How far would you drive to WDW?

[Scooter]

Every time I go to Disney I drive. I head out to my truck, throw the bag in and 5 hours later I am normally already checked in and at a park.

That's no way to talk about your wife!:lol:

 

[CLandrum]

OMG! I am at work laughing my butt off, everyone is looking at me like I am crazy, its 3am. That was to funny.

 

[CLandrum]

We are attempting the 23 hour drive next November. I work third shift so we are going to attempt to drive strait through with me doing the night driving. I hope it works out but if you hear a story on the news next November about a woman on her way to WDW killing her family you know what happened. BTW, that was a joke!

 

[Cubs Brian]

My wife and I live in Aurora so hello neighbor.
We just hop in a limo to O'hare airport and we're in our Disney Resort before noon.
The only way we would ever consider driving is if we were retired or had two weeks vacation back to back.
Neither one of us are crazy about driving long distances and we both absolutely LOVE to fly.:sohappy:

And a hello to you too!
We considered flying on this trip but pricing things out $800.00 air (4people) $160.00+tip r/t for limo (limo cost alone is about what gas will cost us for entire trip) vs $180.00 for gas $100.00 for 1 night hotel(each way and about $100.00 for food. Oops forgot about the baggage charges that was another$120.00 (1 bag pp@ $30.00 r/t. So flying was $1080.00 driving is $480.00, $600.00 diff. is quite a bit. If it was just myself and DW it would be a different story.I drive for a living, so seeing America by car is kind off nice.

 

[H20Babie]

We have driven from Winnipeg, MB (Canada), approximately 2009 miles. It takes about 3.5 days, but we only drive when we'll be there for more than two weeks. I haven't done it in years (waiting for DS to be a bit older) but my parents still do it about every two years.

 

[tigsmom]

How far are people willing to drive to go to WDW?

We live in CT and it's about a 1300-mile drive. Realistically, it means 2 days to get down there and 2 days to get back. We don't feel like spending 4 days of a vacation in a car and so we always fly to WDW.

Admittedly, with airline ticket prices still relatively high, driving is tempting. However, if I take off one week from work, I have 9 days to enjoy a vacation. Yes, I realize we could potentially pull an all nighter, leave on Friday evening, and arrive by Saturday evening. But it sounds exhausting and I don't know what condition my family would be in to hit the parks on Sunday. Then, knowing we'd have to repeat the drive at the end of the vacation seems even more exhausting.

Other people seem to indicate that they drive from much further distance.

What's your "threshold of pain"?

We live in NY not too far from the CT border and up until 2 years ago we drove every year...about 1200 miles or so (haven't been back because of college tuition :lookaroun ) . The drive is part of the vacation not just a means to get us there. We take 2 days to get there also because we've done the all nighter and it almost killed us.
I want to be relaxed when I hit the parks and enjoy my time with my family. We rarely stay for more than 4 days AND we visit my inlaws too while in Florida.

You vacation is what you make it, if flying meets your needs then so be it.

 

[Nemo14]

We live in RI and used to drive down every summer. We'd stay at my moms in Groveland, then take a couple of days to stay at the parks. Most trips included an overnight stop, but we did do a few straight-through drives too (22- 23 hours). Now that the kids are out of the nest, we usually fly if it's just the 2 of us. For just 2, the cost is about the same, and certainly safer to fly.

 

[wdwforus]

I drove from Maine, about 1500 miles, in June/July of 07. Took 5 days going down. Left on a Thursday night drove to Conn. Next day got to Maryland, next to SC, the next to St. Augustine, and WDW on Monday early. I was towing my 28' travel trailer and we didnt want to push it and wasnt sure how my 99 Suburban was going to take the workout. It went great! Spent about $1100 in gas but it would have cost us $1500 to fly and we stopped at some really nice cmapgrounds and the kids got to swim and I enjoyed the travel with them. It took me three days coming back, drove from Fredricksburg VA to Maine in one day, landed at home at about 8 pm, the post Disney-depression well set in! I cant wait to do it again, the kids said it was probably the best vacation they had had and we travel at least once a year.

 

[ChuckFromCanada]

For the past 4 years i've been driving 1470 miles from Montreal ,Canada to WDW and it's really not too bad, last year we actually spent 10 nights at WDW (POFQ and Best Western Lake BV) and took a side trip to Key West and Miami for our honeymoon. I hope to go back next year,gotta love the mouse.

 

[dandaman]

Almost exactly 24 hours with gas/food/restroom stops factored in. August 2003 memorably saw my dad making it in 20 hours; none of us know how he did it. :lol:

 

[hack2112]

Considering I live about 3 and a half hours away, then the most I would drive is 3 and a half hours.

 

[wvdisneyfamily]

We drive about 875 miles each way. Flying is not an option for us.

 

[Mr.EPCOT]

I think I've got you all beat - 2600 miles. I've driven from Tucson up through Phoenix to Flagstaff, overnight in Albuquerque, stopped in Oklahoma City, down through Dallas and across over into Louisiana through Shreveport down to Baton Rouge across I-10 into Florida, overnight in Pensacola, and then you know the rest!

 

[Philo]

I guess my opinion is a little skewed because the concept of driving more than 500 miles fills me with fear - I guess that's what happens when you live in the UK.

Personally I would avoid driving at all costs although I would consider it as part of a longer trip where we stop off along the way to see other landmarks etc.

But until they invent a decent aquacar there's no way I can drive!

 

[Monty]

1400+ Miles one-way. I've done it once and honestly wouldn't do it again unless I had two weeks off. A week's vacation including the drive both ways was very draining.

 

[TinkerCOT]

Driving to Orlando

If I had the choice to drive or fly down to Orlando from New Hampshire, I would fly in a heartbeat. I drove up to New Hampshire once an then back down when I was in college and it was the most excruciating 2 and a half days of my life. I lived almost near Canada so it was a long drive for me.:lookaroun

 

[mrerk]

1400+ Miles one-way. I've done it once and honestly wouldn't do it again unless I had two weeks off. A week's vacation including the drive both ways was very draining.

My feelings exactly. My vacation time is too valuable to waste a minimum of 1 day driving down and 1 day driving back. On a two week trip it would be only slightly more attractive. I think I will save my driving for retirement.

Now, if I lived say 4 -5 hours away I'd probably be there every other weekend.

 

[Phonedave]

I make a 300 mile drive to Vermont two or three times a year, somtimes over a weekend (in fact I just did it last weekend)

I think 500 is the limit for me. I would drive longer to get TO WDW, but I don't want to have a more than 10 hour trip waiting for me on the back end.

In College, I once took a bus from NJ to Datona. Knowing that we faced a 24 hour trip on the bus after spring break just caused us to drink all the more to get the thought out of our heads

-dave

 

[Phonedave]

For everybody who prices out the cost of driving, one thing you need to take into account is wear and tear on your vehicle and the decrease in value that the extra miles cause. Thats why if you use a personal car for business, the IRS lets you deduct (i belevel its the current rate) 50.5 cents per mile. That covers fuel, and all the depreciation and maintence. I have found that it is a pretty good swag at what it does cost. I used to work for an engineering firm where we used our own vehicles (a LOT). One guy had a truck that he only used for work, he used to keep track of all his bills and gas for that truck, and actualy depreciate it on his taxes. It was allways withing 10% of the government rate. So if its a 1,000 mile trip one way, you figure that a round trip ends up costing you about $1,000 (plus food and lodging)

-dave

 

[smk]

I would drive from the end of the earth if that is what I had to do .