Amtrak vs flying vs driving

[la79al]

I just found out I am returning to DW in December so now I am practically living on the Disboards. Next spring/summer, DH, me, and 3 kids will be making a trip to DW. For several years now I have been suggesting the autotrain to DH, with him vetoing it every time. I am thinking next year we will have a teenager, a toddler and a 'grown up' 9 year old so maybe this is the time to suggest an alternative to an 18 hour car ride. I am looking for comparisons between autotrain, regular Amtrak, driving our minivan and flying, especially as far as price. Thanks.

 

[jlewisinsyr]

To me, flyin is the easiest and quickest. I have driven from Syracuse to Orlando when I was about 19, and it was painful and just not worth it. I've never taken the train but by the time you pay for your tickets and the amount of time it takes I just don't see the benefit (I have taken the train from Syracuse to NYC - again really long ride and not really any cost savings).

 

[beccasmom]

We're from PA too and have never driven, although we have talked about it. The outcome is that it just takes too long and we don't want to "waste" precious vacation time. I imagine we will do it someday - when we're retired, if we ever retire! - but I can't see it happening in the near future. It would be nice to have a car at our disposal at WDW, but we have rented on occasion and that has worked out okay.

We took the train once a few years back during spring break when the fares were buy-one-get-one-free and were too good to pass up. We did not book a sleeper car, but the regular seats were very roomy and comfortable. We brought our own food and snacks. It was a long ride - we left at 3:00 p.m. and arrived noon-ish the next morning. There were a lot of stops between Philly's 30th Street and Washington D.C. Not much to look at since the trains run on freight tracks. Luckily, we were in a car with great fellow passengers; even the kids were pretty quiet and kept themselves entertained. Our trip home was the complete opposite - overcrowded, out-of-service bathrooms, loud cellphone conversations in the wee hours, etc. We ran about 4 hours behind schedule. To be fair, it was spring break, but it was not a lot of fun. I am a reader and brought plenty to read, but I got antsy after a while. We are considering doing the Auto Train someday, but our conversation never gets too far because we have not seen very tempting rates; it is actually much cheaper for us to fly when you add in the price of transporting the car.

From PHL, the rates are fairly competitive because of the "dueling" airlines. It is tough for us to spend more than $200 round-trip and usually we can do much better than that. ME is free, so our transfers to WDW are much easier and much cheaper. We are at WDW in 2 hours; that is hard to beat!

 

[NJBILL]

I just found out I am returning to DW in December so now I am practically living on the Disboards. Next spring/summer, DH, me, and 3 kids will be making a trip to DW. For several years now I have been suggesting the autotrain to DH, with him vetoing it every time. I am thinking next year we will have a teenager, a toddler and a 'grown up' 9 year old so maybe this is the time to suggest an alternative to an 18 hour car ride. I am looking for comparisons between autotrain, regular Amtrak, driving our minivan and flying, especially as far as price. Thanks.

Each summer AMtrak runs a special on Florida trains. This year kids ride the auto train for $19..In previous years kids rode for free..so next year it could be $19 again.. I paid Around $700 round trip for a family of 5 on the auto train this July, which includes a full dinner meal, cont. breakfast, wine and snacks each way for each person. We have taken amtrak "coach" from Philly to florida for less than that. The early you book train travel the cheaper it is.

 

[pepe of ohio]

We've done 42 trips to WDW, stated out driving for alot, took to the flying couple of times, not to my liking, went back to driving, throw in a couple of earlier train trips plus one Auto Train trip, and the last 10 or so have all been by regular Amtrak.

Driving when we were young was the cheapest, back in the late 70's and 80's. The Auto Train station in Lorton, is a 10 hour drive for us and we found that we didn't need a car to enjoy WDW. I have flown years ago and that's out, I will not fly again so for us to get to WDW, it's Amtrak. It is a long trips for us, northeast Ohio to Kissimmee but it has been fun and is part of the adventure. We can completely relax and sit back, no stress, no traffic. It does not take from our Disney time, we're on property 9-12 nights regardless. Airline restrictions, security scanning and the whole hoopla, I can live with out and with the flight changes, searching for deals, baggage cost, I'd rather take the train. Driving and the train are about equal in money and time, alittle longer by train but we board at 3 am andarrive in Florida by 1:30 pm following day. We get to see alot of country, we're not in any big hurry, Disney is waiting on the other end and coming home, we can sit back and relax from the hustle and bustle of WDW.

 

[aarmando20]

we take the trip down every summer and the last few we have been driving. Flying was too much of a pain. our last flight between delays and problems with the aircraft it took us 12 hrs from the time we left the house. only 3 hours less than driving and $1900 more.

 

[Resseda]

I have not taken the train yet, but have looked into it. The biggest thing when flying vs. driving, for us, isn't so much cost as time. When both my mother and I go, we are lucky to have lots of vacation time at work, so we take a few days and drive each way. When DH, DS and I went to FL, time was of the essence (less vac for DH, school starting for DS), we flew. I would not try to drive it straight through from upstate NY to Orlando...no way, no how.

It's hard to quantify it, because it's different for everyone-what is more important to you and your family? Comfort of the family vehicle, cost vs. flying, time available for vacation, potential stops if driving (family, site seeing)...For ease and speed, I love flying. I wake up in the morning in Rochester, by lunchtime, I'm at Pop Century. Priceless. However, as I look at a ton of vacation piling up on my pay stub and knowing I need to use it or lose it, I am not adverse to driving. I'd love to take the train, but when I have priced it out in the past, it was more cost/time effective to drive or fly.

Ress

 

[car55]

I have taken Amtrak three times now from Connecticut to Orlando. I prefer to travel this way. Its relaxing and no hassle. I get a Roomette and it is comfortable and meals are included. I have never done the auto train. There are larger family beedrooms also. Book early and look for discounts. AAA , Military, ect Amtrak has a very nice website. I meet alot of nice people on my trip down that are going to WDW and have met them at the parks later in our visits. Try to do that on an airplane. Have a great trip

 

[disneykris2001]

We are huge fans of the Auto Train. My DD's (12 & 9) love it more than my DH and I. We will be taking it again this October when we head to WDW for Halloween. We've always booked sleeping accommodations, but are thinking of traveling coach this year. I hate to fly, so this option (for us) is definitely better than driving.