Victoria BC to Anaheim, by boat and train, anyone have experience?

[Eira]

We are planning on taking the clipper from Victoria to Seattle and then the Amtrak train to Anaheim. We were trying to figure out if we should split the train journey in half with a hotel stay in between, or get a sleeper car and just go straight there.
I'm not even sure where halfway would be yet, still just figuring it out! I should also mention that traveling with me would be my (by then) 5 year old, 2 year old, husband, my parents, and possibly my brother's family with another 5 year old. Which I know sounds sort of crazy with everyone on a train, but my kids travel extremely well, they've gone on multiple hours long road trips, and flights, so I know they can handle the train, especially with their Granny and Granda accompanying!
I would really appreciate any advice on this! Thanks!

 

[kuhltiffany]

Hmmm, neat idea! I keep checking flight prices, but I wonder what the price difference is to do it that way? Sounds like a great adventure...

 

[squirrel]

Are you doing it in reverse to get home?

I wouldn't break it up-how much more is the sleeper car? Add in the cost of a hotel and time wasted. Just the experience of sleeping on a train would make me pick sleeping on the train.

Flights from Seattle shouldn't be that bad. I use Alaska Airlines and if you get their CC you can get a companion fare each year for $99 plus taxes.

 

[Eira]

Hmmm, neat idea! I keep checking flight prices, but I wonder what the price difference is to do it that way? Sounds like a great adventure...

Yah, it seems like it might be pricey to go by train, but it was the selling point to get my dad to go, and my daughter has been asking to go on a train trip. I think it'll be a lot of fun!

 

[Eira]

Are you doing it in reverse to get home?

I wouldn't break it up-how much more is the sleeper car? Add in the cost of a hotel and time wasted. Just the experience of sleeping on a train would make me pick sleeping on the train.

Flights from Seattle shouldn't be that bad. I use Alaska Airlines and if you get their CC you can get a companion fare each year for $99 plus taxes.

I think you're right, sleeper car is the way to go, especially when we are going by train for the train experience. I think the price of the sleeper car is a bit scary, but it's something we would probably only do once, so why not do it!

I didn't even think of doing one way train and the other a flight! I think that might be the way to go, but maybe train ride down, then flight home as we will all be tired after our holiday. Thanks for the idea!

 

[squirrel]

When are you going? I'm guessing you are hitting DLR once you get to Anaheim. Do you have a place booked yet?

If not, check out Desert Inn & Suites. They are a 5 min walk to Disneyland/DCA. We were upgraded to a larger suite but the prices were very reasonable. They also accepted our order from Vons and that saved us some money on food.

 

[bcwife76]

We actually considered doing this very same trip from Vancouver (taking train from Van to Seattle, then changing trains and going all the way down to Anaheim, getting a sleeper car). I was surprised how inexpensive the trip actually would be. Ultimately though we have chosen to fly this time. However, I would vote for sleeping on the train and not breaking the journey up with a stop overnight somewhere (unless, maybe, you wanted to stop in San Francisco for the night).

 

[Merrb]

We are planning on flying from Seattle in October, renting a van to drive to Seattle from the Island. Going with my DH, DD8 and DD5 and my parents. Its cheaper to rent a van and drive to Seattle then it is to fly from Canada, sadly most of the cost is taxes! I have enough AM for the flights, but would rather use them for Disneyland tickets.

We did the train trip when I was 13, it was a great experience, and was our final official family vacation! We did some train travel in 2007 when we took a repositioning cruise to LA with my parents before we had our daughters. It was fun, you will enjoy it and such a relaxing way to travel!

Looking forward to going to DL again with my parents and for my husband and daughters to get to experience it! Feels like my first time going again as well since its been 19 years since my last visit!

Good luck and enjoying your planning!

 

[Eira]

When are you going? I'm guessing you are hitting DLR once you get to Anaheim. Do you have a place booked yet?

If not, check out Desert Inn & Suites. They are a 5 min walk to Disneyland/DCA. We were upgraded to a larger suite but the prices were very reasonable. They also accepted our order from Vons and that saved us some money on food.

We are planning for December, it was a spur of the moment idea. My dad ended up in the hospital, (he's fine now!) so we were discussing seizing the moment and thought a family vacation would be great. I will check out Desert Inn & Suites, I haven't stayed near Disneyland since I was 10 as the last couple times I had traveled up from San Diego, and had no idea where to even start with such a large group.

We actually considered doing this very same trip from Vancouver (taking train from Van to Seattle, then changing trains and going all the way down to Anaheim, getting a sleeper car). I was surprised how inexpensive the trip actually would be. Ultimately though we have chosen to fly this time. However, I would vote for sleeping on the train and not breaking the journey up with a stop overnight somewhere (unless, maybe, you wanted to stop in San Francisco for the night).

Compared to Via Rail, Amtrak is good pricing! I've always wanted to do the train from Vancouver to Edmonton, but the price has prevented it. I guess I have to come to grips that travel is just expensive and I have to get over that. Most of the places I've visited have been through work, so free.

We are planning on flying from Seattle in October, renting a van to drive to Seattle from the Island. Going with my DH, DD8 and DD5 and my parents. Its cheaper to rent a van and drive to Seattle then it is to fly from Canada, sadly most of the cost is taxes! I have enough AM for the flights, but would rather use them for Disneyland tickets.

We did the train trip when I was 13, it was a great experience, and was our final official family vacation! We did some train travel in 2007 when we took a repositioning cruise to LA with my parents before we had our daughters. It was fun, you will enjoy it and such a relaxing way to travel!

Looking forward to going to DL again with my parents and for my husband and daughters to get to experience it! Feels like my first time going again as well since its been 19 years since my last visit!

Good luck and enjoying your planning!

I hear you with the air travel. I love going to Seattle though, it's one of my favourite cities. Haven't been in a while though, but oh my goodness they have the most delicious restaurants there! We are planning on using AM for tickets too! Love those AM. Glad to hear you enjoyed the train, I really think we will too! Hope you have a great DL trip with your family. I think it's pretty special to get to do it with your parents and the new generation! I can't wait to see my parents and kids enjoying it together.

 

[bcwife76]

@Eira oh my gosh VIA Rail pricing is horrendous!!!!!! We've also looked at going by train within Canada, it's a joke!!! You can go Vancouver to Los Angeles and back again on Amtrak and still be WAY cheaper than taking Via from Vancouver to Edmonton (or anywhere in BC for that matter).

 

[Canadian Harmony]

I recently used my AM for flight and tickets, but your train trip sounds like so much fun! I did a train trip from Adelaide to Perth one year and it was awesome. Expensive but awesome.

I'm going to book the DI&S for my stay too - they seem to be the ones with a great rate and I like how close they are.

 

[BLAZEY]

We have always flown down sometimes taking the boat to YVR to LAX other times YYJ to LAX. Depends on the seat sale. I have toyed with doing it out of Bellingham as we have really good friends that live there and we could park at their place. DH likes to get there as fast as possible. DD Loves trains and she & I did them in the UK a couple of years back.

 

[Eira]

We have always flown down sometimes taking the boat to YVR to LAX other times YYJ to LAX. Depends on the seat sale. I have toyed with doing it out of Bellingham as we have really good friends that live there and we could park at their place. DH likes to get there as fast as possible. DD Loves trains and she & I did them in the UK a couple of years back.

Haha! My DH is also the type to get there as fast as possible, so I stressed the fact that he can just sit back and have some drinks on the train. I'd love to do the trains in the UK, I rode a few when I was a kid, but I can hardly remember it.

 

[tiggerrr]

We've done this a number of times ourselves. Sometimes, it's been the train both ways, some times only one way (the last time we took the train from Seattle to LA and then took a three day repositioning cruise back to Vancouver.

I would recommend that you only do the train one way if there are any skeptics among you. That way if someone really hates it, they only have the one trip to worry about. If they love it, it can always be done again. The train does take some getting used to for people who like to just get there. The train has to be seen as part of the actual vacation and not as a transportation. Getting a bedroom would be a must for us for the overnight.

Those who have the sleeping accommodations on that route get access to the Pacific Parlour Car, a lounge car only for sleeping car passengers. This has often been our favorite place to sit and watch the sights go by. This is an amazing route for scenery, but my favorite is definitely Oregon, south of Portland. You actually cut through the mountains and woods on a single track with nothing else around you but the mountains, trees and water. It's in the evening of the first day, and it is beyond peaceful.

Read a book, play a game, take a nap, visit, relax. If you are capable of relaxing, this is the perfect way to unwind at the start of a vacation.

 

[squirrel]

Desert Inn & Suites offers breakfast. Not very fancy but for a few days it saves money. I will warn you now the coffee is not good (unless they have changed it since we went). We tried less water in the coffee maker in the room, flavoured creamer, coffee downstairs- nothing helped. My mom went next door to Denny's for coffee each morning (Don't go to IHOP-prices were very expensive for plain coffee, you could get a Starbucks fancy coffee for the same price they charged).

If you want, put in an order from Vons (Safeway). Go to the website about 2 weeks before your trip- create an account. Within a day or two you should have received some e-mails for free delivery on your first order and possibly other free items. We received a case of water and a 6 pk of paper towels. For Canadians use your postal code and add in 0's to make up the zipcode. We ordered some yogurt, bag salads, veggies, bread, sandwich meat, peanut butter, cheese, etc. We took sandwiches for lunch to keep the costs down. We ate a few dinners in our room (ordered pizza and had a salad to go with it, chinese food). We also had a few free days where we didn't go to the parks.

 

[Sue M]

The train trip sounds like an adventure! Def get the sleeping car!