Amtrak Auto Train- Is It Worth It?!

Thinking about taking the Amtrak Auto Train for your upcoming trip to Orlando? Have little ones in tow? I'll provide an overview and some helpful tips on our experience in a roomette from Lorton, VA to Sanford, FL in 2023. It was a great LEISURELY experience, far from the normal stress of packing and flying/driving, especially with little ones. Take a listen as you prepare for your upcoming trip to Central Florida/Washington DC.

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00:00 - Introduction
01:19 - Auto Train Overview
02:52 - Seat/Room Options
04:00 - Is It Worth It? $$
05:00 - Check-In Process/Vehical Loading
06:30 - Dallas Texas is Really Clean
07:12 - Restrictions/Requirements
07:48 - OnBoard Experience
11:36 - Off-Loading
12:25 - Conclusion
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[bissonFamily]

Great analysis of the cost. If you book early, you can get a full bedroom for 2 at nearly the cost of a roomette for 2. Overall, it's a great experience! Remember, the journey is just as important at the destination. When on vacation, everything beats being in the office (just don't tell my boss that).

[Bobrogers]

Being snowbirds from New England, we tried the Autotrain once years ago. The loading process was efficient and the dinner was good. Back then, the railbed wasn't in good shape, and with all the lurching we got very little sleep, so we had to head for a hotel rather than continue to our destination. We decided that the Autotrain bypasses the easiest part of I-95 to navigate, and given its cost we were better off to drive. If we could eliminate the Boston to Washington part of the journey, the train might be a better choice!

[Paji]

I've taken the Auto Train to and from Disney with my family of 8 in 2021. It was good. I had no complaints. We were in coach. The seating was comfortable. The ride was fine. We brought a cooler with us onboard with food and drinks to save on cost. We all were pleased with the Auto Train.

I will say that I'm an Amtrak employee BUT I'm also a fan and customer. I was impressed by the efficiency of the whole process. I would definitely do it again.

I also love watching Amtrak reviews. Especially when they're good ones. I just makes me feel good knowing that enjoy riding with us.

[MekoUnknown]

Took it a few months ago, decided to go coach. Upper level had people going all through it at all hours, lower level you had to deal with people heading to the bathrooms at all hours. Also had a tool on the phone pretty much all night. Roomette may be different, but coach is going to depend on who else is in there and how well you can sleep through anything!

[Maxx]

My husband and I have taken the Autotrain many times and have definitely decided that saving a few $$ and just using the regular train seats is the way to go! And I have a bad back! The regular seats provide plenty of room for your legs and you can elevate your legs like a recliner chair. No privacy of course, but the only place privacy was needed was in the bathrooms anyway.

[esciteach]

answer: YES 10/10 key is to arrive EARLY or as I did, and you do with cruises, arrive THE NIGHT BEFORE. Stayed in their Holiday Inn. ON BOARD TRAIN BY 1PM. LOVED ALL OF IT. Had room on "2nd floor" so much quieter and full bathroom. Did not pay extra for getting car first and still got car within the hour. Please remind viewers that, like any restaurant or cabin, remember to TIP the server and steward.

[jacquelinecollazo]

Very informative. I did it once, about to do it for the 2nd time. It's very nice that u are open to help others with information on central Florida.i lived in the area for 8 years and love it. Keep helping people. That is a blessing to have someone like u .

[stevenkukene]

Pro tip; There are more sleeper rooms on the upper level than on the lower level. Thus the upper level rest rooms see more people than the lower level. The lower level rest rooms stay cleaner, longer than upper level rest rooms.

[robertzalenski]

My Late Wife and I used to take this train in a Bedroom twice a year. We enjoyed it.
Because when we first started and at 3 pm the Train used to have a Wine and Cheese Party. And the Train also used have a Smoking Room in the Bottom of the Club Car. And of course the Train Stopped that.
And the Train used to show movies.
But know the Train has Wi-Fi in the Club Car only.
But most of all we enjoyed our train ride to and from Va to Fl and back in reverse.

[carlj]

Fun fact I’ve used the auto train to pick up cars I’ve purchased in Va twice and Pa. Over the years. It was less expensive to fly one way and purchase a Auto train ticket than using a truck delivery service and of course I had the car at my house within 24 hrs. Normally if you have it delivered it can take couple of weeks.

[mjam]

Glad you had a great experience! I also had a great trip a few years ago. I traveled from NY to Miami. But I have heard horror stories of trains being multiple hours late! If you book a bedroom do not get room A. This room is at the end of the train car and has a slightly smaller compartment. It makes a difference!! I was lucky enough to get to do my homework and stayed overnight at the Holiday Inn which is literally 2 minutes away from the Lorton station. There is also a wonderful shopping center also minutes away from the station. I had a great night sleep at the Holiday Inn. Had a very nice complimentary breakfast. Went to the shopping center. Bought a bottle of Irish Whisky and a few snacks as well as a meatball parm hero and a salad. The food and drinks at the station and on board are very expensive! I was able make some ice at the hotel and brought my own cooler. I booked a bedroom, so I had the dinner and breakfast. I was lucky to have a very nice server for dinner and got a lot of free wine! The reason I slept at all?!! It's a very bumpy ride! (A few shots of whisky helped as well)! Bring very little on the train!! Just the essentials. A change of clothes, if you want to clean up or take a shower. Bring some kind of entertainment. I brought my portable DVD player with me and a few movies. The WIFI is spotty! Also bring a plug multiplier, there is usually two in the bedrooms.
Take your valuables with you as you walk through the train.! There are no locks on the outside of the room doors! And no secure places in coach!

[ctfirebattchief]

My family and I took our first Auto Train trip to Florida in the late 1980's back when the passenger cars were single level that were inherited from other passenger railroads when Amtrak was formed in 1971. The sleepers actually had the old "pass through" door at floor level where passengers could leave their shoes to be shined by the sleeper car attendent overnight. That service had long been discontinued by then. The service was impeccable, coach passengers also received meals in a buffet type service and sleeper passengers were in a traditional dining car. We've taken Auto train probably a dozen times since then, in later years just the wife and I and always in the sleepers, the most recent being a few years ago.

When we first started, there were flowers on the dining car tables, sleeper passengers received complementary wine in your room upon boarding and there was a wine and cheese happy hour for sleeper car passengers that commenced about 90 minutes before departure. I also believe that there was a movie shown after dinner. Dinners were fantastic and breakfast was pretty informal and pretty decent as well. Beds were made up completely by the sleeping car attendant and you were told in no uncertain terms NOT to touch the bunks to bring them down to sleeping position. It truly is a shame that Amtrak has cheapened the experience since those days, especially since that is their flagship train. The concept is great though. drive on, sleep your way to florida and get off, leaving behind almost 900 miles of highway driving. If you live close to either terminal, say a few hours drive, it is a no brainer in my opinion as to the benefit of using it, especially having your car with you at your destination with the surge in rental car pricing. Being from CT, it's a long drive just to get to Lorton, but just that experience of sitting in the diner having dinner watching the scenery go by, well to me it never gets old.

Where it gets messy is if the train is severely delayed. They only have two train sets for this run so if you're late into one terminal, it will be late leaving on it's return run and those delays can cascade to the point they cancel the service for a couple of days to reset everything. I've enjoyed the experience every time we've used it. To me, the trip is part of the vacation :) Oh and the family room will work with two little ones, (don't try it with two teenagers though, those kid bunks ARE small). You just have to keep them occupied for a LONG trip. But that's why they make bar cars :)

[jb]

First time we took the Auto Train we went with just coach seats. Even though our lower level car was only half full, we were unable to get comfortable enough to actually sleep. My husband’s health and mobility was deteriorating so from then on we requested an accessible room, and that was wonderful. We had a toilet and sink in the room and quite a bit of space. Of course, I had to sleep on the upper bunk but I did manage to get some sleep.

[KG-oeoo]

I absolutely love the auto train. The last time I drove NY to FL, I was almost involved in an accident and was stuck in traffic due to two separate car fires. On the drive before someone rear ended the car in the next lane and I missed it by mere inches. I love not having to deal with that for a large portion of the trip. I also like not having to drive through the night and worrying that something may happen in the middle of the night or trying to find an open gas station when you are driving in the middle of nowhere at 2 AM.
I love just sitting back and being able to relax versus worrying about driving in the rain, traffic, etc. I agree that it is SO much less stressful than flying even though I was traveling alone. You really don't need to take that much on the actual train with you since you are sleeping for most of the trip.
I have never had a delay on the auto train as opposed to delays almost every trip I've taken on the Silver Meteor or Silver Star.
I arrived early for my auto train trips and I was once one of the first cars off and once one of the last cars off - it all depends on where your car ends up on which train - you could be the last car on the first train or the first car on the second train since they are offloading multiple trains at once.
I was happily surprised with the meals - they were good (as opposed to the TV dinner type meals that they are serving on the Silver Meteor now that are not tasty)
The bathrooms in the sleeper cars were clean each time I used them on the auto train (and also the Silver Meteor). The bathrooms on the Silver Meteor when I was in a coach seat were so disgusting I would wear a scarf doused with perfume before I would enter them. The cost of the roomette was worth it for that reason alone.
Oddly my absolute favorite part of the auto train - the in room radio! There was something so great about listening to oldies over the radio on the train. No phone, no ipad, no streaming - just pressing a button and listening to the radio. It was like a step back in time and the only thing missing was Bing and Danny singing with Rosemary and Vera in the cafe car.

[jamesferrell]

I have taken the auto train 7 times. Every trip has been great.

[chathammkm]

A very thorough review and we've taken the Auto train once and we took it in a family room. The one thing I noticed was that with the family rooms your berths go side to side where as in a roomette you're going forward to backward so I think that it's a more natural position to be in the position that you're in in a roomette. We also had our family room on the second level and there was a lot of jostling during the night which I don't think you'd feel quite as much if you were on the lower level so we will consider that in the future. We're thinking of trying it again in June even though when we got done with the last trip about 10 years ago I said I would never do it again, but this time we may end up booking two roomettes so that my husband and I can each have a "lower berth" and book on the lower level.

[Laurelmacripo]

The first year me and my husband drove down to Panama City, Fl. as snow birds leaving just outside of Philadelphia, PA (stopping half way in Charlotte) the drive was horrible.
Both days we drove about 10 hours and it felt like it was never ending journey. Not to mention the crazy drivers on the road made us feel like we were taking our life in our hands.
Last year we decided to visit Jupiter, Fl and after reviewing the cost of a coach seat/car on the auto train we realized the cost was about the same when you add the cost of an overnight stay at a hotel, dinner out, Gas, tolls etc. to drive the full trip.
I booked the auto train.
We found the ability to be able to relax, read a book, watch a movie and sleep without the stress of the drive made this decision an excellent choice. And the fact that you are getting closer to you destination is also big perk. You depart Lorton, Va at 5 PM and if all goes well, you get into Sandford, Fl at 10 AM. This changes the trip from 2 full days to 1 day which is something I really appreciated.
The coach seating is spacious and comfortable. Sleep can be difficult with all the snoring men, but I downloaded “white noise” on my phone and with the use of ear plugs that resolved that problem. You can bring a cooler with food, drinks and snacks. The seats recline back pretty far and we brought pillows and small blankets for additional comfort.
Returning home we booked the roomette. The roomette is very tight space, but allowed us our own space and beds where you can sleep lying down. This is pricier, but felt like I did get a better sleep even with the rocking of the train.

[cg]

Slight damage to an undercarriage rear-wheel air deflector on my Lorton-Sanford trip. I could not sleep on the train but did like the experience. I traded not sleeping on the train for the exhausting drive. I would use the auto train again just to avoid the stress of driving—traffic, road rage aggressive drivers, accidents, etc. I would not get the en-suite bathroom again unless traveling with my fiancé (who enjoyed the privacy ). It’s too small and the communal showers seemed clean and spacious. Our sleeping-car porter was great.

[carolchidlow]

I taken the Auto Train round trip and one way many, many times both in coach and with the small sleeper. Never been more then a half hour leaving nor an hour arriving late and that was due to freight traffic.
I love to travel the auto train, you meet so many interesting people, have a lot of laughs and a great adventure every time. Wouldn't go any other way.

[philiprea]

My family used to take the Auto-Train back in the 70`s... being a kid with my brothers it was a blast and took a lot of pressure off my dad as he did all the driving...but these days my wife and I just can`t justify the cost... in your case it seems to make sense especially if you have to rent a car, but you are making great memories for your children, I`m sure they will remember it like my brothers and I... and my dad loved the club car... not sure if they still have that.