Train to Disney World?

[Anonymous]

We've got 2 kids (7 and 5) and are thinking of heading to DisneyWorld for Spring Break. Has anyone taken the train to the Orlando area? Any personal pros/cons to share as compared to plane or auto?

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

I had a friend suggest the auto train. The only reason we didn't do it was because we were going over Thankgiving and it was cost-prohibitive - I think it would have been over $1800 because of the holiday pricing. We will SERIOUSLY consider it for future trips. I have 2 little boys and I know they'd get a huge kick out of it.

[Anonymous]

We took the auto train to Disney World when DD was 10 months. We got a bedroom car, and it was wonderful! Pros were the lack of stress associated with packing & dealing with a carseat (just threw everything into the car), no stressing about how DD would handle a plane ride, she had room to crawl and play, and she luckily slept really well in the bed with me (DH got the top bunk). We would highly recommend the auto train and we would absolutely consider doing it again. The major con was the price. We could have bought 3 plane tickets and rented a car for less than we paid for our bedroom on the train (tho once you add all the extra luggage fees it may have been a little closer to a wash). So we certainly paid for our lower stress experience. But once DD is older, as your children are, I think she'll be so excited by the experience of riding the train that it could be worth paying a little extra just for that. We looked at some of the other sleeping configurations while we were on the train, and I would not recommend the roomette with small kids. The roomettes are basically just the 2 chairs with a door. So you at least have some privacy, but no real room for playing or anything. I can't see us doing coach either--again having no room other than a chair for that long is just not a good plan for a small child in my opinion. Hope this helps.

[Anonymous]

FWIW, we looked into this and it was the same price to fly a family of 4 and rent a car as the auto train sleeper car. So, if you're looking to save $$, I don't think you will unless things have changed in the past 2 years.

[Anonymous]

This is a good option if you are considering driving solo to WDW. No need to stop for the night at a hotel, and you can sleep. You can pack everything into your car that you need, and don't have TSA restrictions to think about.

Otherwise, it does get to be as much as flying and you have 19+ hours on the train, so you lose two days vacation time too.