Are you going Amtrak Silver Star to FL? Be prepared!!!

[lbgraves]

We expected delays of 1-3 hours after tracking the trains for a month before our trip. We NEVER expected to be stuck on the train for an extra 7 hours though. Our trip down to Kissimmee was a nightmare. When we boarded in Rocky Mount, NC we moved a small way then stopped...for almost an hour...while they connected a private car to the back of the train. By the time I was able to go to sleep we were in SC and I found out after waking up that we hadn't moved in 1 1/2 hours. They had to stop every 2 miles to get out & manually check/adjust the switches. This is due to the maintenance work that is going on Monday - Thursday. We were very lucky that the kids behaved very well & actually slept most of the night...and both took a nap on their own Monday afternoon. The conductors were calling it the Silver Snail when they made the announcements. We were SO glad to get off the train when it finally got to Kissimmee!!!!

Be sure that you take LOTS of snacks & drinks with you. Also, they don't take CCs at the snack/food bar so make sure that you have cash. We talked to other families when waiting to return home and got similar experiences...but much worse compared to ours. One family got there 5 hours late the day before we did on Saturday so they arrived at 2 pm. They were renting a car from Hertz but found out when they got there that the office closes at 1 pm on Saturdays & they were stuck! A taxi took them to the time share that they were staying at and while she took the kids to the bathroom, her DH signed for another rental car that cost 3xs what she was suppose to get at Hertz. They also had to take a taxi back to the train station so they had an extra 400 in expenses just from that.

Another family was on the Wednesday night train. They arrived 10 hours late. By the time the train hit FL the food area was out of ice, water, and most of the food. Someone called the company & they loaded up the supplies in JAX and handed out boxed meals to everyone on the train. Most of the people were out of money at that point since they weren't prepared for the delays.

Now, we took the train back on Saturday arriving Sunday. It was 2 1/2 hours late leaving the station but made up an hour on the way home & that train didn't stop long for anything. That part of the trip was much better, but we had also brought more food onboard with us.

 

[Chicago526]

Yuck, sounds like you could have WALKED to WDW faster!

 

[matdamom]

Thank you for posting this! We are planning on taking Amtrak from Raleigh in mid-December. Now, I know to be prepared with lots of food/drinks/cash.
(And to look for a good DING rate through SW until we leave).

 

[lbgraves]

Yes, we went thru Raleigh and those poor people weren't picked up until very late too. We had packed backpacks full of books, crayons, drawing pads, pixters, & for each of the kids too. If the kids have small pillows, take those as well as a blanket. Ear plugs are a good investment too!!! We can drive to WDW from our home in 12 hours with stops & definitely will do that for our cruise in December. I'm not stressing over missing the ship because of this.

 

[Brian Noble]

The condition of rail travel in this country is shameful, particularly if you've had the pleasure of using trains nearly anywhere else in the world. Lots of reasons for this, not the least of which is that we live in a physically big, sparsely populated country, but it still sucks.