Smarter to Drive or Fly in my case?

[R W B]

Alright, so I'm looking up flight info for a Dec trip that I might be going on (wont know 100% until Oct most likely). The thing is though, i'm not sure if the extra cost of flying is worth the saving on travel time.

Last May I spent roughly $150 on gas roundtrip in my G/Fs newer Civic. We left my house at 4am and got to All-Star Sports at about 4pm, of course we stopped a few times for food and gas. Lets add $50 for food and snacks on the way there and back for $200 total round trip.

Now I just looked up Flight info and the cheapest I found for the dates I want is $266 each roundtrip with fees and tax but does not include any baggage fees. The travel time is a little over 4 hours including a small layover with a connecting flight. Now I would still have to arrive at my airport atleast an hour early and I would assume the DME has a wait until it leaves the airport for WDW so I think saying the whole thing would take atleast 6 hours is being nice.

So my question is, on an 8 day trip would you spend the extra $400+ on flying just to save maybe 6 hours of drive time each way or is that too much?

 

[draybook]

If you can afford to spend the $400 then yeah. If not then I would suggest saving it by diving. We drive from Memphis and it takes about the same amount of time as your drive does. Even with the cost of the rental car and the gas required, it saves us money to drive.

 

[bgraham34]

Personally if it were me I would drive and pocket the cash. Less things to worry about. Flying maybe quick at times but If I had a drive of less than 12 hours i would drive and not fly and go more often.

 

[minniemickeyfan]

You never know what could happen in December with weather. If it were me, I would drive, much less hassle than dealing with the airlines.

 

[Master Yoda]

The quick answer from me would be to drive.

Not only will you save $400 but you will have access to a car while you are there. No waiting on buses, boats or monorails and if you feel like heading off property is is easy. You also ditch the hassle of dealing with the inevitable airline delays, bag fees, etc. You might also look at taking the savings and adding a day onto your trip.

 

[Tiggerfanatic]

I would have to agree with driving. I know if I lived less than an 8-hour drive away from the World, I wouldn't be paying for flights, and would go more often. It's a 17-hour drive from here in PA, so flying makes the most sense for me.

 

[JiminyandTink]

I'd say drive too. Pocket the cash and consider it a downpayment on another trip so you can get back again soon.

 

[IndyDisney]

Drive.

Cheers,
Indy

 

[828tnt]

drive!

 

[Cosmic Commando]

I'd say drive too. Pocket the cash and consider it a downpayment on another trip so you can get back again soon.

That would probably be the sensible thing to do... I was thinking Illuminations cruise!

 

[WDWmazprty]

Road trip!!!:sohappy: Drive dude, save the money. :wave:

 

[mickeysshoes]

I have to go in the other direction...I would fly. It takes us about 13 hours to drive and we are done doing that. You are tired when you get there and the I hate the thought of having to drive home. We dont drive while we are in the World so having the car there is not important. If you can afford it I would fly!!

 

[pixiesteno]

drive, drive, drive. Even with factoring in possible bad weather when you drive you can adjust your leave time around weather - try doing that with the airlines. Also remember that the airlines have a habit of overbooking flights, particulary during the holiday season, and you could get bumped to a flight that is going to take you much longer to get there or home. Put the disney tunes on and hit the road! I like to factor in an extra day on property for some road recovery time and relax at the resort (ie, for us the campground).

 

[Plowboy]

I understand the pro's and con's of both. On the one hand flying contributes to the whole "we're going on a trip" thing. On the other hand there is the potential to save a fair amount of $$'s. If it were me I'd set the cruise control at 75 and go like h*ll, but that's just me. Consider yourself lucky that you have a choice, coming from California kind of limits ours!

 

[BigRedDad]

I would drive. I wake up at the crack of stoopid which makes driving easy. I can toss the family in the car, be on the road at midnight and at the resort by 10AM. The other option is to leave late afternoon, get into GA, and leave at 2AM and be at the resort by 7AM. I can usually get a hotel on I95 for $30-$40 through the Negotiator. When we leave, we hit the road about 6AM on the way back and get in about 4PM. Round-trip this way is about $250. This is the same price as 1 RT flight. We save $500 by driving. Time wise, we lose a couple hours but no big deal.

 

[Uncle Lupe]

Sounds like you do not have kids that will drive you crazy so driving would not be that bad. Driving at night makes it much easier. But when you arrive are you going to have the energy to really enjoy the rest of that day? That might make for a good lounge by the pool evening.

We are coming from OH, my family of 3, 2 adults one child 2 is flying down. We leave Sat. morning and arrive early Sat. afternoon. The people we are meeting are driving down from the same town. They leave Thurs. night and plan to arrive Sat. morning. They will have 3 adults and 3 kids under 6 in a minivan. This will settle the debate in our family of which is better, to fly or drive. Just have to look at your situation of what you want out of your vacation. I have never been bumped from a flight.

If you can get a direct flight then I would fly.

 

[WDWmazprty]

When we drive we drive at night also. The kids sleep and there's less traffic; pretty much just truckers on the road with you. However, when we drive we make sure we add an extra day so as not to arrive to the World exhausted.

We usually will plan on arriving to Orlando and staying in any decent hotel for one night, usually a couple miles from Disney. That way we can rest up and the next morning head right on in to Disney bright and early, check in and then head on to the parks ready to go.

Of course, if you have that extra day to spare it does wonders. :wave:

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

If you can afford it, fly. If not, your drive isn't all THAT bad... We're waaaay up in Maine so it takes us a good 24 hours to get there. That's why we'd rather fly. I think the only time we would drive is if it really saved us like $300+ per person. We're thinking of driving in the spring and if we do that, we'd have 7 days. If we fly, that would give us 9 1/2 days. To us, it's worth the extra money to fly and spend the extra money for 2 extra nights hotel @ Disney rather than on the road in random towns than to endure 24 hours driving down and 24 hours back!! lol

 

[acishere]

In your case I would just drive. The time it takes to wait in line to get felt up by airport security, getting your bags, waiting for the bus, etc will make it not that much of an advantage.

In my case I'd rather fly because driving would mean having to take an extra 2 days off factoring drive time and the motel stop for the night. Also I never want to drive past Washington DC to get anywhere ever again :brick:

 

[R W B]

Yes, after thinking about this last night and reading everyones response I dont think flying is an option any more. Like you all said, I do live close enough that the time saved by flying is not that much compared to the cost it will take. Now if I had a 20+ hour drive and it meant 2 less days at the parks then I would fly. Like mentioned, i'd rather put that money towards another trip or splurging a little on something nice like a cruise or something. Also, someone asked, I do not have kids, hopefully not for atleast a few more years, lol.

On my last trip the plan was to leave at 3am to get to WDW about 2-3pm but I didnt go to bed until 1am so we ended up leaving for 4am and then stopped a few extra times for some coffee. We got to MK at about 6pm that evening after checking in and it was an EMH night there and my g/f does not waste EMHs, lol. So yea after staying at MK all night then showing afterwards I was up for 24 hours straight and then woke up for like 10am the next day. Yea that week of "vacation" had me more tired then a work week lol.