?'s on taking the train and car rental

[tink&pan]

We will be taking the train from RI to see Mickey in Aug. Haven't done the train before and any help would be much appreciated. I've tried to "search" but the statement says administration has shut it off.
If anyone has rented a car after taking the train that info would be most useful. I believe the station is at 1400 Sligh Blvd and if anyone knows what car rental agencies are nearby.
Thanks for your input!
Tink

 

[sandyneck]

We took the train from RI a few years ago. Our kids were 5 and 6 at the tiime. What are your accomodations on the train? It you have kids I would highly suggest trying to book a deluxe sleeper car. We were in a regular sleeper car and it was extremely small and the toilet is not enclosed. We rented from Dollar in Kissimmee and took a taxi. The driver could not find the car rental agency, but that was probably just a fluke thing. Dollar will pick you up at the train station, but when I called it was going to be a half hour wait. I should have waited because it took us longer in the taxi and cost me money. The food on the train was good and it was fun to eat in the diner car. I will have to say I would not do it again but I am glad we can say we have had the "train experience" Hope you have a great time.

 

[TandyR]

I haven't done it yet but we are taking the train in Feburary and I have been doing a lot of research and this is what I have come up with. Hertz has a partnership with Amtrak but there is no Hertz car rental in the station. They will be there when the train shows up and drive you to the closest rental station. Then you can drop the car off at the train station when you are done and there is a drop box to leave the key. So we are thinking we might go with Hertz, but their customer service has been really poor during the time I have been collecting info about renting from the train station....so I don't know if we are renting from there yet or not.

 

[eedisney]

We just got back from a week at Disney. We left Raleigh, NC on Saturday night, June 14th at about 11:00 pm - Arrived in Orlando at 11:30 AM. We have two daughters, ages 4&8. We did not get the sleeper car. We went coach and did ok. This was our 1st Train Ride and 1st Disney Trip so everyone was excited. I was very anxious about the Train, but my 8 year old is terrified of flying so we thought we would try. We got a killer deal through Amtrak, only $240.00 roundtrip for all four of us. We could not have gotten that good a deal if we had driven! Word of caution, eat before you get on the train! The Train was late coming in to Raleigh and once we got on the Train the kids settled down. Since it was so quiet with everyone sleeping we did not think of eating a snack so I got pretty queasy from the Train and when my 4 year old woke up at about 7:30 in the morning, she had nothing on her stomach and immediately started starring out the window. This made her stomach very upset. Once we got some food in her she was fine. So be sure you keep something on your stomach to avoid the motion sickness. The ride back was great! We got on the Train at 4:00 pm in Orlando, ate Dinner on the Train, etc... the kids and us actually went to sleep about 10;30 or so and slept until we arrived in Raleigh at 5:30 AM. All in all the Train was a good way to go. I just kept thinking if we had flown we would have actually had a good 1 and 1/2 extra days at Disney though. As far as rental cars I do not know, we actually had a Tiffany Town Car pick us up at the station and take us to our Hotel. This was wonderful! Very nice Driver! They will take you by a grocery store if you like on the way and will pick you up on the day you are leaving to return to the station! Very good service. There is a coupon on their website for $5.00 off. Our roundtrip cost $75.00, well worth it. As a matter a fact we heard several people looking for a shuttle, etc... at the Train station and they were being quoted $50.00 per person for one way ride!!! I was so glad we had a nice, cool car and driver!!!! I do hope this is helpful for you!

 

[tink&pan]

Great info everyone! Thanks for all your help. This will be our first train experience to WDW. We usually fly, I do like vacation to start the day you leave! However, this will be a new adventure to add to our WDW adventures.

Many Thanks
Tink&pan