To fly or not to fly?

So you're flights would be free with points? You can gate check strollers for free - you'll want a stroller to get through the airport. Flying will get you there faster and you'll have more disney time! So there's some positives for flying. BUT if you and your husband don't like flying - then don't do it and just drive. Then you can have your car and the carseats in case you want to drive to the water parks. We took the bus to the water park and switching at DS did make it about an hour travel time. It wasn't bad but you do have to allow for that extra time. I would say - do whatever makes you more comfortable. If you are nervous about flying then just drive. If the kids are more used to driving then just do that - you don't want to make everyone anxious about vacation! As for food budget - depends on how many character meals or table service meals. We bring our own breakfast and eat it in the room. So we only budget for lunch and dinner. I would go through some of the menus on disney's site to get an idea of the cost and go from there.
 
Maybe use the savings from flying for two Minivans when the need arises? Uber/Lyft wouldn’t be an option because they only have forward facing seats. You can definitely bring a car seat for the plane either for paid or unbooked/empty seats (or have them gate checked), but you’re not going to want to bring it to a theme park, so they’re not super helpful once you’re there unless you rent a car.

The occasional Minivan option could be helpful for situations where the older kids are still happily park touring and your baby needs to go back with a parent for a nap, then the rest of your family follows later on a bus.

What’s the status on Minivan? Do people think it will be rolled out by then?
 
We are headed to Disney next May for our 3rd trip. We drive from Southeast MO and its roughly 15 hours if everything goes well. We typically drive straight-thru on our way down and stop for a night on our way back. Our kids are 6 and 4 and excellent travelers. But on the last trip, they specifically requested that we fly next time. We had some bad traffic, accidents, detours, etc that made the trip almost 18 hours and it got to be a bit much! lol

I checked and we have enough points on our CC to book 4 roundtrip flights from STL to Orlando. Sounds like a no-brainer right?!? Here comes the hard part! I am currently expecting and the baby will be 4 months old by our trip. My DH and I are not big on flying and neither of us have flown in roughly 10 years. We are a 3 hour drive from the airport.

1. I'm worried about the logistics of flying with 3 kids, when we haven't done it ourselves in so long!
2. Has anyone who has gone to Disney and stayed a week, wished that they had carseats for any reason during that week? For instance, we wouldn't even be able to take an Uber or Minnie van during our trip due to not enough seats/carseats. Is a week too long with kids to be solely dependent on Disney transportation? I know people do it all the time, but we've always had a vehicle to go to IHOP, get a few groceries, or head to a park without waiting on a bus. We can rent a car when we get there, but then we would have to bring car seats on the plane. How does that work?
3. We have 3 theme park days and 3 water park days planned with the Park Hopper+ tickets. We will also get a round of mini-golf with our package. What I'm reading on the boards, it seems super long/difficult to get to the water parks from the resorts. Many of the threads suggest Uber, which as i said earlier will be almost impossible due to car seats!
4. What type of food budget do you think we might be looking at? We've always brought our own food such as breakfast, lunch meat, and even the occasional burger at the campground. We typically rely on Disney food about 1x/day instead of 3! I'm already thinking we won't need all the bags we get with Southwest so I can use one to pack breakfast food. We aren't big foodies and don't drink, so aside from maybe one character meal we would be quick-service or food court type of people.

Any insight or recommendations on what has worked/hasn't worked would be great! I'm already looking into Garden Grocer. We will be staying at All-star Movies. I'm planning on renting a stroller once there. We are also planning on using a pack n play from the resort.

Thanks in advance!
Up to a year ago, I lived in California. Had to fly to WDW (and East Coast in general because that's where family is). Did it for 16 years. Started out okay, but towards the later years...I HATED it! You have to get there so early ( and probably even earlier for you with 3 kids), the delays, the cancelations, flight changes, packing (don't want to pack too much because then you'll pay even more for luggage), it goes on and on. We would always have a rental car because husband refused to use WDW transportation. Takes way too long to get from point A to point B. Especially when you're trying to get to your ADR. As far as food goes, we're foodies. We like to try new things. It depends on what type of meals you're having (character, QS or TS).
 
In your situation I'd fly and rent a car/van on arrival. You have to remember that with a 4 month old your drive WILL take you longer than the usual 15 hours because you are going to have to stop more often for feedings and changes. I drove from Chicago to PA when DD was about 3 months old and we had to break what would normally be a 12 hour trip into two days because 1) we didn't want DD in a car seat that long in a single day and 2) we knew that hours would be added to the trip because we'd have to stop frequently - I couldn't very well nurse or change DD in a moving car! Granted if your new baby is going to be formula fed or will take a bottle of pumped breast milk that will help but you would still have to make much more frequent stops. If you do decide to drive, I would take two days to drive both ways.

If you do fly please consider buying the new baby a seat and taking a car seat with you. It's the safest way for baby to fly, severe turbulence or a hard landing is no joke.

If it's a 3 hour drive to the airport, you could always drive to the airport the day before and rent a room for the night so you can fly out early the next morning. Many airport hotels have a "park n' fly" rate, you can leave your car parked at the hotel for the whole time you're gone and get a room for a night all for one low rate, you just take the hotel shuttle to/from the airport. Often park 'n fly rate works out to be the same as a week's worth of parking at the airport so it may not cost you any extra.

Strollers and car seats can be gate checked at no fee. Ya know, in case you missed it earlier in this thread! ;)

Now granted I've only flown with one kid and not three. But what we did when DD was 1.5 was that DH and I each had backpacks as our carry-on and DD was in an umbrella stroller (a full sized would have been ok too, either way it's gate checked). We also brought DD's car seat for use on the plane and in the rental car. I bought one of those old fashioned metal luggage carts, the kind popular before wheeled suitcases became common ($20 on Amazon). DH bungee corded the car seat to the cart, so while I pushed DD in the stroller he could push/pull the car seat. We checked our larger luggage and just had the backpacks. It was super easy to navigate the airport, once the car seat was installed on the plane we could just stow the cart under the seat or in the overhead. In your case you could do the same since the older kids should be able to walk and have small backpacks of their own, or maybe do a double stroller for the baby and the middle child and just the oldest can walk. You can check luggage and car seats that aren't being used at the ticket counter, so you're only dealing with the baby's car seat for the plane when going through the airport (assuming you get baby a seat of course).

I would rent a car because while 100% Disney transport is certainly workable, having your own car can really be much more convenient (especially for water parks/Disney Springs or just a quick get away back to the room if there is a melt down). It also allows you to run to the grocery store and/or eat at less expensive restaurants off property.

For a rental car once in Orlando, if you want to travel a bit lighter you can rent car seats and booster seats from the rental car company. There are additional fees however. You can always bring one or two seats from home and rent the rest to balance cost and convenience.
 
Your older children, are they big enough for a booster seat? We went this past March and just took the backless booster for DD. The airline (Delta) checked it for free and ME delivered it to our room as we would need it for the cab when we transferred from Disney to Universal and then to MCO at the end of our trip. I moved DD now 8 to a booster at 6 as she was small and still fit in her seat, but used a booster in cars other than ours for ease.
 
FLY!!! Seriously. We drove from Michigan in 2011 and it was a mistake. For all the issues associated with flying, the money you save driving is negligible in your circumstances.
 
We drive from MO as well - we are about a 2 hr drive from the airport we would use. To us it just always made more sense to have our own car, pack whatever we want, make our own schedule to get there and not have to hassle with all the airline nonsense of how many bags are allowed, what can I pack, delays, etc. Plus it's definitely cheaper.
This upcoming trip both of my sisters' families are joining us. There is lots of talk of them possibly flying while we drive. There's complications on their end with using Disney transportation and arriving early, etc. So I'm glad we have chosen the route we have.
I guess my answer here is do what makes you the most comfortable. There is no need to be stressed out about a vacation and the logistics.
 


You guys are really making this decision clear as mud :)

So many WDW vacation questions like this are!

A couple of thoughts to potentially help you narrow it down, sorry if they were covered already:
1. Would the flight be direct? With everything you said, factoring in the 3-hour drive from the airport and all, if there are connections with flying, I would drive.
2. If you do fly, consider renting a smaller (i.e. less expensive) vehicle and using both it and Disney transportation. One of you takes the older kids on DME from MCO to WDW, while the other drives the rental with the baby from MCO to WDW. Then you have a car if you need / want it, but haven't used up all your savings from flying. As was previously mentioned, most airlines won't charge for car seats as luggage.
 
Definitely fly with the baby. You can hold the baby in your lap and take care of their needs. We always fly southwest and get a direct flight. You can gate check a stroller /car seats or bring a car seat onboard to use in a seat.We pack an extra suitcase with food and it holds our souvenirs on the way back. We have tried using uber to request a car seat but that didn't turn out so great.We used the Disney buses, but you can always request car seats ahead of time from rental car companies.
 
So I checked on this option. Our points are through Chase and with Ultimate Rewards its showing the All-star movies as around $170/night. We are only paying around $120 with a travel agency. I'm guessing you can't apply any discounts to those? Its enough points to cover our week, but I hate the thought of paying $50 more night just to use points. Decisions, decisions!
How about this? Your cost if you fly is the $50+$120 per night hotel= ?(7 nites=$840?)
If you drive it's $300+ $0hotel=?
(using UR points in 2nd one to book hotel)
which one saves you more money? If you're staying 7 nights, looks like driving is still cheaper-
and 2nd factor is time. if you live 3 hours from airport,then you travel there a day ahead and stay at relatives- then flying takes about 6-7 hours total(incl. getting there on time, checking bags,etc) so what does this method save you in time,unless you treat that first day at the relatives as a vacation day and enjoy it anyway?
I think your kids will be fine on a flight,for me, I'd look at overall cost savings for both scenarios. Driving is really about double the flight time involved- but less stress overall with flying with kids.
I've done both, and we were fine both ways. Pick whichever sounds better to you as the parents,and being on a budget. 15 hours is not a bad drive IMHO at all. I'd pop those kids in the car at bedtime and start driving!
 
as far as food costs... if flying you can pack one suitcase with cereal and packaged milk for the week,so that's breakfast in the room. eat counter service meals, have the kids share so there's no waste- etc saves a lot.
If driving, that's easy, just pack a cooler with breakfast foods-and snacks to take along during the day.
Taking buses/boats never bothered me when my kids were little, we treated it as part of vacation time,and my (old) kids to this day still enjoy the bus rides due to their fond memories (go figure!) SO if you fly, taking disney transport can bu just fine,esp. you avoid busy times of day like opening/closing times at parks. (we always left earlier or later than closing time to avoid crowds)
 
If you can stay overnight with family the night before, I would definitely fly and do DME.

The 4 and 6 yo will not need carseats for the plane. I may get flamed for this, but it is also up to you whether you'd take the baby as a lap child (and thus no car seat for the plane) or pay for another seat for baby+car seat. Each of our kids (now 2 and 6) did many flights as lap children and at Disney we just used Disney transportation and the occasional cab ride without a car seat. When we go elsewhere, we rent a car and rent car seats with the rental company. If you take DME, it doesn't allow babies in car seats anyway. We live in NYC and use public transportation (subways and buses) all the time, sometimes with a baby carrier or umbrella stroller, now sometimes without. You'll get the hang of it.

Depending on the added cost and how much it matters to you, I'd suggest packing less in your carry on and checking your luggage and letting DME handle it. It's one of the reasons we like Disney vacations! We pack MBs, a change of clothes for the kids, swimsuits, and books/ipad for the plane. You won't have to deal with the hassle of shlepping luggage plus a baby.

If you are BFing, taking a 4 mo old is easy peasy. Nurse on take off and landing, baby will likely sleep through most of the flight. There is a thread somewhere here about nursing moms and WDW with lots of tips.

Also - Amazon is your friend. You can send a bunch of food (cereal, oatmeal, snack bars, diapers and wipes, etc) to your hotel! (Just pack 1 day's worth of diapers in case of delay, but SO much better than packing all that stuff!!) Some resorts with a convention center may charge a $5 fee but it was so convenient. We also shipped large liquids (sunscreen, contacts solution, baby wash) that way.
 

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