Should You Fly or Drive To Disney?

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So you want to go to Disney eh? Everyone does! But how should you get there? I think the hardest decision is trying to decide if you should drive or fly to get there. Here are a few topics to discuss with your family to decide which way will be best.

Price

In my opinion, the price is always the biggest factor when planning vacation. If you can save on one thing you can splurge somewhere else. Can you afford to fly your family size down to Disney? Keep an eye on flight sales and remember that if you book flights with companies like Southwest, and the price drops- you can call them back or re-book online and get your flight at that new low price. But if you have a family of a certain size flights can be much more expensive than gas. And with gas at a pretty affordable price, it's very tempting to pile the family in the car and make sure your only transportation cost is gas. Also, if you have a car you can use that around Disney and save on Ubers and waiting in line for buses.

There was one time we were planning to drive and the day before we drove we found $49 flights and spent $200 roundtrip for two and flew that evening instead. There was also a time when we cancelled our flights, saved $350 and only spent $150 driving.

Time

This one is where people misunderstand the actual time spent. Yes, your flight may be only three hours. But you have to be there about two hours ahead of time, three if you're checking bags. Then upon arrival at MCO, you still have to deplane, get luggage, wait for Magical Express and ride the Magical Express loop until you get to your hotel. So your "three hour" travel time turns out to be more like 6-8 hours. But your actual drive time may be much more than this. However, remember you may also save line time later by taking your car around Disney as opposed to buses. I’ve noticed this is extremely nice for people with kids as they can sleep in the car as you can’t always do so on buses. More importantly we realized during one week trip we save 6.5 hours of standing NOT waiting for buses and just taking our car to and from the parks. That was SIX more hours we used to sleep and enjoy the parks.

Sanity

You would be surprised how this one swings both ways. Will being in a car for hours in traffic drive you and your family crazy? Maybe driving isn't for you. On the other hand. Does taking your family/ baby etc on a plane scare you? Well maybe flying isn't for you.

However you decided to get to Disney, make sure it's the best decision for your family and be safe!!