My family loves to fish and therefore, we love the Florida Keys. Living in Virginia makes for a mighty long 18-hour drive. Besides being expensive for the four of us to fly and rent a car, we can’t bring all of our gear. This summer we decided to try Amtrak’s Auto Train from their Lorton, VA (D.C.) station to their Sanford, FL (Orlando) station, which is also currently their only Auto Train route. As easy as it is to find travel reviews, I had a hard to finding reviews online of the Auto Train.
The Auto Train is nonstop and takes you and your car, van, motorcycle, SUV, small boat, jet-ski, or other recreational vehicle on the train. The train leaves at 4PM and gets there at about 9AM the next day. Rates vary during the year, but this July for the four of us and our car it was about $800. When I priced the four of us flying and renting a car (mini-vans and SUVs are priced a little higher) for 10 days, it was more than double the Auto Train option and my daughter and I could not stomach the idea of driving again. My kids were thrilled and excited to be taking the train and my husband and I loved the idea of having our own car and our bikes (bikes have to go on a rack on the back of your car, not your roof), snorkeling equipment, fishing gear, skim boards, you name it.
Amtrak tells you that you have to be at the train by 2PM to guarantee that you can get on the train. We almost missed that cut off because of really bad traffic (worse than normal) on I95 and it made the start of a great vacation stressful for an hour or so. I think you could probably get there a little past the cut off and they would still fit you in. I saw a few cars coming in as late as 2:30. Getting there early does allow you your choice of the dinner seating times, which are 5, 7 and 9. Our train had everyone checked in early and the “all aboard” was at 3:40.
We reserved just 4 coach seats and did not go with the family bedroom option, which would have added another $600 onto our fare. Other travelers in the station told me the bedrooms were very nice and they have shower facilities, their own climate control and their meals were a little nicer. A high school friend of mine likened it to being locked in the smallest room of his house with his two small children for 14 hours. The regular seats were nice in that you could see from one end of the car to the other and they were more like first class airline seats with even more legroom. We were also lucky in that the car was not full going in either direction and we could each spread out and have two seats. My only real complaint is that none of us could really sleep at night. On the way down three young guys talked and laughed all night long and the train itself is very loud, especially as the doors between cars open and close. The train car also jerks you awake each time it adjusts on the track. I would recommend asking to sit away from the doors and stairs when you check in, ear plugs, your own pillow and blanket, and sticking an Amtrak blanket over the running lights against the window, like the conductor did for me when I asked how to turn them off. My only other slight nit was that the smoking car is right below the lounge car and if you stay in the lounge to watch the movie you will really smell like smoke.
Dinner was pretty good. On the way home, my kids ordered from the regular menu, which turned out to be much better than the Choo Choo Chewies. Breakfast in the morning was very light and on the way there and home the train arrived very early (around 7:30AM) and we had to be very quick. I did like that there was a nice lounge to wash my face, brush my teeth and change. The handicapped bathroom is also huge and was nice when I had to bring the kids with me.
For us, we had to drive another 5 hours from Orlando to the Keys and we couldn’t sleep well, I think we might drive the next time we head back to the Keys. I think if you were headed an hour or two from your destination and if you had a bedroom it would be a great option. I will say, my kids loved it. They loved being able to walk around whenever they wanted, not wearing a seatbelt, and of course the novelty of it. My daughter was looking out the window at one point and yelled out, “Oh my gosh, there’s a butt naaaaaked kid on that trampoline!” I love my kids…
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