Shout out to all the Dissers from PA!!

[1princessand1pirate]

Hello All!

We too are from PA we are in Lancaster County-but right near Berks county as well.

We are leaving for Disney in a few weeks and are driving. Out of the 3 past times we only flew once (the first time)

We don't mind it at all. We are not opposed to flying- it's just cheaper to drive. We have 2 girls- 4 and 10. They both are VERY good in the car, so that helps us alot!!!

[Disneymom77]

Originally Posted by 1princessand1pirate

Hello All!

We too are from PA we are in Lancaster County-but right near Berks county as well.

We are leaving for Disney in a few weeks and are driving. Out of the 3 past times we only flew once (the first time)

We don't mind it at all. We are not opposed to flying- it's just cheaper to drive. We have 2 girls- 4 and 10. They both are VERY good in the car, so that helps us alot!!!

Hi 1princessand1pirate! Lancaster county is so beautiful! I know how to pronounce it the correct way! Have a great trip in a few weeks. I'm at the very beginning stages of planning our next one. Thanks for saying hello!

[ILuvCrush]

HI ALL!!!

I live in PA about 30 min North of Johnstown (cambria county). We fly if my son's not going. If he comes along, we take the Auto Train out of Lorton VA. It's alot cheaper than flying (and we have our car down there w/o paying for a rental or putting a million miles on it)!!

I'm excited to find some more PA DISsers!!

Paula

[Ilivetogo]

Hello all! I'm from Horsham. (Montgomery County) We have always flown. However, this year, due to the gas price rise, the flight prices went way up, too.

Since we are heading down Christmas week , we have not been able to find a decent price for flights. ugh. We will be taking the train for the first time. We are actually kinda excited about it -- thinking of it as an adventure! It does take about the same amount of time (a little bit shorter) than driving, but at least you don't have to put the miles on your car, and you can get up, walk around, play games and not get "worn out" from the drive. We can also bring a little more luggage!! And the luggage is free! No paying "per bag". Woo hoo!

[Disneymom77]

Hello! Thanks for posting Where does the train leave from? I think it sounds like fun. Does it go right to Orlando? I've never looked into traveling that way. I'll have to look into it further!

[PADISFAM]

Originally Posted by KayKyle'sMOM

Hi all - I am from State College PA.

Originally Posted by Disneymom77

Hello to Happy Valley!! Well, not so Happy Valley after Saturday I guess. My DH and I are Penn State fans and have been to some football games over the years. My DH graduated from Penn State in 1999. Thanks for saying Hello!

Another PA gal here & PSU fan, we are up in the opposite corner than most everyone here.

WE ARE

[Ilivetogo]

Originally Posted by Disneymom77

Hello! Thanks for posting Where does the train leave from? I think it sounds like fun. Does it go right to Orlando? I've never looked into traveling that way. I'll have to look into it further!

The train leaves from 30th Street Station in Philly. Our 2 trips (one down, one back) are a little different in length (one is 19+ hours, one is 20+ hours). It DOES go right to Orlando. There is a Hertz car rental associated with that train station.

We are actually staying off site in Kissimmee, so and I checked, and the train goes on to Kissimmee!! Wow! Only problem is that the rental cars cost more the farther away from the airport/train area that you go. So we opted to stick with the Orlando thing.

Luckily, for our Christmas week trip we looked into flights and train prices early!! Like back in late July, early August. We got a pretty good rate. Approx. $240 per person round trip. I'd have to get a flight for under $200 to be able to beat that price! (Because we'd have to add luggage fees on that price - unless we took Southwest, of course). Ever since we reserved our train tix, the price has been slowly going up, so I'm glad we got them when we did.

The nicest thing about the train is that (the Amtrak lady told me this) as long as you DON'T have your tickets sent to you (for example, you leave them at the station at "will call" or their ticket window and pick them up when you depart) you can get a full refund for them!!! Wow! So, if by some strange chance I DO find flights for pretty cheap, I can cancel the train and pick up the flight instead. (amtrak.com)

But for now, we kinda think it'll be a fun experience to ride the train down. The kids are looking forward to it.

[Disneymom77]

Thanks for all the info! That definatly answered some questions I had. Have a great trip!

[ILuvCrush]

Originally Posted by Disneymom77

Hello! Thanks for posting Where does the train leave from? I think it sounds like fun. Does it go right to Orlando? I've never looked into traveling that way. I'll have to look into it further!

I take a different train than Kris does out of Philly

I take the Auto Train... also run by amtrak. It leaves from Lorton Va (which is barely outside the Beltway of DC)... It only takes me about 3hrs to get there from where I live... so it's probably alot closer to those of you in the Berks/lancaster areas. It then travels direct with no stops to Sanford Fl (which is just north of Orlando). It took us about 45min to drive from the station to POR.

It leaves at 4pm and arrives the next morning about 8am. The BEST part... is it is an AUTO train....which means you take your car with you on the train!! You stay in the 'people' cars and your car stays in the 'vehicle' cars!! So this way you don't have to rent a car in Florida Luggage is unlimited... well only limited to what you can fit inside your vehicle anyway!!

We took it in Nov of 2006... 2 adults, 3 kids, and a mini van.... $1052 round trip. We also booked it in June of 08.... 2 adults, 2 kids and a small car (prius) $699 round trip. We had the tickets in hand for the June trip, and had to cancel. Even if you have your tickets, there is only a 10% cancellation charge if you cancel up to 2 hrs before departure!! Much better than the airlines.

We'll be doing it again in July. The earlier you book, the cheaper it is.

Paula

[Disneymom77]

WOW! That definatly sounds like the more affordable way to go! Thanks for your reply

[Ilivetogo]

Yeah ... you lucky duckies probably got a better rate because it was November. This traveling during the Christmas week stinks. Sure does drive up the prices. Still better than driving all that way, huh?

[ntz4disney]

Hello from Delaware County, PA!!

I have been on both sides with driving and flying ...the next trip we are taking is next month and we are flying, got great prices on SW for $69 pp/each way so it was a no brainer for us, and we got a great deal on a rental car as well! We will be driving in May next year when we go back(its will be time to renew our AP's so that is taking the place of airfare/rental car for that trip) ... we usually watch and see what airfare prices are and then decide to drive or fly, my kids are 9 and almost 6 and both don't mind driving at all. They are pretty good with the bathroom breaks too, whenever we stop for gas or food, they know that we hit the bathrooms too. We also drive through the night going down so the kids sleep most of the trip for us, we leave around 6 or 7 at night and arrive by 10am the next day, my husband and I switch driving halfway during the night. It works for us ...my kids are actually disappointed we are not driving this time around, its just not a long trip so flying there was a better option!

Enjoy your time here on the DIS boards, its a great place to gather trip tips and meet new people

[Disneymom77]

Originally Posted by ntz4disney

Hello from Delaware County, PA!!

I have been on both sides with driving and flying ...the next trip we are taking is next month and we are flying, got great prices on SW for $69 pp/each way so it was a no brainer for us, and we got a great deal on a rental car as well! We will be driving in May next year when we go back(its will be time to renew our AP's so that is taking the place of airfare/rental car for that trip) ... we usually watch and see what airfare prices are and then decide to drive or fly, my kids are 9 and almost 6 and both don't mind driving at all. They are pretty good with the bathroom breaks too, whenever we stop for gas or food, they know that we hit the bathrooms too. We also drive through the night going down so the kids sleep most of the trip for us, we leave around 6 or 7 at night and arrive by 10am the next day, my husband and I switch driving halfway during the night. It works for us ...my kids are actually disappointed we are not driving this time around, its just not a long trip so flying there was a better option!

Enjoy your time here on the DIS boards, its a great place to gather trip tips and meet new people

When did you get the awesome rate for SW? That's great! I've been keeping my eyes open for a deal like that, but so far had no luck.

[ILuvCrush]

Originally Posted by Ilivetogo

Yeah ... you lucky duckies probably got a better rate because it was November. This traveling during the Christmas week stinks. Sure does drive up the prices. Still better than driving all that way, huh?

Definately beats driving!! I'd probably sleep my 1st 2 days at WDW if I drove down

I'm not sure if the dates we went were cheaper than over Xmas or not.... but we did book them early... like 6-8mo out. So I know that was a factor anyway

[ntz4disney]

I check airfare all the time once we book our vacation time ... and up until recently(maybe the last year) we have gotten great prices on either SW or AirTran out of PHL. When SW first came to PHL, they had $44 airfare for months on end so we kindof got spoiled with flying cheap ...with fuel prices increasing so do the rates for flights but every so often SW throws out a great deal, so when we saw $69 pp/each way for our upcoming trip, we jumped on it! And SW does NOT charge a bag fee! Airtran still has good deals, they just cut back on the number of non stop flights to MCO ...I prefer non stop especially when traveling with the kids!

Happy planning and hope you find some great deals ... be patient and shop around is the best advice I can give you