Amtrak

[lynndeeloonurse]

Has anyone ever taken the Amtrak Auto train from Washington DC to Orlando? If so, how was your experience? We have 3 children ages 11, 9, and 7. Would you recommend this?

 

[PA Princess]

We have never done this, but we will be traveling on the Auto train this September with our 4 children ages 11, 10, 6, and 1. Traveling by train is something our older two have always wanted to do. When the summer promotion of kids traveling free became available, we decided to go for it. Hoping there are many who respond that the auto train is great

 

[Henlady]

PAPrincess,
You will get varied responses with regard to the AutoTrain. Some (like us) love traveling by AutoTrain. Others feel that it is their worst nightmare. It all depends on what you are looking for/expect. It is not a speedy way of getting anywhere. There can be and often are delays of anywhere from 20 minutes to 8 hours. When traveling by train, you must be ready to sit back, relax and be ready to "go with the flow".

 

[Eeyore's Girl]

I had the same - well kinda the same - idea today. We're in the Atlanta area, so my thought was to take AirTran to Jacksonville (or maybe even drive) and then switch to Amtrak for the remainder of the trip. With just a quick check of the fare, for the four of us, with a AAA discount, it is $54 (one way). MUCH more affordable than I expected.

I'm ready!

 

[disneysnob]

We did it for the first time at the beginning of July. Based on our own experience, it will also be our last. I had heard many different things about it, mostly good, so DH and I thought we'd give it a try. We drove down from Boston to Orlando and took the Autotrain back. We've driven the past few times with our kids, so we said this we'd have a 'different' kind of adventure. It started off fine...but after a couple of hours, the novelty wore off. We were in the 'coach' section and they seemed to put the families with kids all on the same car. The dinner was ok-nothing to write home about. The lounge car was good, free snacks, fruits and water....also a movie before dinner. Our train, however was delayed. Amtrak doesn't own the tracks, so you're pretty much at the mercy of every other train that needs the tracks. We got delayed because of weather...so that snowballed into us stopping almost every 30 minutes for freight trains to go by. Our arrival time into Lorton, VA for 8:30am was now 3:30pm!!!! We were on the train for 24hrs! I guess because we have driven so many times in the past, we got VERY frustrated at stopping every 30 min, and when we were finally able to move, it was only about 10mph (or so it seemed) . Another issue was that there were NO announcement made as to when they though we would be movung or where we were or how much longer....They came on the speaker at 7:00 am to say we were 'delayed' and that a movie would be showing at 9:00 in the lounge..(but aren't we supposed to arrive at 8:30) They DID serve chicken fingers around lunchtime...however, they closed the bar at 11:00 am. Just a really bad experience for us. Never again. Hopefully you may have better luck..alot of people don't mind unexpected delays.

 

[toocooltobeMom]

Has anyone ever taken the Amtrak Auto train from Washington DC to Orlando? If so, how was your experience? We have 3 children ages 11, 9, and 7. Would you recommend this?

It was my son's first WDW trip when we went on Amtrak. Back then we lived in NYC. We took the train from Grand Central,NYC (I think it's the silver-something line?? don't remember) We had a double sleeping car cabin. All our meals on-board were included too. The sleeping cabin was perfect for us (my son was only 2 1/2) Most of the time we were in the privacy of our cabin. I bet you the price for a cabin on the train is probably sky-high now. I would ask the train attentant once on-board to see if there's one un-occupied. You might get it next to nothing.

 

[Mouse-n-Mini]

I was actually wondering this very same thing. We are in central IL and would have to take train from here (or drive to) Chicago, then from Chicago we would have to go way over to DC and then south to Orlando. I THINK we have decided we're going to drive since we absolutely hate to fly, but I was also wondering about other experiences with amtrak.

 

[pepe of ohio]

We have done both, Auto Train once and regular Amtrak 15 times. Its not everyones cup of tea, has its ups and downs, goods and bads. We do not like to drive to WDW anymore, too stressful at 1150 miles and I personally will not fly any more. Our only salvation is the train. We board in northeast Ohio, switch over in D.C. and detrain in Kissimmee, that usually 26 hours of travel including a 3 hour layover in D.C. We enjoy the trip, we relax, read, watch the scenery. We've been delayed over 6 hours some times, mostly only a couple of hours, we arrive relaxed and ready for the vacation. Food is expensive on board, we take our own food and drinks. We travel mostly coach, not too bad mostly and have done legs of the trip in a roomette when prices are cheap or we have enough reward points to book one.

All in all, its better for "us", than driving, cheaper too. Alittle longer time wise than driving and do not consider Auto Train because we never used our car on property relying on Disney transportation, which has never been a problem. Its a new and different experience, some get up tight over ot and some people really enjoy it. Never know until you give it a shot just don't expect too much other than a pair of comfy seats, A//C and a view of America, mostly back side and just relaxing.

 

[Teacher03]

We flew to Disney this past June but took the train home. My daughter goes to Georgetown University, so we took the train from Kissimmee to DC to drop her off, and then from DC to Alliance, OH. I was so excited because I thought it would be adventure, something different, etc.....It was an adventure, but not in a good way! The crew (from Florida to DC) was the rudest, most unprofessional group of people I have ever dealt with. (My family is very low maintenance, kind of go with the flow, so to be honest, we really don't complain very much.) We went to the dining car for dinner, and they were out of everything. The only things they had left were country fried steak and pork chops. It was also rather expensive. The bathrooms were extremely dirty, and you could not flush the toilets. Eventually someone did clean them. A poster mentioned they didn't make announcements as to the delay,etc. They didn't; we never traveled by train before, and we didn't know what was going on. However, I knew to expect delays; we were 7 hours late getting into DC. We stayed in DC for a night, and took the train home the next day. The crew on this train was completely different. Very, very friendly and helpful. The train was cleaner and the experience better. We were only 45 minutes late getting to Alliance. We traveled coach, and obviously we slept, or tried to. The seats were not bad, but be prepared for snorers. There was a guy behind my daughter and her friend that burped every 5 minutes in his sleep. And I'm not talking about a little burp, it was burps that would wake the dead! They died laughing ! So I guess every train, crew, experience is different. If the only experience I had was from DC to Ohio, I would think it wasn't so bad, and would probably consider doing it again. But after the trip from Kissimee to DC, no thanks. I hate to fly, but I would fly again to avoid the train.

 

[Eeyore's Girl]

Considering all that's been said here, would those of you with experience agree that my plan would be a good one for a first time, let's give it a try, kind of experience? We'd drive or fly from Atlanta to Jacksonville and take Amtrak from there to Orlando. It would be about a 3 hour trip, with no delays. Is there really any "scenery" during the trip?

 

[Teacher03]

Considering all that's been said here, would those of you with experience agree that my plan would be a good one for a first time, let's give it a try, kind of experience? We'd drive or fly from Atlanta to Jacksonville and take Amtrak from there to Orlando. It would be about a 3 hour trip, with no delays. Is there really any "scenery" during the trip?

I would say give it a try. No , it wasn't the best experience, but it wasn't the worst. The price that you gave can't be beat! One of the reasons we did it was because of the price. We couldn't fly from Florida to DC and then afford another flight home. I don't know about the scenery, sorry. There wasn't much to see from Florida to DC. The other leg of the trip was better. Just a question, how do you know there would not be any delays?

 

[HugsForEeyore]

To the OP, I taken the Amtrak AutoTrain over 20 times in the last few years. So obviously, I LOVE it!! I am a huge train fan anyways, so I see the AutoTrain as a big part of the adventure to Disney. I usually travel solo and have few needs, so the train suits me well. In price, it's almost the same as gas and a hotel! I have been delayed a few times, the worst was 8 hours, but we manage and don't plan too much on that day.

I also get the impression that the AutoTrain is different than many long distance Amtrak trains. The AutoTrain is one of the best they have, and tends to be "classier" and is very clean. Many people on the train are senior citizens. The AutoTrain doesn't stop everywhere, either (except to change crews) - pretty much a straight shot from VA to FL or vice versa.

I have traveled with my sister and her two kids (ages 10 and 8) and we got two standard sleeper cars. The kids LOVED the train!! They loved hanging out in the room and just chatting, and looking out the window, and exploring a little bit, too, as you are free to walk around some. But my nieces are quite low-maintenance and don't take the train everyday, so it was quite a nice experience for them.

For my family, the AutoTrain can't be beat! But we are the types who really enjoy trains and travel, so it's a great choice for us!!

 

[bdcp]

I would definitely say give it a try. Also, do not compare the Auto Train to the regular Amtrak train service. They are very different. Our experience last year was great and we're using it again this fall. Go to the check here for popular transportation links thread sticky at the top of the transportation page and link to auto train faq's here:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=962377
There's tons of info and trip reports. Dinner was good and breakfast is pretty standard continental fare. It's definitely less stressful than driving and you can get up and walk around. Yeah, so the train is delayed sometimes. So are planes and cars due to traffic, weather, etc. You can't control everything, but some people try

There are a lot of good reviews, more so than bad ones I think on this site. Just do a search and you'll come up with lots. It's a great way to meet people. And as for the statement someone made above about them putting families with children together, they do. They put seniors together, families with children together and couples, singles and families with older children together. That way small children are not bothering those travelling without them. It's for the comfort of each group. The seniors were the partyers on our trip south.