Anyone use Autotrain from VA?

[princesspiglet]

My DH has this romantic fantasy of taking the train to Disney. We can get a pretty good deal (cheaper then flying and taking transportation to SOG) through the military for the autotrain. But we can not afford the bedroom. We would have to get the reserved coach seats only. I am not worried about DH or I sleeping, we can sleep anywhere. I am more worried about how comfortable/quiet it will be for our DD who will be 5 at the time of travel. CAn anyone give me some info about the coach seats and the autotrain in general? Would it work for a 5 year old?

 

[NJRRK]

We travelled by Autotrain in 1996 when my DD was 6. She had a blast, BUT we had a family bedroom.

We're using it again this month BUT we have reserved two bedrooms one for me and DS the other for DW and DD.

I, personally, would not attempt the trip without the bedroom, but thousands of people do.

When they seat you on the Autotrain they keep the cars divided with families in one and singles and couples in another one, whenever possible, so your DD would probably have playmates, if she is so inclined.

 

[tinker-belle]

My DH has this romantic fantasy of taking the train to Disney. We can get a pretty good deal (cheaper then flying and taking transportation to SOG) through the military for the autotrain. But we can not afford the bedroom. We would have to get the reserved coach seats only. I am not worried about DH or I sleeping, we can sleep anywhere. I am more worried about how comfortable/quiet it will be for our DD who will be 5 at the time of travel. CAn anyone give me some info about the coach seats and the autotrain in general? Would it work for a 5 year old?

Depending on when you travel, it can be quite empty. We used the auto train 3 times- always in January- coach seats. Our kids never had a problem sleeping (me & DH are another story...)- in January mostly the snowbirds are going up- so they separated those with kids from the older folks, so we had an entire car to ourselves, with the exception of one other family. My younger son was 2, 4 & 5 when we went on the train & he was able to sleep on the 2 chairs (the recliner part goes up so it's almost like a gate to hold him in). I also saw another family used a few blankets to cushion the floor & had their child lying on the floor & slept through the night.