How would you schedule this trip?

[la79al]

We drive to FL twice a year to visit the inlaws. Next year for our spring trip I will be taking the girls to stay at DW instead. DH is supportive as long as we stop in at some point to visit his parents. Initially I thought the plan was leave after school on Wednesday, drive through the night, arrive at his parents house mid morning Thursday, spend Thursday recovering from the drive and grocery shopping, leave early Friday morning to have DH drop us off at ASMo. Then we were going to stay there until the next Friday night when DH would come get us and take us back to his parents house until we left for home Saturday night. I figured this would give us at least a little time after DW to recover before the 16 hour drive. His parents are about 1.5 hours from DW and 2 hours from Orlando airport.
Now DH is talking about flying instead. None of the girls remember flying anywhere and all are excited to try it. DH wants to wake them up with 'surprise, we are going to DW' and then head to the airport. We have done this before with his older kids but we had the DDP so groceries weren't a concern. My thought is to stick with the initial plan and head to the airport after school on Wednesday, then maybe fly home the next Sunday. We wouldn't fly directly to DW but it would give us more time with his parents.
Thoughts or ideas on any of this? DH is no longer a DW fan so he is willing to tolerate paying for one big trip for this set of kids but he doesn't want to talk about it.

 

[TangledHairDon'tCare]

I always prefer to fly, so when I can get DH on board with that I never pass it up!

 

[TOBS2010]

If groceries are a concern---why not just have them delivered to you. You can use Instacart, Amazon, Garden Grocer or Shipt if you already are a member. Not sure how old your kids are---but I would hands down take flying over driving any day.

 

[Sara_H]

We have driven to Florida before (about a 22 hour drive) but never for a Disney trip. When we go to Disney we fly; I couldn't imagine spending a week in the parks and then driving home. Granted, I'm sure it is doable but probably not the most enjoyable.

 

[stephk1981]

If you are from PA as your profile says, by all means FLY!!!! That is so much time driving. Deliver groceries and have a great time at DW and with the inlaws!

 

[AgentMama]

Another vote for flying, I think it also sets you up for a nicer visit with your in-laws since the kids won't have just spent hours long in a car.

 

[MainMom]

Fly, fly, fly.

 

[jhoannam]

You can have groceries delivered. Super easy.

 

[Baduist]

We drive to FL twice a year to visit the inlaws. Next year for our spring trip I will be taking the girls to stay at DW instead. DH is supportive as long as we stop in at some point to visit his parents. Initially I thought the plan was leave after school on Wednesday, drive through the night, arrive at his parents house mid morning Thursday, spend Thursday recovering from the drive and grocery shopping, leave early Friday morning to have DH drop us off at ASMo. Then we were going to stay there until the next Friday night when DH would come get us and take us back to his parents house until we left for home Saturday night. I figured this would give us at least a little time after DW to recover before the 16 hour drive. His parents are about 1.5 hours from DW and 2 hours from Orlando airport.
Now DH is talking about flying instead. None of the girls remember flying anywhere and all are excited to try it. DH wants to wake them up with 'surprise, we are going to DW' and then head to the airport. We have done this before with his older kids but we had the DDP so groceries weren't a concern. My thought is to stick with the initial plan and head to the airport after school on Wednesday, then maybe fly home the next Sunday. We wouldn't fly directly to DW but it would give us more time with his parents.
Thoughts or ideas on any of this? DH is no longer a DW fan so he is willing to tolerate paying for one big trip for this set of kids but he doesn't want to talk about it.

Don’t do the surprise part.

Let them enjoy the anticipation, let them make plans, etc.

Vacations go by so fast, I find that you wanna prolong them as much as possible, through pictures/memories post-vacation, and through planning & anticipating pre-vacation.

The expectation is probably the best part of a vacation if you think about it ;-) Dreaming, planning, being excited on the way there, talking about what you’re gonna do, etc.

Don’t rob them of that, for a 3-second excitement of a surprise.

 

[crazylady]

I think surprises are fun. Maybe tell them about the trip but not the flying part.

Does DH need a car at the inlaws? You could all still head to the inlaws for a few days and then you and the girls can drive to WDW when you are ready and pick DH up when you are done.

Or if they are closer to another airport you can fly into one airport and out of the other.

 

[tinkerjo]

Since your DH does not want to go or help with the planning I would tell the kids before you go so they can help you with planning. Since your not going until spring, maybe you can surprise them at Christmas. That would still be an awesome gift/surprise but you will not miss out on the fun and anticipation of planning a vacation with your girls. I have gone on trips without DH with the kids (they were mostly teens then (18,12,6) so pretty independent except for the little guy and he has always acted older) and we had a great time. We drive everywhere (from Ohio) but we enjoy road trips. Have a great time planning your special trip

 

[DisLiss]

We're the odd bunch..we don't want to drive from the mid-atlantic states to FL, but we don't like to fly, either. So we take sleeping cars in a train. But if I had to choose between driving from PA and flying, I'd fly.

My 8 year old was just telling me how he gets excited for something and then when it gets close he actually wishes there was still more time, because he likes the time waiting to do something fun so much. So for that reason alone we include our kids in planning. If the anticipation is something your kids enjoy, then for sure I'd tell them ahead of time, but if they are the type to drive you crazy about it until it happens, then I'd wait longer to tell them.

 

[justafigment27]

Personally, I would fly out Thursday morning, plan for an afternoon arrival at your resort, do a Thur-Thur Disney trip and then have a relaxing weekend with your in-laws before flying home.

We have split WDW with visiting my parents in FL probably 8-9 times over the years. We have always flown. We’ve tried it before WDW, after WDW and, one year, we went on a 4 day Disney Cruise with a couple of days at my parents’ house on either end.

Personally, I always found going directly to Disney from the airport followed by time with my parents to be the easiest and most relaxed option. The time at my parents is something my kids always looked forward to, so it made leaving Disney less sad. It also makes for a leisurely exit of WDW as we aren’t in a hurry to get to the airport, etc. Once at my parents, we relax and I run a couple loads of laundry and then we just chill for the rest of our trip.

Going to my parents before Disney was ok, but not as relaxing. It sort of gave me extra packing/preparing stress ... like I had the vacation prep before we left our home, then I had to have a second prep day before we left my parents house to go to Disney. And then we were wiped out from Disney when we got home. Plus, we were all kind of excited about Disney and almost wishing our time away at my parents.

The time we did the cruise in the middle of the trip was the least relaxing ... we essentially wound up with four transition days: arrival day, day of the cruise, day we got off cruise and day we flew home. Plus, we packed and unpacked multiple times ... I tried to keep most of our cruise stuff in a separate bag, but there were things we needed/wanted before, after & during the cruise, so we had to rearrange our stuff a few times.