Driving from Pa to Disney world....

[Samie8807]

Hi new to the boards but not to Disney. I am however new to driving there. My question is we're driving from Pa to Disney world and was wonder if anyone drove about the same distance and about how much did you spend on gas? We figured it would be cheaper then flying.

 

[Alesia]

You'll get a better idea by using something like this: http://www.gasbuddy.com/Trip_Calculator.aspx

 

[adams3880]

We drove down from MD last May and between snacks and coffee, gas, tolls, AND a hotel room stop each way, we spent about $600 total. Definitely much cheaper than flying for us.

 

[Marionnette]

Hi new to the boards but not to Disney. I am however new to driving there. My question is we're driving from Pa to Disney world and was wonder if anyone drove about the same distance and about how much did you spend on gas? We figured it would be cheaper then flying.

What someone else spent is pretty immaterial. You could be driving a Prius with gas prices at $2.40/gal while they drove an SUV fully loaded down with luggage at a time when gas was over $4/gal.

The AAA gas calculator takes make, model year and distance into account. You might want to use it to determine what a trip would cost you with today's gas prices.
http://fuelgaugereport.aaa.com/fuelcostcalculator/

 

[Samie8807]

You'll get a better idea by using something like this: http://www.gasbuddy.com/Trip_Calculator.aspx

Thanks that helped get an estimate

 

[lagoonc]

Hi new to the boards but not to Disney. I am however new to driving there. My question is we're driving from Pa to Disney world and was wonder if anyone drove about the same distance and about how much did you spend on gas? We figured it would be cheaper then flying.

I've driven PA to Disney many times with my four children. I live just outside Philadelphia. I can't speak to gas because it varies depending on what you are driving, but it has always been cheaper than flying for my family of 5 (6 when I was married). It is about 16 hours of driving for us. We have split the trip over a leisurely two days and we have also done it a few times in one day when time was an issue, leaving at 2-3 a.m. and arriving that same evening. If you are from Eastern PA, there is at least one great book and one great app, along with different websites that specifically cover driving the length of I-95, including what's available at each exit as far as lodging and food, traffic, road closures, etc. There's also a discount guide for lodging and food specifically for I-95 that can give you an idea of hotel costs if you chose to stop overnight. I recommend looking at all of that before you decide!

 

[Mouse3Dad]

Drove NE Ohio to Disney last 2 years (roughly 2000 miles round trip)

2013 - Avg Price of gas was $3.53 at 25.5 MPG for a total of $293.78 in a 2013 Kia Sportage

2014 - Avg Price of gas was $3.57 at 21.7 MPG for a total of 332.94 in a 2014 Chevy Equinox

 

[richmo]

The gasbuddy or similar calculators should help. The good news is gas prices are down compared to years past, so that should help a lot. If you're deciding vs. flying, also factor in tolls (not too much from PA), lodging for a night or two each way, the impact of depreciation on your vehicle (2000+ miles is a measurable percentage of your vehicle's life/value), etc. To me, the biggest factor is time. Driving takes a minimum of a day (or more) off each end of a trip. Not so bad if you're going for a couple weeks, much more so if a week. Another way of looking at it is: to get the same amount of time (vs. flying) at Disney, you would need to add at least 2 days to your trip (and thus valuable vacation time)...or, for the same trip duration, have less days at Disney.

 

[Samie8807]

I tried that gas buddy that does give a great estimate. We did plan on leaving the day before we check in and leave day of check out to give us time to get there and still have our full week of fun.

 

[karpy111]

Driven from PA 3 times. Not a bad trip at all. I'm upstate PA near Scranton. We usually leave around 2 or 3 pm and drive straight through the night and make it to our Disney resort around 8 am.
Getting back to your question about gas. It is definitely much cheaper than flying. I believe last year we spend around 500 to 600. I cant remember what gas prices were last May. This year with gas being down it should be more like 400 to 500. Gas heading down there is alot cheaper. We always stop in Harrisonburg VA. Gas there was about 30 to 40 cents cheaper per gallon.
If you have any other questions about the trip let me know.

 

[hearts8701]

Welcome to the Dis
You might find more help on the transportation board
http://www.disboards.com/forums/transportation.16/

 

[mmaikisch]

Hi new to the boards but not to Disney. I am however new to driving there. My question is we're driving from Pa to Disney world and was wonder if anyone drove about the same distance and about how much did you spend on gas? We figured it would be cheaper then flying.

I second the aaa gas calculator. We drive from the poconos in PA and it comes pretty close. We drive an SUV and spend about $500 on gas round trip

 

[Judique]

My trip in an SUV that averages 20 mph on the trip is about 1740 miles round trip. Then I run around a lot after I get there. So usually about a 2000 mile trip.

Gas in Jan and Feb cost me about $215 for the trip. I did pay as little as $1.88 a gallon in some areas and up to $2.30 per gallon in other areas.

In recent years the price is closer to $300 plus, so its a good time to drive.

Drive safely and enjoy your trip.

 

[bbarba]

I did the gas buddy calculator last night and was shocked that it said I only need to stop for gas twice (central NY) to WDW in a 2010 grand caravan. I did not think a tank would last as long as it said. On my one I did estimate less gas, so we will see.

 

[Samie8807]

I did the gas buddy calculator last night and was shocked that it said I only need to stop for gas twice (central NY) to WDW in a 2010 grand caravan. I did not think a tank would last as long as it said. On my one I did estimate less gas, so we will see.

Yea so was I but I guess it's true because I use to travel from Pa to GA and I only filled up a couple times.

 

[elfandrents]

I drove last week from mass to fl in a sonata spent $70 on Gas no lie each tank I got 540 miles. 95 for hotel room in roanoke rapids nc. (Usually get further but I was tired). Like others have said depends on the car. Max full tanks in previous years was 4 from PA no more than 3 tanks. In Georgia gas was 2.06 last Thursday but avg was about 2.25
hope that helps.

 

[mrodgers]

The gasbuddy or similar calculators should help. The good news is gas prices are down compared to years past, so that should help a lot. If you're deciding vs. flying, also factor in tolls (not too much from PA), lodging for a night or two each way, the impact of depreciation on your vehicle (2000+ miles is a measurable percentage of your vehicle's life/value), etc. To me, the biggest factor is time. Driving takes a minimum of a day (or more) off each end of a trip. Not so bad if you're going for a couple weeks, much more so if a week. Another way of looking at it is: to get the same amount of time (vs. flying) at Disney, you would need to add at least 2 days to your trip (and thus valuable vacation time)...or, for the same trip duration, have less days at Disney.

I thought of it a little differently. I had more time off than our stay. Everyone told me to fly, we'd be there in no time. Instead, I took the previous day off and we stayed overnight in Savannah. Instead of leaving on a Sunday and the flight arriving mid evening to Orlando, we drove Saturday and left Savannah at 7 am. We were standing in front of the castle by noon.

We had a reservation in Savannah for the ride down. On the ride home we just winged it (oops, bad choice of word as it sounds like a pun for flying...) We didn't have a reservation and ended up just driving straight through on our Friday departure. Still had the rest of the weekend once we got home.

It took us about 19 hours to drive straight through with bathroom and food breaks. This was coming from about 60 miles north of Pittsburgh.

As for the Gas Buddy link, it seemed very inaccurate to me. There's no way I would only spend $150 round trip 2000 miles to Florida. I calculate roughly $200 at least at 26 mpg of our Rav4. Then again, it's amazing when you begin to leave PA and see the gas prices plummet. We're around $2.50-2.60/gallon here. I would imagine prices are pretty close to $2 still down south. It doesn't make such a drastic difference though when you're talking like $5 a tank difference.

 

[mrsap]

We drive every year from North Jersey. Last year we spent approximately $275-300 on gas, using a full sized 4 door car. We always rent a car to drive down. We stop somewhere in either N. or S. Carolina on the way down and drive straight back on the way home. We enjoy the ride and look forward to it! Good luck deciding!

 

[MinniePurls]

We drive from CT to Disney all the time as recently as 3 weeks ago. We stop about 3 times for gas with fill-ups of about 25-30, the round trip cost of our last trip was about 120.00 round trip, with additional $60.00 in tolls (we have an EZ Pass).

We've got it down to a science and it takes us 19 hours with gas, food and potty breaks. It's really not that bad and the worse part is the last 100 miles or so because you're so edgy to get there.

 

[froggibabey]

We're from up near Scranton too, and we only had to fill up 4 times when we drove down last time (in our crappy van). From home to the very bottom of SC, we only had to fill up twice in the car (I was shocked.. generally, I need to fill the car up from home to my Moms house in Montrose, 40 minutes away!).