I need some help with travel accomodations

[mom4scrapbooking]

So my husband and I have been debating how to get to the east coast with 8 of us. We are wanting to do do New York, Hershey Pa, and FLorida. There is myself, DH, DS (13), DD (12), DS (9), DD (4), Mom and Dad. I was thinking the cheapest way to go is amtrack. Has anyone done an amtrack train for 3500 miles each way. It is cheaper than flying for 8 of us. I think it would be easier than driving. Can anyone make some suggestions. Thanks so much!

 

[mom2aredhead]

From where to NY to PA to FL?

 

[mom4scrapbooking]

oregon

 

[PlutoPony]

Wow - what an adventure ! First thing that popped into my mind was TIME - do you have a lot of it for this trip? You're talking a minimum of 4 days from west coast to east (and maybe longer), plus another day+ down to Florida. A total of 10 days tied up in travel right there. That's an awful lot of seat time for kids and while you can get up and walk around, that doesn't really give them the opportunity to burn energy. Also, I hear meals on Amtrak are not inexpensive, so factor that in for 8 people x 4+ days to get a true cost. And for that long a trip, some kind of sleeper car would be a necessity so can get to your destination and actually function. By the time you add these costs in, will that really be less than a good deal on airfare?

The stop in Hershey would require a car as it's not well served (or served at all) by train. Guess you could pick up a car in NYC, drive to Hershey, then drop the car off in DC and take the train down from there. Not sure of the purpose for the Hershey stop, but if it's for Hershey Park it will pale in comparison to WDW and the chocolate factory tour is pretty short and not particularly interesting anymore.

Good luck and keep us posted!