Auto Train Experience
We started our adventure to Disney by taking the Amtrak Auto Train at Lorton, Virginia. We had never traveled anywhere by train before so we were looking at this trip as one of those lifetime experiences one should do if only to say ‘we did it.’ Well…. it was an experience — one that was interesting — and not totally horrible — but one I would probably not do again.
Prior to our trip I had searched online for reviews of the auto train experience. I found mostly glowing reviews with a few exceptions about waiting a long time for the train to unload all the cars at the destination point in Sanford, Florida. I had heard it could take up to 2 hours for all the cars to be unloaded after the 18 hour trip to Florida — so we were prepared for that aspect of the trip. However, I must say, the reports I had read made me think the auto train was ‘the’ top of the line of all trains — if that is the case, I would hate to ride on a regular train. Again, don’t get me wrong, our experience wasn’t terrible — but not what I expected.
Our trip began at Lorton, Virginia — about 40 minutes from our home. We arrived at the train station with a short line for ‘car’ check-in. The check-in process for the minivan went very smoothly and was quick. An Amtrak employee video tapes your car for any prior damage and places a magnetic number on the car door for identification purposes.
Once the car was checked we went into the station for ticketing — we had booked online and our tickets were waiting for us. Seating is pre-assigned with no choice or requests allowed. We were told we had five seats together. So far, so good. Since we had a minivan we had to arrive at the station 2 hours prior to departure (regular sized cars require one hour advance arrival) — so we had some time to kill. We thought we would grab a bite to eat at the train station but found there wasn’t any restaurants close by to walk to (they already loaded the van onto the train). We therefore sat outside near a kids playground and read a book while waiting. The kids had a good time playing. Here we are waiting for the train at the station:
We boarded the train at about 2:30 p.m. — another smooth process. Once aboard I was a bit disappointed by the seating arrangements. We are a family of five. The seating is similar to airline seats — with two seats on each side of an aisle. We had four seats across — with an aisle in the middle — however, the 5th person (my husband) had to sit alone in the aisle seat in front of us. Not what I was expecting for an 18 hour trip! We were one of the first to board — within a few minutes our ‘seatmates’ arrived: a dad with two young girls who promptly declared my husband had the wrong seat (he didn’t). The two girls had two seats on one side of the aisle while their dad had the window seat on the other side of the aisle with my husband in between them all. Of course, my husband could have moved over to the window seat but then would have been even further away from all of us. Thankfully, the girls got along really well with our kids and they all started playing together with their portable video games. At this point I made the suggestion that the girls could sit in the back row with our kids while I moved up with my husband and the girls’ father could switch to his daughters’ seats. This worked out perfect! However, I hate to think of what the trip would have been like had we not been able to work out this arrangement — a family of five is pretty much stuck traveling that long trip with some pretty bad seating. Here’s a picture of my children in their seats with one of their newfound friends:
At 3:33 p.m. the train departed from the station and we were on our way. After a few minutes we decided to check out the lounge car. Prior to our trip I had read online that the lounge car was the place to get ‘complementary’ snacks, beverages, and even wine and cheese. I was ready for a few glasses of wine at this point! Unfortunately, what I read online was NOT true. The drinks were available at a cost — along with candy, chips and other items. Most items were about $2 per glass of soda, etc. I don’t recall what the alcoholic beverages costs. There was a ‘complimentary’ snack bowl of a pretzel and cracker mix. Also, coffee and tea was free. The last thing I wanted was caffeine at this point — so I paid for several bags of candy, chips and soda to hold us over to dinner.
At check-in you get to select the time you would like to eat dinner. If you arrive early enough to the station you have a choice of 5, 7 or 9 p.m. We chose the 5 p.m. dinner slow. Many passengers around us were stuck with a 9 p.m. seating for dinner because they had arrived later than us at the train station. If you don’t want the 9 p.m. dinner seating be sure to arrive at the station early.
Dinner was very good. Again, however, the seating is for 4 people to a table. A party of 5 or more would have to split up and sit with other passengers for dinner. We opted to ‘squeeze’ into one dinner booth since our three children are pretty petite and it worked out better that way. We all selected the ‘beef’ for our dinner — which came with mashed potatoes — it was very good — and there was wine served at dinner. The cost of the dinner is included in the price of the ticket — however, we noticed people were leaving ‘tips.’ I hadn’t read anything about that while doing my research on the auto train prior to our trip — and since there wasn’t a separate price for the dinner I wasn’t quite sure what would be an appropriate tip for this meal. We noticed most other passengers were leaving a few dollars on the table. We decided since we were a party of five we would leave $15.
After dinner there was a movie shown in the lounge car. However, the movie was a PG13 movie we had never seen before and generally we don’t allow our kids to see PG13 movies until we have seen them (none of them is 13 years old yet). Also, the lounge is not exactly a comfortable place for watching a movie. I had envisioned a place where I could curl up with the kids and fall asleep if the movie was boring. Instead it was more like sitting at a table at a diner and watching a small screen on a portable television — with people walking in front of the television constantly to get to the other train car for dinner. Not at all a relaxing place — so we passed on this experience.
We enjoyed watching the scenery out of the window for the next hour or so and then decided it was time to call it a night. Lights out occurs at about 9 p.m. — however, each seat has a individual light which you may use as long as you like.
This is where the ‘real’ experience begins — and will be continued in another post. (Update; Part 2 has been published by clicking here).