Taking the Amtrak to Orlando?

[3princesses+aprince]

I absolutely hate flying, we are in the process of planning a trip for April 2007, and I was thinking about taking the Amtrak. My kids at the time will be 3, 5, 7, and 9. We are coming from Rhode Island so my trip will be long. I went on the website and they are not broken up very well, it would end up being like a 4 hour trip , with a stopover then a 20 something hour trip. I really don't want to fly, but don't want everyone to be miserable on a train either, i've never been on a train so i have no idea what it would be like. If anybody has any advice or stories of taking a train trip to orlando, I would really appreciate it. Thank you so much

 

[jodifla]

I haven't done just Amtrak, but I love the Autotrain on Amtrak. My DS and I get a little Pullman car, where the seats convert to beds at night. You eat in the dining car, there's also a lounge. It's a fun adventure. What's cool then is you have your car in Orlando without having to drive!


If you go to amtrak.com you can look around the website and get an idea of the rooms.

 

[cherylp3]

For the 4 hr trip, I would say coach would be fine. Bring games puzzles, portable dvd ( you might be near a plug) keep the kids active.

For the 20 hr trip. This train will most likely make stops along the way. I also would recommend a sleeper car like the poster described below. I'm not sure how dining works that is something you should find out.

For more details check out
http://on-track-on-line.com/amtrak-tips.shtml

Like the other poster mentioned, if you don't mind doing some driving check out the autotrain. It only does one stop in the middle of the night to crange crew.

-Cheryl

 

[pepe of ohio]

I don't fly either and we and the wife rely on Amtrak. From Ohio it's about a 27 hour train trip. We've done the whole trip in reserved coach, comfortable and cozy. Recently, with our reward points from train travels, we get a roomette sleeper from Washington to Kissimmee, thats the evening part of our trip. It only sleeps 2 and its comfortable for us. They do have bigger sleeper rooms but the cost is very high. We've seen tons of families in reserved coach section and most children do well. They just need to be considerate of other travelers around them. We take food and drink, portable DVD player, gameboy, puzzle books and novels and a blanket with us. The seats recline, leg rests and foot rest, and tons of room around you seat. You sit 2 by 2 with some storage in the overhead. Dining in the diner car is expensive, hence we bring our food but the club car has snacks and drinks but highly priced, hence our drinks.

Round trip for me and wife is 450.00 and I can't drive for that kind of money. We;re relaxed, refreshed and rarin' to go when we detrain, usually around 10:30 am and take a cab to the World, about 38.00 van type, we have no use for a car while at Disney so we never rent.

Hope you go the train, you'll love it.

 

[shafke]

I haven't done just Amtrak, but I love the Autotrain on Amtrak. My DS and I get a little Pullman car, where the seats convert to beds at night. You eat in the dining car, there's also a lounge. It's a fun adventure. What's cool then is you have your car in Orlando without having to drive!


If you go to amtrak.com you can look around the website and get an idea of the rooms.

I think that the only problem with Autotrain is you need to get down around the DC area to pick it up. From Rhode Island I would think that is about 1/2 the trip, maybe a little less, of driving to FL. The Rhode Island to DC leg would also be the worst in terms of traffic and tolls.

 

[scm200]

we are taking amtrak from boston this summer - there are two of us (1 adult and 1 child under 16) the cost of business class from boston to nyc and a roomette from nyc to kissimme one way was 486.50. that was with a AAA discount. the only problem with a larger group if you want sleepers is that each sleeper only accomodates 2 people so if you have 6 you need 3 sleepers. the sleeper portion one way was 241.00 (per sleeper) on top of train fare. the positives are that we get to sleep in a bed and meals are included in the 1st class(sleeper) accomodations. we will get 2/3 meals out of that dinner/breakfast/lunch. our train gets in about 130 on the second day. we are flying home - it was a case of a life experience for my nephew that drove using the train, not a flying issue. after we go in august i will post a review of the train travel. i am looking forward to it very much. i enjoy train travel. by the way after 9/11/01 we (boyfriend and myself) took the train coach class from boston to orlando and we both loved it (one of the reasons i want to go again)

sharon from massachusetts
8/7-8/22/06 doubletree guest suites dtd
6/23-7/5/05 polynesian resort/Pop Century Resort
7/5-7/16/04 Pop Century/Contemporary Resort
8/03 Fort Wilderness Cabins
and so on...our trip

 

[3princesses+aprince]

Thank you for the advice