Train trip to Disney

[I love Mickey]

We will be coming to Disney soon. We are coming on the train. Has anyone ever traveled on the silver meteor to Orlando? How was your experience. I'm a little nervous since this is our first train trip. Any advice would be great. Thanks.

 

[madhatter]

I've taken Amtrack several times. I wouldn't recommend it if you have children with you, because, its loud , rocks back and forth way too much, and its full of trashy people. On the other hand, if you don't have children and like to "slum it",get trashed, play cards, and meet "interesting" people: then go for it!!!!:lookaroun

 

[Pioneer Hall]

We always take the Meteor to WDW. If you travel on a Friday say HI to car attendant John for me. The ride is pretty nice. The food prices on the train recently sky rocketed. The seats aren't all that comfortable but you get used to them. They give you little pillows (like airlines) but no blanket. Blankets are available in the LOunge car for 10 dollars. Save yourself the expense though and bring your own. There is a regular dining car where you can get three meals and a lounge car that serves light meals, snacks, and drinks. Also some of the Lounge cars show movies. It is nice to sit there are meet other people (much better than staying in your seat). The only problem we have had with the meteor is the lateness. We got to Orlando 3 hours late when we went in August. So make sure you make no definate plans for the night you get there. You should arrive in Orlando at 4:06.

Where are you leaving from?

If you have any other questions at all about the Meteor please Private Message me. I will help you as best I can (I know a lot about the trains)

 

[I love Mickey]

Thank you for the information. We have a sleeper car so I guess the meals will be included in our trip. After reading the first reply I was a little nervous. I hope the crowd on board is not to rowdy since I will be traveling with children.

 

[Pioneer Hall]

Originally posted by I love Mickey
Thank you for the information. We have a sleeper car so I guess the meals will be included in our trip. After reading the first reply I was a little nervous. I hope the crowd on board is not to rowdy since I will be traveling with children.

AHH a Sleeper. Yes all you meal are included (and thats good because the meals are expensive. They used to be cheap though but things changed). The crowds are usually not bad. And if you have a problem tell the car attendant. But since you are in a sleeper can you really won't have to worry about any of that. You should enjoy the train. And my advice would be to rent a car from Hertz if you are renting a car. They have all the cars at the station and you just go inside and they give you keys. Then when you get back to the the station at the end of the trip, you just drop your keys and a paper (with envelope) in a box and you're done. It lets you stay in WDW a little longer during the day.

 

[Camelot]

I truly hope your train traveling experience is more pleasant that mine was on the Sunset Limited, several years ago. (New Orleans to Chicago)

Perhaps the Meteor is a better "run"" than the S. L. was.

I had never traveled on a train before and thought of it as an adventure. However, I could not afford a sleeper, so the discomfort of being in a coach seat ( for a 19 hour trip) definately played a part in my negative experience on Amtrak...however the other problems, were running out of water (and not making time to get more) and the train was running late both ways, and the train was in terrible shape...some seats had duct tape covering holes so that the springs wouldn't pop out and just overall was dirty.

 

[I love Mickey]

Our train ride

Hi- We are back from our train trip to Disney and I have to say things were wonderful. We stayed in the sleeper cars and met great people who travel this way to Disney every year. The rocking of the train did bother me at times but it was tolerable to someone who is afraid to fly. The meals that were served were fabulous. Just wanted to let everyone know the train is not that bad.

 

[Pioneer Hall]

Glad to hear that everything worked out on the train!!! I knew that you would like it.

 

[Camelot]

That is wonderful, I Love Mickey...I am so happy you had a pleasant experience traveling by train.

 

[njchris65]

I'm taking the train May 30th fron Penn station to Orlando and have a Hertz reservation.

I've got a sleeper both ways. Did they have video screens showing anything? This is my first train trip too, but I'm glad to get a sleeper for the reason of not sharing a bathroom.

Oh, I also checked the hertz site today and on their normal reservation site there is no listing for Amtrak Hertz any longer. That's now I booked it. Is it still there? I always go back and try another reservation to see if the rates changed..

I also tried their newer reservation system that lists that location but it shows pickup isnt available at that date (so I changed it to much much later in the year to see.. same message).

Eeep.. is that bad?

 

[I love Mickey]

We went into the Kissimmee train station. This station is a little closer to Disney World. We had someone pick us up there but we rented a hertz car not far from that location (about 2 miles) its at the Kissimmee airport. When we returned the car they gladly gave us a lift back to the train station. We tried to pay them for the ride and give them a tip but they would not accept either. They were very nice.
In your sleeper car there is a video monitor showing movies. On channels 4 and 5 you can find movies playing. Usually there are two movies on each channel that rotate. In between sometimes they throw in a cartoon or a sitcom from television like friends or tool time. Channels 1,2 and 3 play music. On our way down to Florida our video monitor did not work. We did not have any problems on the way home.
The food on the train was wonderful. Dont forget that the food is free when you are a passanger in the sleeper cars. Another tip for you is that in the New York Penn station there is a special lounge called Club Acela. Since you are a first class passanger ( anyone in a sleeper car is ) you can wait in there for your train to arrive. It is very nice. You get free beverages, there are computers to check your e-mail, and they have a television to watch. The bathrooms are much cleaner. The best part about the lounge is that they let you know first which track your train will be leaving on letting you get down to the train first avoiding the long lines.
If you have any other questions please feel free to ask. I know I had a lot of questions before taking the train for the first time. A great website to check out about train travel is amtraktrains.com they were able to help with many questions.

 

[njchris65]

Ahh here's one... what did the attendant do? Did you have to ask to have the bed set up or did he come by at a certain time?

How much luggage could you fit in the sleeper?

I'll look at that site too..

I've already got the car reserved at the Amtrak station, so I'll just go with that.

Would you do it again after having done it? I see some people really hate it, but some people love it. Were the people there "trashy" as someone else said? I'm not sure why they would be.. it's not really cheaper round trip than flying (if you didn't get a sleeper).

 

[I love Mickey]

Our car attendent on the way down was wonderful. She asked us to let her know when we would like our beds turned down. She also offered us soda and cookies all the time. She was very helpful. She was nice to my children. The car attendent we had on the way back home was not as nice. When we asked for anything he sometimes acted like we were bothering him. He did not offer us soda or cookies. I did ask him twice for a bottle of soda. He made up the beds while we were at breakfast so I was happy we did not have to bother him for that. We tipped the attendent on the way down much better then the attendent on our way home.
We did not encounter any trashy people. I think that might be a problem sometimes in coach(I'm not sure since I never rode there) but we had no problems. All of the people we met in the sleepers were wonderful.
I don't know if I would take this long of a trip again by train. We traveled almost 8 hours before getting to New York City then the long trip to Florida. I should not say never because maybe we would. Taking a plane would definately be cheaper but it was a nice experience. It is a very bumpy ride. I guess I did not realize how bumpy it is. I think you will enjoy it. I'm glad we tried it.

 

[njchris65]

Thanks again! I always wanted to try doing this and will probably only do it once in a long while since it is so much more $$

Thanks for all your help!

:sohappy:

 

[DisneyWorldGuru]

I took the Auto Train to WDW. We had a great time. If you have kids bring plenty of things to keep them occupied. I loved just sitting in the observation car. If you have a problem with the car you are in you can ask to be moved. (I had my family with a 9-year old, they put us in a car with nothing but a bunch of eldery people so my wife kindly asked if we could be moved to a car with children. They were very kind and helped us.) Last of all is, if you are not used to train you might be shakey crossing between cars. You just have to push the button try to hold on and push the button on the door ahead of you. But overall the trip was fun.