A few Amtrak Questions...

[tinkerbell211]

We will be traveling from Raleigh, NC to the Kisimmee station roundtrip
We are a party of 5 adults and 2 children
Here's our plan....
5 coach seats and 1 roomette. Silver 91 leaves Ral. Fri night and arrives in Kissimme Sat am. Then return trip on Silver 92; leave Kissimmee Sat mid day and arrives in Ral early Sun am

Here's the questions....
1) Can we hope for fewer delays since we're traveling on weekends?
2) We realize that the roomette and coach seats are in seperate cars. What are our options of places to gather together?
3)Will we be able to "visit" our family members in the roomette...just to let them know where we're gathering, etc.?
4)What are our options for transportation from the station to our resort & the reverse?

Thanks VERY much!!!

 

[Lassie Lynne]

Hi!!

Let me see if I can help you with some of the questions you have, I am kinda an Amtrak Expert!

1. Delays can be anytime. Most delays are weather related and freight train related. I cannot tell you weither weekend or weekday is better....if the weather looks good, #91 leaves New York on time and equipment is working good, you have a better chance of running close to schedule.

2. The roomette will either be in the front or the back of the train. A gathering place would be in the lounge car where they have seats and tables with booths that anyone can sit, first come, first served.....big groups too. Also, if you plan on eating your meals in the dining car, anyone can sit together (if presented at the same time as a group together - 4 to a table).

3. Yes, you will be able to go to the sleeper to talk with them and coordinate your "gatherings" as long as it is not a huge crowd all at once - the hallways are really tight and so is the roomette, so hard to have 4 people stop by to chat.....if an employee asks, just let them know politely that you are stopping by room # to tell your relative you are ready to meet them in the lounge area...should be fine.

Hope this helps!

 

[Dopey's twin Dippy]

we left dedham,ma on tues.8/22 on amtrak train 95 into wash,dc. then we got on train 91 to orlando ,it left around 2 something. this was like our 10 or 11th trip down to disney by train. but,,,,it was just me and dh this time so i got us a sleeper. i think it def . was worth the money. we planned a kinda last min. trip s o sleeper was pricy. the train going down , probably was only maybe 1 hour or maybe a little longer late getting in. c oming home on wed.30th ,we decided at the last minute to upgrade to sleeper. i orginally booked sleeper for only the way down. so train 92 actually left orlando on time ,because of the pending ernesto s torm they had not had the train on regular route from tampa,miami. so it was on time. we were only maybe 1 hour later into wash,dc. then on into rte 128 dedham, ma. i would say this was prob. our best ride ever in all maybe12 trips on the train. im sorry for babbling , but we have also had really late,late running trains. also coach can be VERY noisy. so just be prepared. also our attendant on the sleeper section said she caught people walking into sleeper section withouth first asking.l someone wanted to check them out . i believe she said you ask they will try to show you an empty room. i d ont know about having 3 or 5 people visit, cause it is very narrow and the rooms are small. but plenty of room for 2 of us. if you go with the idea that it might be late , you will be fine. but dont expect miriacles.....ha ha ha. you will have fun, just make sure kids bring stuff to entertain themselves,books, also snacks cause it can get expensive to every time you want a snack.oh yeah, the sleeper car was FREEZING , we had pants and shirt, and light jackets on when we went to b ed..no kidding. it was really really COLD. hope you have fun. please post when you get back. oh , again, sorry this is so long..............

 

[adisneynut]

Taxi(which can bee steep) see if Mears will pick you up 9That can take a long time because they make stops all around Disney) or rental car(we checked adn the rates were ttoooo mmmuuuccchh).

We decided to arrange for a private car serice to pick us up. Many people have used SunrayTransportation and they oofer a discount if you say your say the add on mouseforless. There are few threads about them and most of very pleased with the service around 80.00-85.00 roundtrip.

 

[tinkerbell211]

Thanks for the replies. Does anyone else have experience to share?

 

[pepe of ohio]

We have been using Amtrak for the past 10 years and this past trip, 8/26-9/3, I believe will be our last. Service from northern Ohio to Kissimmee has been getting worse all along and after this trip about the worst. We usually board in Alliance Ohio to Washington, then Washington to Kissimmee. This trip, in bound train 3 hours late to board in Alliance, then detraining in Pittsburg Pa. to be put on a charter bus to race the train to Washington so as not to miss north-south train. Its doable, Amtrak makes all the arrangements but the hassle. We opted to ask if any roomettes were available after boarding in Washington, pre-trip price is 244.00 for roomette, we purchased on board for 150.00, big savings but empty roomettes are not always available. Return trip, train on time in Kissimmee, on time up to Jacksonville, care hit train just before, long delay then bomb threat in Jacksonville, 6+ hour delay, mass confusion, irate passengers and a missed connection in Washington to east-west train resulted in another bus trip back to Pittsburg Pa to catch west bound train. Thats 6 hours on a charter bus each way, if I wanted to go by bus, I would have booked one. Alot of inconvenience with luggage and seating, really a big pain.

We have flown a few times, pre 9/11, but I'm not really comfortable in a plane but after this past trip on Amtrak, last 11 trips by train, I'm rethinking the plane route. Figure to see the doctor for relaxers, be in Florida in 2 hours vs. the 30 plus each way Amtrak is making.

 

[DC7800]

Pepe of Ohio, were you onboard #92 (northbound Silver Star) September 4th? If so, it appears that wasn't really a bomb threat, but rather just paranoia (and maybe racism). The whole episode sort of goes downhill from there.

As for trains 29/30 west of D.C., apparently the schedule will be adjusted to operate 1-2 hours earlier so even late trains can still make the connection in Washington to southbound Florida trains without the aggravating bus ride. Those bus trips are expensive to Amtrak and seem to be happening much too regularly. I'm not nearly as certain if it has occured to anyone that if the Capitol Limited ran on time, there wouldn't be a problem with making connections. sigh...

 

[adisneynut]

When I saw the report on Fox News I couldn't help but feel sorry for everyone on that train. We were flying back in Nov. of 2001 when an idiot closed down Hartsfield international for sveral hours. We should have landed by 5:00 pm in MIA however it was 12:30 am. What should have taken about 2 hours ended lasting almost 12 hours. Sitting on a plane waiting for the grid to clear in ATL for over 4 hours isn't fun. It was a mightmare for many people that day.

This man had to sell his house and move because he received death threats. He is also band from all GA ABL football games.

 

[pepe of ohio]

We boarded train 92 at 3:30 pm in Kissimmee Monday Sept4th. The to do was either that Monday or early Tuesday but Homeland Security, Jax Bomb squad, FBI, ATF, bomb dogs, fire and rescue and tons of Jax police rushed everyone of the train, no to take anything with them, bags, purses, no nothing and exit as fast as possible. We all huddled in the JAX station, no info given for hours, then statement from Jax police about train search. Then again statement from Jax police saying its going to be an all nighter and make do however. Thats great, no one has transportation to a hotel, if train is released how will anyone know that if they leave for a hotel, no one has their purse or bags, and no one is allowed on board to retreive them, no real time frame given. Seeing bomb squad truck and bomb personnel through window of station, people started to realize its going to be along night. Only thing at station is pop machine. Finally Amtrak people bring out room temp bottled water. Later they brought boxed Dunkin Donuts for everyone and made coffee pot purchases to brew coffee. Nothing much for children or babies. People sleeping on station floor and out in parking lot on the concrete, not enough seats in terminal. We figured Red Cross or Salvation Army would arrive with their coffee coach and cots and just blankets for the ground since the whole station was cordoned off and TV trucks were not allowed in and set up across the street but now showed. My wife and I staked a corner of the terminal out behind a big potted plant and slept until an announcement, 4 hours later that 1st class was okay to board, then later coach was okay to board. Train was 2 cars shy of what it came in with, were pushed back and people in those cars, were told their luggage or personal effects left on train would no be going with them but would arrive somewhere, sometime in the future.

 

[LakeAriel]

OMG..! I used only Amtrak for years between NY and Orlando. Each year the service got worse. I will thank them for heping me overcome my fear of flying! I have flown twice in the past year and with Magical express it's crazy not too. It's just a gut feeling. The fear I had for 50 years is just gone. One thing they never allowed was unticketed people going into the sleeper car section. Those doors don't lock if you aren't in the room! with all the securty they certainly should not allow it. Have your family meet you in the lounge or dining car or speak to an attendent if you want to try to share the room somehow. If they supervise it they may allow it. (or not) ID is important on public transportation in case anything happens.

 

[erinch]

cellphones mostly work on amtrak too. might be out of range in a few spots, but you can send text messages which will send when the next available connection comes around.

We have always been very happy with the Auto Train. Did trips from Chicago to the West this summer. Service on both the Southwest Chief, and even more the California Zephyr are deteriorating, with reports this is system-wide. My DH is a train fanatic, but if it were up to me, we'd do auto train, period.

 

[pepe of ohio]

OMG..! I used only Amtrak for years between NY and Orlando. Each year the service got worse. I will thank them for heping me overcome my fear of flying! I have flown twice in the past year and with Magical express it's crazy not too. It's just a gut feeling. The fear I had for 50 years is just gone. One thing they never allowed was unticketed people going into the sleeper car section. Those doors don't lock if you aren't in the room! with all the securty they certainly should not allow it. Have your family meet you in the lounge or dining car or speak to an attendent if you want to try to share the room somehow. If they supervise it they may allow it. (or not) ID is important on public transportation in case anything happens.

We had a roomette from Washington to Kissimmee and the people across from us tried to get their whole family into the roomette, it only holds 2 but they told the porter they wanted their children to see the room and they came up and kept coming and going and eventually staying, somehow, with the blinds all pulled. Caused a big commotion, noisy, kids coming and going. Its susposed to be first class accommaditions, quiet an all but I guess the porter warned them a couple of times to no avail. They also say to have Photo IDwhen riding the train but ours were never checked at any station, not even Washington.

 

[Dopey's twin Dippy]

this was our first time with a roomette. out of wash,dc into orlando.,now on our trip from dedham,ma to wash,dc they did ask all of us for photo id with tickets. once in a while they also did random checks. we found that also on the way home. we also noticed on the regular train from wash,dc to dedham,ma they would only open a couple of doors when they stopped at dif. locations for people either exiting or entering. also on the roomeete on the way out of orlando,which the train originated from that wed 8/30 due to ernesto the train did not run the day before down to tampa,miami,etc so we actually had a 437 pm train leave on time.........haha. but anyways, our attendant,bonnie,was very nice and actually while she was talking to us about dinner reservations ,this girl comes walking down our roomeete car. she asked the girl if she was in sleeper section,she said no, so she made sure that she watched her go back out of the sleeper car section. we felt very secure and acually for once had a great train ride.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

cellphones mostly work on amtrak too.

Unfortunately, this is true.

Listining to someone's loud, inane phone conversation for HOURS is one of the banes of using Amtrak.