Camilo
1992 98 06 07 10 11 13 (cruise) 15 16 18 22
- Joined
- Aug 12, 2006
Folks,
After flying down from Buffalo to Florida for the last 10 years to go to Disney, we decided to drive this time.
Even though January prices are not released by Southwest yet, we did some simulations on different sites (including southwest) with the prices for November/early December and it would cost us close to CAN 2400.00 for the 5 of us from Toronto or around CAN 2300.00 from Buffalo for the dates we wanted.
We're leaving in January, spending 7 days in Orlando and driving to Miami for a cruise (unfortunately, not Disney this time) coming back to Canada 2 weeks after leaving home.
I've decided to go via I-75 due to the weather and mountains (already borrowed the "Along i-75" book by Dave Hunter). It seems a waste to drive 3 hours to Detroit border but people say it's the safest for winter time.
I do have 2 questions for fellow Canadians who did the drive down before:
1) Do you keep your all-season tires or switch to snow tires? I read a few other threads of some folks leaving all season on but I'm afraid if insurance would give us a hard time in case of an accident (knocking on wood) since we DO have the discount for having snow tires in our policy.
2) Has anyone taken the auto train from Sanford, Florida to Washington, DC (https://www.amtrak.com/auto-train)? I think driving down will be fun and the kids will be excited, but we were thinking about boarding the train (with the car) on the way back. It would cost U$ 580.00 for the 5 of us, so it would definitely NOT save us money, but we would "save" 1000 km on the minivan, plus 2 meals are included and we wouldn't have to pay the U$ 100.00 for that night in a hotel. I would like to hear feedback from others who have done it.
Any other tips/bits of advice are appreciated.
Thanks, Camilo
After flying down from Buffalo to Florida for the last 10 years to go to Disney, we decided to drive this time.
Even though January prices are not released by Southwest yet, we did some simulations on different sites (including southwest) with the prices for November/early December and it would cost us close to CAN 2400.00 for the 5 of us from Toronto or around CAN 2300.00 from Buffalo for the dates we wanted.
We're leaving in January, spending 7 days in Orlando and driving to Miami for a cruise (unfortunately, not Disney this time) coming back to Canada 2 weeks after leaving home.
I've decided to go via I-75 due to the weather and mountains (already borrowed the "Along i-75" book by Dave Hunter). It seems a waste to drive 3 hours to Detroit border but people say it's the safest for winter time.
I do have 2 questions for fellow Canadians who did the drive down before:
1) Do you keep your all-season tires or switch to snow tires? I read a few other threads of some folks leaving all season on but I'm afraid if insurance would give us a hard time in case of an accident (knocking on wood) since we DO have the discount for having snow tires in our policy.
2) Has anyone taken the auto train from Sanford, Florida to Washington, DC (https://www.amtrak.com/auto-train)? I think driving down will be fun and the kids will be excited, but we were thinking about boarding the train (with the car) on the way back. It would cost U$ 580.00 for the 5 of us, so it would definitely NOT save us money, but we would "save" 1000 km on the minivan, plus 2 meals are included and we wouldn't have to pay the U$ 100.00 for that night in a hotel. I would like to hear feedback from others who have done it.
Any other tips/bits of advice are appreciated.
Thanks, Camilo