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kenzmom2cu
11-04-2006, 09:36 AM
I live in Sacramento. Should we drive or fly to disneyland? Also which airport would we fly into.:cool:

Andrew
11-04-2006, 09:44 AM
I prefer driving because I have more control over when I leave and when I arrive. That said, we fly about half the time. We live in Palo Alto, and fly from San Jose to LAX. It's really about personal preference, airfare vs. gas prices, and whether you'd rather pack your stuff for flying or spend six hours driving.

mad4mky
11-04-2006, 09:45 AM
We live in the SF Bay Area (Redwood City)...we are a family of 5. If we go as a whole family...we usually drive.
But, if I go down with just the girls, or one or two of the girls...we fly (My youngest and I flew down this past weekend. I am flying down by myself tomorrow-11/5/06).
So...it depends on our time and finances whether we fly or drive.

But, the closest airport to DLR is the Orange County airport (John Wayne airport).:)

Rhiannon8404
11-04-2006, 09:47 AM
We live in Sacramento, we always drive. It takes us on average 6½ hrs to drive down. We just calculated gas $$ from our house to the Candy Cane Inn at $115. We tried to over estimate gas prices at $2.50/gallon (it's cheaper here) and our small SUV gets better than the 18 mpg we used to estimate costs.

We leave at 4am and get down there 10:30 or so. It's a nice easy drive since no one is on the freeway for most of the trip. Plus, we like having a car with us, just in case we want to go somewhere else.

When are you going? We are down there for Thanksgiving week.

disneyperson
11-04-2006, 10:23 AM
We always drive. Well, I should change that to I always drive .(I get carsick if I don't do the driving) As long as you time your departure to miss the worst of the LA rush hour traffic, it shouldn't take more than about 7 hours.

I think it depends on personal temperment whether flying or driving is for you. We enjoy the ride and are great car companions. It's a fun part of the trip for us. We can also take whatever we want with us. We don't pack light.:rolleyes:

Between all the check in proceedures at the airport and the time it would take to rent a car or take a shuttle I don't think that much time is saved and it would cost a bundle.

I flew down once to meet a friend before I had my own car. I flew into Burbank.

Drince88
11-04-2006, 10:33 AM
Another big impact is the number of people. Adding a person or two to a car (if you have room) isn't going to cost you more gas, but adding a person or two to a plane is going to cost you $$.

Kricky
11-04-2006, 11:06 AM
We recently flew into and out of Orange County Airport. It was such a breeze. Much closer to Disneyland, too. I'll avoid LAX from now on!

DianeM
11-04-2006, 11:07 AM
I l ive in Grass Valley, and we generally drive, although we flew once. It's a "time v. money isssue". There was one trip where we didn't want to take an extra vacation day, so we flew in and took a shuttle from the airport. This trip we planned on going to Universal and San Diego Wild Animal Park, so we wanted to have a car. Given how quickly the trip goes (6.5 hours), it doesn't take much longer to drive than fly.


I live in Sacramento. Should we drive or fly to disneyland? Also which airport would we fly into.:cool:

Lekta
11-04-2006, 11:35 AM
My vote would surely be for driving, as I live in Portland and actually prefer to drive. I just LOVE the 17 hours heading down. The anticipation builds by the 100 miles driven =)

Plus, if you fly you will need a ride from the airport and you'll have no car at your hotel if you need to drive somewhere.

Skunker
11-04-2006, 12:44 PM
We have done our trips driving and flying. We actually like to drive also, it's an 18 hour trip. I do like having a car while we are there and being able to stop along the way. If I was lucky enough to live 6 hours away, there would be NO question - I would drive!

kenzmom2cu
11-04-2006, 12:51 PM
wow thanks for all the advice. Sounds like we are DRIVING!! Oh yeah we are heading down there on Dec. 11th thru 16th. Kids are still in school so I'm praying for small crowds and sunshine. :D

gloria
11-04-2006, 01:18 PM
We have always driven to Disneyland from Sacramento (El Dorado Hills.) It's always nice to have a car available when you need one, especially since my husband just HAS to have El Pollo Loco when we go down there! Always! Never fails. We even found 1 close to the hotels we stay at when we go to Legoland.

We always leave home around 1:00am. The kids wake up a little when we put them in their car seats but always drift off pretty shortly after. I love being in the car when it's dark and it always gets light right around the time we hit Magic Mountain.

We will be going soon...November 19th through 21st. I'm soooo excited...I can't wait!

gloria

samkj
11-04-2006, 01:46 PM
We've always driven from Sacramento. We will be flying in February, but that is a special, surpise trip for the kids. Plus our oldest daughter has some major health issues, so we want to see how she handles a short flight before flying cross country to WDW in 2008.

californiagirlx7
11-04-2006, 01:50 PM
I live in the San Francisco Bay Area and we usually fly out of San Jose Airport to John Wayne Orange County Airport. The airport is much smaller than LAX and a lot more convenient, since its only a few minutes away from DLR. However, if you want to save money then I suggest you drive down there.


We live in Sacramento, we always drive. It takes us on average 6½ hrs to drive down. We just calculated gas $$ from our house to the Candy Cane Inn at $115. We tried to over estimate gas prices at $2.50/gallon (it's cheaper here) and our small SUV gets better than the 18 mpg we used to estimate costs.

We leave at 4am and get down there 10:30 or so. It's a nice easy drive since no one is on the freeway for most of the trip. Plus, we like having a car with us, just in case we want to go somewhere else.

Its the same thing for us...we live about 6 1/2 hours away and we also plan to leave at 4 in the morning on our next trip.

silence
11-04-2006, 02:13 PM
Here is yet another vote for driving. There are usually 5 of us and we have even rented a mini van for some of our trips. Mostly because I have this extreme FEAR of flying. However, it is nice to have a car so we can make some trips to the grocery store and such.

momuvseven
11-04-2006, 02:32 PM
We always drive; flew once and used John Wayne, that was super easy.

Another option is Amtrak. We take that to San Diego from Anaheim and it is a lot of fun.

Leofoenget
11-04-2006, 04:55 PM
I live in Sacramento. Should we drive or fly to disneyland? Also which airport would we fly into.:cool:

I live in Santa Clara CA and last Sept we flew into burbank. (long story why we didnt' fly into orange county) that said, on the flight home from when we left San Diego until the time we got home, we could have driven home via the 5 faster than it took us to fly home.

I am going again in 2 weeks and I am driving.

jan

Momtowolf
11-04-2006, 05:32 PM
I would fly into John Wayne!!! Much better than LAX and much less crowded!!!

The super shuttle for a family of 4 was about $40 each eay.

I personally don't mind driving...I kind of wish we would of drove cause we had all last Sunday to just hang around. I would have loved to taken off to the Alley's of the fashion district and all around Beverly Hills and HOllywood....but this time was really just family bonding and being together......no fake purses for me this time!! LOL

DEFINATELY do the John Wayne!!!

Malcon10t
11-04-2006, 06:27 PM
I drive. We are south of you in Modesto. With the 2 hour airport requirement, the drive time vs fly time is about the same. I have flown, if you do, Long Beach or John Wayne are preferable airports. Another way, which is slightly longer than driving, but less hassle than driving and cheaper than flying, is Amtrak.

Rhiannon8404
11-04-2006, 07:22 PM
We enjoy the ride and are great car companions. It's a fun part of the trip for us. We can also take whatever we want with us. We don't pack light.:rolleyes:

This would be us as well! I don't go anywhere without my quilt my mom made me. Kiddo loves to bring his own pillow. We bring our own coffeemaker for the mornings, his and her laptops, etc. I mean, we'd have a good trip if we couldn't bring all this stuff, but we enjoy having it with us.

We also play those goofy driving games like travel bingo, the alphabet game, etc. The "vacation" starts when we hit I-5, which is about a mile from our house.

briangl
11-04-2006, 08:28 PM
Mostly because I have this extreme FEAR of flying.

I like to fly because driving is extremely dangerous. Have you seen how people drive around LA? They barrel down the freeway at 60+ MPH talking on their phones.

Rhiannon8404
11-04-2006, 09:48 PM
I like to fly because driving is extremely dangerous. Have you seen how people drive around LA? They barrel down the freeway at 60+ MPH talking on their phones.
They do NOT! The freeways don't move fast enough for anyone to be going all of 60 mph!

Bolivar
11-04-2006, 10:02 PM
My sister teaches second grade and last year one of her students went to DL with her family and on the way home they were in a car wreck and the second grader was the only survivor. Her parents and her younger sister were all killed. So, there is one anecdotal story about the danger.

But, I used to fly but now I always drive. It saves money, but that isn't the whole or even a big part of why. To fly you have to get to the airport, which either means a shuttle or parking at the airport, which means a bus from the parking lot to the airport. Then you go through security which can be a hassle. Then it it waiting around the airport. The flight, then you have to either rent a car or take a shuttle of some kind. We live an hour from the airport (1), you need to get to the airport at least an hour early (2), but we can't count on traffic so we give some cushion (2.5). The flight is an hour (3.5). Then it takes at least an hour to an hour and a half to get from the airport to DL (4.5 - 5). For us driving is 7-8 hours. I would rather add two to three hours but be in control of when we leave, how and what we pack, etc.

Though I have to say that I have been giving serious thought to the train lately. It is a lot longer than driving, but it sounds fun.

cassatt
11-05-2006, 01:18 AM
I also live in Sacramento. I'm in the minority. I prefer flying to driving whenever it comes to going to SoCal. In August, we flew Jet Blue from Sac to Long Beach, and it was a breeze. Flying cost about $120 per person roundtrip. It was about 15-20 minutes from the airport to Disneyland. The flight itself is just a shade over an hour. We woke up at 4am, left for the airport at 4:30, flew out at 6am, landed at 7:10, and were inside the gates by 7:45. This was three days after the would-be terrorist attacks in August, and it also included our taxi driver getting mildly lost on the way to Disneyland (he couldn't find the Disneyland Hotel--didn't even know it existed) as well as checking our luggage at the hotel. We weren't planning on leaving the resort, as we're hardly neophyte tourists when it comes to SoCal, so we didn't need a car.

I prefer flying to driving in general, though. I'm not a road tripper by any stretch of the imagination--particularly when it comes to the return trip. That's particularly why I like flying. I'm tired, I'm grouchy, and I'm sad to be leaving Disneyland or wherever it is I'm departing, but there's also the silver lining: I'll be home much faster than I'd be if I was driving. However, we also don't have small children, and we are experienced flyers, so we know how to work the airport routine to make it go as smoothly and quickly as possible.

disneyhound
11-05-2006, 05:23 AM
Sacremento would be about our first days driving destination if we decided to drive. We fly! Three hours rather than 48 hours any day...