Amtrak to Florida

[Squeakcat]

My two girls and I will be taking Amtrak to Orlando for our western Caribbean cruise in early 2006. We will arrive the day before our cruise on Amtrak's Silver Service, stay at the airport Hyatt that night, then take the Disney transfer from the airport to the port. After our cruise we plan to take the Disney transfer back to the airport, cab it to the Amtrak depot, and depart on the Silver Service the same day.

For anyone who has done this before, is my plan workable? How much will a cab be from the depot to the Hyatt, and then from the airport to the depot? Is there any alternate transportation available, like a Mears shuttle? I understand that it's quite a distance. At the Hyatt, can I take a luggage cart over to the area in the airport where we board the Disney shuttle? I try to pack light, but find it difficult to do for a cruise.

 

[macbasset]

Where is the amtrak station? We have taken the amtrak auto train to florida about 4 times, and then drove from the sanford station to the port. Does the silver service take you to orlando?

 

[S. C.]

Where is the amtrak station? We have taken the amtrak auto train to florida about 4 times, and then drove from the sanford station to the port. Does the silver service take you to orlando?

I sent you a P.M.

 

[Squeakcat]

Where is the amtrak station? We have taken the amtrak auto train to florida about 4 times, and then drove from the sanford station to the port. Does the silver service take you to orlando?

The Amtrak station is 1400 Sligh Blvd. in Orlando. Some people going to the WDW area say that it's quicker and easier getting off in Kissimee. I have not bought our train tickets yet as it's too soon to do so for our travel dates, so I'm flexible. I had thought about the Autotrain, but it's a long drive for us from Wisconsin to Lorton, VA, where it originates, with possible poor weather in February.

 

[dwkwootton]

Squeakcat, I just arrived back yesterday on the AutoTrain after driving down two weeks ago and have used the Silver Service many times in the past. Can you tell I don't like to fly? Anyway, here's my two cents and please feel free to pm me for as much info as you would like. If you are not renting a car but taking taxi, limo, shuttle etc from the station, get off at the Orlando station and not Kissimmee. Yes Kissimmee is a bit closer, but you cannot get the transportation service from there like you can at Orlando. When the train arrives in Orlando, there will be a variety of shuttle services and taxi drivers waiting for you. Your plan sounds workable but here's some info to consider. We've found that renting a car for the day upon arrival is the best and most cost effective option. Kissimmee can be a good option if the rental car company you choose has a location for drop off near the port. Also, you have the flexibility to arrive at the port significantly earlier than on the Disney transfer, which is so very very worth it. As for the trains, you cannot begin to compare the differences between the Silver Service and the AutoTrain. The Silver Service almost borders on painful (you really have to hate to fly like I do to travel on it in my opinion!) and the AutoTrain is a pleasure on all counts.

 

[UGAFan0829]

Wow...what a great idea. I never thought of taking Amtrak! My DH is afraid to fly also, so this might be a better alternative for us. We just live here in GA, which probably isn't nearly as far off as some of you, but it beats driving 9 hours one way. And it would be a good way to get some rest. Am I right in assuming that train tickets would be much cheaper than air? Can anyone who's taken Amtrack give me some advice? Thanks!

 

[The LK 4]

This is interesting, because I was just looking into Amtrack yesterday! The price was fantastic from Pittsburgh to Orlando. However, the length of the trip was ridiculous! Our only option is to leave Pittsburgh at 4:41 am, get to Washington DC around noon, wait around for our connection to Orlando at 6:30 pm, and then we wouldn't arrive in Orlando until 11:30 am the next day!

I was really disappointed because it sounded like a fun way to travel.

 

[UGAFan0829]

Yeah, I just checked AmTracks website and the route from Gainesville, GA to Orlando is CRAZY. You leave Gainesville and go to Washington DC and then to Orlando. How crazy is that. We won't be going that route!

 

[christinou]

The LK 4 If you are going to drive to Washington, why don't you take the autotrain, we love it, you leave at 4:00 p.m. and get into Orlando the next morning at 8:30 a.m. and you have your car with you, no transportation issues then.....We are doing this in just 4 weeks.

 

[The LK 4]

Christine, we wouldn't be driving to Washington. I was hoping to be able to ride the train all the way from Pittsburgh to Orlando, but we'd have to stop in Washington for a long layover before the train would continue on to Orlando. That's a good suggestion, though, about using the autotrain so you could still have your car with you when you get to Florida. Your travel times are great too!

 

[Disneybridein2k3]

My two girls and I will be taking Amtrak to Orlando for our western Caribbean cruise in early 2006. We will arrive the day before our cruise on Amtrak's Silver Service, stay at the airport Hyatt that night, then take the Disney transfer from the airport to the port. After our cruise we plan to take the Disney transfer back to the airport, cab it to the Amtrak depot, and depart on the Silver Service the same day.

For anyone who has done this before, is my plan workable? How much will a cab be from the depot to the Hyatt, and then from the airport to the depot? Is there any alternate transportation available, like a Mears shuttle? I understand that it's quite a distance. At the Hyatt, can I take a luggage cart over to the area in the airport where we board the Disney shuttle? I try to pack light, but find it difficult to do for a cruise.

Sqeakcat -- I can't help you with your question, but feel compelled to re-post this "recap" from my Disney wedding. My husband and I were married in Disney World on May 8, 2003 and took Amtrak from Washington, DC to Orlando. Because we had a destination wedding, we had a good amount of things to take with us which is why we decided to take Amtrak for the first time (and last time) ever. Obviously, there are people who have perfectly fine experiences but I this was probably my worst customer service experience ever. Some of the problems were weather related, which Amtrak can't be held accountable for, but the problems we had were more toward the way Amtrak handled the issues. I belong to a group of other Disney brides (called the Disneymooners) and this is where my story was originally posted...

May 2-3

Well, it didn’t start out as we had planned (does it ever, though?) – We chose Amtrak because we needed to bring a good bit of our wedding things with us. We departed Union Station in DC on time at 4:35pm on May 2. Our train should have arrived in Orlando at 11:44am on May 3. But that isn’t what was meant to be, apparently (NOTE TO SELF – DO NOT TAKE AMTRAK!) I guess I knew it was bad when we got on the train and they told Ken and I (and many others) that they always overbook the train by 10% because many people don’t show, but wouldn’t you know EVERYONE showed this time??? Yup, no seats for us! Ken and I stood outside of the smoking car (neither of us smoke) from DC to Richmond, and the train was an hour late getting to Richmond. Finally, we reach Richmond, VA and get seats. At that time, we were thinking “If this is the worst that is going to happen then we shouldn’t complain.” We spoke too soon…
Due to bad weather, all of the train crossing signals were out through both North and South Carolina forcing the train to travel 25 mph through BOTH states. I mean, CARS WERE PASSING US. Well, of course this was making us late. Several times in the middle of the night we were at a standstill. Sometime on May 3 (remember we were supposed to get there at 11:44AM, right?) we came to a stop right on the tracks in a Podunk town in South Carolina. After a half hour, the conductor gets on the loudspeaker and announces that he cannot work anymore because his 12 hour shift is over but he just called someone to replace him for the remainder of the trip. Bad news though – the new guy is driving from Jacksonville, Florida (from Fl, through Georgia, and still further to the town we were at in South Carolina). Did I mention that the train had run out of water by this point so we didn’t have use of bathrooms??? Well, it just so happened that the place we stopped at was just a half mile from a volunteer fire dept that had a bathroom. We literally went car-by-car and walked the half mile each way to use the bathroom. Four hours later (starting to feel a little like Gilligan’s Island, isn’t it?) we finally start moving slowly again and are on our way. Because the train also ran out of food, we were told they would buy some food and give us a complimentary dinner. I mean, we haven’t eaten since the day before so we were hungry. We got to our next station and I guess they miscounted. Remember when I said we didn’t get a seat in the beginning? Well, when we finally got our seat it was in the last train. This is important because when they were calling everyone to get food, they went in order of trains. Because we were the last train, they had run out of food by the time our train was called. Not exactly a great start to our Disney vacation/wedding! We finally arrived at the train station and got a Mears van to the Boardwalk. We arrived at 1:15AM on May 4th – 13 ½ hours late! We were definitely ready for some Disney magic! It didn’t take long for us to get some of that magic, either! There was one person working the check-in counter – her name was Marlene but she was a fairy Godmother to us – she handed us our room key and we started off to find our room – it turned out that she had upgraded us to the concierge level! As soon as we put our things down and got our badly needed showers (and checked out the cool view from our balcony!) we were off to sleep – around 2:30am.

Just wanted to put in my .02 about Amtrak to possibly save someone else the frustration we faced -- not to mention, the couple sitting across from us on the train DID miss their cruise....

Stacy (and Ken)
Cruisin Feb 5, 2005 - our celebration cruise!