All about the Autotrain

[abja09]

Has anyone recently traveled on the Auto Train?? My family's trip is in three weeks.

I was on the auto train to Florida for the first time on Monday. We return on the auto train next Monday.

 

[Vickie1016]

I will be riding on the AT southbound tomorrow. I will return and post about the experience soon. I am hoping that the tropical storm/hurricaine Arthur does not disrupt the schedule too much.

Enjoy your trip!!

 

[Vickie1016]

I was on the auto train to Florida for the first time on Monday. We return on the auto train next Monday.

If possible, when you return from your trip, can you post your dining experience with the new menu? DH & I are traveling with DD(8) soon.

Thanks & enjoy your trip!!

 

[lynz421]

If possible, when you return from your trip, can you post your dining experience with the new menu? DH & I are traveling with DD(8) soon.

Thanks & enjoy your trip!!

Same here, would appreciate it. We leave in a couple weeks

 

[kmjc]

Same here, would appreciate it. We leave in a couple weeks

I am on board the Autotrain now. I am traveling with DD-7, and DH in a sleeping car bedroom. It is much better than I expected. It has plenty of room for the 3 of us. It is very nice to have a sink, shower, and toilet in our own room rather than sharing.

We arrived at 1 pm at the Lorton station. There were plenty of people there, but it didn't get crowded until closer to 2. Check in was easy. However, the 6 pm dinner was sold out. We chose the 7:30 dinner. I forgot to ask for priority offloading of my vehicle. By the time I remembered, my car was already loaded. Oh well, we'll see how long it takes to get my car back tomorrow.

At around 2:15, people began heading outside to the train. We followed the crowd. We waited outside our car (#41) until the attendant let us board at exactly 2:30.

We are also traveling with our two teenage sons (17 &19), and our nephew (18). In order to keep costs down, they are in coach. There are 3 cars separating us, but we were easily able to go to there seats to see them. They also came to our sleeper bedroom to covet our accommodations.

I will report on dinner later.

 

[abja09]

If possible, when you return from your trip, can you post your dining experience with the new menu? DH & I are traveling with DD(8) soon. Thanks & enjoy your trip!!

I would be happy to answer any questions - we did travel coach. If I can help I will be happy.

 

[Vickie1016]

I am on board the Autotrain now. I am traveling with DD-7, and DH in a sleeping car bedroom. It is much better than I expected. It has plenty of room for the 3 of us. It is very nice to have a sink, shower, and toilet in our own room rather than sharing.

We arrived at 1 pm at the Lorton station. There were plenty of people there, but it didn't get crowded until closer to 2. Check in was easy. However, the 6 pm dinner was sold out. We chose the 7:30 dinner. I forgot to ask for priority offloading of my vehicle. By the time I remembered, my car was already loaded. Oh well, we'll see how long it takes to get my car back tomorrow.

At around 2:15, people began heading outside to the train. We followed the crowd. We waited outside our car (#41) until the attendant let us board at exactly 2:30.

We are also traveling with our two teenage sons (17 &19), and our nephew (18). In order to keep costs down, they are in coach. There are 3 cars separating us, but we were easily able to go to there seats to see them. They also came to our sleeper bedroom to covet our accommodations.

I will report on dinner later.

Thank you for the info. We travel in the bedroom as well & find it very helpful to have the bathroom in the room with DD(now 8). (She was 3 1/2 our first Auto Train Trip).

Enjoy the trip!!

 

[Vickie1016]

I would be happy to answer any questions - we did travel coach. If I can help I will be happy.

I was just looking for info in the new menu for the sleeper cars. I was told by Amtrak several weeks ago that coach & sleeper have the same menu with children's options. DD(8) does not eat chicken nuggets & being from NY we are spoiled with NY pizza....

If you traveled with children, were they only able to order from the children's options?

Thanks again!!

 

[kmjc]

Well, we had dinner. My boys ate before us and warned me to not get the chicken Marsala as they said it was bad. They told me to order the beef or the fish. The food is all one menu now. The children's options include chicken fingers with mashed potatoes or pizza. I had the beef with mashed potatoes. It was tolerable. It was a lot like diner food. Not awful, not great. I don't think that it would be a problem for kids to order from the regular menu. Everything was listed on one sheet and I saw adults with chicken fingers. There was a special desert of a brownie. The other choices were ice cream with toppings or cheesecake. The cheesecake was pretty good.

The movie shown tonight had two showings at 7:15 and 9 and was "Despicable Me 2." We didn't watch it. We came back to our room and I had a very wobbly and cramped shower in the tiny bathroom. We are settled in for bed now. My DH is on the top bunk. DD and I are on the larger bottom bed. Hopefully we will all get good sleep tonight!

 

[Vickie1016]

Well, we had dinner. My boys ate before us and warned me to not get the chicken Marsala as they said it was bad. They told me to order the beef or the fish. The food is all one menu now. The children's options include chicken fingers with mashed potatoes or pizza. I had the beef with mashed potatoes. It was tolerable. It was a lot like diner food. Not awful, not great. I don't think that it would be a problem for kids to order from the regular menu. Everything was listed on one sheet and I saw adults with chicken fingers. There was a special desert of a brownie. The other choices were ice cream with toppings or cheesecake. The cheesecake was pretty good.

The movie shown tonight had two showings at 7:15 and 9 and was "Despicable Me 2." We didn't watch it. We came back to our room and I had a very wobbly and cramped shower in the tiny bathroom. We are settled in for bed now. My DH is on the top bunk. DD and I are on the larger bottom bed. Hopefully we will all get good sleep tonight!

Thank you for the update. Sorry to hear diner was just tolerable & thanks for the heads up on the chicken.

We have never watched the offered movie. We bring a portable DVD player for DD to watch, then when she falls asleep DH uses it & I read. And yes, showing is an adventure in its own...lol.

Enjoy the rest of your trip & thanks again for the updates.

 

[monorailsilver]

I was just looking for info in the new menu for the sleeper cars. I was told by Amtrak several weeks ago that coach & sleeper have the same menu with children's options. DD(8) does not eat chicken nuggets & being from NY we are spoiled with NY pizza....

If you traveled with children, were they only able to order from the children's options?

Thanks again!!

My dh orders the steak and he is 10. He couldn't have the kids meals due to his allergies. They also left off the sauce for the top of the steak since he was allergic to that as well. That was in April.

Well, we had dinner. My boys ate before us and warned me to not get the chicken Marsala as they said it was bad. They told me to order the beef or the fish. The food is all one menu now. The children's options include chicken fingers with mashed potatoes or pizza. I had the beef with mashed potatoes. It was tolerable. It was a lot like diner food. Not awful, not great. I don't think that it would be a problem for kids to order from the regular menu. Everything was listed on one sheet and I saw adults with chicken fingers. There was a special desert of a brownie. The other choices were ice cream with toppings or cheesecake. The cheesecake was pretty good.

The movie shown tonight had two showings at 7:15 and 9 and was "Despicable Me 2." We didn't watch it. We came back to our room and I had a very wobbly and cramped shower in the tiny bathroom. We are settled in for bed now. My DH is on the top bunk. DD and I are on the larger bottom bed. Hopefully we will all get good sleep tonight!

My dh had fish one way and said it wasn't good. I had the steak and enjoyed it.

And yes that shower is tight! I took a shower in it on the way down and felt like I was constantly hitting a wall with every turn. I told my dh to shower downstairs. He did and said it was huge!

So on our return we had the family bedroom and had the downstairs bathrooms. So I showered in that shower and it was heaven! Lots of room!

 

[bdcp]

Well, we had dinner. My boys ate before us and warned me to not get the chicken Marsala as they said it was bad. They told me to order the beef or the fish. The food is all one menu now. The children's options include chicken fingers with mashed potatoes or pizza. I had the beef with mashed potatoes. It was tolerable. It was a lot like diner food. Not awful, not great. I don't think that it would be a problem for kids to order from the regular menu. Everything was listed on one sheet and I saw adults with chicken fingers. There was a special desert of a brownie. The other choices were ice cream with toppings or cheesecake. The cheesecake was pretty good.

The movie shown tonight had two showings at 7:15 and 9 and was "Despicable Me 2." We didn't watch it. We came back to our room and I had a very wobbly and cramped shower in the tiny bathroom. We are settled in for bed now. My DH is on the top bunk. DD and I are on the larger bottom bed. Hopefully we will all get good sleep tonight!

We've never had a bad meal on the train (5 round trips). Most have been outstanding, especially for the size kitchen they have onboard. I hope the menu hasn't changed that much. We've had the bedroom and didn't even attempt a shower. Going to FL, we're usually heading right to our hotel and returning to VA, we drive 45 min to our house so we've never used the shower on board for the 4 times we've had a roomette or bedroom.

The cheesecake has always been decent, but not exactly gourmet.

 

[kmjc]

We slept well last night. I woke up a couple of times (typical for me) and checked Google maps on my phone to see where we were. I woke up at around 6. DH and DD woke at 7.

We had breakfast at 8. We had to wait about 10 minutes for a table. They had coffee, tea, OJ, 3 types of cereal, muffins, bagels, and oranges.

I talked to our 3 teenagers in coach. They told me that they didn't sleep all night. They are pretty pampered and not used to overnight travel. I am sure they will recover quickly!

We are meant to get to Sanford by 10. I really hope it doesn't take too long to get my car. It has been a good trip, but I am ready to get off!

 

[kmjc]

We got into Sanford today at 9:50. It took about 10-15 minutes of shuffling train cars before we were able to get off. We waited in the terminal until 11 before our car # was announced. We weren't last, bit we probably were in the last 1/3 to get our car. It seemed to move quickly. However, I will pay the $50 for priority off-loading on our return trip. The priority cars were all off within about 10 minutes. It is worth it to me to have that extra 45-50 minutes to get home.

 

[jwboucher]

Thanks for the info!

 

[monorailsilver]

We got into Sanford today at 9:50. It took about 10-15 minutes of shuffling train cars before we were able to get off. We waited in the terminal until 11 before our car # was announced. We weren't last, bit we probably were in the last 1/3 to get our car. It seemed to move quickly. However, I will pay the $50 for priority off-loading on our return trip. The priority cars were all off within about 10 minutes. It is worth it to me to have that extra 45-50 minutes to get home.

We did priority and it was great! We were car #3. We were off the train and on 95 in less then 10 min and we have 3 kids and had to out our luggage carrier back up.

 

[JimboCh]

Lets get the real scoop...........3 passengers and a car. What's the cost.....give me the good and the bad.....

 

[Vickie1016]

We got into Sanford today at 9:50. It took about 10-15 minutes of shuffling train cars before we were able to get off. We waited in the terminal until 11 before our car # was announced. We weren't last, bit we probably were in the last 1/3 to get our car. It seemed to move quickly. However, I will pay the $50 for priority off-loading on our return trip. The priority cars were all off within about 10 minutes. It is worth it to me to have that extra 45-50 minutes to get home.

Thank you for all your updates. It has been most helpful!

Last year we did the priority off-load in Sandford. We were the 3rd or 4th car off the train. With stopping to pick up a few groceries, we were at POFQ by 11:00. IMO well worth the $50 in Sanford.

Thanks again & enjoy your trip!!

 

[mare12]

Only 30 days until we travel on our family vacation.
I booked our trip last November, Family sleeper 2 adults, 1 child, and a vehicle round trip $1677.00

I am looking forward to the trip with our 4 year old grandson who loves trains just like any other boy his age. Reading this forum really helped me prepare for the trip.

Oh, by the way, this was still cheaper than flying my sons and there fiancés from Atlantic City to Orlando on Spirit Air because there work schedules didn't allow them to travel by train.

Cheers!

 

[Vickie1016]

We've never had a bad meal on the train (5 round trips). Most have been outstanding, especially for the size kitchen they have onboard. I hope the menu hasn't changed that much. We've had the bedroom and didn't even attempt a shower. Going to FL, we're usually heading right to our hotel and returning to VA, we drive 45 min to our house so we've never used the shower on board for the 4 times we've had a roomette or bedroom.

The cheesecake has always been decent, but not exactly gourmet.

This will be our 4th Auto-Train trip. In the past the meals were fine. Last year we all had the steak & it was better than expected. But with all the recent cut backs, I was concerned that DD(8) might be limited to just the two kids options. Last year we had a chocolate dessert special - OMG so rich we could not finish it.

And yes, taking a shower is an adventure!!