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I'm all for the drive. It isn't bad at all, and hotel prices in Savannah are very reasonable. It's a pretty drive, too, for the most part. Plus, if you have your car, you can get to grocery stores easily, saving even more $$. Even if you stay at a Disney resort, you'll find that driving will be the fastest way in and out of some parks (Magic Kingdom!).
We went to Disney this past Oct. I highly recommend the counter-service dining plan, especially if your younger child has some stamina. Meals inside the parks are very pricey, and we were very happy that we had bought the dining plan once we got there. You generally get a lot of food for each meal, and we did a lot of meal sharing, which meant that we didn't spend any extra $ on food once we were there. It was nice to have those expenses covered in advance, because if we had budgeted for food before getting there, we would have been way over budget in the end.
I highly recommend wdwinfo.com for some very deep Disney information.
... and it was no big deal. Drove down to the "the world" in September. Took us ~8.5-9 hrs. Easy, and painless. Had a 6 and 3 yr old in tow. It was MUCH better than our drive down to WDW and back when we lived in central NY In fact, our in laws live ~an hour north of Disney and we go down there regularly. Our kids have always traveled well. Started 'em young and they actually enjoy it.
Also way cheaper for us as the drive is so short it doesn't even warrant an overnight stop. Airfare for 4 is pricey!!
I have done it both ways.
Driving, you need to bank on it taking 10 hours plus or minus including a gas stop and a couple of leg stretching breaks.
Flying, Southwest flies direct from RDU. We flew in January for $99 per person each way.
I would drive again if we were going for a full week but I prefer to do WDW in long weekend doses as opposed to giving up full vacation weeks so flying saves us enough time on each end of the trip to justify the cost.
In September I flew down to meet an old friend for a couple of days there. I left my house at 6AM to catch a 7:30 Southwest flight (at that time they were $59 each way!) and I was inside the Magic Kingdom by 10:15 including picking up a rental car and checking in at my hotel.
I just wanted add , some of the best deals for Disney can be found on 5 day park hopper passes. If this is your first trip, you'll need a week to take everything in. Driving in ciombination with a parkhopper pass gives a day down, 5 full days in WDW and a day to get back and recoup, for a full week vacation.
We went to WDW last March after planning our trip the previous October. We booked a package through expedia with very reasonable rates. We flew down via Southwest (non-stop) and stayed at the Swan hotel which is on the disney grounds. We were able to use the WDW bus and boat transportation as well as the monorail once we got to Epcot. It wokred out very well for us. We did not need a car at all! The dining was expensive but we learned to eat two meals a day We were able to use the gift store service of sending your purchases to the hotel so that you did not need to carry it around all day. Very handy! We purchased our 4 day park hopper tickets through AAA but the discount was not that great. AAA had a recent promotoion where you could get a $500 visa card if you booked through them.
It was a great trip. I am sure you will enjoy it!
Just one more voice to add to the chorus that the drive really isn't bad at all. That said we do 15 hour drives up to Canada so maybe we are using different comparison point. But easily done in a day with time for stops. nintendo games, tvs etc help the kids stay under control
So, true! You go through some struggles when they're young, but once they have it down, travelling is a breeze. We've routinely made 6-12 hour road trips with our kids and now they are seasoned travel vets always looking for the next adventure.
I have done it both ways.
Driving, you need to bank on it taking 10 hours plus or minus including a gas stop and a couple of leg stretching breaks.
Flying, Southwest flies direct from RDU. We flew in January for $99 per person each way.
I would drive again if we were going for a full week but I prefer to do WDW in long weekend doses as opposed to giving up full vacation weeks so flying saves us enough time on each end of the trip to justify the cost.
In September I flew down to meet an old friend for a couple of days there. I left my house at 6AM to catch a 7:30 Southwest flight (at that time they were $59 each way!) and I was inside the Magic Kingdom by 10:15 including picking up a rental car and checking in at my hotel.
We did even better with free Disney's Magical Express right to our Disney Value hotel. Super quick.
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we did it...
In fact, our in laws live ~an hour north of Disney and we go down there regularly. Our kids have always traveled well. Started 'em young 
and they actually enjoy it.
