Fellow Canadians - Drive or fly???

[trixie21]

Hi there,

We are Disney bound next month and are still playing around with the idea of whether to drive or to fly.

Our closest airport is Toronto but the taxes are so high - it cost $1700 to fly 4 of us down + rental car for the week.

I have priced out flying from Buffalo and that's currently around $900 to fly all 4 of us down + rental car.

We have a Grand Caravan + DVD and kids are used to road trips but it's 21 hrs + approx $300 for gas. I assume we would add hotel each way and food along the way, other than what we pack to eat.

We rent Sun-Sun in our hotel so if we drive we have to take an extra day off work which is 1 day payloss for DH. If we fly from Buffalo, most flights stop over somewhere.

What are your toughts?

 

[cemeb4dk]

We live just outside Chicago,and its 19 hours or so. We drive, usually straight thru, but this time we will stop. I can't justify the airline charges when I can drive for so much less. Plus you'll save on the rental car fees also. So if you can swing it and you dont mind the drive I would drive. Just when you plan your driving schedule make sure you don't hit Atlanta during rush hour.

 

[tiaragirl]

My grandparents drive (from Cape Breton - NS) every year.. and they're oldies. But they also take their time, so I'd say it's up to you. I agree with the poster above, though. The weather should be decent enough, and you'd be able to make it straight through (maybe switch off driviing responsibilities with the wife?).

As long as you get there, right?

Otherwise I'd say fly from Buffalo.. that's a significant chunk of change you'd be saving.

 

[Mikester71]

We have been to WDW 3 times now and have driven every time from up here in Sarnia, ON (2-3hrs SW of Toronto). We cross the bridge from here into Port Huron, Michigan and then take I-94 until Detroit, where we jump on I-75, and then take it all the way down. We usually stop in Adel, GA for the night. There is a cheap Super 8 in Adel, right off the highway. We get 2 rooms for just over $100.

Total, it takes us maybe 21 hours of driving over the 2 days. We leave Sarnia around 6am on the Friday, stop in Adel around 9-10pm, and leave the next morning around 8am. We usually pull into the Pop Century around 1pm on the Saturday.

Probably costs us just over $200 for gas both ways, but we split it 3 ways (with MIL and brother) and LOVE having our vehicle down there to come and go as we please. Can't go wrong either choice you make though! :wave:

 

[Monty]

Generally, if we'll be there more than 9 days I'll drive. Less than that I feel I'm losing too much "Disney time".

Driving from Ottawa I like to go to Lorton and take the Auto-train. Costs less than flying and you're not exhausted on arrival. Still have your own car while you're there.

 

[Sarah Rae]

I'm from Toronto, and my family (of 4) have always driven to WDW. My parents asked my brother and I (he's 21, I'm 19) if we wanted to fly down this year, but we both decided that the road trip is half the fun! We have a minivan with a DVD player, which makes it really easy to drive down. We take out one of the middle seats and keep a cooler full of food there, so we don't end up stopping for a lot of meals. We stop at a lot of rest stops and visitors centres to walk around a bit, and we stay at a motel overnight each way (we used to drive straight down, but my parents are getting old, lol).

It saves us a lot of money to drive down, which means more money for spending in WDW. If you have a CAA membership, you can usually use that for a big discount at whatever motel you choose to stop at (or pick up one of those green coupon books from a rest stop, they sometimes have better rates than your CAA will get you). Pack lots of food and snacks, and bring lots of stuff to do. I think the savings are worth it, driving really isn't that bad and my family loves it.

 

[Mikester71]

I'm from Toronto, and my family (of 4) have always driven to WDW. My parents asked my brother and I (he's 21, I'm 19) if we wanted to fly down this year, but we both decided that the road trip is half the fun! We have a minivan with a DVD player, which makes it really easy to drive down. We take out one of the middle seats and keep a cooler full of food there, so we don't end up stopping for a lot of meals. We stop at a lot of rest stops and visitors centres to walk around a bit, and we stay at a motel overnight each way (we used to drive straight down, but my parents are getting old, lol).

It saves us a lot of money to drive down, which means more money for spending in WDW. If you have a CAA membership, you can usually use that for a big discount at whatever motel you choose to stop at (or pick up one of those green coupon books from a rest stop, they sometimes have better rates than your CAA will get you). Pack lots of food and snacks, and bring lots of stuff to do. I think the savings are worth it, driving really isn't that bad and my family loves it.

Agree 100%...driving IS half the fun! There are 6 of us in our minivan, and we all love the road trip.

 

[Ghall]

If I was you I would drive. When we travel to mainland Europe from Ireland we always drive. Once the kids have their Nintendo DSi, DVD player etc they are occupied. We have a minivan and travel with our car fridge filled with food. We take the boat to Wales and drive from wales to England and take the Channel tunnel to France and then drive... We have driven from Ireland to Italy (3 days), Spain (2 days) and many other countries. Not sure how long the drive is from Canada to Florida but we have been in the car for days driving. My husband has relatives who live in Toronto and they met up with us a few years ago in Disneyworld. They drove down and had no problems.

I think it is great no baggage allowance, no waiting around for hours at airports, much less hassle driving. At the moment by car is the only way to travel within Europe with no flights due to the Icelandic Volcano.

 

[LeafsFanNL]

From St. John's I'll take the airfare over a 4 day drive.

HB

 

[Unibits]

If you never leave property, then considering your location, drive to Buffalo and fly. You can get a room near the airport for $100.00 and then get the magic express. The on property transportation system will work just fine.

Friends of ours drove down to meet us last year and the first 3 days or so of the week saw two kids with bad tempers and mom and dad pretty much exhausted....

Does not seem worth it to me.

 

[trixie21]

Thanks for all the feedback!!

We are staying offsite so will need a vehicle once we arrive.

Here is what i have:

If we choose to fly from Buffalo and the flight time is in the afternoon, we can drive and park-n-fly ($50). Once we land, we pick up the rental ($130/wk). We drive to our hotel. Each day we do Disney, we pay $12 for parking (this is regardless is we fly or drive). We can fly Sun-Sun and not lose any days. If the flight is very early in the morning, we would have to add the hotel fee for the night but that would eliminate the park-n-fly. Does anyone have any experience with flights that stopover? Just in case.

If we choose to drive, we would leave at least a day early. Pay about $450 is gas total. We would most likely stay one night each way ($150 if we are lucky). We would lose some of our last day to start driving home and tbecause we would arrive home on the Monday, my husband will lose that day's pay and I would use an extra day vacation.

I grew up on road trips and actually did the Disney drive from Hamilton, ON as a child several times with no issues. My kids are fine with the DVD. My husband....well that's another story. He isn't the best on a road trip. Cranky to say the least. He takes a while to get the energy level back after the drive as well and for a week you can't afford to be tired. We did this trip in 2007 and it wasn't the best time.

Still torn. Prices for flights are still around the $210 mark but I am hopeful for last minute. I would like to drive for covenience sake - stop when you want, leave when you want, save a bit of cash.

We will be there for our 10th anniversary so we could use the extra $ for a nice dinner right?

 

[cemeb4dk]

Wow only $50 to park your car at the airport for a week? Thats a great deal here at Ohare its about $14 or so a day.

And for your hotel for the drive $150 is a high guess for a night, unless your staying at a real high end place. I would guess more in the $100 a night.

 

[crock]

I would fly from Buffalo.
Our upcoming trip in December will be our second flight out of Buffalo, hopefully it runs as smooth as our last encounter.
Try Jetblue and Southwest, they usually have a flight a day running direct.

 

[trixie21]

OK so major change - we are now flying from Toronto.
Turned out that our 'deal' from Buffalo was a connecting flight (which is not a real big deal) but 5-7 hours in total, baggage fees there and back which totalled an additinal $200. Also - all the departures wer late in the pm and returns were like 630 am.

We found a deal flying out of TO with no baggage fees and about the same but nonstop. We will be arriving n the morning and leavign mid morning. Much better!!

I can't wait to see the kids when we are getting ready to go to the airport :sohappy: