[Little Pooh Fan]

Its sad that plane tickets are so high that people have to end up driving 17 hours just to get to Disney World.

[Elmo]

Originally Posted by Little Pooh Fan

Its sad that plane tickets are so high that people have to end up driving 17 hours just to get to Disney World.

I've seen SWA Ding's for as low as $29 one way for PHL to MCO - but I think those days are long gone. And you need to be able to fly on those specific days - not what works out for a vacation planned 11 months prior.

We will be watching the airfares - maybe something good will pop up. Otherwise, it will be:

"It's a hundred and six miles to Chicago (I mean 1000 miles to WDW), we've got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes ( ), it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses."

"Hit it!"

Or something like that!

[rlcarmichael]

Originally Posted by Elmo

I've seen SWA Ding's for as low as $29 one way for PHL to MCO - but I think those days are long gone.

Yes they are...jet fuel has doubled as has AVGas, I got hit for over $5 a gallon last year in Roanoke for AVGas! And it's gone up since.

I'm still flying even though it's more expensive. I'd loose more in 2-3 days away from work. Besides, the SWA full price fare is still less than what we used to pay for the 14 day advanced purchase, stay Saturday night, etc fares!

[iluvwdw]

We have driven twice. The first time, we left at 4pm. The kids and I met DH at work and we left from there. He was up since 5am. We drove until 2am or so (well HE does the driving!) and he couldn't stay up any longer. So we got a room until 9am and were arriving at WDW at 3pm. He drove straight through on the way home.

The second time, we left at about 12:30am...again, after DH got out of work. This trip, he drove straight through! He got tired a couple of hours in (at the end of New Jersey!) so we pulled into a rest stop and slept 2 hours. Then he was good to go! He drove straight through on the way home.

We have two kids and had to make potty stops a few times, had to gas up and get something quick to eat. We just wanted to GET to Orlando! We booked our first night off site using hotel points, just so we would wake up and be there to enjoy our first full day!

The drive was MUCH MUCH cheaper than flying for us. It cost us about $320 round trip using our SUV including gas and tolls. Flights were $200 per person, plus another $400 for a rentacar...we were there for 18 days! So we saved a NICE chunk of change.

Personally, I love the drive. But we MIGHT be flying next year because I might have Southwest Rapid Rewards to use. But we'll see.......if we drive again, I think I would like to leave at about 5am after a nice full nights sleep! This way, we can do the whole trip and not feel like crap!

GOOD LUCK DECIDING!!!!!!

[Boss Mouse]

D'Nut just drove it a little bit ago. It depends on your tolerance. I drove to Hilton head w/DW once. ONCE. She almost didn't make it the whole way.

My point is I would enjoy it, but Den wouldn't. So it becomes a personal choice.

[dhoughton]

Originally Posted by Boss Mouse

D'Nut just drove it a little bit ago. It depends on your tolerance. I drove to Hilton head w/DW once. ONCE. She almost didn't make it the whole way.

My point is I would enjoy it, but Den wouldn't. So it becomes a personal choice.

Yep, we drove down in August. (coming from Delaware) Personally I thought it was a great trip and to be honest, that is the ONLY way we will probably go from now on. We both had a great time singing to the ipod and we had some great conversations--it was some good quality time together and we loved not having the whole airport stress thing.
We started at 5AM and took breaks every 2 hours to stretch and hit the loo...got into Jacksonville around dinnertime, got a hotel room, a bite to eat and were up and running after breakfast around 7AM....got to WDW by 10ish. The ride is straight on through for us on the EC--nice scenery too.
That is not a bad drive.....but remember, me and da Bear used to be OTR long haul drivers across the country....15 hours is a piece of cake.
Now, the drive I am REALLY looking forward to is: GOING TO MICHIGAN!!!