We've done both. As much as I hate to fly and deal with airports and delays with preschoolers, I plan on flying next time we go to Florida. $740 for your family is a great price - FLY!

The flip side is if you drive, you can bring a ton of stuff. We usually leave DC around 9 or 10 at night, and that gets us there by check in.
My husband and I take turns driving. The kids really like to play video games and watch movies in the car. I like saving $1000 and putting it towards a nicer hotel or the dining plan.
We have a minivan for 4 people. Expense of driving is around $350 (no tolls, no hotels). When we drive to NYC it is about $85 due to tolls as well as gas.
I'd fly if money were not an issue, but I prefer to go twice a year this way than once a year "all out".

Anonymous wrote:We drove last spring. No issues and we had the freedom of having a car and were able to bring food etc, since we were staying at a 2 bedroom condo at the WBC. DH would have been so irritated by disney buses. He spends enough time battle with metro going to work.

Flying doesn't mean that folks don't have the option of renting a car. Many people fly and rent cars at Orlando airport.

Anonymous wrote:We were just there this month. Our shuttle stopped at four resorts total.

This was my experience, as well. We happened to be the 4th stop.

Anonymous wrote:We were just there this month. Our shuttle stopped at four resorts total.

That's pretty much the maximum. The 35-stop PP was exaggerating. When I last took ME, we stopped at one resort before mine, and it was headed to one more after that. When I was picked up to go to the airport, mine was the first stop and we went to two other resorts before the airport.

On the other hand, if you are really in a hurry and/or want to get groceries, there are tons of car service companies that will do airport pickup/return and include a free grocery stop, for around $120 RT (less than two cab rides). Another option to be aware of.

We were just there this month. Our shuttle stopped at four resorts total.

We drove last spring. No issues and we had the freedom of having a car and were able to bring food etc, since we were staying at a 2 bedroom condo at the WBC. DH would have been so irritated by disney buses. He spends enough time battle with metro going to work.

fly to orlando- did the trip last week- actual flying time b/t 1hr40 min and 1hr50 min. easy- magical express was great, we stayed for a week, had grocery delivery and checked a bag of food (suitcase)- never needed a car, easier and cheaper than any other option, really.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not OP but is there a fee for having luggage delivered to the hotel if staying on property?

No fee. It's part of the Disney Magic Express. Free shuttle service to your hotel, bags delivered to the room. Note: the "shuttle" is a full-size passenger bus. So it's not like 8 people or anything.

Note that the shuttle will likely stop at 35 other places before it gets to your hotel.

If your kids don't need a full car seat, get a bubblebum for travel. You can inflate it when needed and it's easy to store.

Yes, FLY! I will always fly if I can get airfare under $1000 for the 4 of us. Over that, I start to think about it. Last spring break we paid around $1500 to fly.

We drove to TN for Christmas, and it was such a terrible experience, there is no way in Hell I would drive to Orlando if I could afford to fly. We got stuck in traffic jams, bad weather, fast food for 2 days straight each way. Just really really awful.

Fly!

FLY! Driving to Orlando is pure Hell.

In terms of whether you'd want your car once at Disney, Caribbean Beach is going to be pretty equivalent to the Value resorts in terms of convenience. The bus service is the same, and there's still no resort-to-resort transportation (if you want to go have dinner at AKL, for instance). So, your feelings on the usefulness of having your car last time are applicable to this decision as well. Personally I would fly and plan to take a cab if I ever really needed a more direct route than via Disney transportation, but that's less of an option if your kid is young enough to need a full car seat.