Originally Posted By mickeynewe For all those Northern Californians out there....just wondering, do you prefer to drive or fly? We always drive but we are considering flying this time out of Sacramento. Our first night in Disneyland would be on a Saturday, the SAME Saturday that my daughter is scheduled to give a speech representing her school for a competition. We can't miss it, and don't want to. But, we won't be able to get out of town until at least 1:00-1:30. That puts us down in Disneyland probably around 7:30 - 8:30. We want to be able to hit DL park on Saturday night for a little night time family fun. That will be a long drive since we have to be up in Sacramento around 8:00 in the morning (we live in the Bay Area). We are thinking it might be easier on us if we just go to the speech then drive over to the airport for a relaxing flight down South. So, just wondering everyone's preference on the whole drive/fly thing. Is the flight worth the cost? It would also allow us to stay later at the parks on our "return" date. Also, if anyone has flown out of Sacramento, can you tell me what airline you prefer? I'm trying to find and research a good deal, but all the rates seem rather expensive right now! Thanks for any opinions!
Originally Posted By marmarl For us we are an hour and a half to the closest airport. But I think these days post 9/11 aren't we supposed to get to the airport an hour or two early? So to get there an hour and a half early we have to leave the house almost three hours early, the flight's about an hour and with unloading and getting luggage and finding the shuttle and finally getting to the hotel we're looking at a good five hours of travel. So for us we always choose to drive the seven hours and save the hassle. Either way will be hard on the kids, I think.
Originally Posted By mhartman47 Southwest might have good deals especially into Lax. For ease I would personally fly. However a couple of factors. Do you plan on leaving the parks (or immediate area)? Age of kids? Young ones will not do to well with that much car travel. Plus the stress of driving in LA plus fatigue.
Originally Posted By dlkozy I live in the Sacramento area, and that is the airport that we use when we fly. We have done both. My kids do not have a problem driving-it is a family fun time-I limit the headphone time for that very reason. When we choose to fly it is only when we plan on staying at the DLR-otherwise we find ourselves feeling very stranded. I like to be flexible. I get VERY tired of the food offerings at the park-and it is a lot easier to pop into your car and not be held captive to the DLR's offerings or prices. Last Spring when we flew Southwest-we had to leave for the airport at 4:45 AM for a 6 AM flight-it was delayed because of mechanical problems until 10:30 AM. By the time that we got down there-took the shuttle and got to our room is was 1:45 pm. We could have driven in that amount of time-most of us could have slept on the way down-we would have had our car-and we would have saved $$$. For the flight down there you have to be at the airport a minimum of 1 hour early-depending on the time of the flight-1 hour is not nearly long enough. Add the time to get to the airport-park-fly down-shuttle in, how much time are you really saving? It is a 6 hour drive to LA from Sac.
Originally Posted By mickeynewe I think we have decided to just go ahead and drive. My dad told me that it is shorter to drive from Sacramento than from the Bay Area because of the straight shot down 5. I would love the ease of flying since it is less tiring and it would mean staying later on Wednesday, however, it just doesn't seem worth the extra cost, shuttles, etc. Plus, it always seems we wind up at Target for something or other and it will be nice to have the car. Whenever we do make the drive, we always have a "movie" day. We buy new movies for our daughter to watch or she watches her old favorite Disney movies so she is EASY to travel with. Thanks for everyone's opinions.
Originally Posted By DJ7K Sorry, Southern Californian here. But I just wanted to say - fly or drive, please please arrive to and from safely and have a great trip
Originally Posted By MsLindanne We live in the Bay Area too and we generally always drive. The drive isn't bad and if you have a DVD and Disney CD's, well the trip going down can be a lot of fun. It really gets you in the Disney mode...plus like you said, having the car makes trips to Target and the Disney discount store a real plus. Have fun and drive careful! Watch out for the CHP's....they hide out and speed limit on I-5 is 70....you can probably go 75 and get away with it...otherwise it may cost you a bundle and buying Disney collectibles is so much more fun! ºoº
Originally Posted By mickeynewe Thanks for everyone's input and good wishes. We make this trip about 2 times a year, so its old hat by now. We just considered flying because of having to be tied up the morning of my daughter's speech and the fact we were getting a late start. How fast I drive down 5 usually depends on the traffic. Most of the time, we night drive and I'll go about 75 as long as no one is on the road. But, if there is traffic, I will be the slow guy going 70 mph. We once were coming back from LA to the Bay Area. The traffic was beyond crazy. People were driving close to 90 mph bumper - to - bumper. I just made sure I was in the slow lane and drove the speed limit and tried to keep a good distance between myself and the car in front because I knew something was likely to happen, and it did..... A mini-van with a family went end-over-end a few cars in front of us. Even tho I left plenty of room in front of us, people were slamming breaks everywhere. I remember telling my little girl who was young at the time, "baby, close your eyes and don't open them until Mommy says so". I will never forget the image that followed. Plenty of people pulled over to help. We kept going and got to the next "visible marker" and called for help. It was all the reminder I ever needed about how important it is to drive safely, especially with your children, than worrying about getting somewhere quickly.
Originally Posted By MsLindanne Boy, that was some story Mickeynewe. I know driving down I-5 can be quite scarey at times and to see an accident actually happen, well, it is just a reminder for people to SLOW DOWN! But do they listen...nah...they've got the peddle to metal and the thing to the floor...all in attempt to get somewhere fast. There's also another thing about I-5 and that's fog...but that usually happens during the winter...and during the summer you can run into dust storms...heck...why don't you fly after all? ha..ha.. Only kidding! You'll be fine. Sounds like you've got the routine down to a science anyway. Enjoy!ºoº
Originally Posted By wendebird I live about 2-1/2 hours north of Sacramento & we usually drive. By the time we park the car, check in, go through security, board, fly, get our luggage, get the rental car, drive to the hotel, we only save about 2 hours & it's a heck of a lot more money! That said, I have flown a few times. Mainly when it was just myself, or me & my girls going alone. When we do that, we fly Southwest into John Wayne or Ontario, depending on the price.
Originally Posted By kmsandrbs Being in the East Bay Area, we have the coice of several airports up here, and several sirports down there. But, even with the rising gas costs, I'd drive just about every time. Mostly, it is still more expensive flying with a family (we have 3 kids), and I can think of better things to spend the money on. Of course, long driving trips are the norm for us (we do a couple 16 hour trips to Eastern Washington just about every year).
Originally Posted By iDisney72 Like kmsandrbs, I live in the East Bay Area, and even though it is just me and my boyfriend, we always drive over flying. Like someone else mentioned (sorry I forget who!) the time it takes to get to the airport (30-45 minutes), wait around for the flight (90 minutes), fly (an hour), get the luggage and hop on the shuttle and get to DL (lets say 45 minutes) already adds up to 4 hours, and it usually only takes us 5.5-6 hours to drive. The cost of gas never equals the amount of a plane ticket, and its really nice to be able to go at your own pace and not stick with a schedule.
Originally Posted By Lisann22 When I have kids or "last minute" trips I drive when I'm solo or with adult friends/family we fly. I get everything everyone is saying about driving, the gas, the flexability, the time factor BUT the stress of not flying on the body and mind sure makes for a nice relaxed trip to me. Especially if I'm splitting the cost on a rental car. There's just something different about the 30min ride to the airport, the 90 min wait and 1 hour flight that says VACATION over driving.
Originally Posted By BoyStory First of all, what a scary experience you had down there! We live in the B.A. and we definitely prefer to drive! It's a 6 hr trip for us. The trip there by car is half the fun, LOL (okay, the trip back...not so much fun- and why does the road that leads home seem soooo much longer?,;-). My dh and I flew a few times (before we had our tribe of boys ) and it just didn't seem the same. I have great memories of the road trip there as a kid, too. I hear ya' about the traffic, though....sheesh and they they think our bay area traffic is bad! I admit that last hour driving thru L.A. is a nail-biting experience (dh drives- I bite my nails). Of course it sounds like time may be a factor for you this trip, so either way....have a great time!
Originally Posted By BoyStory Whoa! Lisann you live in Livermore? So do I! [insert "Small World" theme song here} LOL!
Originally Posted By mickeynewe Thanks for all of your input. I'm about a hour away from both of you two. I also quite agree....the trip down there is always exciting...its the trip home that completely does us in!! Within a hour of getting on the road....we all get a really bad case of the sleepies and just want to take a nap...but can't very well do that can we! *grin* For me, I much prefer night driving, its less tiring for some reason. But, I can't drive home at night and then expect to get up the next morning for work.
Originally Posted By Lisann22 LOL - there's a whole bunch of us in the Bay Area. Make sure to keep any eye out for meets in the LP Meet section. A group of us usually gets together about every 3 or 4 months somewhere for a family outing.
Originally Posted By pirategirlscully We live in Roseville, CA which is just north of Sacramento so its a SEVEN+ hour drive for us to DL and this time we flew. It was SO nice flying!! We flew right into John Wayne airport, got a rental car there (no shuttle) Even though we did have to get to the airport two hours prior, the kids could run around, have a snack, watch the planes, etc. We left the hotel this morning at 10am and were home just before 3pm. A total of five hours but it just seems to go by quicker than the long boring drive. All that said, there is a strong argument in favor of driving since we paid about 900 dollars more in order to fly as opposed to drive (airfare for five plus rental car for a week minus what gas would cost for the trip)... not sure if its worth saving 4-5 hours of time.
