Amtrak from DC to Orlando?

[G8RFAN]

Oh - and one more thing I forgot to mention......flying IS faster, so if the people are coughing and grabbing onto the back of your seat or hair due to all of the "turbulence" while on the plane for two hours , it is certainly not as bad as dealing with all of that for 16-23 hours while on the Amtrak.

Excluding the reason that some people hate to ride on airplanes, IMHO, sometimes the travel experience can be part of the vacation. Some people would like to take a helicopter ride to quickly see the PCH, while others like to take days for a slow scenic drive. Trains can definitely provide a peaceful and scenic experience. We have driven, flown, and rode the train to WDW. While cost, speed, and convenience tends to steer us to driving, if we had the time, I would take the train over flying. It helps that I can drive to WDW and get there faster than the time it takes to get to the airport, check in, fly, and then get a taxi/transportation to WDW from MCO. DS also loves AMTRAK and trains in general, while flying doesn't really do much for him.

 

[MDDisneyDevotee]

I have traveled alone with my son on the autotrain three (going on four) round trips from Lorton to Sanford and we always have and excellent time. I would not even consider it if we had to do coach though. It's no fun to start your vacation exhausted and stressed and I know there is no way I would sleep surrounded by strangers with no privacy (particularly traveling as a single parent). My son was five the first time we went and he looks forward to the train trip nearly as much as the destination. He loves to visit the lounge car, check the train map to see where we are and read about the towns we pass through, play charades and travel games, go to the dining car for dinner, and read Harry potter books to each other. We had a roomette the first trip, but with you're size family I would get the family bedroom or two adjoining deluxe rooms if you can. We go with the deluxe bedroom now which has it's own sink, bathroom/shower combination. The service has always been friendly, the room clean, and the dinner pretty good. We sleep through most of the trip and wake up refreshed to palm trees flying past the window. It's also great to have your own car with all your luggage stowed in the trunk and ready to go when the car is off-loaded. We haven't experienced major delays, but I've heard others say they have. It's a lot less stressful to be delayed on the train then at an airport tho'.

Anyway, are experience has always been very positive and it's our first choice for traveling to and from Florida.

Hope that helps.

 

[Luvchefmic]

I've often wondered about this, usually when I am about 15 hrs into the drive from Long Island NY ...can you bring a dog with you on the auto-train?

Thanks experts

 

[cherylp3]

Only service dogs are allowed on trains.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Good grief - what happened to opinions????

Absolutely nothing, as you can see from DC7800's statement,

With complete respect for your opinion

But believe me, there were more unhappy people on that train than happy people. {and} Oh - and one more thing I forgot to mention......flying IS faster, so if the people are coughing and grabbing onto the back of your seat or hair due to all of the "turbulence" while on the plane for two hours

Okay, sure the people on the train were unhappy - they could see the same moving traffic you could. But does the track parallel 95 the entire way to Florida? It's just as possible there were accidents and/or traffic jams at various places along the highway that you all couldn't see, but that delayed drivers - probably more than once. Remember, Amtrak doesn't own the rails - ConRail does, I think, so freight trains get preference. It happens. As for the coughing? People cough. The air on a plane is more likely to be at least partly recirculated - so if someone on a plane has a cold and someone on a train has a cold, the other airplane passengers are more likely to get sick than are the other train passengers. People grabbing onto the back of your seat... would you rather have them fall in your lap?

No, I do not work for any rail company. I prefer to fly, but I enjoy the train on occasion as well. In fact, I have a friend who refuses to fly (has for years) and takes the train out to California.