Anyone take Amtrak to DL ?

[Catrinabeach]

We are thinking of taking the train from Seattle to Anaheim in January.

Has anyone done it ? How was it ? How was the food ?

It's a long trip but we are bringing older kids this time which are easier to entertain with games, movies, etc.

We can get all 4 of us from Vancouver BC, to Anaheim for only 540.00.

 

[bumbershoot]

Are the tracks cleared? I checked the other week and it was a process of taking the train to Portland, then getting on a bus all the way to, hmm, Sacramento, and then back on a train.

I have trained it from Seattle to San Jose, and it was over 24 hours but really nice, aside from being 7 months pregnant and incredibly uncomfortable. I got a sleeping roomette which includes meals, and you get access to the nice lounge area.


BUT having to take the bus for something like 13 hours does not appeal.

Amtrak is *notorious* for being late. A 24 hour trip can drag on and on. A trip all the way to Anaheim could be very long.

I'm going to post and then check to see if the tracks have been cleared, LOL. Should do it reverse, but oh well!

 

[bumbershoot]

Aha! Looks good!

And, um, 92 bucks for one person one way? (for a date I randomly chose) I'm paying more for my airfare....WOW. Good price!!!!!!


editing to add.

Me again.

If you guys want to do that, I would JUMP on that price. That's a price I haven't seen since '04 when I did the trip while pregnant. Of course I love the roomette, and that does add a cost (as would the family room).

When I went in '04 the food was really good, and since I'm vegetarian and while pg had HUGE food and smell aversions, that was saying something pretty great!

 

[Catrinabeach]

It actually works out to 135.00 return per person. And that's including the bus from Vancouver BC to Seattle !

We looked at getting the family room but it adds 700.00 each way ! Which is more than we are paying for the tickets lol

Can we bring snacks on board ?

 

[bumbershoot]

Oh yeah, you can bring food on board. And they have the snack and dining cars of course.

Yeah, I guess that it wouldn't work to take the train from BC, would it? Since that generally comes down later in the afternoon while the Seattle train leaves in the morning. Bummer! I love love LOVE that trip. We did an Alaska cruise for our honeymoon, and got to the train station by bus, then trained up to BC, spent a day, went on the ship, spent another day, trained down, and taxiied home. FUN.

But I've heard that their buses are better than Greyhound's buses, so that's good.

What fun!

 

[NWPrincess]

My parents want to take Amtrack from San Diego to Seattle during our September trip. I have to fly back for work and school a week earlier, but they wanted to spend the week driving around SoCal and visiting family.

They are renting the sleeper with the food, lounge, concerige thingy.

I'll ask them how it went and let you all know in case anyone is curious.

 

[mariezp]

We have taken the train about 5 times from Fort Worth, Texas to LA. It was an excellent option at the time because most of my family was not willing to fly. We did enjoy our trips on the train and they left us with some wonderful memories. The kids really got a kick out of it. One of our favorite parts was the food. Surprisingly, they have really good food! If your teens don't like anything on the menu they might like the mini pizzas from the snack bar. My son loved them.
As, bumbershoot said, they seldom arrive on time so just be prepared to arrive late. If you arrive in LA Union Station it is a beautiful station.



My kids are older now so we finally started flying the last few years. We really enjoy being able to get to Dl on the same day we leave home. Still, I wouldn't mind taking another trip via train someday.