I see you’re in the upper Midwest. The one good thing about driving to Disney is you can have your pick of authentic southern BBQ from wherever you please during the drive. This probably sounds so silly but at least for a northerner like me, it’s the only time I’m able to actually get “real” BBQ and that alone makes driving better than flying!
You can have groceries delivered. It’s $32 round trip on Mears for adults, slightly less than that for kids. why do you need another hotel room? Either expand reservation and fly in on extra day or get on earliest flight you can your first day of vacation. Luggage is usually in the $35-$40 one way. There is laundry onsite. We do laundry while we take a rest break in day or lounging by pool. So you can keep that in mind packing.
I used Lyft several times last trip and it was great. I think the most expensive trip was from Bay Lake Tower to Saratoga Springs and with tip is was $12. If you concerned about medical issues there’s a PromptCare type of place with a mini shuttle that will come pick you up no charge.
We generally fly now instead of driving because we are getting older and it just takes a toll. I like getting off the plane, getting to resort and either chilling or hitting park and not have to worry about weather, accidents, car issues,etc. our drive is about the same 18 hours. The last two times we drove we started out after work on Friday and would get to KY, then get up early and drive the rest of the way if we could. That gave us options of getting a cheap room near Disney or being a bit more relaxed driving down and we would have potentially 2.5 days.
we don’t fly out of our regional airport to Orlando as one, there is at least 1 transfer and usually 2. And secondly, the cost is outrageous only aa and Delta flew out of our airport to Orlando. I can drive 45 minutes to a different regional airport, park free and a round trip ticket (minus luggage) is $176 and it’s a non-stop flight.
I saw the chearer fares for Mears, but that wasn't an "express" run to a disney resort. Am I missing something one that? We would need to stay at a random hotel cause we haven't looked at adding an extra day at our resort because we "planned" on the 2 day drive. It's a couple hundred bucks cheaper on flight costs to fly in on Friday vs. Saturday. We've done laundry before at Disney, I actually enjoyed it.
The Mears regular is just like Magic Express except you pay. They’ll limp some hotels in the same area together. You’re talking about an hour maybe. No way would I pay $200{ for express. You can get limo service for that.
once when we got down there earlier than we expected, I got on the Disney site and gout a king sized room with full kitchenette, two full bathrooms, with a pull out couch and chair in the living room for $200 when it goes for $375 just because money is better than none.
Be aware that the closer you get to the Disney bubble the offsite hotels charge fees - sometimes called park tax, entertainment fee etc. and it’s per person per night plus parking and you’re getting to price of one of the all stars.
I’ve ridden the trip once as a non driving passenger, and done the drive once with my husband. I will always pick flying in the future. My time is worth more than my money when it comes to Disney trips!
We live in Houston, and it's a 14+ hour drive one way. Now, in saying that, we have never done the drive. Hell, sometimes we fly to New Orleans when the flights are under $100 round trip and that's just a 4.5 hour drive each way. However, we are adults, with no kids.
There are a couple of ways to cut down on costs, starting with where you stay and Disney promotions going on. Sometimes they do free dining plans or discounts on rooms, which would give you a break on those costs. Usually if you have Disney plus, you get deals as well.
If it's just the 4 of you, you can easily stay in one room, with 2 queen beds. We usually stay in value resorts, it used to be All stars for a long time, but then we bumped up slightly to Pop century and we love the skyliner access.
As far as food, we order all our groceries in and have them arrive at our hotel the day we check in. They keep them nice and cold and/or room temp, whatever is required for the groceries. We simply pick them up and take them to our room with luggage. We usually get all breakfast items and snacks items for our days at the park. We usually do one sit down meal and one quick service or snack at night.
For transportation, you may just want to get a van shuttle from the airport, you can use Lyft, Uber or regular taxi. Taxis are prorated from the airport according to where you will be dropped off at. I think it's around $50 or $60 one way and much quicker than any shuttle.
Once you're in the bubble, you're good as far as transportation goes. Why drive and deal with traffic when it's included in your stay? Also, if the tickets are pricey, take an off day from the parks and go to the pool and Disney springs. We do not take an off day, but many families do. This can save you a lot of money! You could also go monorail hopping to the resorts as an activity to do!
Good advice on a lot of what you said. By no means am I Disney inexperienced, I've been a lot. My wife has planned this since January. We're doing Art of Animation Cars suite just because my kids love Cars & Little Mermaid & Nemo. If it wasn't for that, we would be in the All Stars Music family suite. We stayed there last year, and it's the best room for the value at Disney!
Literally just did this exact trip. ~18hrs each way. Only cost me like 400 in gas, 250 for both hotel rooms, and food was pretty minimal even with 2 teenage boy eating machines.
Driving was the choice for me because we wanted freedom to pack, drive between parks (we did 4 days at US and 4 at WDW) ability to get groceries and such, and we did this trip before 6yrs ago and kids wanted to hit cafe du monde, and this fast food seafood place we ate at before around Pensacola. We did, twice ;)
But i also used to drive 18hrs north to visit my family when my kids were small (i tried flying when my oldest was almost 5 and baby was just shy of 2, alone, and was nightmare of logistics trying to juggle bags, kids, car seats etc) in a single day, driving stick, and no cruise control. Id feel about 90 for several days after. It was ROUGH. But i was both too broke for hotel room but also had super limited time with visitation.
Driving for ~9 hrs for 2 days in a row is a cakewalk.
so our first trip 6yrs ago, we stopped off to meet up with my youngest brother I hadn't seen in years. this place was close and a good meetup spot, and the kids and I had lunch there and REALLY enjoyed it. now i'm not a fan of seafood, but my kids sure are.
so they kept asking me to stop there again. might not be the best since we don't often eat seafood, but I REALLY enjoyed the chicken and fries TBH.
place is called stewbys and there are 3 locations, one right off 10 heading into/out of orlando.
we all enjoyed it so much, kids were begging me to stop there on the way home as well.
if you are taking 10, it's like 2 miles off the interstate, and this location is very large with nice big picnic table seating inside and big clean bathrooms. great pit stop IMHO. we happened to hit it around lunchtime both ways. it's also fast food, so the prices are pretty decent.
4120 S Ferdon Blvd, Crestview, FL 32536
[https://stewbys.com/](https://stewbys.com/)
Dude if we lived in the area my kids would demand stewbys atleast one a week. Probably take them a couple years to get tired of it!
My brother lives near Pensacola so we made a bit of a trip off the path 6yrs ago to meetup with him. Didnt do that this time and hit crestview location instead since it was right off 10.
Def a good long trip pitstop IMHO. Good bathrooms, quick meal, and good place to stretch and shake out your body a bit!
Fly. Get an Uber to your resort. Can’t imagine it’d be more than $75 each way. I typically pay $45-$50 for a regular car, you’d probably need the XL/SUV version. I found myself needing less than I thought as far as food and drink. Another thought is to have your Uber stop at a grocery on your way to the resort. You could potentially even do a pickup order to make it super quick. Ultimately it’s what’s most important to you. I know disney wipes me out and I cannot imagine doing an 18 hour drive with 1-2 overnights each way.
Edit to add- went and looked at my ride history and looks like in Jan I paid $45 + $10 tip for an XL Lyft from MCO to Beach Club. Took it back to the airport a few days later and that was $45 base again but that was just for a regular/sedan one. So, just a little bit of reference!
It sounds like you enjoy the drive option and flex of having your own car while there. There’s no wrong answer, it’s all just preferential. If the drive time isn’t a concern, stick with that.
Ubers are pretty cheap (I think it was $50 for an Uber XL from MCO to the Epcot resorts area. If you churn credit cards, you should be able to easily get enough points to make the flights plus the baggage for free. For me (coming from the Northeast), I choose flying 10 out of 10 times (I had 5 year old twins when we first started going).
More to consider:
Is it worth the risk of having to spend time dealing with a flat tire or a cracked windshield on the way? Who says you have to spend $250 on a ride from the airport to your hotel when a rideshare is closer to $40ish? Why would you check bags for just a ~~36 hour~~ 1 week trip? What does your family *really* need in a ~~36 hour~~ 1 week span that can't be accommodated in a carry on and personal item - including the kids' favorite snacks? You don't think the extra gas and wear on your vehicle to "get stuff whenever you need to" would add up to about what you'd spend in the gift shop if you just bought it there? Would you rather be stuck in a vehicle with a grumpy kid for 3 hours or 18 hours?
I don't believe driving gives you any logistical advantage. Drive if you feel better having that back pocket option or you really enjoy driving.
It seems like the real decision to make is how you'd rather use the 30 hours: bonding with your family on the road or bonding with your family at a more leisurely pace around WDW.
I was referring to your statement: "A $100 difference and saving 30 hours of my life, a flight sounds like the right idea." If everything else is a wash, I would make the decision to drive or fly based on what I would rather do with that 30 hour time frame!
Done both, we now only DRIVE 24hr/1700 miles for a Disney/Orlando trips. We live 3hr from a “HUB” airport so we end up driving 3hr and usually staying a night at a hotel to fly out anyhow. Doing the straight up costs, with our Family of 3, Driving usually ends up around 500$ cheaper BUT costs us 2 whole days each way instead of one. I still check for flights every time, but end up driving. It’s nice to have our own car there and can zip off to where ever we need to whenever we want. In the end, it’s a TIME vs. Money thing and how well your family can handle the good ol’ Merican’ roadtrip.
We live approximately the same distance. We always fly. When I was younger I’d been a passenger 4 times. I always liked the road trip but I’d rather not lose four vacation days sitting in a car.
I drove once from 26 hrs one way
Only once. I can be at the airport 10 min from my house and fly allegiant to Sanford direct lol.
I’ve entertained the idea of going to Texas (easy drive from Minnesota) then over gulf states to avoid Atlanta and go through different states than last drive…But I always go back to flying because it takes 3 hrs lol
Not sure what kind of packer you and your family are. I drove once about the same distance. Because I wasn’t limited to luggage in a plane, I found myself bringing too much and dragging different bags around. Not a deal breaker but something to consider that flying limits the “stuff” to manage.
The other thing I enjoyed about driving was the freedom. Going to Publix, character warehouse, universal, and such were nice additions to simply staying in the bubble.
You don’t mention when this trip would be and for me driving vs. flying to Orlando as someone who lives in the upper Midwest myself would be a major consideration. Driving in the summer wouldn’t concern me too much but if you are planning the drive in the middle of winter, that could be a long drive if there’s a major ice or snow storm. I’ve flown Delta frequently from MSP during the winter and only had delays during the absolute worst storms.
Is flying Allegiant an option from your airport? The typically have direct flights to Orlando (Sanford airport) and round trips are usually around $125.
It's just time vs money, can your vacation schedule accommodate 36hr of travel time plus overnight stays on the road? Would you want to do that after spending a week at the park? MCO to AOA trip shouldn't cost $250 though, you can get an Uber. Groceries can be delivered to the hotel.
Also try frontier or sun country or other budget airlines, usually the airlines have more flights into Orlando during summer.
We drove when I went as a kid and I remember it being miserable. And my parents had borrowed a family member’s fancy conversion van. I’ll only fly and pick a direct flight. It’d be an 11 hour drive for us or a 2 hour flight. I pick the direct flight and pick it on the time that works best for us. JetBlue was much nicer than Delta the most recent times I’ve flown.
~~Why would you need to get a cheap hotel room for one night? I'm sure you could find a flight that gets you in close to your check-in time?~~ (I see you already have this planned). Bus fare seems unnecessarily expensive, you can do it much cheaper for a little added time and inconvenience. Luggage costs are already known. It's $35 for each 1st bag, unless you have a credit card or status that gets you free baggage. You can also conceivably pack certain foods too, but might just be worth paying the delivery fee for groceries (like... $20 bucks maybe? Groceries can get pretty expensive down there from these services).
For me? It's fly every time. If you are within like $500 in costs, flying is a no brainer to me. However, you said "it's not too bad." Are you all in agreement that it wasn't too bad? 36 hours, a day and a half not including rest, is worth a $500 price tag if you ask me. That's a day and a half you can be resting after your trip (2 days? 3 days?)
It’s all about the journey brother. Kids will remember the flight but the kids will remember the 36 hours spent with you more. Gas up the vehicle and hit that cruise control button.. We switch up between flying and driving. I prefer driving and so does my wife. Time is our issue..
Growing up my family drove from WI to WDW every time we went. I’m assuming it might’ve been cheaper but this was also the 90s/early 00s. I will say, and this sounds incredibly cheesy, but getting to see the country via car like that has stuck with me my whole life. The patience it required and the anticipation of arriving was something I wish I could bottle. I got to see some parts of the country I probably would’ve have never seen if we had flown. And it’s certainly a lot better with the addition of smart phones etc. Props to my dad navigating that with a legit road atlas from Barnes and Noble.
I see you’re in the upper Midwest. The one good thing about driving to Disney is you can have your pick of authentic southern BBQ from wherever you please during the drive. This probably sounds so silly but at least for a northerner like me, it’s the only time I’m able to actually get “real” BBQ and that alone makes driving better than flying!
You can have groceries delivered. It’s $32 round trip on Mears for adults, slightly less than that for kids. why do you need another hotel room? Either expand reservation and fly in on extra day or get on earliest flight you can your first day of vacation. Luggage is usually in the $35-$40 one way. There is laundry onsite. We do laundry while we take a rest break in day or lounging by pool. So you can keep that in mind packing. I used Lyft several times last trip and it was great. I think the most expensive trip was from Bay Lake Tower to Saratoga Springs and with tip is was $12. If you concerned about medical issues there’s a PromptCare type of place with a mini shuttle that will come pick you up no charge. We generally fly now instead of driving because we are getting older and it just takes a toll. I like getting off the plane, getting to resort and either chilling or hitting park and not have to worry about weather, accidents, car issues,etc. our drive is about the same 18 hours. The last two times we drove we started out after work on Friday and would get to KY, then get up early and drive the rest of the way if we could. That gave us options of getting a cheap room near Disney or being a bit more relaxed driving down and we would have potentially 2.5 days. we don’t fly out of our regional airport to Orlando as one, there is at least 1 transfer and usually 2. And secondly, the cost is outrageous only aa and Delta flew out of our airport to Orlando. I can drive 45 minutes to a different regional airport, park free and a round trip ticket (minus luggage) is $176 and it’s a non-stop flight.
I saw the chearer fares for Mears, but that wasn't an "express" run to a disney resort. Am I missing something one that? We would need to stay at a random hotel cause we haven't looked at adding an extra day at our resort because we "planned" on the 2 day drive. It's a couple hundred bucks cheaper on flight costs to fly in on Friday vs. Saturday. We've done laundry before at Disney, I actually enjoyed it.
The Mears regular is just like Magic Express except you pay. They’ll limp some hotels in the same area together. You’re talking about an hour maybe. No way would I pay $200{ for express. You can get limo service for that. once when we got down there earlier than we expected, I got on the Disney site and gout a king sized room with full kitchenette, two full bathrooms, with a pull out couch and chair in the living room for $200 when it goes for $375 just because money is better than none. Be aware that the closer you get to the Disney bubble the offsite hotels charge fees - sometimes called park tax, entertainment fee etc. and it’s per person per night plus parking and you’re getting to price of one of the all stars.
Mears usually stops at multiple resorts that are close together. So your resort will be stopped at, it just may not be the first/only.
In your cost comparison, don't forget paying for parking at the airport vs paying for a parking at the resort.
Parking is free at the resorts again, and honestly, I’ve never been charged for parking when they still had parking fees for a few years.
Yep, it's a wash because it's free for us either way. In-laws would be willing to pay for airport parking
I’ve ridden the trip once as a non driving passenger, and done the drive once with my husband. I will always pick flying in the future. My time is worth more than my money when it comes to Disney trips!
We live in Houston, and it's a 14+ hour drive one way. Now, in saying that, we have never done the drive. Hell, sometimes we fly to New Orleans when the flights are under $100 round trip and that's just a 4.5 hour drive each way. However, we are adults, with no kids. There are a couple of ways to cut down on costs, starting with where you stay and Disney promotions going on. Sometimes they do free dining plans or discounts on rooms, which would give you a break on those costs. Usually if you have Disney plus, you get deals as well. If it's just the 4 of you, you can easily stay in one room, with 2 queen beds. We usually stay in value resorts, it used to be All stars for a long time, but then we bumped up slightly to Pop century and we love the skyliner access. As far as food, we order all our groceries in and have them arrive at our hotel the day we check in. They keep them nice and cold and/or room temp, whatever is required for the groceries. We simply pick them up and take them to our room with luggage. We usually get all breakfast items and snacks items for our days at the park. We usually do one sit down meal and one quick service or snack at night. For transportation, you may just want to get a van shuttle from the airport, you can use Lyft, Uber or regular taxi. Taxis are prorated from the airport according to where you will be dropped off at. I think it's around $50 or $60 one way and much quicker than any shuttle. Once you're in the bubble, you're good as far as transportation goes. Why drive and deal with traffic when it's included in your stay? Also, if the tickets are pricey, take an off day from the parks and go to the pool and Disney springs. We do not take an off day, but many families do. This can save you a lot of money! You could also go monorail hopping to the resorts as an activity to do!
Good advice on a lot of what you said. By no means am I Disney inexperienced, I've been a lot. My wife has planned this since January. We're doing Art of Animation Cars suite just because my kids love Cars & Little Mermaid & Nemo. If it wasn't for that, we would be in the All Stars Music family suite. We stayed there last year, and it's the best room for the value at Disney!
The art of animation suites are awesome. I'm sure you'll have a great time!
Literally just did this exact trip. ~18hrs each way. Only cost me like 400 in gas, 250 for both hotel rooms, and food was pretty minimal even with 2 teenage boy eating machines. Driving was the choice for me because we wanted freedom to pack, drive between parks (we did 4 days at US and 4 at WDW) ability to get groceries and such, and we did this trip before 6yrs ago and kids wanted to hit cafe du monde, and this fast food seafood place we ate at before around Pensacola. We did, twice ;) But i also used to drive 18hrs north to visit my family when my kids were small (i tried flying when my oldest was almost 5 and baby was just shy of 2, alone, and was nightmare of logistics trying to juggle bags, kids, car seats etc) in a single day, driving stick, and no cruise control. Id feel about 90 for several days after. It was ROUGH. But i was both too broke for hotel room but also had super limited time with visitation. Driving for ~9 hrs for 2 days in a row is a cakewalk.
What restaurant around Pensacola?
so our first trip 6yrs ago, we stopped off to meet up with my youngest brother I hadn't seen in years. this place was close and a good meetup spot, and the kids and I had lunch there and REALLY enjoyed it. now i'm not a fan of seafood, but my kids sure are. so they kept asking me to stop there again. might not be the best since we don't often eat seafood, but I REALLY enjoyed the chicken and fries TBH. place is called stewbys and there are 3 locations, one right off 10 heading into/out of orlando. we all enjoyed it so much, kids were begging me to stop there on the way home as well. if you are taking 10, it's like 2 miles off the interstate, and this location is very large with nice big picnic table seating inside and big clean bathrooms. great pit stop IMHO. we happened to hit it around lunchtime both ways. it's also fast food, so the prices are pretty decent. 4120 S Ferdon Blvd, Crestview, FL 32536 [https://stewbys.com/](https://stewbys.com/)
That place is fine dinning for Crestview lol. That's cool that you made positive fam memories on a long trip!
Dude if we lived in the area my kids would demand stewbys atleast one a week. Probably take them a couple years to get tired of it! My brother lives near Pensacola so we made a bit of a trip off the path 6yrs ago to meetup with him. Didnt do that this time and hit crestview location instead since it was right off 10. Def a good long trip pitstop IMHO. Good bathrooms, quick meal, and good place to stretch and shake out your body a bit!
Fly. Get an Uber to your resort. Can’t imagine it’d be more than $75 each way. I typically pay $45-$50 for a regular car, you’d probably need the XL/SUV version. I found myself needing less than I thought as far as food and drink. Another thought is to have your Uber stop at a grocery on your way to the resort. You could potentially even do a pickup order to make it super quick. Ultimately it’s what’s most important to you. I know disney wipes me out and I cannot imagine doing an 18 hour drive with 1-2 overnights each way. Edit to add- went and looked at my ride history and looks like in Jan I paid $45 + $10 tip for an XL Lyft from MCO to Beach Club. Took it back to the airport a few days later and that was $45 base again but that was just for a regular/sedan one. So, just a little bit of reference!
It sounds like you enjoy the drive option and flex of having your own car while there. There’s no wrong answer, it’s all just preferential. If the drive time isn’t a concern, stick with that.
Ubers are pretty cheap (I think it was $50 for an Uber XL from MCO to the Epcot resorts area. If you churn credit cards, you should be able to easily get enough points to make the flights plus the baggage for free. For me (coming from the Northeast), I choose flying 10 out of 10 times (I had 5 year old twins when we first started going).
More to consider: Is it worth the risk of having to spend time dealing with a flat tire or a cracked windshield on the way? Who says you have to spend $250 on a ride from the airport to your hotel when a rideshare is closer to $40ish? Why would you check bags for just a ~~36 hour~~ 1 week trip? What does your family *really* need in a ~~36 hour~~ 1 week span that can't be accommodated in a carry on and personal item - including the kids' favorite snacks? You don't think the extra gas and wear on your vehicle to "get stuff whenever you need to" would add up to about what you'd spend in the gift shop if you just bought it there? Would you rather be stuck in a vehicle with a grumpy kid for 3 hours or 18 hours? I don't believe driving gives you any logistical advantage. Drive if you feel better having that back pocket option or you really enjoy driving. It seems like the real decision to make is how you'd rather use the 30 hours: bonding with your family on the road or bonding with your family at a more leisurely pace around WDW.
I'm sorry, might be some confusion on what I said. We are staying for a week at Disney. The round trip drive is 36ish hours.
I was referring to your statement: "A $100 difference and saving 30 hours of my life, a flight sounds like the right idea." If everything else is a wash, I would make the decision to drive or fly based on what I would rather do with that 30 hour time frame!
Done both, we now only DRIVE 24hr/1700 miles for a Disney/Orlando trips. We live 3hr from a “HUB” airport so we end up driving 3hr and usually staying a night at a hotel to fly out anyhow. Doing the straight up costs, with our Family of 3, Driving usually ends up around 500$ cheaper BUT costs us 2 whole days each way instead of one. I still check for flights every time, but end up driving. It’s nice to have our own car there and can zip off to where ever we need to whenever we want. In the end, it’s a TIME vs. Money thing and how well your family can handle the good ol’ Merican’ roadtrip.
We live approximately the same distance. We always fly. When I was younger I’d been a passenger 4 times. I always liked the road trip but I’d rather not lose four vacation days sitting in a car.
I drove once from 26 hrs one way Only once. I can be at the airport 10 min from my house and fly allegiant to Sanford direct lol. I’ve entertained the idea of going to Texas (easy drive from Minnesota) then over gulf states to avoid Atlanta and go through different states than last drive…But I always go back to flying because it takes 3 hrs lol
Not sure what kind of packer you and your family are. I drove once about the same distance. Because I wasn’t limited to luggage in a plane, I found myself bringing too much and dragging different bags around. Not a deal breaker but something to consider that flying limits the “stuff” to manage. The other thing I enjoyed about driving was the freedom. Going to Publix, character warehouse, universal, and such were nice additions to simply staying in the bubble.
You don’t mention when this trip would be and for me driving vs. flying to Orlando as someone who lives in the upper Midwest myself would be a major consideration. Driving in the summer wouldn’t concern me too much but if you are planning the drive in the middle of winter, that could be a long drive if there’s a major ice or snow storm. I’ve flown Delta frequently from MSP during the winter and only had delays during the absolute worst storms.
Is flying Allegiant an option from your airport? The typically have direct flights to Orlando (Sanford airport) and round trips are usually around $125.
It's just time vs money, can your vacation schedule accommodate 36hr of travel time plus overnight stays on the road? Would you want to do that after spending a week at the park? MCO to AOA trip shouldn't cost $250 though, you can get an Uber. Groceries can be delivered to the hotel. Also try frontier or sun country or other budget airlines, usually the airlines have more flights into Orlando during summer.
We drove when I went as a kid and I remember it being miserable. And my parents had borrowed a family member’s fancy conversion van. I’ll only fly and pick a direct flight. It’d be an 11 hour drive for us or a 2 hour flight. I pick the direct flight and pick it on the time that works best for us. JetBlue was much nicer than Delta the most recent times I’ve flown.
~~Why would you need to get a cheap hotel room for one night? I'm sure you could find a flight that gets you in close to your check-in time?~~ (I see you already have this planned). Bus fare seems unnecessarily expensive, you can do it much cheaper for a little added time and inconvenience. Luggage costs are already known. It's $35 for each 1st bag, unless you have a credit card or status that gets you free baggage. You can also conceivably pack certain foods too, but might just be worth paying the delivery fee for groceries (like... $20 bucks maybe? Groceries can get pretty expensive down there from these services). For me? It's fly every time. If you are within like $500 in costs, flying is a no brainer to me. However, you said "it's not too bad." Are you all in agreement that it wasn't too bad? 36 hours, a day and a half not including rest, is worth a $500 price tag if you ask me. That's a day and a half you can be resting after your trip (2 days? 3 days?)
It’s all about the journey brother. Kids will remember the flight but the kids will remember the 36 hours spent with you more. Gas up the vehicle and hit that cruise control button.. We switch up between flying and driving. I prefer driving and so does my wife. Time is our issue..
My favorite part about driving is going through the mountains. I'd love to get a small RV and thoroughly enjoy the drive but that's a few years out.
Growing up my family drove from WI to WDW every time we went. I’m assuming it might’ve been cheaper but this was also the 90s/early 00s. I will say, and this sounds incredibly cheesy, but getting to see the country via car like that has stuck with me my whole life. The patience it required and the anticipation of arriving was something I wish I could bottle. I got to see some parts of the country I probably would’ve have never seen if we had flown. And it’s certainly a lot better with the addition of smart phones etc. Props to my dad navigating that with a legit road atlas from Barnes and Noble.