRO

GMRO

Active Member
I’d agree that driving is not for everyone. That said I do not miss flying. I hate the airlines and their constant changing fees etc. Wife is a nervous flyer anyway. She always would get a little sick 2 days before our flight. Then it takes an extra day once on property to calm her down. Unless we are going for a short 3 to 4 day trip to FLA/WDW – then we will fly. But for our annual vacation we’ll drive every time we are able to do so.

This May2013 will be our 5th time driving from PA to the World. GPS shows 14.5 hrs for 1008 miles to CBR. We’ve done it in 15, 16.5 and 14 hrs one way. Depends on our mood and what weather we run into. It can rain pretty hard in the Carolinas in May. BUT we’ve made it thru it each time IF it rained. Usually it’s on the way home and not on our way to WDW.

To us it’s still cheaper by a lot to drive. Yea we budget our rental car/fuel and things like that into our vacation money. And we save a lot of money vs. paying to park our car at the airport, flying and renting a car while in FLA on vacation. Our trips are 10 days on property or 15 days with DCL included…and before we cruised it was 12 days on property alone. For all the bags/luggage fees and rental car in FLA it is still a lot cheaper to rent a car in PA and pay ourselves to drive. Its well worth the windshield time for the money we save in our opinions. PLUS we feel it helps us decompress during the drive. No hustle and nonsense of the airports or worrying about missed flights or lost bags. Had all that happen during our trips to WDW in the past. We like to control our destiny and our arrival times. Flying out of PA is now more difficult to get a straight flight to FLA anyway. We have to connect somewhere with just about every flight. So with the drive time we can pick a good/close arrival time on property.

We do drive straight thru too these days. No kids and we are both healthy and share the drive. Leave at 3AM from PA and arrive by 7PM at the latest on property or at Port Canaveral pending our DCL plans. First year we did stop after 10 hrs in Georgia which left the 5 hrs or so for the following morning/day. We got a late start from PA that trip. We worked ½ day and left at 1PM from our house that trip. If we were not so tired, we had planned to stay at a hotel somewhere, we both agreed we could have made it straight thru. From that point we realized that we could do the drive straight thru once we adjusted our departure time from WDW and made the trip home non-stop at the end of our vacation. So we saved the hotel 1 way fee on the way home that year. Only stops are for gas and restroom breaks at this point. We leave WDW by 9AM and find ourselves home in bed by 12:30AM later that night - the same day. We have our favorite GPS waypoints routed and we stop for gas and visitor rest places that are clean! ;) Yes it can be fun to drive IF you make it so!!!

Again, your mileage may vary. But if you want to do it you can do it. Just pack an iPod with some Disney podcasts and music and some snacks and food for your trip and set out. We’ve thought about taking our cars…but Subies are not great on the highway for mileage. So we rent new and enjoy the car as part of the vacation. We’ve consistently clicked off 33MPG and love it. Especially when we hit the southern states and see the CHEAPER gas than what we see in PA. We’ve come under our gas budget each year. And we hope to do so this May as well. We actually look forward, anticipate, the drive knowing we are headed HOME for about 2 weeks.

For US this MAY can’t get here fast enough!

GOOD LUCK if you decide to drive. Make it part of the vacation and you will enjoy it.
 
Upvote 0
D

DisneyDebNJ

Well-Known Member
We have driven to Disney from Orlando, MANY times when DS was younger. I actually looked forward to it.. did our usual stops, travelled as far as Daytona Beach the first night. However, after realized it was a quick 2 hr trip by air, that was it LOL If time wasnt an issue (losing 2 days vacation time by driving) I would have no problems hitting I-95 :)
 
Upvote 0
MouseDreaming

MouseDreaming

Well-Known Member
ddbowdoin said:
yeah ... my wife has already expressed concern regarding sleeping and rope drops, as well as our level of excitement when it comes to a pineapple ice cream desert, going as far as wearing a t shirt dedicated to such treat.
Click to expand...
My dream is to get a picture of my DS eating such treat with that shirt on, and proudly displaying the picture in the house...It never occured to me that some people might find this strange...I may have a problem;).
 
Upvote 0
pixiesteno

pixiesteno

Well-Known Member
We love to drive and I personally would love to have a bit of FL warmth as it was 2 degrees below zero at 7:30 am at our house; that does not include windchill. I know there are some of you from WI and MN that would consider that warm but I do not.
Anyhoo.... a couple of months ago I looked at my son when we were filling up his car and told him, "you know 3 tanks of gas would get us to FL." We resisted and behaved ourselves. DH & I are heading to KS this weekend to visit our DS, DDIL, and 5 grandchildren. Yes, it is about the same distance to FL and we will enjoy the drive. Music, books on cd and all is good. I hate to fly and the time wasted getting to the airport to sit around and wait. The last time we flew to WDW we were in travel for 8 hours for a 2.5 hour flight due to the distance we live from the airport, wait time for security, flight time, time to get to DME, waiting on DME, and time to resort.
Love the drive south and all the little indicators that we are getting closer -- tall VA pines, Pedro signs, Spanish Moss, palm trees, "welcome to FL" signs, etc.
 
Upvote 0
GMRO

GMRO

Active Member
pixiesteno said:
We love to drive and I personally would love to have a bit of FL warmth as it was 2 degrees below zero at 7:30 am at our house; that does not include windchill. I know there are some of you from WI and MN that would consider that warm but I do not.
Anyhoo.... a couple of months ago I looked at my son when we were filling up his car and told him, "you know 3 tanks of gas would get us to FL." We resisted and behaved ourselves. DH & I are heading to KS this weekend to visit our DS, DDIL, and 5 grandchildren. Yes, it is about the same distance to FL and we will enjoy the drive. Music, books on cd and all is good. I hate to fly and the time wasted getting to the airport to sit around and wait. The last time we flew to WDW we were in travel for 8 hours for a 2.5 hour flight due to the distance we live from the airport, wait time for security, flight time, time to get to DME, waiting on DME, and time to resort.
Love the drive south and all the little indicators that we are getting closer -- tall VA pines, Pedro signs, Spanish Moss, palm trees, "welcome to FL" signs, etc.
Click to expand...

Seeing the first signs of PALM TREES and the WPGA bridge near JAX BEACHES is just a great feeling! You know you are get'n close... ;)
 
Upvote 0
Phonedave

Phonedave

Well-Known Member
It really is, to each their own.

Me, I have no problem with airports. They don't bother me, I don't feel hassled in them, and I have never had a peice of luggage lost, and I can't recall the number if times or places Ihave flown into and out of. (Delayed flights are another story)

On the other hand, when I was a kid we used to go to Canada - on the Vermont border, for vacation EVERY year, multiple times a year. Granted it was only 400 miles each way, but it was a LONG 400, back then about half the trip was on rural country roads - getting caught behind a farm tractor going 20 MPH for 30 minutes was a real possibility. I guess since I spent most of my childhood vacationing in cars, I really have no desire to do so as an adult.

However, I will say I like the idea of renting a car to make the drive.

-dave
 
Upvote 0
GMRO

GMRO

Active Member
Phonedave said:
It really is, to each their own.

Me, I have no problem with airports. They don't bother me, I don't feel hassled in them, and I have never had a peice of luggage lost, and I can't recall the number if times or places Ihave flown into and out of. (Delayed flights are another story)

On the other hand, when I was a kid we used to go to Canada - on the Vermont border, for vacation EVERY year, multiple times a year. Granted it was only 400 miles each way, but it was a LONG 400, back then about half the trip was on rural country roads - getting caught behind a farm tractor going 20 MPH for 30 minutes was a real possibility. I guess since I spent most of my childhood vacationing in cars, I really have no desire to do so as an adult.

However, I will say I like the idea of renting a car to make the drive.

-dave
Click to expand...

Traffic and some SLOW vehicles on the road, tractors, yup can be a pain! LOL

We've seen some traffic at times but never grid lock. Usually with our departure time from our house we miss a lot of the stuff...plus we head out on Saturday early morning so most businesses are closed and we don't hit any commutor traffic as folks head to work.

All said - our least favorite state is WV! Seems to be the longest part of the trip both ways. Beautiful hills and windy roads/mountains - to see. But no way to make any real time pushing the limit. We usually don't as much as just pace traffic. The other states go fast...but WV seems like you are there forever!!!

And we've had a good mix of cars too. Used to like the Chevy 2010 and newer Malibus. Not bad highway miles and space for 2 and luggage was nice. Rode nice with a solid footprint on the road. Had a 2009 Impala too that was not too bad. Less fuel economy vs. the Malibu. BUT last year we had a 2012 Nissan Ultima and WOW they rock! Best MPG and a great ride and solid footprint on the road. Wife is not tall so we have to watch cars with windshield pillar blind spots or high center dashboards. Chevy HHR was terrible for that! Pontiac Vibe was nice too. Again fun to drive something you don't own. When we flew into FLA in years past we had the HHR and Vibe and Neons too. Not bad for tooling around town once there. But I'd think on a long drive a nice floating car is better. Our thoughts...

GREAT THREAD!
 
Upvote 0
GTIDMB

GTIDMB

Well-Known Member
We just booked a last minute weekend trip for February. My wife and I always joke that we should just drive to the airport and go, but this time we're doing it. We're leaving Friday after school (we're both teachers) and coming back Monday afternoon. Our plan is not to step foot in any of the parks, but rather to resort hop, go to DTD, maybe do some mini golf, go to Jellyroll's, and do a nice dinner (reservations at Jiko). When we go in the summer, it's always a packed schedule, running from here to there, so this trip is about a slowed-down relaxing weekend together. YOLO, as the kids say...
 
Upvote 0

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom