All about the Autotrain

[Dizholic]

Thank you very much! It was very interesting!

check out this video posted a few months ago.

great look at the sleeper cars/cabins and the true auto train experience.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjO__wtSK8E

This guy must have been holding his arm up high to video, which really helps get an idea of spacing.

**warning** a little uncensored.

 

[pwdebbie]

That video just did me in on ever taking the AT! At the point where he stuck his hands in the ice to fill his bucket, umm, nooooo! Use a scoop, buddy! Beyond that, everything looked much smaller than I had expected, much tighter. Definitely would not work for someone who gets claustrophobic (not me, the hubby).

 

[katallo]

That video just did me in on ever taking the AT! At the point where he stuck his hands in the ice to fill his bucket, umm, nooooo! Use a scoop, buddy! Beyond that, everything looked much smaller than I had expected, much tighter. Definitely would not work for someone who gets claustrophobic (not me, the hubby).

I agree. We were thinking about it but that looks awful. I think if I had to do it I would just get a seat and not sleep until I got there.

 

[loveysbydesign]

We just went on the autotrain for the 1st time in Nov,. and had a great time. We did lower level coach seats for the 5 of us so we had the car to ourselves! I posted some pics. here in case you are interested!
https://www.facebook.com/tracey.fre...0205474955622267.1073741913.1502173676&type=3

 

[monorailsilver]

That video just did me in on ever taking the AT! At the point where he stuck his hands in the ice to fill his bucket, umm, nooooo! Use a scoop, buddy! Beyond that, everything looked much smaller than I had expected, much tighter. Definitely would not work for someone who gets claustrophobic (not me, the hubby).

Room size really wasn't that bad. We did it for the first (and last time til tracks get fixed in 100 years) time and we tried all 3 rooms. Dh and my so were in the roomette and they had plenty of room sleep wise but all their luggage was in my room.

My 2 dds and I had the bedroom. My youngest then 7 and I slept on the bottom with out any issues/enough room.

There were times that all 5 of us hung out in the bedroom and were comfortable.

On the return we did the family bedroom. I felt like we had less room in there then the bedroom with the bathroom! I think because there was no where to put our bags and we kept our door shut for the most part. At least in the bedroom we just closed the curtain.

We said if we were to do it again we'd get 2 bedrooms side by side.

I agree. We were thinking about it but that looks awful. I think if I had to do it I would just get a seat and not sleep until I got there.

I can tell you dh, myself and my oldest, then 12 did not sleep well in the bedroom. We got sleep and when we got off in the am we looked at the people in coach and realized we got a lot more sleep then them. But we were up frequently during the night due to the jerking movements. The noise did not bother us nor did the general swaying if the train. It was the feeling of derailment that we hated.

I am glad I tried it. My dh when we were dating wanted to do it but it was more expensive then flying so we never did. I booked early so we got a low rate and it was cheaper then a flight and rental.

This April we are flying and got a rental and I think it's $100 more to fly but we aren't taking our beach chairs, toys, umbrellas and kitchen sink!

 

[Disneyholic]

That video just did me in on ever taking the AT! At the point where he stuck his hands in the ice to fill his bucket, umm, nooooo! Use a scoop, buddy! Beyond that, everything looked much smaller than I had expected, much tighter. Definitely would not work for someone who gets claustrophobic (not me, the hubby).

I agree about the hands in the ice. Gross. That is why I don't do ice unless it comes out of a dispenser and then most of the time I don't.

We get a bedroom with the bathroom. We both sleep on the bottom bunk & don't have them put down the upper one. This last time we forgot & it was down when we came back from dinner. We just left it. It really didn't make it too close. We did coach round-trip once and have done the deluxe bedroom every trip since. I like being able to lay down to sleep and you get pillows, sheets and a blanket.

 

[bdcp]

That video just did me in on ever taking the AT! At the point where he stuck his hands in the ice to fill his bucket, umm, nooooo! Use a scoop, buddy! Beyond that, everything looked much smaller than I had expected, much tighter. Definitely would not work for someone who gets claustrophobic (not me, the hubby).

We've ridden 5 round trips and will be taking our 6th in about 4 weeks and most people are not like that. Remember, that video wasn't made to be informative.

We don't find it claustrophobic at all and the bedroom is very comfortable and spacious. We are in a roomette again and while small, it's very comfortable.

We've also not used the ice onboard except what was provided at meals. The water dispensers have cold enough water and the bottled water is drinkable at any temp.

 

[poison ivy]

That video just did me in on ever taking the AT! At the point where he stuck his hands in the ice to fill his bucket, umm, nooooo! Use a scoop, buddy! Beyond that, everything looked much smaller than I had expected, much tighter. Definitely would not work for someone who gets claustrophobic (not me, the hubby).

I know. That ice bucket scene was really horrible. I hope Amtrak sees it and realizes they have a sanitation issue. But this is a lesson about ice dispensers in general.

Everything is compact on the train but still pretty comfortable. They weren't small guys and they did fill the space with a decent amount of room. But those adjoining bedrooms are only meant for 2 adults per each room, even though the seating was for 4. Did you see how the one guy was able to lay down with the cabin all to himself? Nice.

 

[RustManFan]

We take the auto train when my sister is along since she will not fly. Just me and my adult DS going in 2016 and we probably will take the auto train again. We love the adventure! And we just get coach seats and are very comfortable... with our own pillows of course!

 

[bdcp]

We're on the AT on Thursday heading to FL and our cruise. Anyone been recently? Wondering how all the changes are and I've only seen a couple of reports (here and another site) so not much to judge by and none in over a month. Anyone know if the Lorton bathrooms are done yet? I know as of mid-Dec they weren't.

 

[Marshay]

We're on the AT on Thursday heading to FL and our cruise. Anyone been recently? Wondering how all the changes are and I've only seen a couple of reports (here and another site) so not much to judge by and none in over a month. Anyone know if the Lorton bathrooms are done yet? I know as of mid-Dec they weren't.

Just wanted to say good luck on your trip and have fun! Report back on the AT.

 

[bdcp]

Just wanted to say good luck on your trip and have fun! Report back on the AT.

Thanks, we will!. Heading to where it's a little warmer. Just glad the big snow is out of the picture for us this week. We were sweating traveling in early Feb every since we booked this cruise over a year and a half ago. Going with friends who invited us along. They live in Canada, so they're always looking to get away in the winter.

We have our snacks and wine packed

 

[bdcp]

We're currently at Lorton. The waiting room is pretty full considering it's only 1:20. We got here about 12:15 and waiting in line to get through the gate for about 15 minutes. Only backed up about 3/4 of the way to Lorton Road (we've seen and experienced worse). Got 7 pm dinner in sleeper diner. Found out friends will be on the train too and hoping to have dinner with them. We haven't seen them yet, but they may have checked in and left for lunch. Also, still diong construction and the bathrooms are still outside in a trailer. Actually pretty nice and in my opinion nicer than the inside ones here.

 

[bdcp]

We left Lorton at about 3:30 and were in Florence, SC at 10:40. We got into Sanford this morning at at 8:45. Our car was in the last 40 off, which is the norm for us. Construction is also being done at Sanford which affects how they offload, and I would guess it also impacts how they load, but we'll see that on the 15th. Food was good and the trip was one of the smoothest we've ever had.

 

[kandb]

We have done the AT twice, once we had a family bedroom both ways. The other trip we had seats on the way down and a family bedroom back. Honestly, I would NEVER do the seats again. No one in our family slept at all. The doors banged all night and if you are not used to sleeping in a chair, it is so hard to sleep. The people who sleep must take sleeping pills. lol

 

[bdcp]

We were in a roomette and have done a bedroom and coach. We will only do coach when we're heading back home to VA since we live less than an hour from Lorton and we can just go home and nap if we need to. But, we are in a roomette for our trip back and our round trip in Nov/Dec also. Bedroom was the closest to normal night sleep. Sleepers are definitely quieter.

 

[Cedarmom]

Because I enjoyed reading these, I will give you our experience with the autotrain.

We left from Lorton on Jan 29th. We overheard a ticketing agent say it was the most crowded train so far this year. We had over 560 people and 297 cars on the train. We were in coach seats. They were okay. Our particular car had all of the coach families in it--all 4 of us. The average age on the train was probably 75. Even with all of the littles, the car was very quiet. The kids slept pretty well and my husband and I dozed. I think I got a good 4 hour stretch in there, but was up by 5. Masks and earplugs definitely helped. The lounge car stayed packed the whole trip. Dinner was TV dinner quality. Edible, but not very enjoyable. We both had the beef going down. My oldest son enjoyed the salmon and my littles ate the choo choo chewies without complaint. We arrived right at 9:30 but didn't offload until 10. They started priority car offloading at 10:45 and we had our car and were on our way by 11:25, with maybe half the cars offloaded before ours.

We came back on the Feb 7 train from Sanford. It had 250 people and 105 cars. We each had two seats to sleep and that was a much better situation. The kids all slept great. I was comfy and would have slept okay had the family behind us minded their manners a bit better. They did things like not use headphones for the iPad movies, FaceTimed with family (congratulations on your engagement, Bobbie!), used foul language, gave the children loud toys to play with and in general just didn't seem to be aware of their impact on others around them. The rest of the car seemed very quiet, however. I think we just had bad luck with a clueless family. The lounge car was mostly empty this time and I spent the majority of the evening in there to avoid them. For dinner, we tried the chicken and the salmon. Both were okay--much better than the beef. The chicken was the clear winner. We arrived right at 9:30 am despite an hour delay due to a car on the tracks, were off the train by 9:35 and they started priority cars at 9:42. We got ours at 10:18 and were probably one of the last 25 or so called.

 

[bdcp]

We're back on the AT train tomorrow heading back home to VA. I'll write more after we get home. One thing I will say is that our trip down on 5 Feb was one of the smoothest we've ever had.

 

[Conway733]

We took the AT for our first trip to WDW. We didn't mind it, but time-wise it just didn't work for our other two trips. Now, I was looking at the AT again for our trip in November 2015, and wow! The price really seems to have increased! Not sure what to do at this point...might be just as much as flying and renting a car.

 

[Disneyholic]

We took the AT for our first trip to WDW. We didn't mind it, but time-wise it just didn't work for our other two trips. Now, I was looking at the AT again for our trip in November 2015, and wow! The price really seems to have increased! Not sure what to do at this point...might be just as much as flying and renting a car.

Yes, the prices have gone up and amenities have gone down in the last year. No wine with dinner unless you pay for it. Plastic dinner plates in dining car that cracks when you try to cut your meat. No more wine tasting and snacks in club car for sleeper car passengers when train pulls out and only 1 club car shared by both sleepers and coach. It still is better for me since I don't like to fly and the driving is getting to be a bit too much as we get older.