Amtrak Auto train to FLA? - opinions, pro/cons wanted from anyone who has experience

[disneystar65]

Hi,
Planning our trip to FLA this year and between airfare and rental car (prices are crazy) it is not at all budget and we really really need to keep cost down. Considered driving but my minivan would need abut $800 in repairs and has high miles, so it doesn't make sense. Now thinking about the amtrak autotrain - cost would be about $375 cheaper then flying -

Would love to hear anyone's experience with this, the good, the bad etc... We have never traveled by train and do not know anyone who has. Thanks for the help!

 

[HLAuburn]

I've never taken Amtrak to Orlando, but have taken it to Atlanta several times. As long as you have the time to spare, its a good way to travel. I think its much easier on the kids than sitting in the car and usually less $ than flying.

Wanted to add...I just look into the "Auto Train" and that is so cool! So you leave at night and get there the next morning? And you can bring your car? That is so cool! I'd say definitely do it!

 

[Tink's Pixieduster]

Hi,
Planning our trip to FLA this year and between airfare and rental car (prices are crazy) it is not at all budget and we really really need to keep cost down. Considered driving but my minivan would need abut $800 in repairs and has high miles, so it doesn't make sense. Now thinking about the amtrak autotrain - cost would be about $375 cheaper then flying -

Would love to hear anyone's experience with this, the good, the bad etc... We have never traveled by train and do not know anyone who has. Thanks for the help!

I live about 3 miles from the Auto Train in Lorton and frequently hear the horns, but I have never used it myself; its always been less expensive for us to fly. But if you head over to the Transportation Board and do a search, you will find there are several threads about the Auto Train. Several DISers have posted their questions and comments about using the Auto Train. The largest thread (43 pages) with the most information can be found here http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=402667&highlight=auto+train

 

[JB2K]

I took the Auto Train about 10 years ago from Lorton, VA to Sanford, FL.

I understand while the route hasn't changed any, Lorton now has a new AutoTrain terminal for passenger comfort.

The ride was very smooth and uneventful, and if such a service ever existed in the midwest, I'd gladly do it, again...

As for the route, it's a straight shot (with a refuel/crew change in SC) all the way.

 

[rockydek]

We have taken the Auto Train several times...Drive down from Mass and jump on ..Wake up a half hour drive from Disney.
You need to have a vehicle on the Auto Train.
It's for passengers and their vehicles.

 

[kmvand1]

We have done it twice, and my daughter and I are planning to do it again, while my husband and son fly. We have found flying cheaper with Southwest from Dulles (Washington) when we get fares from $49-$79 dollars each way. My husband HATED IT and refuses to do it again. You will see traffic on 95 going faster than you are in the train, people walking back and forth, grabbing onto your chair, talking all hours of the night, etc. but things like that don't bother my daughter and I like they do my husband and son! We are taking a cruise after our Disney trip, so we need our car to get back and forth to the port, otherwise, flying is cheaper for us.

 

[LisaNJ25]

We love it.. my best advice is to book early. I made the mistake of hesitating this year and its up over $500 from when I was going to book. Because of this we will be driving. They are priced by a tier system so when X amount fill up the price goes up.


Do be prepared for delays.. we had one trip when we never got in till 5pm and than our return trip was cancelled and we had to drive home with no notice. This is not the norm but it does happen.

 

[java]

We love it.. my best advice is to book early. I made the mistake of hesitating this year and its up over $500 from when I was going to book. Because of this we will be driving. They are priced by a tier system so when X amount fill up the price goes up.


Do be prepared for delays.. we had one trip when we never got in till 5pm and than our return trip was cancelled and we had to drive home with no notice. This is not the norm but it does happen.

I just priced it out for july 4th week and it was too much $$ for us to try it this time.
Forget adding a roomette- that took it well out of our price range.
All of us could fly for about $1300 round trip. So flying is cheaper than the auto train.
Right now though we are driving. Because that's even cheaper.
But if I score a cheapo flight out of Lehigh Valley- we may fly again. hmmm. We'll see.

 

[labdogs42]

I'm planning to try it for our next trip. now, i just need to decide when I'm taking that trip! It will be sometime before next spring, so I'll let you know how it goes. We are just so sick of airport security, the luggage fees, etc that we are ready to try a new way to get to WDW. We always rent a car when we go, so the cost of plane tickets plus a rental car is about the same as the auto train. I figure it will be an adventure! I can't wait to try it. I did take it once back in high school withmy stepdad, but I really don't remember much about it. Guess it was uneventful. That's fine with me!

 

[LisaNJ25]

I just priced it out for july 4th week and it was too much $$ for us to try it this time.
Forget adding a roomette- that took it well out of our price range.
All of us could fly for about $1300 round trip. So flying is cheaper than the auto train.
Right now though we are driving. Because that's even cheaper.
But if I score a cheapo flight out of Lehigh Valley- we may fly again. hmmm. We'll see.

yeah.. it was $800 for the 5 of us.. now its up to $1300. I dont bother with a room.. we have no problems with coach. Even last trip when there was 6 of us and the little ones were turning 2 and 3 during the trip.

My problem is I wont fly.

 

[karenos]

We took the autotrain 2 summers ago, when gas was around $4.00/gallon. We drove ourselves to WDW and then took it back. The kids enjoyed it, but didn't sleep too well (we booked coach seats, not a sleeping car). We would do it again, but only if it were cheaper than flying!!

karenos

 

[mykidslovesdisney]

We take the AT every Aug. Returning for our 6th trip this year. We love it. Much cheaper than flying esp for our family size. We are DVC so we love the comforts of home with us.

We consider it part of the adventure. We go with the understanding that there can be delays but it is nice when we are on time. We have traveled both coach and sleeper (roomette and deluxe bdrm). Either way is fine with us. Kids sleep well since we get up at 2 am for the trip to Lorton. Food is included in ur ticket price too

Definitely purchase ur ticket early bc the prices do go up every so often. The AT has been sold out the last few summers.

My dc just found out that we can fly and be at WDW in about 3 hrs or so but for now we do the AT.

They are in the process of building a new station at Sanford right now

If you have any ?'s I'd be happy to help

 

[disneystar65]

Thank you for the responses. As things stand today, the auto train wil be about $350 cheaper then flying and renting a car. We will be in Disney just for 2 days, visiting family and then going to Miami for a cruise, so a car is a must. If our car wasn't so old, we would definitely drive as we have 10 or more times before. DH and I think it might be a neat adventure. Didn't know food was included that is great, are we talking fast food type or is there a real restaurant?
Thank you.

 

[pmickus]

We are booked for this summer and kids ride the auto train this summer for $19.

 

[Pammy jo]

Wait a second-how did you get the autotrain for $19/kid? I thought that was just the regular amtrak. I booked the autotrain and I didn't get anywhere near that deal.

 

[omghidanielle]

We just rode Amtrak from Philadelphia to Charleston, SC 2 weeks ago and do not have a single nice thing to say about it. It was an absolute nightmare. Our 11.5 hour trip took 16 hours on the way down and 14 on the way back. We will never do that again.

Perhaps we are just jinxed! But I will suggest that you bring lots of snacks and entertainment! The 'cafe car' was god awful and the 'Free Wi-Fi' ads I saw were apparently only in 30th St Station, so bring DVDs!

 

[disney1990]

Wait a second-how did you get the autotrain for $19/kid? I thought that was just the regular amtrak. I booked the autotrain and I didn't get anywhere near that deal.

This deal just started on April 15th. There is almost always a children's summer special.

 

[soonerfan2008]

I just booked the auto train one way for our June trip. Our total fare was $300, and the kids were $19 with code H829.

 

[bunkkinsmom]

We are Amtrak for sure. We ride from NC to Orlando and love it, but we do prepare. We eat dinner before getting on the train, with a breakfast from the cafe car the next morning before we arrive. The return trip is dinner in the dining car and we wait until we are off to eat breakfast. We bring lots of DVD's and some natural sleep aids for the kids!

 

[mykidslovesdisney]

The food included w/ the ticket is decent- definitely not fast food. Depends on where you are staying-coach/sleepers will determine your meals. Sleepers meal is serve on china and they offer a glass of wine w/ the meal. If i remember correctly there is a steak, a chicken and a veggie lasgana plate. The kids get a meal called choo cho chewy-- chicken strips w/ mac n'cheese with a veggie. Also dessert - cheesecake or icecream sundae. you can get ice cream w/ your cheesecake too. I believe Coach seating gets a beef stew, a chicken and a pasta too. Kids meal is the same. Adults can also get a childen's meal but adult portion. In coach you get a plastic cup of soda or water. We have always been happy with the food. Last yr we had a 7pm seating in sleepers-- which the kids would starve bf it was time. So our cabin attendant was able to get us our food to our sleepers about an hr earlier. It was soo nice. He set up the table w/ a table cloth and served in on the china. I think I had a rostierre type chicken w/ rice -- it was soo good.

You are seated as you enter the dining car. If you a party of 2 you will be seated w/ other travelers. We are a party of 6 (most times) So my older 2 ds will sit across from us with other travelers. They love to meet other people. I do have to say that sometimes dinner is rather rocky. There have been times we had to hang onto our glasses bc we were rocking soo good. It was rather comical!

For Breaksfast they start serving at 6 am (I believe). We will see where we are in arrival time bf heading to the dining car. IF we are early we are usually there by 7 am. If we are getting in later we will go about 730. The do close the car for breakfast aroudn 8 am. Breakfast in both cars is bagels/ cereal / muffins/ coffee/tea/OJ. It is enought for us to get going for the morning.

Both have lounge cars. There is usually cookies and fruit available. I know sleepers do have coffee/tea/hot chocolate available in each sleeper car. They also give you a bottle of water upon boarding. There is a section to purchase drinks/snacks but I think we only used it during our first trip. We usually bring a bag of snacks/drinks along.

As another OP mentioned that the reg train was horrible. It can be. Amtrak has to halt for CSX trains(they own the tracks) When we traveled from New Haven CT to Orlando it was not soo great. -- We would stop every hr or so in a 'ghost' town- a town w/ 1 blinking light and just sit until a freight train went by. That can cause some delays. I did the 1st train North to NY after Hurricane Charlie and a few others went thru FL and we were delayed 8 hrs at the station and a total of 12 hrs late in arrival. I barely made my connection at Penn station to CT.

With any train travel you have to be prepared for delays (heck even for airlines nowadays). Our return train home in Aug 08 was cancelled due to Tropical storm Fay. WE caught the next train 5 days later. We stayed at WDW and enjoyed the parks instead of driving home!

The AT does differ from the reg train bc it does not make any other stops along the way. They stop once to change engines and crew. The last 3 yrs we have been early. We were lucky to have our vehicle come off 3rd and then 5th from the carriers. We are usually checking into our resort by 10 am.

We bring the DVD players/video games/cards along w/ us. I always have a book w/ me too. I find the AT to have a great schedule. Leave by 4pm (earlier if loaded sooner), Dinner at 5 or 7 (there was a 9 pm seating not sure if they did way w/ it). If you are in Coach- lights go out at 9pm. My kids are usually sleeping by then or shorty there after. Wake around 630 and then breakfast. Arrival is usually by 9 am. So it is broken up quite well -- not alot of long boring time.

DH works for Amtrak so we do get the train travel as a perk. We would still use the AT even if we had to pay bc it sure beats the airlines cost(parking/luggage/preboarding etc) and car rental cost too.

Sorry so long. AT has worked out soo well for us.