Amtrak to Orlando.......

[olivegirl]

Well we have decided to take Amtrak to Orlando instead of flying. We will be leaving in April out of 30th Street Staion in Philadelphia PA and arriving in Kississimee Fla!!! This will be our first time taking the train to Florida. I wanted to get some opinions from people who have made this trek! I think it will be a great adventure! :thumbsup:

[DizneyFreak2002]

Well we have decided to take Amtrak to Orlando instead of flying. We will be leaving in April out of 30th Street Staion in Philadelphia PA and arriving in Kississimee Fla!!! This will be our first time taking the train to Florida. I wanted to get some opinions from people who have made this trek! I think it will be a great adventure! :thumbsup:

What kind of information are you looking for???? I take Amtrak from Newark, NJ to Kissimmee any time I visit WDW... The train ride is about 20 hours... I personally enjoy the ride... Feel free to ask anything you want to know, I will be glad to help you..

[Jodi]

We live in Wisconsin, anyone ever taken Amtrack from WI to Orlando? Where do you sleep? Eat? Is it any less expensive than flying?

[DizneyFreak2002]

We live in Wisconsin, anyone ever taken Amtrack from WI to Orlando? Where do you sleep? Eat? Is it any less expensive than flying?

If the trains are the same, and many aren't, there are sleeper cars, which of course are more money... if you ride coach, you sleep in the chair.. The chair reclines a bit and there is a foot/leg rest... The trains have snack cars, lounges, and dining rooms to eat in, or you can just eat in your seat... From Newark, NJ to Kissimme, FL the round trip is $200... I have seen flights from Newark to Orlando go for $600 round trip, sometimes lower at $400... Of course there are sometimes deals you can get from airlines... I hate flying so I take the train...

[diz_girl]

If you're a light sleeper, you may not get very much sleep, especially if you stay in coach. If you check the schedule, you'll see that the train has a lot of stops, including in the middle of the night. You may prefer a room in the sleeping car, or maybe take an Ambien.

I've taken the Auto Train and I was happy that we got a sleeper room. Thankfully, that train only stops once to change engines, around 3 a.m.. I barely noticed when it stopped.

Have you looked into the Auto Train. I've actually priced taking the Silver Meteor/Silver Star and taking the Auto Train, and I've seen that if you want a sleeper car, the Silver Meteor/Star is frequently more expensive than the Auto Train, and that includes the fee Amtrak charges to transport your car on the Auto Train. For our November trip on the Auto Train, it only cost $600 one-way to transport the four of us, transport our car, booked a family bedroom that slept the four of us, and included two meals (dinner and breakfast), plus complimentary bottled water, coffee and tea was available throughout our trip.

I really liked taking the train, so I hope you enjoy your trip.

[Jillirose]

I've thought about this many times... hate to fly. But there doesn't seem to be many options from MI.

[Katzateer]

I may have to try this from Philly sometime. I just got out tickets to fly out of Philly in Oct. And they were $241 each so for now I would rather fly.

The train ride in the regular seats would be fine but for 20 hours it might be better to have a sleeper car. The longest I have ridden the train is 3hours.

[Katzateer]

How do you get from the train station to WDW? Mears stand? How much is it? And is the train station a longer drive than the shuttle from MCO?

[Janmac]

We live in Wisconsin, anyone ever taken Amtrack from WI to Orlando? Where do you sleep? Eat? Is it any less expensive than flying?

From Wisconsin you'd probably rather fly unless you really really don't like flying (me) and/or really like trains (also me :thumbsup: ). You could either take a train from say Wisconsin Dells (there are several stops in WI) to Chicago where you'd get another train to probably Washington DC and then another train to Florida. It can be less expensive than flying but it is certainly much longer. DisneyFreak2002 explained the eating and sleeping which, especially the eating, is part of the adventure.


I've thought about this many times... hate to fly. But there doesn't seem to be many options from MI.

From where you live, no. You'd have to get down to Indiana or Ohio. And then switch trains in Washington DC, etc. Here in mid-Missouri we have a train station about 40 miles away but sometimes the connections aren't good from that station, so we have driven even 5 hours (up to Ottumwa, Iowa) to get a train. Usually the stations we use (small rural ones) have free parking - our vehicles have never been bothered.


I may have to try this from Philly sometime. I just got out tickets to fly out of Philly in Oct. And they were $241 each so for now I would rather fly.

The train ride in the regular seats would be fine but for 20 hours it might be better to have a sleeper car. The longest I have ridden the train is 3hours.

The regular train seats are very comfortable. Traveling by train is more comfy than by any vehicle we own or any plane I've flown in. And you don't have to stay in your seat. You get up and either get a snack from the snack bar or get a meal in the dining car. You walk up and down the cars - except you won't go into the sleeping cars unless you have a sleeper. The sleepers are very expensive in the trains from Washington DC to Florida. Much more reasonably priced on the western trains.


How do you get from the train station to WDW? Mears stand? How much is it? And is the train station a longer drive than the shuttle from MCO?

We are taking the train again next month and so far haven't got the car service reserved. :blush: We have both rented a car (from the Orlando Amtrak station) and had a car service (twice from the Kissimmee station). Both stations are pretty much the same distance from WDW but I do not know how they compare to MCO. We prefer the Kissimmee station.

We do bring snacks and travel size blankets and a water bottle. Trains can be very long, so if you're not going to be checking your suitcases use a rolling suitcase. Trains nowadays have 120v outlets at your seat so you can charge your phone, use your laptop, play movies on a portable DVD, which a LOT of people do.

Amtrak is not very well funded - it's the orphan child of transportation as far as Congress is concerned. So equipment breaks down sometimes. Probably less of a problem than a cruise ship breaking down. :D

Jan

[disneynarula]

We did the train a few times from New York to Orlando, in coach. It's a long trip (close to 24 hours) but not too terrible. The seats are bigger than a coach airline seat. You can walk around and enjoy the dining car. We have never had a room since we took the train to save money.

We brought our own blankets and travel pillows. We also brought some snacks and drinks to save money.

We also prefer the Kissammee staion. We rented a car there.

[Janmac]

We also prefer the Kissammee staion. We rented a car there.

Who'd you rent your car from?

Jan

[disneynarula]

I can't remember who we rented the car from. It was several years ago and DH took care of that end of the trip.