MushyMushy
Marseeya Here!
- Joined
- Jul 2, 2006
- Messages
- 13,072
I just wanted to post about our experience with Amtrak's Auto Train earlier this month. I wrote a bit about it on the CB, posting about my "nightmare" trip because of an extremely long delay we had. I'll post pictures later. This was my 11 year old daughter and I, and we got a roomette for the trip.
We took the Auto Train from Lorton, VA to Sanford, FL on June 1, then returned on June 13. We arrived at the Lorton station shortly before 1 p.m. Check in was very fast -- the gate agent attached a number to my car, and then we unloaded our bags and went to get our boarding passes. At that time, we also chose a dinner time (5 or 7 p.m.). We were going to be allowed to board at 2 p.m., so we just got a couple of seats and waited. I rented a Dig-E-Player, which I highly recommend for a long trip. It plays 12 movies, several TV shows, cartoons, music videos, music, and Amtrak route information. Definitely enough to keep you entertained!
When we loaded an attendant was waiting at the door to tell us where to go. I was pleasantly surprised with the size of the roomette. From the pictures I've seen, it seemed tiny and cramped, but it really wasn't too bad. The seats are nice and roomy, although there isn't a lot of space for luggage of any kind. After we got settled, my daughter and I went to the lounge car where they were having a free wine tasting (wine for me, soda for her
) and we met some nice people.
The train got rolling, and DD and I went to our room and just watched the scenery and enjoyed ourselves. Around 6 p.m., the train stopped. They announced that we were stuck behind some sort of brush fire and wouldn't be able to proceed until they cleared the tracks. That delay actually lasted 2 hours, and when we were able to go again, they tried to speed up to make up time -- it was an extremely rough and uncomfortable trip at that point, and my daughter got sick and had to take dramamine.
We hung out in the lounge car after dinner, and went to bed around 10. I couldn't sleep at all between the noise of the train and the rocking and swaying, but I was able to doze a bit. Some time around 11:30 or so, the train stopped again. Then I wasn't able to sleep because the train was stopped. And never moved. Ever. All night long. We stayed in one spot.
I have to admit, it was frightening to me. Nobody was up or moving around at all, and nobody was making any announcements. The lights were off and it was just dead quiet. I swear, it felt like a ghost train. Really eerie.
Finally around 6 a.m., the train started moving again, only in the wrong direction! I was ready to panic! Here we were, supposed to arrive in Florida at 9 a.m., and stuck who knows where in the middle of nowhere, going the wrong way! Still no announcements at this point, but people were starting to get up and moving around. Oh, and a funny little aside -- we'd had dinner with this older man the night before, who told us a story about how he went on a train when he was younger. He went to sleep in the station before the train took off, and the next morning when he woke up, he was in the same station because of a bad snow storm. I teased him about that all the next day.
After a few hours of getting no answers, we finally came to find out that we had been stuck behind a derailment somewhere in NC, and we had to be rerouted around Raleigh. The train could only got at a snail's pace for the most part because the tracks weren't in good shape. THAT was scary too, because every time we'd go around a banked turn. the train would tilt at a frightening degree because of the slow speed. Yikes!
Every time we turned around, the chief was announcing a later and later arrival time. First, we were to arrive that evening, then 1 a.m., then 3 a.m., then they didn't know.
I was so disappointed because I'd had an Illuminations cruise scheduled with a TGMer for that night, plus we'd miss our first night at AKL.
I have to give kudos to both the train attendants AND my fellow passengers. Needless to say, we were all disappointed and upset about the delay. BUT, as far as I could see, nobody complained or griped or took it out on the employees or ANYbody whatsoever. Almost everyone took it in stride. The young kids on the train were all so sweet and well-behaved, and even they didn't complain! The attendants did everything they could to make everyone comfortable. At one point, we stopped at an old station so the attendants could get off and go buy medications and a few necessities at a store. They were always making announcements like, "If anybody has X medication for such and such, please see me in the lounge car." Note to self -- always take more meds than you THINK you'll need!
There was one passenger who tried to start a petition for Amtrak to refund us our money, but only one other person would sign it, and some guy told her "Ma'am, did you read the fine print on your ticket? I suggest you do so before you go this route." Amtrak did give us all $200 vouchers for future travel, though.
We were starting to run out of food and water, but they really made do with it, giving us breakfast lunch and dinner for 2 days. They were also giving away snacks and refreshments from the lounge car, plus they gave us a free battery for the rented Dig-E-Player.
That night, we got back on schedule, except for one mishap and we arrived in Sanford at 9 a.m., 24 hours late! We were all on the train for 43 hours.
The mishap was, in the middle of the night, I heard this loud crash -- even for as loud as the train was, that crash didn't sound right, and we came to a quick stop. I found out the next day that we'd hit a tree. Lovely.
Oh, and I forgot to mention this. My trip insurance wouldn't cover my lost night at AKL! What is trip insurance for if not things like that?
While we were on the train, my DH worked with AKL and Amtrak to get our trip extended one day so we wouldn't lose a night of our vacation. The manager at AKL was INCREDIBLE! She certainly didn't have to do anything like that, but she refunded us our missed night and added it to the end, and then Amtrak let us change our schedule without a fee. All we missed out on was that Illuminations cruise -- no big deal.
Our trip back was delightfully and blissfully uneventful. Enjoyable even. What we had done was, scheduled AKL for the night we arrived in FL and then reserved a cheap hotel for the night before we left. If we had it to do over again, we'd reserve the cheap hotel for our arrival night and the Disney resort for our departure night, if that makes sense. If there is a next time, we'll do it that way.
I know this was long, but if you have any questions about the Auto Train, I'll be glad to answer them! We certainly got to know the train pretty well being on it so long.
We took the Auto Train from Lorton, VA to Sanford, FL on June 1, then returned on June 13. We arrived at the Lorton station shortly before 1 p.m. Check in was very fast -- the gate agent attached a number to my car, and then we unloaded our bags and went to get our boarding passes. At that time, we also chose a dinner time (5 or 7 p.m.). We were going to be allowed to board at 2 p.m., so we just got a couple of seats and waited. I rented a Dig-E-Player, which I highly recommend for a long trip. It plays 12 movies, several TV shows, cartoons, music videos, music, and Amtrak route information. Definitely enough to keep you entertained!
When we loaded an attendant was waiting at the door to tell us where to go. I was pleasantly surprised with the size of the roomette. From the pictures I've seen, it seemed tiny and cramped, but it really wasn't too bad. The seats are nice and roomy, although there isn't a lot of space for luggage of any kind. After we got settled, my daughter and I went to the lounge car where they were having a free wine tasting (wine for me, soda for her
) and we met some nice people. The train got rolling, and DD and I went to our room and just watched the scenery and enjoyed ourselves. Around 6 p.m., the train stopped. They announced that we were stuck behind some sort of brush fire and wouldn't be able to proceed until they cleared the tracks. That delay actually lasted 2 hours, and when we were able to go again, they tried to speed up to make up time -- it was an extremely rough and uncomfortable trip at that point, and my daughter got sick and had to take dramamine.
We hung out in the lounge car after dinner, and went to bed around 10. I couldn't sleep at all between the noise of the train and the rocking and swaying, but I was able to doze a bit. Some time around 11:30 or so, the train stopped again. Then I wasn't able to sleep because the train was stopped. And never moved. Ever. All night long. We stayed in one spot.
I have to admit, it was frightening to me. Nobody was up or moving around at all, and nobody was making any announcements. The lights were off and it was just dead quiet. I swear, it felt like a ghost train. Really eerie.
Finally around 6 a.m., the train started moving again, only in the wrong direction! I was ready to panic! Here we were, supposed to arrive in Florida at 9 a.m., and stuck who knows where in the middle of nowhere, going the wrong way! Still no announcements at this point, but people were starting to get up and moving around. Oh, and a funny little aside -- we'd had dinner with this older man the night before, who told us a story about how he went on a train when he was younger. He went to sleep in the station before the train took off, and the next morning when he woke up, he was in the same station because of a bad snow storm. I teased him about that all the next day.
After a few hours of getting no answers, we finally came to find out that we had been stuck behind a derailment somewhere in NC, and we had to be rerouted around Raleigh. The train could only got at a snail's pace for the most part because the tracks weren't in good shape. THAT was scary too, because every time we'd go around a banked turn. the train would tilt at a frightening degree because of the slow speed. Yikes!
Every time we turned around, the chief was announcing a later and later arrival time. First, we were to arrive that evening, then 1 a.m., then 3 a.m., then they didn't know.
I was so disappointed because I'd had an Illuminations cruise scheduled with a TGMer for that night, plus we'd miss our first night at AKL. I have to give kudos to both the train attendants AND my fellow passengers. Needless to say, we were all disappointed and upset about the delay. BUT, as far as I could see, nobody complained or griped or took it out on the employees or ANYbody whatsoever. Almost everyone took it in stride. The young kids on the train were all so sweet and well-behaved, and even they didn't complain! The attendants did everything they could to make everyone comfortable. At one point, we stopped at an old station so the attendants could get off and go buy medications and a few necessities at a store. They were always making announcements like, "If anybody has X medication for such and such, please see me in the lounge car." Note to self -- always take more meds than you THINK you'll need!
There was one passenger who tried to start a petition for Amtrak to refund us our money, but only one other person would sign it, and some guy told her "Ma'am, did you read the fine print on your ticket? I suggest you do so before you go this route." Amtrak did give us all $200 vouchers for future travel, though.
We were starting to run out of food and water, but they really made do with it, giving us breakfast lunch and dinner for 2 days. They were also giving away snacks and refreshments from the lounge car, plus they gave us a free battery for the rented Dig-E-Player.
That night, we got back on schedule, except for one mishap and we arrived in Sanford at 9 a.m., 24 hours late! We were all on the train for 43 hours.
The mishap was, in the middle of the night, I heard this loud crash -- even for as loud as the train was, that crash didn't sound right, and we came to a quick stop. I found out the next day that we'd hit a tree. Lovely. Oh, and I forgot to mention this. My trip insurance wouldn't cover my lost night at AKL! What is trip insurance for if not things like that?
While we were on the train, my DH worked with AKL and Amtrak to get our trip extended one day so we wouldn't lose a night of our vacation. The manager at AKL was INCREDIBLE! She certainly didn't have to do anything like that, but she refunded us our missed night and added it to the end, and then Amtrak let us change our schedule without a fee. All we missed out on was that Illuminations cruise -- no big deal. Our trip back was delightfully and blissfully uneventful. Enjoyable even. What we had done was, scheduled AKL for the night we arrived in FL and then reserved a cheap hotel for the night before we left. If we had it to do over again, we'd reserve the cheap hotel for our arrival night and the Disney resort for our departure night, if that makes sense. If there is a next time, we'll do it that way.
I know this was long, but if you have any questions about the Auto Train, I'll be glad to answer them! We certainly got to know the train pretty well being on it so long.
