anyone tried Amtrak? (not autotrain)

[ajpa]

So my older dd is asking me if we ca take a train instead (she hates flying) and I am looking at Amtrak from Philly to either Orlando or Kissimmee (not sure which is better).

It comes to around $500 for the 4 of us without a room/sleeper one way for 20 hours.

I have no idea what sort of trip it would be - has anyone tried this? How was it?

Thanks!
Maria

 

[itsdisneytime]

I took an Amtrak from Richmond VA to Orlando .... I will say that it was not as bad as driving was... which I foolishly tried this past trip. I was exhausted driving and I was with a cranky pants person who was not much for conversation because they too were tired and being cranky pants about how many hours drive we had left.
The Amtrak was good in the sense that I was not driving. I am plus sized and the seats were comfortable, I was able to sleep at night -- i found the workers to be very friendly and helpful (did i mention i was with my friend and our 2 then 8 year old daughters) ...

I am a :cup is half full type of person though: and when im on the way to disney I dont much care if I have to bike ride to get there ... ill be very excited to get there no matter what. I would say if its saving you money --- do it, BUT beware of the fact that it takes a lot longer than even driving because of the stops you take .. it took me 17 hours on train what took 12 hours by car.

 

[Reddy]

I looked into but adding another day with delays wasn't worth it
going from Dallas to Chicgo then to FL doesn't make sense to me - if we drove it without stopping we could be there in under a day - going by amtrak it would be 3 days - leaving very early & not getting there until the 3 day about 5 pm (plus changing trains in the middle of all of it)

 

[spartankid34]

We took the Amtrak train from Boston - Kissimmee, and thought it was a good way to travel if you are willing to pe patient and ride for a while instead of getting there really quickly via plane - here is a little part from my report about it...
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NYC to Kissimmee. We were all set and ready for our estimated 21 hour ride. I had brought plenty to keep us occupied; food, games, and movies...we were ready for anything I had read up about Amtrak before our trip, and read that the food on board was pretty pricey, so we packed some sandwiches, salads, and snacks to keep us full on our trip. We did eat breakfast on board, just for the experience, but I'll get to that later. (Packing some sandwiches was the best idea that I read about the train...yeah, you could get dinner and snacks on board, but it was really handy to have our own food to enjoy at our convenience!)

It was a really neat experience to travel down the coast the way we did. I enjoyed stopping at each of the stops and seeing where we were each time. The car attendents went up the train shortly before our DC stop asking if people wanted to be seated at dinner, but we didn't want that as we had our own food! After that we were able to get out at the DC stop and stretch our legs before the long haul! (There weren't many opportunities to get off the train to stretch...in fact I think DC was the only place to do so, so be prepared for that)

The coach seats were fine (I am pooh sized and was able to fit just fine). They were comfy enough, but if I had to be in those seats any longer than we were I would have been uncomfortable, it just got to be cramped after awhile, I was so happy when we got off, lol! The seats were fine to sleep in for a while, it was hard to fall asleep and stay asleep in my opinion. (During night time, the attendants came around with pillows for the night, and we brought small blankets to sleep with, which I highly recommend - the train can get REALLY cold)


After our DC stretch, we got settled in for the trip. We took out the travel sized Scrabble game that we bought specifically for this trip. My mom and I love playing Scrabble, so this was great to pass some time, and to have fun. (I highly recommend this, esp with kids...check your local stores for travel sized games to play, or maybe even try to make a couple movies (if you have a portable DVD player) to pass the time!)

After playing some Scrabble, I read my book, while mom took a nap! Time seemed to be going pretty quickly, and I was impressed by train travel. The bathrooms were small, but clean, our attendents seemed to be on top of keeping them clean (THANK YOU!)

I slept off and on, looking at my phone for the time every hour or so. I knew breakfast started at 6:30am, so as soon as it was time, mom and I got up and went to the dining car for breakfast. It was pretty good. I had scrambled eggs with bacon, and mom got scrambled eggs with toast. Not too bad, but sort of expensive, oh well! We were in Georgia during breakfast, and we watched a pretty sunrise while we ate.

After breakfast we headed back to our seats, and awaited our arrival. Most everyone who was up seemed to be restless...us included. It was a blessing when I asked our attendent if we were running late. He said NOPE, ON TIME!!! I was so excited that we'd be getting in on time as Amtrak sometimes runs behind due to having to stop for freight cars overnight. 6 hours after breakfast we pulled into Orlando, and I knew that Kissimmee was the next stop; we cleaned up our area and packed our things. The Orlando stop was very busy, and took quite a bit of time for everyone to get off, but the Kissimmee stop was quick and only a handful of people got off here...a much better stop in my opinion!

When we got off the train, there were plenty of taxis waiting to take us to Disney, and they were very nice...they quoted us a price, and when we were over the quote by $5 they only charged us what they quoted!!

Hope this helps!

 

[ajpa]

Thanks for all the feedback! Something to discuss with the family.

 

[DanBoris]

We have done the train from Philly to Orlando twice (and once from Philly to Atlanta) and really love it. We find it a very relaxing and less stressful way to travel. We do always get a sleeper, but one night sleeping in a coach seat shouldn't be do bad. Note that if you plan to eat on board that meals are included with the cost of a sleeper which offsets some of the sleeper cost. Also, when you get on the train you can ask if they have any sleepers still available and often get them for a considerable discount.

As for what station to get off at, Kissimmee is less crowded and closer to the Epcot area resorts, but it's also 30 extra minutes on the train from Orlando so you won't necessarily get to your resort any faster getting off at Kissimmee.

For our next adventure we are going from Philly to Disneyland my Amtrak this summer!

 

[Butterbunkins]

My Amtrak experience is limited. We took it back and forth to my SIL and it was under three hours each way. But I found the seats to be uncomfotable. I'm short and my legs just dangled. Maybe if not for that it would have been better. But at the time I couldn't imagine being on that train any longer.

And we we love road trips so I think that made a difference for us as well.

Plus I hear horror stories about delays all the time. The further you go, the more chance you have of that happening.

I do take the commuter train from the suburbs to the city every day for work and have done so for 9 years, so being on the train itself did not make me uncomfortable at all. I actually quite like taking that train!

 

[NJBILL]

We have done the train from Philly to Orlando twice (and once from Philly to Atlanta) and really love it. We find it a very relaxing and less stressful way to travel. We do always get a sleeper, but one night sleeping in a coach seat shouldn't be do bad. Note that if you plan to eat on board that meals are included with the cost of a sleeper which offsets some of the sleeper cost. Also, when you get on the train you can ask if they have any sleepers still available and often get them for a considerable discount.

As for what station to get off at, Kissimmee is less crowded and closer to the Epcot area resorts, but it's also 30 extra minutes on the train from Orlando so you won't necessarily get to your resort any faster getting off at Kissimmee.

For our next adventure we are going from Philly to Disneyland my Amtrak this summer!

We also did Philly to Kissimmee and Orlando several times on Auto-Train and Regular Amtrak. We enjoy the time together and consider it part of the vacation. Just prepare with books video games,smartphones, snacks,food and you will have great time..
PS We are taking auto-train in August...

 

[floridascgirl]

I used to take Amtrak from Charleston,SC to Jacksonville,FL all the time when my son was a baby because he wasn't a car sleeper. It was great in those years because I could get to my destination and be free to hold him, move around and feed him. However, from experience, I would NEVER take the train if I had to be somewhere by a certain time...it was ALWAYS late. Amtrak shares the rails with the freight line CSX and the freight line has priority. It was not unusual for the train to come to a complete stop and stay that way for 30 or more minutes 1-2 times per trip. Amtrak used to have a complaint line and if you called with a valid complaint, they would issue a free voucher for future travel. I did this on 3 different trips when our train was several hours late arriving to our destination.

Despite the lateness, I still enjoyed the train back then...but not anymore!!!! We took the train last summer from SC to Wash. DC and it was a complete nightmare. It was late departing, dirty, disgusting bathrooms, rude attendants (what a story but too long to post), they ran out of food (except Uncrustables) and cups at the cafe with over 2 hours left to travel, and it was, of course, VERY late....actually 4 hours late on the return trip home!!!

Passengers were getting irate and their were many people complaining and asking for the phone # of who to call. We called to complain, but it fell on deaf ears. I swore to myself that you couldn't pay me to get back on that train. I can't remember which one it was (maybe the Silver Meteor ?), but it runs from Florida up to DC and maybe beyond.

 

[Therinian]

If you're relaxed, not in a hurry, have an open mind, and are prepared, then you should have little problems.

My three sons and I took the Silver Meteor to Orlando from Wilmington, DE in April 2011.

I researched and took notes, but also decided to just go with the flow, because late trains, crowds, and grouchy people are a fact of life. I saw traveling with Amtrak as part of the vacation experience, so tried to relax and be prepared for any problem (that I could take care of), including sick kids, lol.

It took about 19 hours, and the longest wait was in Washington, DC. We stopped MANY times on the way down/back, (and they allowed people to get off the train 2-3 times, for up to ten minutes) but we took it in stride; if we drove, we'd be stopping often anyway, to stretch our legs, get food, potty breaks, etc.

There's more leg room than on an airplane, and there are TWO restrooms in each car. We did not choose to purchase a bedroom in a sleeper car (maybe next time!), so we made do with stretching out (sometimes sideways) in the seats we were in. You can recline them a bit and there are foot rests, so for a shorter gal like me, it was great. The attendants do give you pillows, but the kids brought small ones, and we all had little flannel blankets to cover ourselves with. I admit: It wasn't very comfortable, but it was a fun experience, and my two youngest sons (7 and 10) loved it. I would definitely take the train again.

We did pick up breakfast AND lunch sandwiches from the cafe car (our ride down was from 5 p.m. on a Sunday to approx. Noon on Monday). They do take credit cards, but it's just easier on everyone if you have some small bills on hand. For the most part, the four of us ate from a small cooler packed with little juice boxes, and tiny, frozen water bottles (which served to keep things cool until they defrosted and we could then drink them). We also brought along dry cereal, bologna sandwiches, granola bars, and trail mix. Next time, I'll pack hoagies.

We were able to draw, color, and read, but also watch movies, play hand held video games, and charge phones, thanks to outlets at each set of seats. We sat across from each other, which was convenient.

The only downside I found to the trip were the bathrooms. Each restroom did get a little gross after 10 hours. I brought a package of anti-bac wipes to help fight that problem, but there wasn't much to be done about the smell.

After departing the train:
At the Orlando station, there is a car rental kiosk, many taxis waiting on the curb, and shuttle vans (backed by Amtrak) to take passengers to their hotels--for $10 a person. I paid the $40 and the shuttle driver took us there (after two other stops). I did not use the service on the return trip (he gave me a card and asked I call at least one day before to reserve a day/time for pick up), because a relative took us to the station.

Over all, I enjoyed it and found it to be much less of a hassle that going to an airport. I'd like to take the train again, not just to Florida, but anywhere!