April trip with entire family & first train ride

My 18 year old daughter graduates in June and her gift is her LAST trip financed by dear old Dad to Walt Disney World from April 12th to April 19th. This will be my ninth trip and her 4th. The party consists of myself, my girlfriend who has been twice before but not since 99, the daughter, my 9 year old son, my parents, my brother and his family of 4, and his in-laws. My parents are headed down early with the RV and staying at Fort Wilderness and the rest of us are staying at Pop. We stayed at Pop at Christmas in 2005 and we enjoyed it and am trying to be reasonable on the costs. Maine to Florida is expensive to fly so we have booked Amtrak from Boston to Orlando with a 7 hour layover in DC on the way back to see a few sights. I have never traveled Amtrak so this should be interesting, if we like it, further trips will be planned, if not, we've saved a few bucks and learned its not for us. The daughter aspires to attend the Disney Internship college program when she goes off to school in the fall so this could be the last trip also without all the behind the scenes knowledge that she hopes to gain. That's it for now, but more details to come, 73 days to go

 

[journ116]

My 18 year old daughter graduates in June and her gift is her LAST trip financed by dear old Dad to Walt Disney World from April 12th to April 19th. This will be my ninth trip and her 4th. The party consists of myself, my girlfriend who has been twice before but not since 99, the daughter, my 9 year old son, my parents, my brother and his family of 4, and his in-laws. My parents are headed down early with the RV and staying at Fort Wilderness and the rest of us are staying at Pop. We stayed at Pop at Christmas in 2005 and we enjoyed it and am trying to be reasonable on the costs. Maine to Florida is expensive to fly so we have booked Amtrak from Boston to Orlando with a 7 hour layover in DC on the way back to see a few sights. I have never traveled Amtrak so this should be interesting, if we like it, further trips will be planned, if not, we've saved a few bucks and learned its not for us. The daughter aspires to attend the Disney Internship college program when she goes off to school in the fall so this could be the last trip also without all the behind the scenes knowledge that she hopes to gain. That's it for now, but more details to come, 73 days to go

Can't wait to hear about your Amtrak experience!

Happy travels!

 

[acrab3t]

I've taken the Amtrak from Providence to Baltimore and it seemed like a long trip. There were a few stops in NY city and it was hard to stay on the train with out wanting to make a pit stop! Best of luck and enjoy the sights! My husband has the same plan for our son when he graduates.

 

[wdwforus]

We've found a hotel near Boston to stay at the night before that we can leave the car at and they will shuttle us to the airport to catch the subway to South Station. This way were not relying on others to get us to and from Boston, especially if there are any delays, we can catch the early train out of Boston so we get to Orlando earlier, and we get the layover on the way back in DC to soften the post Disney letdown. My parents are going to pick us up in Orlando and get us back to the train for our departure. It was cheaper to get the hotel and their parking and shuttle service then paying to park at a satellite lot near Boston. We also avoid the 2:30 a.m. wake up call to drive from Maine to Boston which will be well worth the hassle of using the subway for 7 minutes.

 

[Zipadeelady]

Sounds exciting! Have a great trip!

 

[wdwforus]

So I've made the reservation for the Boston hotel room but as usual not everything is as advertised. The price the website showed was $60 less than what I actually had to pay for the park and stay rate I needed. The hotel failed to mention this when I called previously but overall its still cheaper than any other option. We've also firmed up the packing issues with the restrictions that Amtrak has. They are actually quite liberal and we should have no problem getting are "stuff" there and back. My father gave my son a suitcase that he doesn't use anymore to pack his own stuff in, originally he and I were going to share, and he ran right home and packed it immediately! He's so excited and its fun to watch. The next item to find is a decent sized rolling cooler that we can take on board with us. I've seen a couple so far but haven't made a decision. I'm mostly concerned with it being the right size and it being water tight so it doesn't leak. Might just have to make sure we ziplock the ice packs and wet stuff. Its getting closer!

 

[wdwforus]

Major brain cramp, which is not like me when it comes to these planning things. When I made the reservation for the hotel and shuttle to the train/airport, I never checked what time the subway runs. Our train leaves at 6:05 a.m. and the subway doesn't get to South Station until 6:01 a.m. too close for my likings so we are getting a taxi ride to South Station and using the shuttle on the return trip. Things are almost there, major packing is done for me and the kids, the girlfriend has a ways to go. Not really nervous or excited, just going through the motions to get there and enjoy it, it'll be over before we know it and going through the withdrawals