From Wisconsin to Orlando for a week... Driving for the first time...

[abe_bb]

Actually your latest report, combined with other peoples, we are staying onsite without question.

We did MAJOR spreadsheeting and computer simulations (yeah... we have too much time on our hands) and it came out that when you combine everything, staying onsite is the way to go. Especially since we may or may not know someone who works a concierge desk in one of the better Disney resorts there

As for the fly -v- drive debate... Figuring that if we stayed on property and used the bussing system, with the dining plan, it would be cheaper to Drive by a coupel of hundred dollars. But like you said, we are in that weird little area where today it would be $1500 for a family of 4 to fly MSP to MCO. But next week it could be $1200. Buying tickets for January in November could drive that down to $1000 - but wait one day too long and it's back up to $1500.

We are on the lookout for flight deals, but our older daughter got excited at the prospect of driving. 2 and 10 though... lol.

 

[Tazer19]

I have to agree with bjlc57, if you do drive, go the Chicago, Nashville, Chatanooga, Atlanta route. Until our last trip in '08 I had driven down the three previous trips, but always in my own car, not a rental.

When are you guys going in January? That's our next trip and I'm keeping an eye out for flight deals. If I see any significant changes I'll be sure to post here... if not, want to pick us up on your way down??

 

[abe_bb]

Looking at the 21st-28th of january right now.

And phooey on cold weather if it's in the 40's, it will most likely be warmer then where we left. Heck in the 50's we wear shorts :ROFLOL:

Sun Country out of MSP is $1237 for 4 people round trip non-stop right now. Fronteir is slightly cheaper, but you have to have a 3hr layover in Denver. We aren't going to buy until Sept/oct simply because we want to be sure of the financial situation first, and keep the drive option open.

Plus we might decide to drive v fly to stay at a better resort (POR, our true home... right now we are looking at Pop though).

 

[bjlc57]

This is Mrs. bjlc57. I am the one who crunches the numbers and works the spreadsheets. I thought I would explain why we chose to fly. Coming from Wisconsin you will spend at least 2 days each way on the road. Because we flew, we actually only traveled half a day each way. We bought an 8 day pass (not hopper) instead of the 4 we would normally buy for only about $12 extra. We were able to go to each park twice and didn't have to cram everything in each park into one day. In fact, we spent half a day at a park the day we arrived. In addition, instead of spending a night in a hotel on the road each way, those nights were spent at Disney. We didn't get the dining plan because we knew we would spend less on food than the plan cost. We only spent about $400 for the 2 of us on food and the dining plan was much more. Now, if you go when they offer the free dining plan, that is a different story. If I have a choice between spending the time at Disney and spending the time on the road, it isn't a hard choice for me. The Magic Express taking care of your bags to and from the airport and driving you to your resort is a great savings. You won't need a car. Another savings. Traveling during winter adds the possibility of having weather problems and poor driving conditions for a good portion of your trip either coming or going, adding to the amount of driving and the amount of stress. If you were going in March or later, it would be a different story. Also, we found the Pop Century to be everything we hoped for, a great fun place to stay, clean, good accomodations, friendly. We will definitely stay there again. Absolutely. Have a magical trip.

 

[cemeb4dk]

While I am not here to argue with anyones points, as we all know what works for us. But just to add a side note, that adverse weather can affect airline travels also. By weather delays or even flights being cancelled due to bad weather somewhere else, there are alot of variables to the airlines during the winter months. And as you drive the weather typically does improve and you progress south, and with you being from WI, I am sure you can drive thru any snowy conditions.

So there are positives and negatives to both sides, while we choose to drive to save the extra money, it would be nice to wake up get on a plane and have dinner at the park. But for us the savings outweighs the convience.

So good luck with your continued planning, heck its part of the fun.

 

[abe_bb]

When it was just three of us, for our last few trips, Airfare was obviously a cheaper choice. The addition of a fourth, plus with our elder growing older and wanting to experience more, is what throws it into question.

Looking at driving, you are right ceme, we are more worried about the negative weather. And we are decent winter drivers, especially with the lack of road care in our town. (They would rather use the plows on the city council's driveways and roads then even our major throughfares, an issue that comes up every year).

If we do drive, we are staying one night each way at a random on-interestate hotel. Leaving 10pm on, say, Friday night, and between my wife and I drive through 6pm Saturday night. Figuring in stops for restrooms, supper, and general complaining, that should put us within 6 hours of Disney. And neither of is worried about driving too long - our trips to South Dakota, I generally drive from Eau Claire to Keystone, SD, in a single day with only a stop in Mitchell or Wall outside of gas stops.

With a large attempt to not go into too much number crunching, here is what we have come down too.

4 Airline Tickets plus baggage fees, gas to the airport, parking for a week, etc = $1500 (Rough but close overall estimate)


Driving:
3300 Miles Round Trip(rounded up to figure in stopping, etc)

26mpg car average = 127 gallons of gas, at $3.50 per gallon (sadly i think that might be a low estimate), equals about $450

Two nights in a hotel, one each way, is $200

Food for the drive down and back is budgeted at $200

All total, Driving with our or a relatives car will be about $950.

I haven't started calling car rental places for either one-way estimates or full-trip estimates yet, but we are figuring that will be a minimum of $500. That puts us at $1400, or only a slight discount compared to flying, but a more enriching experience.

Plus with driving we can go to Universal for a day easier (eldest wants to go to HP land, and we haven't been there in close to two decades), as well as hit up the beach (5 times in Florida, I've never been to the ocean beach) and visiting some of our guildmates who live in Florida (we play World of Warcraft, run a Warcraft podcast, and have quite a few listeners and guildmates who live in the area).

Wife is still adamant about flying, and I blame her none whatsoever. Daughter and I are fighting for driving At least it's not an argument. both of us want both ways, it just determines what kind of deals we get places. we'll see what the rental places can offer.

Thanks again for all the input everyone! It is highly regarded and greatly appreciated!

 

[cemeb4dk]

Wow I know where you guys are and have driven to the upper UP/WI border, but I guess I didnt realize you are actually that many miles farther north. I am in between Rockford and Chicago and we are about 1140 miles each way, so I guess I didnt realize you where 500 miles farther north than me.

Also Gas might be cheaper as of right now we are $2.85 or so a gallon, I know with the big BP mess and all it may go up, but your in the winter, and not a big travel time so hopefully its less than your estimate. From us with my wifes 2003 trailblazer gas cost us about $150 each way. We packed food and snacks and even with a night in the hotel I am guessing we were under $300 each each way. But on way home we drive straight thru so I guesstimate $500 round trip. Now there is just three of us, and airfare looks to be about $600-$700 but then if you add the added expense of a rent a car and what not while down there, it just makes sense for us to drive.

** I take back the airfare estimate just looked at United, and it was $360 per person before fees and taxes. so it would be over $1200 for us to fly down.

 

[bjlc57]

Its five hours from LaCrosse to o'Hare.. on the dot.. so figure the math.. 5 times 70.. 350 miles.. it all adds up.. but even when we left at 4 am from the southside of Milwaukee and did hy 65/ 75 it was Southern Georgia as as far as we could go in one day.. That's it.. Its a way to go.. a LONG way to go..

 

[abe_bb]

Wow what a night it's been. Jcat should pop in this thread later and mention it too but...

We broke everything down, took a close look at our finances (we are lightyears ahead of where we were our last trip, mentally physically and financially), and then looked at what we and the kids want out of the trip, etc.

We are driving. We have found that Hotwire has a good deal with car manufacturers. I have it in writing that from Hotwire, when you rent a car for $400 for the week, Unlimited mileage means within the United States. That tipped my wife over the edge to the driving territory, combined with some scouting we had our southern friends do.

Right now we have enough saved up for a "minimum trip" - ie, Driving, renting a car, tickets, food, etc. From now till the time we go is all about the spending money We have a free local "tour guide" both in and out of disney thanks to our friends, and know where we are staying.

Yes, it is a LOOOOOOOOOOOONG drive. But, we can do it. Heck, we figured in an extra day where we can stay out further if we need to, but meh. Our plan is sound, we are both decent drivers, and as long as it isn't a blizzard (great, i just invoked Murphy didn't I?) we are fine.

Granted, if things such as overtime and such align, we will fly. But for now, the road is our courier, travel stops our beacons on the long road ahead.

 

[momof2inmn]

We are planning on driving for our Dec. 2010 trip and will drive straight through from Mpls. to WDW. I have friends who had to do this for a trip that took place right after 9/11 (because the flight schedules were unreliable at that time) and it took them 24 hours non-stop. That's what we plan to do so that we can save $ and also so that DH doesn't have to take more time off work.

We will be keeping an eye on airfare though, in the hopes that we can find something cheap enough and not have to do that long drive!

 

[RedBaron]

I really cant give you any help with renting a car in Wisconsin, but I will say that you are not nuts for wanting to drive. We will also be driving from Chicago at the end of July with my 6 year old daughter and 3 year old son along with grandma and renting a mini van for the 5 of us (my hubby just made those reservations a few days ago, and we are paying something like $550 for 11 days rental.) Last year we took the kids to Myrtle Beach by car and it worked out just great. I was so worried that it would be a real ordeal, but it turned out to be no big deal. My daughter was a little more antsy in the car, but our portable DVD player worked out great and kept her entertained between rest stops. My son is very easy going and was happy to look out the window and watch the scenery in between naps, but this year we will have games with too and am not worried about it. We keep looking at airfare prices just in case a deal comes up, but so far I am not seeing any good deals from Chicago to Orlando and we would still have to rent a car since we are not staying on property. It always seems that when I am not looking to go to Orlando I see ads for cheap airfare, but when I am going prices are outrageous. I also think that flying would be no picnic either with little ones. Between having to get to the airport at least 2 hours early, there are always delays, the time traveling, then waiting to get transportation to get to the resort is a really long day too. The last time I flew to Orlando our flight was canceled, and it took forever to get another flight, and then the weather was awful and ended up sitting on the plane for another hour + . I think by the time we finally got off the ground, we should have already been walking around EPCOT if things had gone as planned. Good luck to you and your group. :wave:

 

[mouselvrmom]

We are planning on driving for our Dec. 2010 trip and will drive straight through from Mpls. to WDW. I have friends who had to do this for a trip that took place right after 9/11 (because the flight schedules were unreliable at that time) and it took them 24 hours non-stop. That's what we plan to do so that we can save $ and also so that DH doesn't have to take more time off work.

We will be keeping an eye on airfare though, in the hopes that we can find something cheap enough and not have to do that long drive!

We're planning on driving straight through from Mn to WDW in August too. I figured on the 24 hours as well. I want to just drive straight through, but now my hubby is talking about driving as far as we can and then getting a cheap hotel room for the night so that we can sleep. We'll see who will win that one! :lol:

 

[cemeb4dk]

We're planning on driving straight through from Mn to WDW in August too. I figured on the 24 hours as well. I want to just drive straight through, but now my hubby is talking about driving as far as we can and then getting a cheap hotel room for the night so that we can sleep. We'll see who will win that one! :lol:

It maybe better to stop just into Fl or so so you guys can sleep a bit then drive a short distance and enjoy the day at the park. We usually go straight thru from Chicago and the day we arrive I am spent so this trip going to stop somewhere in FL and sleep so the day we arrive is not wasted.

 

[mouselvrmom]

It maybe better to stop just into Fl or so so you guys can sleep a bit then drive a short distance and enjoy the day at the park. We usually go straight thru from Chicago and the day we arrive I am spent so this trip going to stop somewhere in FL and sleep so the day we arrive is not wasted.

That is actually the valid point that my hubby is trying to make. I have offered to do all the driving so that he can sleep, but he would like to make it most of the way and then get a cheap room to sleep in so that we can shower, refresh etc. and then make it to wdw feeling like we can make the day.

Thanks for the advice! :wave:

 

[cemeb4dk]

I am currently looking at Lake City FL. to stay seems nice and only 3 hours away. If it was just me I would drive and just stay up and go to the parks. But I need to consider my wife and my 4 year old daughter.

So whatever you choose safe travels and enjoy your trip

 

[DoleWhipDiva]

Sorry I don't have much advice, but I am also from WI (Milwaukee area) and I personally would never make the 20 hour drive with young kids. It just seems like too much of a hassle. I would be too tired to enjoy Disney by the time I actually got there!

 

[bjlc57]

gees.. from Milwaukee , its a snap...but, and here is the KEY< you must leave at 4 am so that you can drive through downtown Chicago, before the traffic starts..

you leave Milwaukee between 4 and 4:30.. and YOU WILL BE ON HY 65 in two hours.. Your kids won't wake up until like 8 or 9 in the car.. you get a ROLLING BREAKFEST.. meaning one STOP.. and its no.. lets stop here, or there..its GO... GO.. .GO>>>>>> until you need gas.. a light lunch and its your choice of southern Georgia or Birmingham of where to spend the night.. but I have made the south side of Birmingham in HOOVER in less then 12 hours.. many times.. the next day its on to the Florida turnpike and WDW..

 

[bjlc57]

if you need a place to stay.. get the travelers visitors guide for Tennessee or Georgia, or Alabama.. that green colored guide will get you a decent place to stay for a decent price.. and now with cell phones, you can easily call ahead.. we would buy it for a couple of bucks before we traveled.. or places like Shoneys had them for free..

Hey for many years we stayed in Orlando for $29 a night for a suite because of that guide.. and 30 years ago,, the place we stayed at was almost brand new..

Orlando has changed.. and I wouldn't use that guide for a WDW place to stay.. but on the road is a different story..

 

[bjlc57]

That is actually the valid point that my hubby is trying to make. I have offered to do all the driving so that he can sleep, but he would like to make it most of the way and then get a cheap room to sleep in so that we can shower, refresh etc. and then make it to wdw feeling like we can make the day.

Thanks for the advice! :wave:

where in Minnesota? we are just outside of LaCrosse..

 

[mouselvrmom]

where in Minnesota? we are just outside of LaCrosse..

Twin Cities. Well, closer to Saint Paul.