Kissimmee Amtrac

[Edd]

I stopped by the Kissimmee train station yesterday and was really surprised. It was old time, a station in disrepair, old and very rundown. I guess it brought back old memories when I was a kid and rode the rail to the big cities growing up.

I would suggest if you plan to arrive in Kissimmee you have a vehicle waiting for you at the station. There are taxis waiting when the train comes in but the two I saw were absolute junks.

It is my opinion that getting off the train in Orlando would be the better deal for most people. The station is much bigger, not much, and there are always quite a few taxis waiting to pick you up. I have seen the Mears Suttle also standing by there. The prices to Disney are about the same for either station.

When it comes to location in the town the same situation exists at Kissimmee. A civic center runs along side of the railway but the neighborhood is about the same as Orlando.

In fact, I think it may be a little faster getting to Disney from the Orlando station. At Kissimmee you have to ride 192 (Vine) from downtown to Disney. There must have been 15 stoplights and at 1300 during the day there was plenty of traffic to cope with. In Orlando you can jump on I-4 and usually during that time it is a straight 20 minute drive to Disney. Traffic, yes, but moving at 50 miles per hour. Usually between 1000 and 1400 there are no traffic jams going to Disney from downtown Orlando on I-4.

 

[TheDisneyClan]

I agree Ed! Thanks for picking us up in Kissimmee though, I would not have wanted to have wait for any length of time there and it was very nice you were there waiting for us even though the train was running so far behind. The Orlando stop is just before Kissimmee and thinking back that probably would have been a better stop.

Better still, you made the trip from Sanford so smooth and easy for us, that is the route we will go from now on!

 

[hbehrman]

I agree with the above posters and observed the same when we arrived in Orlando and left from Kissimmee last September. In fact with two sleeping kids (twin DD4's), I was a little concerned with the facility in Kissimmee. It was a unique experience and we probably will depart from Orlando from now on when we go by train.

The only advantage that Kissimmee has is that almost no one gets on there travelling north. So if you want a specific seat (say, one next to an electic outlet) you have a much better chance of getting it. This is the main reason we did it: electric outlet-> DVD player -> enternament for children->peaceful kids-> a more relaxing train ride (for everyone).

 

[pepe of ohio]

We've used Amtrak for the past 10 years and still use the Kissimmee station. We had to leave once out of Orlando because a hurricane shut down everything south of Orlando so Kissimmee was closed. Orlando was a nut house, a couple of hundred of people waiting to board, come on, anyone who has traveled by train knows how slow boarding a train is, single person entryway and checking of each ticket. Luckily, when we had to board in Orlando, we were traveling back in a sleeper, and only about 8 people were doing the same, we boarded in about 5 minutes and seen the regular coach people standing out in the very hot Florida sun for at least a half hour and more. People with carryons, strollers, coolers, stood there waay before the train arrived to hold their place and then the slow process of filing into the train car, nope, we'll take Kissimmee station any day. Yes its an old station, so is Orlando, Orlando is just a white washed old building.

As for cab fares, that trip stated above, we cabbed from WDW to Orlando station and the fare was 45 plus dollars, our cab fare from Kissimmee is 35-38 dollars and there are always cabs available when the train arrives, even van type taxis. When we detrain in Kissimmee, about 10 people get off, the mass exited in Orlando and then try to scramble for rides, and we're off to WDW in less then 5 minutes, no more than a 20 minute ride too.

No one spends hours in a train station, so the wait is neither here nor there but Kissimmee station the train is in for 5 minutes and gone, when stopping in Orlando, its a 30=45 minute stop. We'll continue to use the Kissimmee station, 15 minutes more to there and avoid the mass of people and save a few dollars on the cab fare. As for traffic on 192, it moves right along and never have been caught up in anything the above poster states, there are alot of food stops available, Sams Club is right on the way and is a more convenient trip than going into or around Orlando.

 

[Edd]

To each his own. Being picked up in Orlando you will be at Disney before the train arrives in Kissimmee, unless you stop for groceries. It must have been a rare day. If a hurrican was heading to Orlando I am sure there were a bunch of people heading North, including yourself. Usually when Kissmmee is shut down the hurricane is fairly close, I don't see how a hot Florida sun would be prevalent, as hurricanes that shut down stations 20 miles south, usually are close enough to be accompanied by clouded or rainy skies.

I think this post is a stretch.

 

[DC7800]

Not a stretch at all.

A hurricane which threatens south Florida (Miami) often forces passenger trains to terminate in Orlando. Obviously you don't want to run the train into the area affected by the hurricane, and there are servicing facilities available in Sanford. Yes, you could still serve Kissimmee (or even farther) but then you have to run the empty train back to Sanford for servicing anyway. Orlando makes the most sense as an intermediate stopping point.

There's no platform canopy at Orlando (or much of anywhere else; Tampa has one) so yes, the boarding line is out in the sun. And with staffing cut to the bone (and worse), boarding necessairily takes place at only one door for 4 or more coaches. The advantages to Kissimmee are, since its not nearly as busy at train time as Orlando, there is no real wait to board or a wait to collect checked baggage - which could delay those detraining at Orlando, hence its not necessairily faster.

 

[Dopey's twin Dippy]

we have gone by train to disney at least 8 or 10 times. i believe we get off at the orlando station. we have never had a problem.we used a cab a few times, but then it seemed like the last few years they have alot more of like the mears shuttle, etc. a couple of times the shuttle would stop at another hotel, but it wasnt a bad ride. there are plenty of vehicles waiting when you get there. we were actually leaving a couple of summers ago on the day of the hurricane warning. and they actually cancelled all trains past orlando. we called our shutttle driver and he could obviously not get out of miami where he lived. we were lucky to get out before it hit, and that was the only time it was as crazy boarding at that train station. i mean people just carried a few items with them because they all wanted to get out before the hurricane hit. it was busy, but in the end all went well.