Should we just drive? (from ohio)

mariak

mariak

New Member
Forgive me for the virtual throwup of stress/anxiety/questions in this post.

I'm pretty sick to my stomach right now. The last time we (my husband and I) visited was in Feb. 2014 for our honeymoon. Flights cost us close to $800. Still is a lot of money, but they were non-stop flights (from CLE) and we booked them only a couple months out from our trip.

We are returning this November and I'm panicking because I'm realizing either there aren't flights for our trip days (19-26) or if there are, there are stops or they are outrageous. Like, thousands of dollars per ticket. I searched orbitz and there are several with stops that are 348 or so per traveler. I guess if we have to resort to this we can, but I've never had stops to Disney and (I probably sound so stupid right now) I'm not really sure how that works as far as luggage goes?

I never book the flights with my Magic Your Way package. Mostly because I'm never sure if we will make the trip and I don't like paying in full for flights when my trip may need moved or something. But is there an incentive to do this? Are they generally cheaper?

I'm starting to think we should just try to work driving down into our schedule. Really afraid to drive that far though, because our longest road trip has been 6 hours and I'm always stressed on the road figuring out where to go and all of that. (But would a flight with stops be less stressful?)

:cry: What would you do?

Anyone from Ohio make the drive? What are your experiences with that? I think I'm a sissy when it comes to this because I'm always worried about accidents or something ridiculous happening.
 
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D

DHoy

Active Member
We always drove from Dayton Ohio to Wdw .. I-75 to the turnpike and then 27 to 192. From Cleveland would be 77 to 26 to 95 to 4 then Disney.

Our 14 hour trip was always fun. We grew up with two working parents and as my mom said it was her best opportunity to have extended one on one time with her children.

As we got older one year I made several word searches and crossword puzzles related to Disney for everyone to do if they go bored and they were fun

We drove every year so we always saw certain landmarks we expected and laughed at past adventures... In 2006 I-75 had a sand slide which brought the south side down to one lane and at one point we opened the side doors on the vans and just openly chatted to the kids/family was next to us ... That was fun but now we still talk about this several hours on I-75 with those kids it made future trips even more fun.

In my opinion from my upbringing .. The road trip is fun and also embrasive for a family. It allows unescapable opportunity for everyone to learn and grown and I feel myself and my siblings are able to get along better because of it.
 
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slappy magoo

slappy magoo

Well-Known Member
Not everyone's cup o' grog, but there's also Amtrak. Round trip from Cleveland starts at less than $600 for 2 adults with a AAA discount. Getting a private room or roomette is significantly more. It's not ideal. You'll have to buy your meals, you transfer in Washington DC, and each way takes around 34 hours. But cheaper than flying. You're not doing the driving. You're riding the rails baby! And you can still feel smug over people who go by bus!
 
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englanddg

englanddg

One Little Spark...
Oddly, I'd look at Greyhound as well, if you are gonna look Amtrak (which can be just as delayed).

Cheap cheap cheap, and not as bad as you'd think (though, the stations can be hit or miss)...worth a look.

I have taken Greyhound 3 times this past month to various destinations, and not bad at all.

**edit** I just checked, it's between 60 - 90 per person depending on when you book...but it's around a 25 hour bus ride with 2 - 3 transfers.
 
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DManRightHere

DManRightHere

Well-Known Member
ford91exploder said:
Between the extra hidden fees for use of overhead bins to cancelled flights and lost baggage and not arriving anywhere close to on time

Both Spirit and Frontier are legendary for their poor service and reliability
Click to expand...

Oh ok. I've only used them once.

I thought they were on the "up and up" as I see them in kayak and priceline now.

I did not have any problems with hidden fees. Everything seemed straightforward when I booked. They do fee you for everything, but frontier still came out cheaper as their fare was much lower than anything else I found. We just used backpacks instead of carry on bags. No fee.

Our outbound flight was delayed 2 hours and they had to send in another jet, but the flight was nice once we got into the air. I researched their reliability and it appeared to be quite reliable for my flight. Maybe those numbers are skewed

Our inbound flight was great and as scheduled.
 
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rob0519

rob0519

Well-Known Member
We've driven from Chicago when the air fare seems to high for us. 12 to 14 hours gets us to Knoxville where we stay overnight and finish the drive the next day. Unfortunately, this adds 4 days round trip to the vacation.
 
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Rutt

Rutt

Well-Known Member
We are driving from Toronto (actually from Windsor/ Detroit as we are gonna stay at my brothers the Thursday night and then leave from there Friday morning) for the first time ever in October. My inlaws do it every year but not with three children ;)
My wife is crazy and is absolutely certain she is going to drive 12 hrs a day (she's done it before) so we are anticipating stopping in Knoxville on the Friday night and then going the rest of the way to Orlando on the Saturday.
It does seem to be much cheaper for us to drive, although the extra days kinda suck.
 
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Ghostdog

Ghostdog

Well-Known Member
We've made the drive twice from the Detroit area, stopping in Charlotte NC to sleep. The drive home is always the worst. I told my husband I refuse to drive to FL anymore...LOL! Luckily, we've had great success in getting cheap flights. I just booked a round trip flight from Detroit to Orlando for the 4 of us; the total cost $735. If Southwest flies from your area check them out. Southwest is great for low prices and they don't charge for carry on or checked bags.
 
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A

Aqueeta

Member
Ghostdog said:
I told my husband I refuse to drive to FL anymore...LOL! Luckily, we've had great success in getting cheap flights. I just booked a round trip flight from Detroit to Orlando for the 4 of us; the total cost $735.
Click to expand...
It really doesn't make sense to drive when it is that far, does it? By driving you have to pay for 2 nights hotel stay ($200) another $150 for food for the trip and another $150 for gas (not to mention the wear and tear on your car). So it cost you an extra $200 to $250 to fly. Not worth driving for the chance to save the cost of a signature meal.
 
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C

carriebeth

Well-Known Member
We are in Ohio and would never ever drive. We have a lo of children and that is just not going to happen as it would be miserable!! When we go to Disney every year we check and compare flights from Cleveland, Columbus, Detroit and Pittsburgh.

Our requirements are a direct flight, arriving in FL with enough time to still make a good day of a disney park, leaving FL late enough to get to enjoy a bit of time at a park, and being as cheap as possible.

We generally fly Southwest. A few years ago we flew Frontier out of Detroit. Although Frontier was pretty "budget", being its only a two hour flight, its definately bearable. I would not want to fly across the country on them but a few hours is fine. Last year we flew out of Pittsburgh this year we are set for Columbus (going in Sept). Our Southwest flights are without layovers and leave Columbus at 10:30 am and leave Fl at 5 something I believe.
 
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TXDisney

TXDisney

Well-Known Member
Flights certainly play a part. What I tell people is if it's really hurting you money wise then drive. But more times than not that's not the case. In your case I think it might be worth it to just fly. And here's why. It's just 2 plane tickets. If you were a family of 5 and had to pay for ) flights then driving absolutely makes more financial sense. A huge thing to think about since your coming from Ohio is you're losing atleast 2-4 days of your vacation by driving, which are days not at wdw. You'll feel you got a lot more out of your trip if you max amiss your time in the parks. Not sure if you drive if it shortens your actual trip or if it's just additional days you have to take off work that aren't for pleasure. But I just feel like at the end of the day if it's a difference of let's say $500, you'll feel it was worth it to fly for that price difference after gas, parking, etc.
 
Upvote 0
MOXOMUMD

MOXOMUMD

Well-Known Member
mariak said:
Forgive me for the virtual throwup of stress/anxiety/questions in this post.

I'm pretty sick to my stomach right now. The last time we (my husband and I) visited was in Feb. 2014 for our honeymoon. Flights cost us close to $800. Still is a lot of money, but they were non-stop flights (from CLE) and we booked them only a couple months out from our trip.

We are returning this November and I'm panicking because I'm realizing either there aren't flights for our trip days (19-26) or if there are, there are stops or they are outrageous. Like, thousands of dollars per ticket. I searched orbitz and there are several with stops that are 348 or so per traveler. I guess if we have to resort to this we can, but I've never had stops to Disney and (I probably sound so stupid right now) I'm not really sure how that works as far as luggage goes?

I never book the flights with my Magic Your Way package. Mostly because I'm never sure if we will make the trip and I don't like paying in full for flights when my trip may need moved or something. But is there an incentive to do this? Are they generally cheaper?

I'm starting to think we should just try to work driving down into our schedule. Really afraid to drive that far though, because our longest road trip has been 6 hours and I'm always stressed on the road figuring out where to go and all of that. (But would a flight with stops be less stressful?)

:cry: What would you do?

Anyone from Ohio make the drive? What are your experiences with that? I think I'm a sissy when it comes to this because I'm always worried about accidents or something ridiculous happening.
Click to expand...
Fly out of Canton-Akron airport. An exact two hour non-stop flight directly to Orlando. :)
 
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