Amtrak train info w/pics!All Aboard-Choo-choo!UPDATED

[lisa-upnorth]

Don't worry i have been in coach with snoring people before.That said-you can keep nudging him if he gets too loud !

 

[lookingforward]

We did the auto train with a family room. It was really nice! The kids sat during the day facing each other by the window and there were two other seating areas that converted to bunks at night. The bathroom was in the hall but very clean and only for two other rooms. DIning was really nice, the steward offered to bring us meals if we wanted him to. The food...not so great. Think microwave food..airline food. But it was fun to sit in the dining car and talk to people. Be prepared if you with only one or two people to have a stranger seated at your table. They did that when it got crowded.

I have actually taken the amtrak train from Delray Beach, Florida (near my home) to Sanford. We book coach seats and then buy a room when we board. The price to upgrade for the four hours was only $125 and included one meal (the ride is almost 4 hours). We stretch out on the beds, read, relax, have lunch/dinner, and the room includes a private bathroom. Amtrak sells the rooms because they know whos getting on where and if we disembark in Sanford they can clean the room when we leave before the next reservation boards.

 

[jamstew]

I have a train trip later this week--my first since I was a little girl a very long time ago. I have a roomette, so I know the meals are included, but I was wondering if you can get meals served in the roomette or if you have go to the dining car. If you have to get the food from the dining car or grill, can you take it back to your room?

How do you find out if a train is on time? I'm traveling on the Texas Eagle, not one of the northeast corridor trains. I looked at amtrakdelays.com, but it doesn't cover my train

 

[lisa-upnorth]

glad to hear you are back riding the rails
You can take your meals 'to go' and bring them back to your roomette.For lunch one day we got the burgers to go and ate in our rooms. As for the delays-I believe I have the web address listed somewhere in this thread BUT if you checked that and your train wasn't listed I would just call the station you are leaving from and ask them about the train that day(and it would be wise to call them a little before and ask if it is usually running late or on time)

Have fun!

 

[lisa-upnorth]

Bumpin for Jenni!

****so jealous of all of you headin to WDW
We won't go til 2013!!BooHoo!!

 

[3princesses+aprince]

Hi! I'm so glad I found this thread. We are thinking about taking the train to WDW in May! There are 5 of us, so airfare is getting expensive and half of us do not like to fly anyway. The whole experience of the train sounds really exciting to us.

I have a few questions:
Since there are 5 of us, me, dh and 3 kids, someone will be sitting "alone" We will be booking just the coach seats, wish I could afford the roomettes, but for all of us, no way, so i'm worried about the sleeping arrangements. Who will sleep "alone", should my dh, then maybe my 11 and 9 yr old together. Are the seats close enough to the seats right across that no one would ever bother the girls while they're sleeping? I worry a lot.

Also, are the seats right across from each other, or diagonally across like on a plane?

Also, because we have an odd number, can we buy an extra seat, so we do not have to sit/sleep near a stranger. I'm assuming that would be very uncomfortable..... for my dh, cause it will be him.

Does anyone have any pictures of the coach seats? I guess it would be the silver meteor and the other silver ?? I can't remember the name. We are coming from up north on the east coast.

Thanks so much! I wish my trip was closer!!!!!

 

[DanBoris]

You can find a picture of the coach seating on the Silver Meteor on this site:

maps.thefullwiki.org/Silver_Meteor

The aisle between the sets of seats is very narrow, about the width of a single seat. I wouldn't be to concerned about having your kids sleep across the aisle

Hope you enjoy the train as much as we do. We have gone from Philly to both Orlando and Orlando on the train and love it!

 

[3princesses+aprince]

You can find a picture of the coach seating on the Silver Meteor on this site:

maps.thefullwiki.org/Silver_Meteor

The aisle between the sets of seats is very narrow, about the width of a single seat. I wouldn't be to concerned about having your kids sleep across the aisle

Hope you enjoy the train as much as we do. We have gone from Philly to both Orlando and Orlando on the train and love it!

Thanks for this info! I'll go check out that website too! I do think we would have a lot of fun traveling by train. My kids have actually never even been on one. Well, besides the one in the Magic Kingdom

Does anyone know if the seats are directly across or diagonally across?

And also if they would allow us to buy an extra unoccupied seat?

Thanks

 

[3princesses+aprince]

Just looked at that website and it looks like the seats are right across from each other, so I won't have a problem seeing the kids the whole time and they look nice and close. Perfect. That was my only real worry. I think we'll be just fine.

It looks like there is no arm rest between the seats, am I right? That would be good, when my kids try to sleep on a plane they want to lean on me but the damn armrest is in the way. Looks like this will be more comfortable.

And I really hope we can purchase an extra seat, because I couldn't imagine trying to sleep next to a stranger that close

This whole 5th person thing wouldn't be a problem if my too cool-for-Disney- stepson was coming. We always have 6 when we travel, which makes everything perfect. I had no idea how traveling with an odd number could be so difficult.

Thanks for all of this advice.

 

[lisa-upnorth]

the seats are directly across-and not far apart so you could reach out and hand them things.I would NOT buy another seat -since they are not assigned seats. You sit where you want (at least we always have) so someone could chose to sit by him.That being said, I would HIGHLY doubt that would happen. Unless the train is full and not another seat to be found, they would sit somewhere else.I would put a backpack on the seat near him and no one would ask unless there were no other seats in any car.

My advice is to always try to be one of the first to get on the train at NYC and try to snag the seats at the front of a car that have 2 pairs facing each other (2 would ride backwards but lots of space and more 'private'.That would be your best bet-but you need to hurry to snag it.

 

[katybugsmom]

I posted here in April, but we are still trying to decide whether to take the train or drive. We would board at 3:38AM and arrive in Orlando at 12:55PM. Not a bad trip for us considering we have to break the trip in half and spend the night on the road going/coming back-I have back issues and can't drive the whole trip in a day.
Here's our issue:We have tickets for MVMCP our first night,December 16 and can't afford delays-tickets are non-refundable. I'm terrified we will have extreme delays that day! Our two children, dd11 and ds5, are typical children and delays would be extremely stressful. I also worry about having enough for them to do while on the train, but I don't want to pack the house (I do this when we drive and we never use half of it!) The goal is to be relaxed and refreshed when we arrive so we will enjoy the party that night-not worn out and frazzled!
Please help us decide what to do!!!!!
PS Did I mention our tickets would only cost us $308.00 RT for the 4 of us!?!?

 

[DC7800]

I would NOT buy another seat -since they are not assigned seats. You sit where you want (at least we always have) so someone could chose to sit by him.

The coach seats on long-distance trains, such as the Silver Star and Silver Meteor, are generally assigned by the coach attendant. They could well put a single traveler, or third member of a three-person party, in your unoccupied sixth seat.

Seats on corridor trains - such as the Empire Corridor from Albany - are unassigned.

 

[katybugsmom]

I found lots of great info. on this site!
http://www.on-track-on-line.com/index.shtml
Enjoy!

 

[lisa-upnorth]

The coach seats on long-distance trains, such as the Silver Star and Silver Meteor, are generally assigned by the coach attendant. They could well put a single traveler, or third member of a three-person party, in your unoccupied sixth seat.

Seats on corridor trains - such as the Empire Corridor from Albany - are unassigned.

Sorry if my info was off we have traveled to Orlando from NYC and Providence and never had an assigned seat, so I thought they didn't do that. Was a few years back though so maybe it has changed.

I still would take the chance and not buy an empty seat but that is just my opinion.Everyone is different

 

[3princesses+aprince]

Thank you for your opinions on the extra seat. That is the only thing that is making me hesitant to go by train. If we had an even number of people I wouldn't give it another thought.

We will get there early and try to get those 4 seats up front if we do take the train, that sounds neat and more comfortable.

 

[LisaNJ25]

Just looked at that website and it looks like the seats are right across from each other, so I won't have a problem seeing the kids the whole time and they look nice and close. Perfect. That was my only real worry. I think we'll be just fine.

It looks like there is no arm rest between the seats, am I right? That would be good, when my kids try to sleep on a plane they want to lean on me but the damn armrest is in the way. Looks like this will be more comfortable.

And I really hope we can purchase an extra seat, because I couldn't imagine trying to sleep next to a stranger that close

This whole 5th person thing wouldn't be a problem if my too cool-for-Disney- stepson was coming. We always have 6 when we travel, which makes everything perfect. I had no idea how traveling with an odd number could be so difficult.

Thanks for all of this advice.

We took the train out of Newark to Florida 2 years ago. There were 3 of us and we were assigned seats when we boarded. My sister was the odd one and was always placed with another person. I also watched families be split up depending on where they boarded.

 

[lisa-upnorth]

Since recent posts mention being assigned seats near strangers you may wish to purchase the extra seat-hoping those 2 seats would be side by side!!

 

[3princesses+aprince]

I think i'll call Amtrak and ask the extra seat question. Just to see what they say they'd do. Now i'm really curious. I fly southwest and there are no assigned seats with that airline but things always work out fine. I know on the Amtrak the service isn't as great as with an airline, but you'd think they'd assign you all together when getting on. I am going the first week of May, so no school vacations or anything. Hopefully i'd be safe! And I will be boarding further up than New Jersey, so I doubt we'll have a full train before we get on. I'm 5 hours north from NJ.


I'll post back when I call and speak to someone. Thanks.

 

[katybugsmom]

I posted here in April, but we are still trying to decide whether to take the train or drive. We would board at 3:38AM and arrive in Orlando at 12:55PM. Not a bad trip for us considering we have to break the trip in half and spend the night on the road going/coming back-I have back issues and can't drive the whole trip in a day.
Here's our issue:We have tickets for MVMCP our first night,December 16 and can't afford delays-tickets are non-refundable. I'm terrified we will have extreme delays that day! Our two children, dd11 and ds5, are typical children and delays would be extremely stressful. I also worry about having enough for them to do while on the train, but I don't want to pack the house (I do this when we drive and we never use half of it!) The goal is to be relaxed and refreshed when we arrive so we will enjoy the party that night-not worn out and frazzled!
Please help us decide what to do!!!!!
PS Did I mention our tickets would only cost us $308.00 RT for the 4 of us!?!?

Opinions and advice needed please!!!!!

 

[3princesses+aprince]

Hi Katybugsmom! (I love the username by the way, very cute) I have never taken Amtrak to Florida before, this will be our first time, but I have been really looking into it and reading a lot. We are planning our trip for a monday to monday. I am actually leaving home 1 day early and we tacked on an extra night to our Disney pkg, so we arrive on sunday, just in case the train is delayed. I don't want to miss a whole day sitting on a train, i'd be in tears. I'm going to make an ADR for that first night and plan something little like DTD or mini golf. To be completely honest from what i've read there are many people who arrive right on time or even a few minutes early, but there are also people that have been delayed. I don't know if I would take the chance with something that big going on that night.
I added the extra night for that just in case. If we get in on time, we'll have all day. Which I am so hoping for. But.. if we are delayed, we'll get in later on and still have our monday to monday that we originally planned.
Is there anyway you could leave a day early too. Even if you stayed at an offsite hotel for the first night.? Just to be able to already be in Florida and check in to Disney first thing in the morning?