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]

This March I drove 12.5 hours from Memphis after having 1 hour of sleep in a 32 hour window. I drove straight through and had plenty of energy when we got there. Of course we didn't go straight to the parks and I don't understand why anyone would. Allow for release on the day of arrival and to get settled in.

Not only are you saving on the plane tickets, but also add up the baggage fees.

 

[Figment73]

We live in the Cleveland Ohio region. Every trip we have taken to the World we have driven. We have a family of 4 (a 20yr old & 12 yr old). We always drive straight through (15-16 hours). For us it is more cost effective to drive vs flying. Sure it may take longer but it's always an adventurous road trip.

 

[coltow]

I wish I lived close enough to drive....

 

[jencor]

It takes us 14 hours one way and we always drive. I like having the van available during the trip. It saves more then just airline, we eat off property at times and can shop for snacks and other things. Also i say spend an extra day at the parks. We normally check out at the hotel early, head to the park and stay till we are ready to go on that last day and then head for home. That way we get a few hours into the trip and makes the last day of travel much less and gets us home at a decent hour. Enjoy.

 

[sring]

I'd calculate the cost of driving a little bit differently, there's wear and tear on the car (tires, oil changes etc). If you use the IRS standard mileage rate of 51 cents/mile and add to that your tolls. I would leave off the food cost as I would bet you would spend a similar amount at the airport for a bottle of water or two.

If I assume you average 50 miles an hour (factoring in time for stops, etc), you're looking at more like $306 plus tolls. You could also factor in a value for your time if you really want to, but that's pushing it.

That said, if it were me, I'd fly because I'm alergic to long drives and rarely go off property. In the end, it's more a comfort factor for you.

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?

 

[BUZZCRUSH]

Drive

We flew our first 5 visits because we only stayed 5 days (our drive is 14 hrs) - our last trip we stayed a week & drove, after how easy the drive I'll never fly again. Twice our return flights were delay - one by 2 hours the other by 7 hours. One time something I bought was confiscated (lotion). This last trip I finally got to buy perfume at Epcot. When I add up all the hours & aggravation flying it just doesn't beat driving unless it's a short trip. We'll never fly again.

 

[BigTxEars]

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.

I agree with this !


For only 6 hours it would be a easy decision for us For 3 days roundtrip (ike it would be for us) I would fly!

 

[MMCoffman]

We drive 21 hours every year. It saves us $500 to $1000 (that's factoring in everything from gas to food to hotels to wear and tear). We don't have less days there because we drive either. We decide how many days we want to be at WDW and add road time on to that. We travel with 2 girls, our first trip they were 7 months and 5 years old, next month when we go they will be 4 years and 8 years old. We enjoy time on the road.

 

[unkadug]

Another perk of driving is not being forced to be at the mercy of the Disney Transportation system. You can leave when YOU want to.

 

[wm49rs]

Another perk of driving is not being forced to be at the mercy of the Disney Transportation system. You can leave when YOU want to.

That's one of the advantages we look at when we drive own there. Of course, our trip is a little less than half of the OP, but not relying on the busses (regardless if we stay on-site or off) is usually a plus.....

 

[Xethos]

Sounds so expensive to me for some reason, I fly from Ny and I usually pay $200 at most round trip.