Hey there hi there ho there,
So Slappette will be lucky enough to take a school year off of work starting this September, which will be great for her and li'l Slappetina, but it does crimp the budget for the next trip to WDW, which was in the planning before the year-off decision came about. We've always driven with 2 exceptions - our very first trip, we flew down but then drove back as a hurricane closed down the airport (as well as the parks!) so we cut our trip a day short and drove our rental to the Philly airport. The only other time we didn't drive was our first trip with our now-oldest daughter Slapperina, and we used the Auto Train. Prices were better and we were a little more flush (plus she was an infant and thus free), so we could afford the train with a private car and private bath. And before the time-off, we discussed either doing Auto Train again in a private car, OR finally giving air travel a shot again (my wife is NOT a good flier). Now that's really not in the budget (unless we cut back on the things we do on the trip itself, and I'd rather spend the money in WDW versus getting to/from). This year, if we opted for the Auto Train, it'd only be one way (we'd drive back) and we've have to be sitting in coach.
My wife has all sorts of concerns about coach seating, and I can only do so much to allay those concerns. Big concern is the cleanliness of the bathrooms and how to help our little ones if they need to use it (Counter-argument - each coach car has 5 bathrooms, 3 of them larger than the tiny ones you'd expect on a train, and they're unisex so I can go in with either daughter and help whoever much it's needed. She worries the food on board will be crap (Auto Train includes a dinner as well as a continental breakfast). I won't lie, I don't remember the food being awesome, but still edible. I also said we could always pack some sandwiches in a cooler bag as a kind of backup, and there's always bar fare - burgers and such - available in the lounge car (for a fee). She worries she won't be able to sleep in a coach seat...yet we both readily admit we won't sleep very well in any hotel we stop to break up the trip (I think we're past the age of driving overnight and getting to WDW my mid-afternoon the next day. So I argue if we're not going to get much sleep anyway, being on the Auto Train means we'll only be driving about an hour that next day, versus 6 or 8 depending on where we stop the night before. I also argue that being on the train allows the kids to have more freedom of movement, not strapped in the car seats for 1000+ miles, no concerns about sketchy rest stop areas, etc.
The ultimate wild card is our kids, themselves. Good kids at heart, our youngest (at 4) can have tantrums when overwhelmed or exhausted which she could very well be. If she can't fall asleep we have no way of knowing how she'll react, and really no place to take her. In a hotel room (or in a private car) we at least have a bit of a buffer zone, but we don't want to be the people who keep everyone else up all night because we can't calm our kids down.
So I was wondering who among us have tried going Coach on Auto Train, their experiences, whether their kids were the worst-behaved, the bathroom situation, any info would be helpful.
Thanks heaps.
SM
So Slappette will be lucky enough to take a school year off of work starting this September, which will be great for her and li'l Slappetina, but it does crimp the budget for the next trip to WDW, which was in the planning before the year-off decision came about. We've always driven with 2 exceptions - our very first trip, we flew down but then drove back as a hurricane closed down the airport (as well as the parks!) so we cut our trip a day short and drove our rental to the Philly airport. The only other time we didn't drive was our first trip with our now-oldest daughter Slapperina, and we used the Auto Train. Prices were better and we were a little more flush (plus she was an infant and thus free), so we could afford the train with a private car and private bath. And before the time-off, we discussed either doing Auto Train again in a private car, OR finally giving air travel a shot again (my wife is NOT a good flier). Now that's really not in the budget (unless we cut back on the things we do on the trip itself, and I'd rather spend the money in WDW versus getting to/from). This year, if we opted for the Auto Train, it'd only be one way (we'd drive back) and we've have to be sitting in coach.
My wife has all sorts of concerns about coach seating, and I can only do so much to allay those concerns. Big concern is the cleanliness of the bathrooms and how to help our little ones if they need to use it (Counter-argument - each coach car has 5 bathrooms, 3 of them larger than the tiny ones you'd expect on a train, and they're unisex so I can go in with either daughter and help whoever much it's needed. She worries the food on board will be crap (Auto Train includes a dinner as well as a continental breakfast). I won't lie, I don't remember the food being awesome, but still edible. I also said we could always pack some sandwiches in a cooler bag as a kind of backup, and there's always bar fare - burgers and such - available in the lounge car (for a fee). She worries she won't be able to sleep in a coach seat...yet we both readily admit we won't sleep very well in any hotel we stop to break up the trip (I think we're past the age of driving overnight and getting to WDW my mid-afternoon the next day. So I argue if we're not going to get much sleep anyway, being on the Auto Train means we'll only be driving about an hour that next day, versus 6 or 8 depending on where we stop the night before. I also argue that being on the train allows the kids to have more freedom of movement, not strapped in the car seats for 1000+ miles, no concerns about sketchy rest stop areas, etc.
The ultimate wild card is our kids, themselves. Good kids at heart, our youngest (at 4) can have tantrums when overwhelmed or exhausted which she could very well be. If she can't fall asleep we have no way of knowing how she'll react, and really no place to take her. In a hotel room (or in a private car) we at least have a bit of a buffer zone, but we don't want to be the people who keep everyone else up all night because we can't calm our kids down.
So I was wondering who among us have tried going Coach on Auto Train, their experiences, whether their kids were the worst-behaved, the bathroom situation, any info would be helpful.
Thanks heaps.
SM
