Am I Crazy?

I'm serious.....am I crazy? We have decided to drive to Walt Disney World this year. Yes, you read that correctly....drive to Walt Disney World.....from Texas.  Yikes!

Maybe I am crazy, but this just seems like the best idea to me.  First of all, airfare is expensive!  For my family of four to fly from Austin to Orlando, it is around $2000. It's even more if we flew from our home town.  With food, hotel stop and gas, our total drive down and back will cost us about $1000. That's half price! Of course, I'm going to want to save $1000.

I realize that it will take us longer. We are leaving from Austin, because we are leaving our dog, Lucy with my mom and step-father. I've consulted a half dozen websites which all give me a different time frame ranging from 16 - 20 hours. I'm going to assume around 18 hours. I know that flying is not nearly that long, but let's do the math.


A flight from Austin to Orlando is 4 hours on average. That doesn't include the two hours early you need to be at the airport. That also doesn't include the one hour drive from my mom's house. I've also heard it takes about two hours to get your luggage and get from the airport to your resort.  So that's 9 hours.  When I say the flight is 4 hours, that doesn't include any lay overs. To get a cheap rate, you are looking at a possible plane change so you better hope your connecting flights are on time or you can add another hour or more to your travel time.While this is still half the time, it is double the cost.

Another reason why I am pro driving is that we will have our own car.  While Disney does provide various modes of transportation to and from the parks, it can be crowded and time consuming.  We plan to utilize it most of the time, unless we find that driving ourselves is easier. Since we are staying at a Disney resort, our parking is free.  We also plan to take breaks each day, save our Animal Kingdom day, and we will likely drive for half our park day and ride the bus for the other.

We also like the idea of not having to worry about how much we pack. I am a notorious over packer.  I pack a huge suitcase for myself and my DH for a two day trip.  I am a firm believer in "if I don't have it, I'll need it" so I just bring as much as possible.  I know that a week long trip for four people is going to result in a lot of stuff.  Plus, going at the end of November could mean shorts one day and jeans the next so even more stuff.  I'm also packing a toaster for easy, fast and cheap breakfasts in the room and a Keuring, because I need decent coffee to get me going.  We even have a large storage box with the previously mentioned appliances, beach towels and some little items like glow bracelets and "souvenirs" already packed. DH and I plan to hit Sam's Club before we leave town to get bottled water, beer, breakfast stuff, snacks, etc. All of these items would have to be pre-shipped or purchased using a delivery service if we didn't have our car. I've heard great things about services like Garden Grocer, but they charge a shipping fee and I don't see the point if I can just drive down with the stuff in the car orn worst case, get it there.

One additional item we are bringing is a stroller. I have to mention that there are some great companies in Orlando that rent strollers. In fact, we paid $75 to rent a stroller for one week from on of them.  But, when I realized that I could buy one similar to the one I was renting for about $50, I decided to buy one instead. Plus, I can either sell it later or continue to use it until DD grows out of it.  Either way, it's mine for just $50 more. If we were flying, I'd never bring my own, but since we are driving I can.

Now, I promise, dear readers, that I will update you on how it really felt driving so far once we return. I may be kicking myself, or my family might be doing it for me, all the way home.  Either way, it's a done deal and I am not changing it now.

Feel free to leave me a comment if you've had any experience with driving to Disney.

See ya'll real soon,

Wyndie