All about the Autotrain

[Marshay]

First -- sorry for the seat mix-up ... or rather for that lady wanting to take both seats! I know when the train is NOT full, they are very lenient with seating and we saw many people with 2 seats to themselves. However, when it is full, you can't be a space hog.

I also see that in the lounge car ... two people will take up an entire booth and not share with anyone else. I know they can do that, but when it's crowded, it's much nicer to share, ya know?

 

[Marshay]

it is part of our vacation not just mode of transportation

Yes, these are my thoughts exactly.

If you are just looking to get there as quickly as possible, then driving or flying may be faster ... or maybe not with air delays and traffic jams

But if you are looking to travel to/from Florida in a relaxed manner and want to extend your vacation, then the Autotrain is a great way to go!

 

[mykidslovesdisney]

Yes it is nice if people share. I know we boarded last but that was on Amtrak part. We were there way ahead of time. We had no problem with the 2 teenagers. once they realized that they had taken our seat they quickly moved back. The lady was something else!! She kept saying if they can find me 2 seats I will move!! I was thinking to myself-- yeah right!!

We don't even try for the lounge car-- there is never a seat available for all of us. We dont' do the movie either bc we are usually up at 2am for the trek to Lorton and the kids are plain wiped out by evening. On our June trip DS12 didnt sleep at all after we left home till that night on the AT--- he complained that Mom and his cousins talked too much on the trip down!! It was nice to have girl talk -- the ride w/ DH is fun but not as fun as girl talk!!

We prefer the AT-- we haven't flown since 2002. DH works for Amtrak so it is a great perk and lets us visit WDW yearly. We decided that we would still do the AT bc it is soo much fun. The kids look forward to the trip every year. DS4 calls it the Florida Train!! We were faced in 2009 with the prospect of driving home to CT after TS Fay cancelled our return train. We opted to stay 5 more days and get the next available train out. I just can't imagine driving the whole way.

I know the AT is not for everyone but we certainly enjoy it! Hoping to head back in August.

 

[chartle]

We were faced in 2009 with the prospect of driving home to CT after TS Fay cancelled our return train. We opted to stay 5 more days and get the next available train out. I just can't imagine driving the whole way.

We did for the same reason, TS Fay. We had to get back since my sons' started school on Monday.

 

[AMVmom]

Yes it is nice if people share. I know we boarded last but that was on Amtrak part. We were there way ahead of time. We had no problem with the 2 teenagers. once they realized that they had taken our seat they quickly moved back. The lady was something else!! She kept saying if they can find me 2 seats I will move!! I was thinking to myself-- yeah right!!

We don't even try for the lounge car-- there is never a seat available for all of us. .

That's horrible about that lady; people can act so entitled and obnoxious sometimes. If she didn't pay for it then she shouldn't be there.

I hope the lounge car won't be so bad when we go. We are hoping for mid to end of August so hopefully some kids are back in school already and I don't think the snowbirds are traveling at that time, are they?

I'm really looking forward to the train, it's like a little mini-adventure and it almost overshadows my excitement over going to WDW!

 

[mykidslovesdisney]

chartle--we got back with a few days to spare before school started. We were fortunate that we were able to rework our work schedules and get a train home. Our youngest DS was 14 months at the time and I couldn't imagine driving that long with him. It took some time to find a room 2 days bf our original departure date. WDW was great - they said they would waive any cancellation fee if we did get out. We moved from a 2bdrm villa at OKW to a garden room at the Contempory. We had our annual passes so we just kept going but at a much slower pace. We still agree it was one of the best trips we have ever taken. We were suppose to depart on a Thursday but got the Monday train out. Good thing bc the Friday train was 17 hrs delayed on the tracks

AMVmom-- we travel in Aug alternating beg of month then the following year mid Aug. We have experience sold out trains for most of the times. Amtrak does offer a $19 kids fare that covers that timeframe. There is not an abundance of snow birds at that time.

Enjoy your trip-- be happy to help with any ?'s you may have

 

[mykidslovesdisney]

For those that are wondering about keeping their DC entertained on the AT-- it is really broken down and not one continous sit still trip.

Start boarding by 230pm
Train departs by 4pm - earlier if everyone is loaded
Depending on your dinner time -- 5, 7 or 9pm. We go for the 5pm
Eat for an hour 6pm
Head back to our seat/sleeper--
Watch a movie
lights out. If you are in coach lights go out at 9pm-- must use headphones in coach
We sleep till 630am and see where we are in terms of arrival-- if we are ahead of schedule -- about 8am we grab our breakfast. If we are late - we usually hang out a bit before grabbing breakfast.
Depart the train by 830 (if on time)

I like that it is broken down into segments. The majority of the travel is during the night. Just remember that there can be delays. Anywhere from the station to being on the tracks.

We usually load up on the DVDs and the video games. I bring a book or two since I am known to blow thru a book on the way down and need another one for the trip home.

Hope this helps someone.

 

[AMVmom]

The breakdown of activities is very helpful, thank you. I had heard about the $19 tickets but wasn't sure when it was offered, and I'm worried that if I book too late the overall price will go up for everyone. (I am a worrywart by the way so I worry about everything!) I will definitely be bringing lots of entertainment and pillows (I'll have to look for that body pillow thingie).

 

[mykidslovesdisney]

The breakdown of activities is very helpful, thank you. I had heard about the $19 tickets but wasn't sure when it was offered, and I'm worried that if I book too late the overall price will go up for everyone. (I am a worrywart by the way so I worry about everything!) I will definitely be bringing lots of entertainment and pillows (I'll have to look for that body pillow thingie).

Your welcome! The $19 tickets usually come out in April. yes the overall price will go up bc it is closer to departure. If you know you want to go - book it now. The closer it is the higher it goes. Even the vehicle goes up too. don't forget the snacks and drinks. We always pack a bag of them. The pillow was a life saver on the June Trip. I even seen them at staples-- it is usually in the 'As seen on TV" section. I gave DH some funny looks when he came home with them but now I know he made a good purchase!

Here is the link to it-https://www.trytotalpillow.com/?utm_source=Google&utm_medium=CPC&utm_campaign=TotalPillow&etag=tpx&gclid=CPfei_z9sq0CFQXd4Aodu30OoA

Good luck on your decision!

 

[MinnieGi]

We love the AT too and in fact have taken it 3 times during the last 12 months. Our children enjoy the train alot too. And I thought I'd give another "break down" of our trip as its a little different than pp and just fits our family, but can give some others out there a taste of what its like:

-We board the train around 3:00 or as late as we can. Your seats/cabin are reserved and we'll have to spend the next 17 hours on it so best to run around the playground as long as we can!! (but that's just us)

-Drop our things in seats/cabin and head to happy hour in lounge car! Sometimes we sit in lounge, if too full we bring all our snacks to our room. Snacks include "party mix", cheese and crackers, veggies and dip, oranges, apples, waters, wine - all free!

-After happy hour came back and arrange our stuff, set up kids with gaming, or coloring etc... BTW our kids are 7 & 11.

-Eat dinner at 7:00. The first time we did the 5:00 seating but we weren't hungry b/c of happy hour snacks and hadn't realized we'd be having a "happy hour" on board!

-Watch movie in lounge car, usually around 9:15. Lounge car has out cookies. DD likes making hot chocolate with the free packs they have in each train car. She also makes a great iced tea too and loves being our "waitress" on the train!! So we have cookies and hot chocolate with the movie.

-After movie we are usually ready to hit the sack! Sometimes we don't even make it through the whole movie before our kids are ready to sleep especially the younger one. We usually do 2 roomettes so we have our attendant put down our beds while we are at the movie. The kids fall asleep right away and so does DH. It takes me a while longer, but I can relax on the train and usually read a bit before turning off my light.

-Our of your three round trips we have except for one time we have always arrived early!! And the one time we arrived "on-time". So after we wake up and freshen up we go to breakfast.

-After breakfast we tidy and pack all our stuff up and soon we pull in!!

My kids love the train because they can move around at any time. My 7yo DS pretends his roomette is a space capsule and my 11 yo DD loves making and serving everyone drinks from each train car's coffee/hot water/tea/hot chocolate station. My 7yo is very active and could hardly make it on a 2 hour flight down at having to stay in his seat. He can easily do the 17 hour train ride b/c he can constantly move around!

And DH and I just love that we pack the van full and are not limited to suitcase size etc!!

 

[mykidslovesdisney]

We are usually in the station when they are doing the last call to board!! We are employees and wait to see if we have a room assignment. I still get soo nervous when they start saying last call!!

We prefer the 5pm dinner- the first trip we had 9pm and the wait staff read us the roit act bc we made the kids wait to eat. They told us to let them know if it happens again and they would get our food to us sooner. the poor kids fell asleep waiting for the dessert!

The last few trips we have gotten the 7pm seating when we traveled sleepers and our room attendant was able to bring us our food to our rooms sooner than that. It was really nice- served on china.

Our DC (currently 13 (in 3 days), 11, 8 and 4) are wiped by 7 pm. We leave CT at 2 am -- w very little sleeping for the big ones. Someth

There is something about the rocking of the train puts them right to sleep.

I forgot about Happy Hour--- DH is the one who usually goes exploring-- I hang out in the room. he does bring back bowls of snack thou.

I so do love being able to pack the comforts of home in the van and just hop on with a duffle bag-- well DH has the duffle -- I have my VB Weekender!

Glad the train works for your family too!!

DS4 loves trains and was in heaven when we took 2 trips 5 wks apart this summer!! I took the kids w/ 2 DN to Venice FL-- had to stop at WDW-- we were driving by-- why not??? It was great to pop in for Lunch w/ our AP's- ride TTA and then pick up DN's at Downtown Disney and head to the beach. Then 5 wks later we headed for WDW w/ DH (no DN's) for 14 days. It was great!! hope to do it again sometime.

 

[kittylady1972]

Very sad here...I missed out on booking our return train trip for next November and the prices SKYROCKETED within a day! I had checked last Tues or Wed night and the room prices were reasonable but now? OMG $325 for a roomette, $664 for a family bedroom and $684 for a Superliner Bedroom. Our trip down we are paying $192 for the Roomette and $292 for the Superliner Bedroom. I just can't see us spending THAT kind of money for the rooms.

I'm trying to convince DH, since it's a return trip back home, to just book the train for COACH coming back. At least we don't have to drive and if we don't get a whole lot of sleep in coach we can come home and nap in our own bed that day! He insists that last time he saw the people emerging from the coach cars and they looked pretty rough. I just don't know.

I wonder what the chances are of the prices coming down EVER since we are going during one of the busiest travel times...weekend after Thanksgiving! Anybody know? My other thought is that we could just travel Sunday instead...costs for that timeframe are $194/$558/$423 so we could afford the sleepers a little more easily.

I'm going to email the rest of our group for their thoughts. I'm okay with extending the vacay...would just need to check on the room for one more night in Disney!

 

[NJBILL]

Very sad here...I missed out on booking our return train trip for next November and the prices SKYROCKETED within a day! I had checked last Tues or Wed night and the room prices were reasonable but now? OMG $325 for a roomette, $664 for a family bedroom and $684 for a Superliner Bedroom. Our trip down we are paying $192 for the Roomette and $292 for the Superliner Bedroom. I just can't see us spending THAT kind of money for the rooms.

I'm trying to convince DH, since it's a return trip back home, to just book the train for COACH coming back. At least we don't have to drive and if we don't get a whole lot of sleep in coach we can come home and nap in our own bed that day! He insists that last time he saw the people emerging from the coach cars and they looked pretty rough. I just don't know.

I wonder what the chances are of the prices coming down EVER since we are going during one of the busiest travel times...weekend after Thanksgiving! Anybody know? My other thought is that we could just travel Sunday instead...costs for that timeframe are $194/$558/$423 so we could afford the sleepers a little more easily.

I'm going to email the rest of our group for their thoughts. I'm okay with extending the vacay...would just need to check on the room for one more night in Disney!

Generally, prices do not get less expensive with time. Our last three trips were in coach and it was ok. In previous years we had roomettes, but coach is doable and not that uncomfortable ,especially if you take advantage of breaks and move around to the lounge car.

 

[MinnieGi]

Very sad here...I missed out on booking our return train trip for next November and the prices SKYROCKETED within a day! I had checked last Tues or Wed night and the room prices were reasonable but now? OMG $325 for a roomette, $664 for a family bedroom and $684 for a Superliner Bedroom. Our trip down we are paying $192 for the Roomette and $292 for the Superliner Bedroom. I just can't see us spending THAT kind of money for the rooms.

I'm trying to convince DH, since it's a return trip back home, to just book the train for COACH coming back. At least we don't have to drive and if we don't get a whole lot of sleep in coach we can come home and nap in our own bed that day! He insists that last time he saw the people emerging from the coach cars and they looked pretty rough. I just don't know.

I wonder what the chances are of the prices coming down EVER since we are going during one of the busiest travel times...weekend after Thanksgiving! Anybody know? My other thought is that we could just travel Sunday instead...costs for that timeframe are $194/$558/$423 so we could afford the sleepers a little more easily.

I'm going to email the rest of our group for their thoughts. I'm okay with extending the vacay...would just need to check on the room for one more night in Disney!

We just did AT during T-week 2011. We didn't come back until the Monday after T-day because of those super high prices. If the Sunday after T-day is okay in cost now, I would say BOOK-IT ASAP b/c that will not last!!!!

 

[kittylady1972]

Generally, prices do not get less expensive with time. Our last three trips were in coach and it was ok. In previous years we had roomettes, but coach is doable and not that uncomfortable ,especially if you take advantage of breaks and move around to the lounge car.

When we booked our Autotrain trip for June 2011, the prices for the rooms did jump up and down a few times. I just have a feeling that won't be the case with this trip since it's during such a busy travel time though.

I've told DH the same thing...we've discussed a few options and I just think overall it will be nice to just take the train back. Coach can't be any worse than flying a redeye flight (which I've done a few times) but of course the real key will be how the kids do!

 

[kittylady1972]

We just did AT during T-week 2011. We didn't come back until the Monday after T-day because of those super high prices. If the Sunday after T-day is okay in cost now, I would say BOOK-IT ASAP b/c that will not last!!!!

Yep I kinda knew that...and it's already too late. I checked this morning and the prices have increased AGAIN for the Sunday-Monday travel. So I've just decided to go ahead and book our coach seats for the trip back. I think we'll be fine. I did select lower level and hopefully we'll have a better chance of spreading out a bit down there.

 

[shafke]

Who has had this happen to them...

we booked our 2nd trip on the train in Oct for Aug trip. Booked two roomettes.
I was looking at the email reservation and noticed that we are in two separate cars on the way down. This is the 2nd time this has happened.
Out time taking the train we were in cars 40 and 42. This time it is cars 40 and 41. If I understand the numbering system correctly 40 and 41 are on opposite sides of the dining car. Its no big deal since we are on the lower level roomettes which I prefer over being in the same car on the upper level.

Coming home we are in the same car but going down different cars. Since it is 10 months out when we booked I doubt that they were selling out roomettes. It just seems that they were randomly assigned. Is there any rhyme or reason to the room assignments?

BTW on the trip home we have rooms diagonally across on the lower level rather than directly across.

 

[famouschinesec]

I made some notes when we traveled in October; but now I'm wishing I had been more specific when I wrote them. Here goes.
Car numbers in order from front of train to rear: 5245, 5243, 5241, Lounge car, Dining car, 5240, 5242, 5244.
(So yes, 5241, and 5240 are split by the lounge and dining cars.)
5245, 43, 42, and 44 have sleeping suites lettered A-E, and roomettes numbered 1-10 upstairs. Suite A is (I believe)in the front of the car and so over the wheels, which makes for a bumpier ride. Suite E would be preferred as it's in the middle of the car and ride should be smoother.
I believe roomette 1 is in the middle of the car with roomette 10 being in the rear of the car (again over the wheel). BUT I'M NOT POSITIVE OF THE NUMBERING, you might want to check on that. If you find out differently, you can PM me and I'll edit this post.
Roomettes 11-14 are downstairs.
5240 and 5241 Have suites upstairs lettering A,B,C,D,E,J,K,L,M,N.
E and J would be preferred in the middle of the car. N's seat faces rearward.
One of the conductors thought that it is quieter in the cars farther away from the engine (less locomotive horn noise).
Cars closest to the dining car will have more foot traffic.
Car 5244 should have almost no foot traffic, as it is the last car in "first class"; unless someone is just having a walk and look around, none of the coach traffic comes forward and none of the first class traffic travels rearward.
It might they just fill up the suites/roomettes from front of the train to the back unless there is some specific request and that's how you managed to get one roomette in 5241 (which may have filled up that car), and then the next room in 5240? But I don't think that's necessarily it, because they need to spread the workload out amongst the pursers/attendants.
I'm pretty sure you can make specific requests though. We were assigned a certain suite when I made the reservations, but when we got to the station in Sanford we were early, and the train wasn't full, so I asked the gentlemen checking us in what he preferred in a suite and he moved us out of an A suite and into a C suite in a car further from the front of the train.

http://trainweb.org/crocon/sleeperplans.html

These folks would know the answer to your question.
http://discuss.amtraktrains.com/index.php?/forum/78-amtrak-faqs-first-time-rider-info/

 

[Marshay]

Who has had this happen to them...

we booked our 2nd trip on the train in Oct for Aug trip. Booked two roomettes.
I was looking at the email reservation and noticed that we are in two separate cars on the way down. This is the 2nd time this has happened.
Out time taking the train we were in cars 40 and 42. This time it is cars 40 and 41. If I understand the numbering system correctly 40 and 41 are on opposite sides of the dining car. Its no big deal since we are on the lower level roomettes which I prefer over being in the same car on the upper level.

Coming home we are in the same car but going down different cars. Since it is 10 months out when we booked I doubt that they were selling out roomettes. It just seems that they were randomly assigned. Is there any rhyme or reason to the room assignments?

BTW on the trip home we have rooms diagonally across on the lower level rather than directly across.

Not positive but I think if you call Amtrak directly they can try to assign you roomettes closer together under your current price (or cheaper if there are any new codes). Can't hurt to ask!

 

[shafke]

Not positive but I think if you call Amtrak directly they can try to assign you roomettes closer together under your current price (or cheaper if there are any new codes). Can't hurt to ask!

I don't really care that we are separated by two cars. We have phones to keep in contact and we'll be seeing enough of each other on the cruise. Also, I wouldn't want to take a chance getting a room on the upper level. The lower level rooms have almost no foot traffic and less swaying than the upper level rooms.

I just fond it odd getting separate cars when the rooms were booked on the same reservation.