To fly or drive...UPDATE back from trip...

KateSpade79

Mouseketeer
Joined
Jul 3, 2016
Help me decide what we should do for our upcoming trip. We have AP's and drive down every couple of months from TN (usually 12 hour trip). We've never flown as a family of 5 but the cheap airline tickets are tempting (Frontier-$304 roundtrip before any additional fees). Just trying to weigh the pros and cons....we are staying 1 night at Endless Summer before moving to HRH. Will they move our luggage or will we have to Uber? We've never used a rideshare either so lots of scary new things to deal with :) We are also planning to do DAH at WDW MK one night. The arriving flight is early at 9:30am so unsure when our room would be ready and our departing is really late like 10:30pm. It would give us more time but just don't know if it would be more stressful or not? It will be our older 2 kids birthdays during this trip so it might be something different or fun to try or turn into a stressful nightmare lol just wondering what you would do :)
 
I’m in N GA and fly to Orlando

Have driven to Orlando 4 times but started flying there a few years ago

After adding up costs of gas, Fl tolls, hotel parking fees ($27 + tax per night at RP), I come out ahead flying most times
I do stay 9 nights which makes hotel parking about $270

Car service or Uber from airport to hotel will vary in the total cost

I don’t mind the down time at the airport for arriving and waiting for TSA and boarding

I’d rather do that than be in a car being the only driver

Some families prefer driving as it does cut their costs down
Many find it cheaper than airfare for a family

Hotel check in time is listed at 4:00
But if a room is available when you arrive, it can be assigned to you

If the hotel was not a sell out the night before you arrive, rooms would be available early

The day you check out, bell services will hold your luggage until you are ready to leave that evening
 
Hi Macraven makes great points.

I would like to add that for several years we flew down and two years ago started driving. One reason was for my DD who has bad ears for flying and the other was it is a little easier but once we started driving it was good to have a car especially when we wanted to do other things. I will say we use Tony Hinds for our car service when we did fly. He is amazing and gets great reviews here, so if you are considering a transportation company to and from the airport he is good.

The resort will not move your luggage for you but as Macraven says they will hold your luggage on check in day or check out day for you. You would have to move it yourself via taxi or Uber. You would need to Uber or Taxi over to WDW. With all the other moving around you are going to do a car maybe easier and less hectic. We did move our luggage from one hotel to another but we did have our car when doing split stays.

If I was thinking about flying with my family and needed to move around I would either drive my car or rent a car when I got there. I think if you are going straight to one resort and staying there then home it is great to fly. I think a lot depends on your family too. Are they going to be okay with things maybe not flowing as easy when you have your own car. We now enjoy driving more and when we can add a couple of extra drivng days we will.

Good luck and keep us posted :D
 
We are in Georgia. We almost always drive. The only time we flew was when it was just DH and I and we stayed exclusively at Disney and it was a short trip (3 nights).
I would probably calculate it out so you can compare numbers
gas, tolls, parking
flight cost, baggage fees, airport transportation, transportation between hotels, transportation to Disney, parking at the airport extra costs of essentials you could have packed or gone to the store for yourself if you had a vehicle

With 12 hours, your metric is different, but, for us, with getting to the airport hours before our flight, flight time, and getting from the airport, we don't necessarily save a ton of time.

I also just like to have more of my stuff. I'm sure we could do without some of it (like we did with tight space on a cruise), but it is nice not to have to worry if we overpacked.


It also depends on the length of your trip, which you don't mention. I wouldn't like to be without my car for long trip and the difference in time between flying and driving isn't that big of a deal with a longer trip. However, if you are talking a long weekend, then I would consider flying.
 


Not sure where in TN you are, but we have flown the last 2 trips. We use Southwest and have found rates under $200 nonstop but we are flying in weekdays.

We are renting a car for part of our stay and used Travelocity to rent a car and it was about half the cost of Avis on site. There are 6 of us so Uber really doesn't work for us
 
Well we've gone back and forth a thousand times but I booked flights this morning. We are flying Spirit for $294 for 5 round trip.Still debating on paying for seats or at least a couple together. I already booked Tony Hinds for transportation to and from the airport and like that he stops at Publix too. Decided to cancel Endless Summer and just make the entire stay at HRH so we don't have to worry about switching. So it looks like we will just need Lyft/Uber for our night at MK. Hopefully everything will go smoothly!! Thanks for input!
 


UPDATE- We had the best trip!! Flying Spirit went better than expected...our flight arrived 35 mins ahead of schedule. My DH won the lucky seat and earned 5,000 miles! Tony Hinds was waiting on us when we arrived and was awesome. We stopped at Publix and got a few groceries and checked in at HRH.

It was my DS 14th birthday and they upgraded us to a pool view room (never gotten an upgrade before so it was a nice surprise). We headed to City Walk and my DS wanted Cowfish for his bday and the got us right in without a reservation. The next day we enjoyed the parks and the pool and got selected by email for the parade float. We got put on the top of the Riverboat float with a section just for our family. We had a great time throwing beads!

The next day was my DD 17th Bday and we enjoyed the pool area. First time we have ever played shuffleboard or table tennis but we had a blast. They were playing great music at the pool and my sons were enjoying the slide. We took an Uber to Disney Springs had lunch at STK (best meal hands down). Took a bus to Grand Floridian and walked around then headed to MK for DAH. Decided to get in line at 5:50 expecting to be let in a little before 7 and they let us in at 6:00 on the dot. Used 3 fast passes and after day guest left everything was basically walk on. Mine train was only 10-15min the entire night and weather was perfect. Enjoyed all the treats and an empty park. Walked to Contemporary and got a Lyft back to HRH.

Our last full day we enjoyed the parks and ended the night riding Hagrid's (love it at night the best). We had a later flight the next day so we got to enjoy a half day. My youngest DS loves the pteranodon flyers but his days are numbered because he is quickly approaching the height limit. It was at decent wait time every time we were in IOA. Well we were about to leave and it was showing it dropped to 20 mins so we seriously hauled it up there and the sign was then showing 40 mins. I just started chatting with the TM and asked if the wait was correct and they said yes. I told DS we would just hang out and wait for it to go down but I didn't want to stand in line 40 mins. I then told the TM that I seriously think they have the hardest job in the park trying to explain that ride to everyone. People are always so confused and some get really mad so I was being sincere....they said wait right here and they handed my 2 express passes!! I had no idea they even existed and they told us to go to the exit and we would get right on. We were so grateful and that might be our last time to ride but it will always be remembered!

We chose not to pay for seats on the flight home and Spirit did place all 5 of us together when we checked in 24 hours before flight. However when we were eating at Mytho's we checked seats and the prices went down 50%. My DH really wanted the big seats and we put the kids together just a couple of rows behind us but when we were trying to pay for them it was going to charge us the reg price. I tried to call Spirit with no luck and their texting chat didn't get me help either. We thought is was the app so guest services let us use the desktop but it was doing the same thing on it too....we decided we wanted those seats so we just paid the extra. When we got to the Spirit counter at the airport I explained what happened and was only asking for advice if it happened again. Well they were super friendly and the manager refunded me the difference. I wasn't expecting anything because I've read terrible things about Spirit. We loved the big seats and being first off the plane. We arrived home on time too so no complaints with Spirit at all. The cherry on top was getting our room bill at checkout and not being charged for a rollaway!! We have a family of 5 and have to have one but it is one of those charges ($35+tax night) that just stinks like the parking fees. HRH has charged us every single time but this one trip. It was like everything went as expected or even better. It was rare that everything just went right that I am almost scared to go again lol but we can't wait to get back soon! Thanks for all the great advice on this board!!
 
UPDATE- We had the best trip!! Flying Spirit went better than expected...our flight arrived 35 mins ahead of schedule. My DH won the lucky seat and earned 5,000 miles! Tony Hinds was waiting on us when we arrived and was awesome. We stopped at Publix and got a few groceries and checked in at HRH.

It was my DS 14th birthday and they upgraded us to a pool view room (never gotten an upgrade before so it was a nice surprise). We headed to City Walk and my DS wanted Cowfish for his bday and the got us right in without a reservation. The next day we enjoyed the parks and the pool and got selected by email for the parade float. We got put on the top of the Riverboat float with a section just for our family. We had a great time throwing beads!

The next day was my DD 17th Bday and we enjoyed the pool area. First time we have ever played shuffleboard or table tennis but we had a blast. They were playing great music at the pool and my sons were enjoying the slide. We took an Uber to Disney Springs had lunch at STK (best meal hands down). Took a bus to Grand Floridian and walked around then headed to MK for DAH. Decided to get in line at 5:50 expecting to be let in a little before 7 and they let us in at 6:00 on the dot. Used 3 fast passes and after day guest left everything was basically walk on. Mine train was only 10-15min the entire night and weather was perfect. Enjoyed all the treats and an empty park. Walked to Contemporary and got a Lyft back to HRH.

Our last full day we enjoyed the parks and ended the night riding Hagrid's (love it at night the best). We had a later flight the next day so we got to enjoy a half day. My youngest DS loves the pteranodon flyers but his days are numbered because he is quickly approaching the height limit. It was at decent wait time every time we were in IOA. Well we were about to leave and it was showing it dropped to 20 mins so we seriously hauled it up there and the sign was then showing 40 mins. I just started chatting with the TM and asked if the wait was correct and they said yes. I told DS we would just hang out and wait for it to go down but I didn't want to stand in line 40 mins. I then told the TM that I seriously think they have the hardest job in the park trying to explain that ride to everyone. People are always so confused and some get really mad so I was being sincere....they said wait right here and they handed my 2 express passes!! I had no idea they even existed and they told us to go to the exit and we would get right on. We were so grateful and that might be our last time to ride but it will always be remembered!

We chose not to pay for seats on the flight home and Spirit did place all 5 of us together when we checked in 24 hours before flight. However when we were eating at Mytho's we checked seats and the prices went down 50%. My DH really wanted the big seats and we put the kids together just a couple of rows behind us but when we were trying to pay for them it was going to charge us the reg price. I tried to call Spirit with no luck and their texting chat didn't get me help either. We thought is was the app so guest services let us use the desktop but it was doing the same thing on it too....we decided we wanted those seats so we just paid the extra. When we got to the Spirit counter at the airport I explained what happened and was only asking for advice if it happened again. Well they were super friendly and the manager refunded me the difference. I wasn't expecting anything because I've read terrible things about Spirit. We loved the big seats and being first off the plane. We arrived home on time too so no complaints with Spirit at all. The cherry on top was getting our room bill at checkout and not being charged for a rollaway!! We have a family of 5 and have to have one but it is one of those charges ($35+tax night) that just stinks like the parking fees. HRH has charged us every single time but this one trip. It was like everything went as expected or even better. It was rare that everything just went right that I am almost scared to go again lol but we can't wait to get back soon! Thanks for all the great advice on this board!!
Wow you should have bought a lotto ticket...serious pixie dust. Glad you had a great trip!!
 

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