DH and I opted for the old fashioned transportation route from RI to FL via train. We booked roundtrip from PVD to ORL, with a changeover in Richmond, Virginia (RVR). We took Business Class to Richmond, which we can honestly say had no real benefits other than the fact that it offered assigned seating and free soft drinks. We got off in RVR and waited about two hours for Amtrak to hop on the sleeper car to ORL. We were quite taken aback when we saw our sleeper cars and thought that we might have a tough time sleeping (and breathing) but the trip down was smooth as could be; the dinner was great and we were both able to sleep on the way down with absolutely no problem. We arrived about 1 1/2 hours late and found our town car waiting for us; our driverwas very friendly and helpful with our luggage, got us to CBR in about 20 or so minutes and was on his way. We stayed at CBR for eight hot, very hot nights and were back on our way home via Amtrak. The same driver from Happy Limo was there to pick us up about ten minutes early so that was a relief. We were in WDW the first week of Disney and as most of you probably heard, a train (the one we had taken down only a few days earlier) had tragically derailed causing two deaths. With this in mind, we assumed the train schedule was delayed. Our train was about 45 minutes late and we booked our trip straight through to Washington DC. The ride home was absolutely awful - the meal was good, as usual, but the ride was so bumpy and 'jerky' that we did not sleep a wink. The train lost some time and, at least to us, it seemed that the conductor was making up for that lost time by hightailing it to DC; at one point, the train was going so fast, you could barely see landscape fly by; DH and I were praying for our lives as we thought that the train was going to go off the tracks. We were previously informed by two Amtrak employees that there was a checked baggage service in DC so we weren't worried as we had two huge suitcases and two large carry-ons but when we arrived we were told that this was not true so we had to lug our baggage and were lucky enough to find adequate storage in the coach class of the train. Not certain why the train ride home was so intolerable but yet the train ride up was so peaceful and gentle but we figured we would give it a shot. We will probably take the train down next time and fly back. We will say one things though - Amtrak employees are the friendliest individuals we have ever come across - they always make certain you are well taken care of and it is most appreciated. We did feel like we recieved a better quality of service than we usually do with the airlines. Either way, it was an experience, one that we may not recreate the same way again. We would most definitely recommend Happy Limo and Amtrak (apparently only if you're going from north to south
