Southern California Tell me about AMTRAK

[jitterbug]

We (me, DH, DD6, DS4) will be in San Diego for 3 nights then heading to Anaheim for 3 nights. We will be renting a car in San Diego to get around, but are thinking about returning the car in San Diego and possibly riding Pacific Surfliner to Anaheim. The one-way rates for the rental car are pretty ridiculous, so that's why we are looking at our options. But we've never rode AMTRAK, so wanted to get an idea of what it would be like. Do you really only have 2 minutes at each stop to collect your belongings and get off? We'd probably have 2 suitcases, 1 carseat, 1 booster seat, and 2 carry-ons, in addition to not leaving the kids behind on the train. DH and I are worried that it's quite a juggling act. If we do check our suitcases and carseats, does that make anything easier? Yeah, we need to pack lighter, but that's for another thread....

 

[usnuzuloose]

We (me, DH, DD6, DS4) will be in San Diego for 3 nights then heading to Anaheim for 3 nights. We will be renting a car in San Diego to get around, but are thinking about returning the car in San Diego and possibly riding Pacific Surfliner to Anaheim. The one-way rates for the rental car are pretty ridiculous, so that's why we are looking at our options. But we've never rode AMTRAK, so wanted to get an idea of what it would be like. Do you really only have 2 minutes at each stop to collect your belongings and get off? We'd probably have 2 suitcases, 1 carseat, 1 booster seat, and 2 carry-ons, in addition to not leaving the kids behind on the train. DH and I are worried that it's quite a juggling act. If we do check our suitcases and carseats, does that make anything easier? Yeah, we need to pack lighter, but that's for another thread....

I love Amtrack, they will give you plenty of time to get your stuff off. You can always ask the conductor to help you if you need some help. It was very relaxing. Don't stress about it just enjoy the ride.

 

[bcla]

You can check in luggage on the Pacific Surfliner, and that can make things a lot easier with kids.

Conductors are supposed to look at seat checks and inform passengers when they should get ready to depart. You're supposed to get ready early. I've ridden different Amtrak trains, and typically before a major stop you'll see lots of people gathering on the stairs and vestibules waiting to get off. The conductors control when the doors open and close, and they won't simply close the doors before all the passengers looking to get off have done so, even if that means being a bit behind schedule.

 

[jitterbug]

Thank you both for your responses! Glad to hear how first-time user-friendly it is. Now at least we know that it is an option for us.

 

[bjscheel]

We just got back yesterday, and we did Amtrak from Anaheim to San Diego on Wednesday. It worked out great. I knew we wanted to check luggage, and it says to be there 45 minutes early to check luggage. We ended up arriving at 11:45 and planning on taking the 1:00ish train. However, the lady suggested we take the 11:53 and that we would manage fine with our luggage. We agreed, and just then a guy came in and she said, Oh, he's here, he can get your luggage checked onto this next train. Great!

The train was there in just a few minutes. We got on, noting that we needed to sit on the parking lot side to be on the ocean side. (I believe in SD you would want to sit on the side away from the station...?) We went directly upstairs and got a set of two seats facing two seats. We just put our carryons at our feet. At the ends of the cars were wire racks you can put luggage on. The train was not very full so we would have gotten along with carrying our luggage on too and putting it on the racks.

The ride was lovely, giving us our first view of the ocean, and just a relaxing time. We ate lunch on the train. We just picked up some food from the dining car and brought it back to our seats.

Stops are quite quick, but you can listen and they will tell you the next stop and how many minutes till you get there, so you can be put together and ready to grab and go. San Diego is the end of the line, so we didn't really have to hurry. I would have liked to have a list of the stops in order, so we could see how close we were getting- if you want to, you could look that up and write it down too.

Some people on TripAdvisor told me to purchase tickets ahead of time because they may be more expensive at the station, but I didn't because I didn't know what time I wanted. (I think you can use them on earlier or later trains anyway though.) They were the same price at the station as the ones I priced online. I was also told that our mid-day weekday train would be less crowded than at typical commuter times or if there was an Angels game on. Some other things to keep in mind!

 

[SMD]

The stops have to get people off and get people on, and they are 5-10 minutes tops. If you are still sitting in your seat on the upper level when the train pulls into the station, no, you won't make it out with all that stuff. Like PP said, get your kids and stuff together and be waiting downstairs when it gets to the station. Also, checking luggage is a good suggestion, there aren't any overhead bins like on an airplane to carry-ons.

 

[bcla]

The stops have to get people off and get people on, and they are 5-10 minutes tops. If you are still sitting in your seat on the upper level when the train pulls into the station, no, you won't make it out with all that stuff. Like PP said, get your kids and stuff together and be waiting downstairs when it gets to the station. Also, checking luggage is a good suggestion, there aren't any overhead bins like on an airplane to carry-ons.

My experience with Amtrak is mostly Capitol Corridor which has no baggage service. I have taken some regular Amtrak long distance trains, but not for very long distances.

Amtrak California (specifically owned an funded by the California Dept of Transportation) controls the Capitol Corridor, San Joaquin, and Pacific Surfliner routes. They mostly use equipment that's not the same as Amtrak's standard equipment, although sometimes they borrow them. All the people operating the trains (conductors, engineers, and food service) are all Amtrak employees.

I'm used to station waits of under a minute on Capitol Corridor, but they don't have baggage service. Just you guys get off, you guys get on, close the doors and radio to the engineer to move. Occasionally I'll see someone just get there as the door closes. I've seen where the conductor decided to open the door and others where the conductor didn't feel like delaying it another 20 seconds.

As for baggage service, they certainly recommend 45 minutes, but in reality it just has to get loaded on the baggage cart. I spend some time at the Emeryville station waiting for another train, and I've typically seen the baggage cart pull out to the platform about 10 minutes before the train it's loading is scheduled to come in. I suppose it could be checked in 5 minutes before if the station agent feels that it will make it.

 

[Purrkins]

An amazing and relaxing way to get to Anaheim. Plus, some beach views. Splurge for the business class assigned seating (it's just a few $ more). We often use this to get to Anaheim (San Diego local). Couldn't be easier.

 

[wiigirl]

An amazing and relaxing way to get to Anaheim. Plus, some beach views. Splurge for the business class assigned seating (it's just a few $ more). We often use this to get to Anaheim (San Diego local). Couldn't be easier.

x2 for splurging for business class.