Amtrak to Orlando

[maelstrom98]

Does anyone have any experience traveling to Orlando via Amtrak? We found that flights were just way too expensive or arrived too late out of our area, and ended up booking the Amtrak Silver Meteor for $118! It's about a 19 hour train ride and we're leaving the night before we had originally planned so we won't be missing out on any of the fun. We also figured this was a nice alternative to driving straight through (which was our back up) because then no one had to stay awake in the middle of the night.

Just curious if anyone else has given this a shot.

 

[DManRightHere]

Where is that departing? I hope one day high speed rail is efficient for the east coast. It's still rather expensive.

 

[Master Yoda]

Where are you coming from?

 

[Nemo14]

Have you factored in cab fare to and from the Orlando train station?

 

[maelstrom98]

We're leaving from Philadelphia. I was very surprised at how cheap it was - I thought it would be much more. We have a rather large group, so we're splitting a Mears van for $10 each.

 

[docdebbi]

until I learned the glories of xanax, and was able to get on a plane, I took amtrak to disney world lots of times. now I can fly and haven't taken it in a few years.
but i keep looking at the prices every time i price six (yes we need six) plane tickets, and think we may be going back to the train.
i also am originally from Philadelphia so that is where I left from, so made the exact same trip.
$118 is an excellent price, it is usually more than that.
there is an auto train from lorton virginia, but it is pretty expensive.

first- do not get off in orlando. get off in kissimmee, much closer and traffic much lighter. if you booked orlando, go back and see if you can change without much price difference. (like airlines, prices go up and down).

second, bring snacks, the cafe car is terrible. spring for the real dining car for your meals. they are actually decent. the cafe does sell adult beverages, partake, as sleeping in a chair is difficult.

third- use the bathroom early on and don't drink much toward the end of the trip because people are incredible pigs and you don't want to use the bathrooms towards the end.

fourth- bring plenty to do. assuming you have kids, it gets boring, most of the trip is at night in the dark, so nothing to look at. they claim they have wifi but usually has very spotty reception.

fifth- pack light as you need to lift your suitcase onto the rack over your head (unless you're lucky and get on the train early and get room at one end of the train or the other but i get nervous when it's not near me)

sixth- despite what i just said in number 5- bring pillows and blankets. the ones on the train are NOT adequate if you really hope to sleep.

seventh- don't plan on getting in on time, never happened any of the 50 or so times i've traveled long distances on amtrak. freight trains have the right of way, so any time there is a conflict, expect to sit and wait for your turn.

it's really not a bad way to go if you have the time to invest in it as you said. it is an experience if you've never done it.
enjoy the trip. if you have specific questions, let me know.

 

[docdebbi]

i have really bad news for you. i just went to amtrak.com because that price seemed so low, you may be looking at the one way price. make sure you really have a round trip ticket for 118. it was pricing me at about 118 each way.

 

[maelstrom98]

Oh, that is one way. We got a flight home for $120. Combined that was still cheaper than the $350 flights we were finding.

 

[maelstrom98]

And thank you for the information! I took notes The $118 one way price was with our AAA cards.

 

[DManRightHere]

That's a good deal for 2-3 people. For more I think I'd drive.

 

[maelstrom98]

fifth- pack light as you need to lift your suitcase onto the rack over your head (unless you're lucky and get on the train early and get room at one end of the train or the other but i get nervous when it's not near me)

I saw that we can check our bags - if we do, do we still put them in the rack overhead or is that just for the carry ons?

 

[docdebbi]

if you go to orlando you can check them, but it is not easy. and you wait quite a while to get them back. if you go to kissimmee you can not

 

[Redsky89]

I once took the Amtrak train from the Washington DC area where I lived at the time to Sanford, Florida which is outside Orlando. To be honest I was miserable. I was so used to flying to Orlando in 2 hours that being stuck on the train for almost 24 hours drove me crazy. But some people who take it absolutely love it so take my words with a grain of salt.

 

[epcot2004]

We have taken Amtrak from Buffalo twice. I am a train nut and neither my wife nor I like to fly. There is something relaxing about train travel for us. We met many great people along the way. The first trip we went coach, not our style as we are more private people. The other trip was in a roomette. Very small but we had privacy to watch movies or listen to music. Both of these trips were on the Silver Meteor from NYC south to Orlando. It can feel like it is taking forever but overall it is tolerable.

We have taken the Amtrak Auto Train from Lorton, VA to the Orlando area 3 times. They load the car on to the back of the train and off you go. It travels overnight and you get in to Sanford, FL around 9:30 am the next day. Great way to travel from Philly; we drove 9 hours to catch that train. I will warn you that it is very expensive but worth it in our eyes; had sleeping accommodations on every trip.

Train travel is not for everyone but it had become part of our vacations. After all of that I will say that we have reverted back to driving as we now take our dogs with us to WDW, they can't get enough of IASW.

 

[epcot2004]

Did not see your question about the checked bags. We had to drop them off the day before and they were there when we got to FL but I think that was only because our train out of Buffalo did not offer checked bags.We did that for both Silver Meteor trips.

 

[Stellajack]

Our Next WDW Trip!  
The trip down was great...leaving Raleigh around 9 pm and arriving about 11 a.m. the following day. We enjoyed breakfast in the dining car with real tablecloths, silverware, and good coffee.

The problem for us came on our return when the Silver Star was 3 hrs. late arriving in Kissimmee from Miami. For an unknown reason, the cars and bathrooms had not been cleaned well for the trip north and the odors were pretty rank. We probably will not do this trip again with AMTRAK voluntarily.

 

[epcot2004]

Our Next WDW Trip!  
The trip down was great...leaving Raleigh around 9 pm and arriving about 11 a.m. the following day. We enjoyed breakfast in the dining car with real tablecloths, silverware, and good coffee.

The problem for us came on our return when the Silver Star was 3 hrs. late arriving in Kissimmee from Miami. For an unknown reason, the cars and bathrooms had not been cleaned well for the trip north and the odors were pretty rank. We probably will not do this trip again with AMTRAK voluntarily.

The food is very good. Something nice about enjoying a meal at a rather than stuffing a burger in while driving.

We use sleeping accommodations to avoid the 'bathroom issue'. You either have your own or a shared arrangement with far fewer people.

I don't think Amtrak will ever get their act together regarding on-time performance since they are at the mercy of the freight operators. They own almost none of the track that they use and frequently have to wait for freight traffic to pass.

 

[maelstrom98]

This is all good to know. I'm not too worried about the time because we just drove there last summer, so even though it does seem to tack on a few hours, at least we won't have to worry about any one person staying up and driving through the night. I also just think this will be an interesting experience - we're a group of 8 but all adults so that might help. We wanted to fly but I'm getting married next month so we just didn't have the extra money to swing it.

We are flying back though, thankfully. I think that will help. I imagine taking the train down might not be so bad since we have the excitement of knowing we're getting closer to Disney, but I imagine a 20 hour train ride home might be miserable.