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from new york to florida

D

Droogie2799

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so i am looking at getting a timeshare either in florida or myrtle beach, but after looking at the air fare for a family of 5 i might pick something closer. If i buy a ts in florida, it appears that flights are qround 350 each as cheap as i can find. Factor that with 800 or so mfs and we're now talking 2500 before car, food or fun. My question is how do you folks do it? Do you just plan on 5k a year for vacation?
 
Drive

We drive....18 hrs from Long Island to Orlando. Usually stop in Lumberton NC(10hrs) overnight(using Marriott Reward Points) and then drive the rest the next day. It is really not that bad. We travel the weeks the kids are off(usually Feb break) and it beats waiting in overcrowded airports and chance of delays. The avg ticket price in Feb is $400 per ticket and we 2 are a family of 5.
 
Thats what i was thinking, you almost have to drive given the savings. How about the 2-4 days of vacation lost due to traveling?
 
We usually drive. A few times we have taken the Autotrain from Lorton VA to Sanford, because they used to offer a special each summer buy 1 adult ticket get 2 childrens tickets for free.

We try to make sure that we get 2 year's vacations within the same 12 month period. One year we go to Disney in July/August, get annual passes, and then the next year go in June/July before the passes expire. Of course, this is bad, because then it makes it too easy to add another trip in the middle of the year. Hey, got the passes, got the timeshare, have to eat if we are home or in Disney, so for just the cost of gas, let's throw in another trip........

I also think that having the timeshare cost already paid for before the trip helps. I guess if you travel in Jan and your maintenance fees are also due in Jan then that doesn't work. But we pay our fees mostly monthly and travel during the summer months, so we just need to work on food (always try to stay close to home food budget with some special meals thrown in), park tickets (whether Disney, Universal - they have a monthly pymt plan), Seaworld or even Busch Gardens - you can't underestimate checking out the cost of annual passes). I never thought much about annual/seasonal passes until I started timesharing. Even now, I just rec'd an email from Camelback Waterpark in the Poconos (very close to us) and the seasonal passes are $99. If we head up there even 3 times this summer, then those passes have paid for themselves.

and the final major cost of vacation is the traveling. And that is why most Tuggers really hammer home about purchasing within driving distance.
 
You cant do it until the kids graduate from college and the dog dies
 
Droogie2799 said:
so i am looking at getting a timeshare either in florida or myrtle beach, but after looking at the air fare for a family of 5 i might pick something closer.
Click to expand...
Thats part of the reason we go to Myrtle Beach in the summer. We dont have to buy airline tickets rent a car, long term parking etc... Its still a 12 hour drive but its closer than Florida.
 
NY to FL

Going down I never feel that we lost 2 days to driving....usaully at resort around 4 --check in time. When I think of all the $ I saved it makes up for it. I would love to buy the one in Myrtle Beach a summer week but just don't have the $ right now. Hopefully in the future...but that is the one we want. I think it is important to buy one that you can drive to especially when you are a family and the price of airfares these days.
 
Even driving down to Florida is tough for those on a tight budget, 1,132 mi at 20 miles per gallon and $4 a gallon is around $450-$500 round trip, that's $450 less i can spend on food & fun on the vacation...and really, i only budget about $500-$800 for my entire trips(not counting MF's)
 
Droogie2799 said:
so i am looking at getting a timeshare either in florida or myrtle beach, but after looking at the air fare for a family of 5 i might pick something closer. If i buy a ts in florida, it appears that flights are qround 350 each as cheap as i can find. Factor that with 800 or so mfs and we're now talking 2500 before car, food or fun. My question is how do you folks do it? Do you just plan on 5k a year for vacation?
Click to expand...

I think you may want to entertain some other area airports to see what the fares come out to. I live in MD and can travel out of BWI, IAD, and WAS so I have many options where it comes to getting to FL. We are a family of 5 as well and we are able to get to FL R/T for under $1000 for our week in June. We will rent a car 1 way from BWI and drop it off at IAD for 1 day it was $24 and we dont have to worry about parking and transportation the day we leave. When we return we will be flying back into Reagan renting a car 1 way to drop back off at BWI for $38. The reason for going in and out of different airports were direct flights at $85 less per person and not paying for parking at the airport. A big part of that is airport flexibility. My DH and I are both "drivers" so a 8-12 hour trip for us isnt so bad...it's the kids who have the problem. We are goping to Myrtle Beach in August and are debating between flying and driving. We can do R/T out of Reagan for $240 pp with direct 1 hour 20 minute flights. Its about 15 minutes further driving in the opposite direction that the nearest airport (BWI) but is 1/2 the price and no connection is required. If we drove we would take 2 cars because we are flying my mother down. When you consider the gas for 2 cars and at least 2 meal stops for 5 its about the same price. My suggestion would be to think outside the box and get creative. We could also cut airfare in 1/2 for the MB trip by renting a car 1 way to drive down and then taking 1 way flights back home.
 
SOS8260456 said:
We usually drive. A few times we have taken the Autotrain from Lorton VA to Sanford, because they used to offer a special each summer buy 1 adult ticket get 2 childrens tickets for free.

We try to make sure that we get 2 year's vacations within the same 12 month period. One year we go to Disney in July/August, get annual passes, and then the next year go in June/July before the passes expire. Of course, this is bad, because then it makes it too easy to add another trip in the middle of the year. Hey, got the passes, got the timeshare, have to eat if we are home or in Disney, so for just the cost of gas, let's throw in another trip........

I also think that having the timeshare cost already paid for before the trip helps. I guess if you travel in Jan and your maintenance fees are also due in Jan then that doesn't work. But we pay our fees mostly monthly and travel during the summer months, so we just need to work on food (always try to stay close to home food budget with some special meals thrown in), park tickets (whether Disney, Universal - they have a monthly pymt plan), Seaworld or even Busch Gardens - you can't underestimate checking out the cost of annual passes). I never thought much about annual/seasonal passes until I started timesharing. Even now, I just rec'd an email from Camelback Waterpark in the Poconos (very close to us) and the seasonal passes are $99. If we head up there even 3 times this summer, then those passes have paid for themselves.

and the final major cost of vacation is the traveling. And that is why most Tuggers really hammer home about purchasing within driving distance.
Click to expand...

+1 for buying tickets with payment plans. We were going to do that with the Busch Gardens Platinum passes but just went ahead and paid in full because we had a nice little financial windfall around the time we bought. 1 word of advice on the Busch Gardens passes would be get the Seaworld San Antonio passes. They are the least expensive at $269 pp. If you pay the extra $10 to get the passes mailed then you dont have to worry about the first use requirement as that only applies when they email you a voucher to pick up your physical passes at the location. Knowing this ahead of time would have saved me $400 on the passes I purchased. I didnt know you could do this with disney passes.
 
We purchased our 1st t/s in FL - Orlando - as we already knew we could fly in easily IF the prices were right or easily drive in 17-20 total hours from Rochester, NY. We also knew from experience the resort(s) we enjoyed and those that didn't live up to the time/expense of the trip. So we bought at the resort location we liked best.

Since then (1993) we have driven & flown just about equally. If the whole family (& dogs) were going we tended to drive & also extend our stay. If only one or two of us were making the trip we flew if the prices allowed it. Recently we've had more flys than drives as despite the high fuel cost driving (and having our car with us rather than having to rent one, rental prices have sky rocketed the past few years) more than offset two or three airfares.

Perhaps even more importantly we went from over 8 total weeks (some weeks, some points but that is what it typically represented) back down to two. That's because we LOVE those resorts & want to know we have "our" time to enjoy at them without any hassles of trades or rentals. The other 6+ we do now rent as it is far cheaper then owning and owing fees on multiple weeks. Both resorts can be driven or flown to. We wouldn't own any now that required airfare. It is just too much of a wildcard.

So having resorts we can drive to if we want has always been a key and to us is the only way to own. It reflects "buy to use not trade" and it serves us well. Although some think being able to drive to their resorts isn't a requirement due to the resort/location they prefer, we would never own at that type of resort. It is just adding to an already high risk of uncontrollable fees & costs. Just keeping annual fees in check is hard enough withut adding requirements for public transportation, rental vehicles and exchange fees. Minimizing all of those should be a primary goal for any owner IMO.
 
timeos2 said:
So having resorts we can drive to if we want has always been a key and to us is the only way to own......... It reflects "buy to use not trade" and it serves us well. Although some think being able to drive to their resorts isn't a requirement due to the resort/location they prefer, we would never own at that type of resort. It is just adding to an already high risk of uncontrollable fees & costs. Just keeping annual fees in check is hard enough withut adding requirements for public transportation, rental vehicles and exchange fees. Minimizing all of those should be a primary goal for any owner IMO.
Click to expand...

Back when I bought my first TS Week (Marriott Sabal Palms pre-construction) flying was no big deal. I had a lot of Frequent Flyer miles and car rentals were reasonable. Over the years I found myself gravitating to almost the same outlook as quoted above. When I started divesting my Weeks the first to go were those which required flying and renting a car.

George
 
timeos2 said:
We purchased our 1st t/s in FL - Orlando - as we already knew we could fly in easily IF the prices were right or easily drive in 17-20 total hours from Rochester, NY. We also knew from experience the resort(s) we enjoyed and those that didn't live up to the time/expense of the trip. So we bought at the resort location we liked best.

Since then (1993) we have driven & flown just about equally. If the whole family (& dogs) were going we tended to drive & also extend our stay. If only one or two of us were making the trip we flew if the prices allowed it. Recently we've had more flys than drives as despite the high fuel cost driving (and having our car with us rather than having to rent one, rental prices have sky rocketed the past few years) more than offset two or three airfares.

Perhaps even more importantly we went from over 8 total weeks (some weeks, some points but that is what it typically represented) back down to two. That's because we LOVE those resorts & want to know we have "our" time to enjoy at them without any hassles of trades or rentals. The other 6+ we do now rent as it is far cheaper then owning and owing fees on multiple weeks. Both resorts can be driven or flown to. We wouldn't own any now that required airfare. It is just too much of a wildcard.

So having resorts we can drive to if we want has always been a key and to us is the only way to own. It reflects "buy to use not trade" and it serves us well. Although some think being able to drive to their resorts isn't a requirement due to the resort/location they prefer, we would never own at that type of resort. It is just adding to an already high risk of uncontrollable fees & costs. Just keeping annual fees in check is hard enough withut adding requirements for public transportation, rental vehicles and exchange fees. Minimizing all of those should be a primary goal for any owner IMO.
Click to expand...

We're in rochester as well, webster. We have yet to purchase a timeshare and are weighing the pros and cons of each. What did you find was the best for driving distance time shares from Rochester? Although it might not appear so to folks who have been in the TS game for a while, it is actually somewhat confusing as to what is the best approach.
 
timeos2 said:
If the whole family (& dogs) were going we tended to drive & also extend our stay. .
Click to expand...

Did you take your dogs to FL? Just curious how you handled it? There is no way we could take our 14 yo sheltie, but this past year we rescued a 13 month old jack russell, hot dog, terrier mutt who I alway jokingly say will need to travel with us once the sheltie is no longer with us. The sheltie always gets car sick so travel with him was a no go from the start. However, the mutt loves the car and I keep telling him that one of these days, she will stay at one of those new Disney pet condos, maybe even in the deluxe unit.
 
The train is always an option. Takes about a day+, but sure beats driving. And is cheaper than flying.

We went from New York down to Orlando FL over Christmas holiday a couple of years ago. Actually, the whole trip was from Washington State to Florida (I know, crazy, eh?!) but it was really fun to tell the truth. We still talk about it to this day!

The only thing I would've changed was maybe getting a sleeper for the longer portions. But being able to get up and down to walk to the dining car or the observation car was a real help.
 
Silverxuan said:
The train is always an option. Takes about a day+, but sure beats driving. And is cheaper than flying.

We went from New York down to Orlando FL over Christmas holiday a couple of years ago. Actually, the whole trip was from Washington State to Florida (I know, crazy, eh?!) but it was really fun to tell the truth. We still talk about it to this day!

The only thing I would've changed was maybe getting a sleeper for the longer portions. But being able to get up and down to walk to the dining car or the observation car was a real help.
Click to expand...

Oh that sounds like fun! Do you need a car once you get to Orlando or if your staying on site or close (bonnet creek) can you get away without one?
 
Ride,
Check out the autotrain. Not sure when you travel, but I know they used to have yearly summer deals (came out around Feb) for buy 1 adult ticket and get 2 children free (defined as under 15). One way with our oversize vehicle ie minivan, ran me just under $400 one way and this was actually for 2 adults and 2 children, because my 3rd child had to be ticketed as as adult because of the 2 children limit per adult.

It leaves Lorton VA at 4pm and gets to Sanford about 8am. Your car is loaded off and it takes about 45 minutes to get to Disney.

We never got a sleeper car, but there were some tricks I learned online to making the regular seating a bit more tolerable. But best of all the trips were an adventure for my children.

We never took it the opposite way because my husband would fly down and join us at the end of our trip and he would drive us home because we always have to stop in Myrtle Beach for 2 nights coming home.

We are doing our first flying trip in a long long time this June. Our 12 yo special needs daughter is petrified of flying, but we need to get her conditioned because California and HI are on our list and once we "lose" the cost of taking the older two on vacation, I really want the 3 of us to start exploring more. We love Disneyworld, but.....there is so much more out there to see and do. I think I have her convinced about the June trip flying. We were just down there for Easter and her 12th birthday and all the way home everytime she asked how much longer I just said "If we flew we'd be home by now" or "if we flew, we could have stayed at Disney until tommorow". So, keeping my fingers crosses....
 
SOS8260456 said:
Did you take your dogs to FL? Just curious how you handled it? There is no way we could take our 14 yo sheltie, but this past year we rescued a 13 month old jack russell, hot dog, terrier mutt who I alway jokingly say will need to travel with us once the sheltie is no longer with us. The sheltie always gets car sick so travel with him was a no go from the start. However, the mutt loves the car and I keep telling him that one of these days, she will stay at one of those new Disney pet condos, maybe even in the deluxe unit.
Click to expand...

Yes, we have taken the pups (now unfortunately just one pup) with us the last 6 years. Until 2012 we were staying at what we dubbed "the dog resort" - Celebration World just a bit down the road from Westgate & Mystic Dunes. We found out Wastgate takes dogs now (in some buildings) so we changed to that as it is a much more "resort" resort than Celebration World (which has never been built out nor does it have all the promised amenities). They (now she) enjoys the ride - we like having them there and if you have an annual Universal pass you get to use the kennels there at n/c.

I worried about it the first few times but now it's a regualr thing for us & saves paying to have he dog boarded. Great family time including the dogs.
 
Droogie2799 said:
We're in rochester as well, webster. We have yet to purchase a timeshare and are weighing the pros and cons of each. What did you find was the best for driving distance time shares from Rochester? Although it might not appear so to folks who have been in the TS game for a while, it is actually somewhat confusing as to what is the best approach.
Click to expand...

We used to take Rt 15 to 95 & then I4 but we changed to the Western Route 90 to 19 to 77 to 95. It says 20 hours but we do it regularly it a bit over 18 if there are no snow storms along the way.
 
"Oh that sounds like fun! Do you need a car once you get to Orlando or if your staying on site or close (bonnet creek) can you get away without one?"

I would recommend a rental car. The train station in Kissimmee is about 14 miles from Bonnet Creek. But by not renting at the airport, rental car prices are less expensive also.

I have family that live in different towns in Florida, so we always rent a car so we can drive around to visit them. Plus we enjoy being able to go where we want to go, when we want to go.
 
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