anyone ever take the autotrain

[Mickey378]

so we are heading to WDW in September with our 2 boys ages 3 and 19 months. we will be leaving the Boston area and driving to Virginia to load up the car and stay overnight on the train, and unloading the next morning outside Orlando. Has anyone ever taken the autotrain before? and if do you think there is enough room for a pack and play or other portable crib. While our 3yo should be fine sleeping on the train we are kinda puzzled as to what our very active 19mo will do. Ant suggestions?????/

[ibelieveindisneymagic]

We took the autotrain this past May, and LOVED it (but our DD is 10...)

What type of room have you booked? There isn't enough room for anything extra in the bedrooms, but there *might* be in the family bedroom, although it isn't all that big either.

We really enjoyed the trip though, the staff are awesome, the food was very good, and it was so much easier than driving :mickey:

We enjoyed seeing the movie (and since we were the only ones in the whole car for the movie, there was lots of room to move around, and we didn't have to worry about making too much noise...that might be a good idea for your little one...you have a full-size table for drawing, etc too in the lounge car.

[mouselover93]

i've taken autotrain many times and it is very nice. depending on what room you have you wont be room for the crib. in fact even in a family room i dont think theres enough room for a crib

[amd780]

I've taken the Auto Train twice--once when I was 4 and again a few years ago--and loved it! I agree that there won't be enough room for a portable crib--although it's true that there just may be enough room in the family bedroom. The only possible drawback to having the family bedroom versus the regular rooms is the lack of a private bathroom. The shared bath at the end of the hallway is very clean though, and even though I'm the type of person that needs a lot of privacy, this didn't bother me at all.

Have a wonderful time on the auto train and at WDW! :mickey:

[sardanem]

Back in 1997, my parents took us for a trip to Disney and we took the AutoTrain. At the time, my kids were 2 and 5. They booked 1 family room, which sleeps 4 and 2 just recliner chairs. We decided that my mom and I would spend the night in the sleeper car with the kids and my DH and father would spend the night in the recliners. What we didn't know at the time and it certainly might have changed since then is that the sleeper cars are the equivalent of first class and the recliners are coach. This means there are seperate dining cars. My mom and I took the kids to eat on linen tablecloths with silverware and glasses. My kids did not like anything on the kids menu so they were eating prime rib. My DH and dad come walking through our dining room as we are finishing dessert and asked what we were eating. It turns out they had a rubbery chicken breast with instant mashed potatoes and a dixie cup for dessert. All eaten with a spork. This would have been fine had they not known what we had just eaten. It was actually very funny. As for sleeping, my kids did fine. I was not happy because I had to sleep on the top as well as my DD5. I was nervous she was going to fall out because it was only 2 straps keeping her in and it was very bumpy. I stuffed tons of pillows next to her and she was fine. All in all, it wasn't bad, but I prefer to fly.

Lisa

[Mickey378]

thank you all for the responces. We did book the family room, and I'm sure we'll make it work. We are kinda looking at it as another adventure. I'll be sure to write a trip report when we get back.

[KineGirl]

I took the autotrain down when I moved to FL about 10 years ago. I thought the trip went smooth though I didnt rent a room - just stayed in the seat area which was next to empty. The only real suggestion I can give you is to make sure you pack aspirin. I was fine until about 7 hours in and then all the constant clackety clackety of the train gave me a monster head ache! I used the autotrain one other time after that and didnt have a problem but you never know when you will become sensitive to a constant non white noise.

[Ian]

There isn't enough room for anything extra in the bedrooms, but there *might* be in the family bedroom, although it isn't all that big either.We just took the Auto Train home from WDW last December and stayed in a family bedroom.

Trust me ... there is not enough room for anything in there except you, your stuff, and maybe a newspaper.

It's very tight ... no way you'd get any kind of crib in there.