Amtrak Autotrain prices, is this an average price quoted???

[singitalto]

We are thinking about taking the Auto train back from Florida (only one way)when we drive to WDW in Sept. I went online and was quoted $560 for a minivan & 2 Adults and 2 children for a Sat. Is this an average price(this is with a AAA discount)? It seems high to me but maybe it's the going rate. What has everyone else paid?

 

[Kim&Chris]

The Auto Train is pretty expensive, so your rate is actually not too bad.

Last year, right after 9/11 we got a great rate of $555 roundtrip for two adults and my Plymouth Neon. That was with a 30% discount that they were offering at that time.

 

[singitalto]

This rate is for one way, I thought it was expensive!!!. I really want to give my DH a break but I don't know if this will fit into our budget. I'm just hoping a sale comes by.

 

[JudithM]

Don't forget Autotrain costs more for a van than an automobile. I don't know how much more though because we always had a car. Northbound in September should be less expensive than southbound. Have you called Amtrak? Do you belong to AAA?

 

[Disneyholic]

Keep checking back to the Amtrak site.

When I started looking in December for August it was cheaper to go Tuesday or Wednesday than Sunday or Monday. By the time I had the money to book the price for Tuesday and Wednesday had gone up to the same price as Sunday and Monday had been. I figured since we were going to have to pay the same price either way we might as well leave on Sunday as I had originally hoped to so I put in the info for Sunday and lo and behold the price had gone DOWN to the original price for Tuesday and Wednesday. I grabbed it. I got round trip deluxe sleeper car, 2 adults, 1 child and a car for $1272. It has gone up about $300 since then although once when I went on it was up almost $500. It works on supply and demand. If the demand falls off for that date the price goes down. Check back daily.

Good luck

 

[DisneyVirginia]

Got $980 with deluxe sleeper for two, AAA discount included. (DH and other DS are flying.) Because we're on vacation for a couple of weeks, the rental car avoidance more than makes up the delta in cost, plus I get to pack a whole lot more of the stuff we use at home. (Like DS's Game Cube!)

 

[DVCgrace]

Originally posted by JudithM
Don't forget Autotrain costs more for a van than an automobile. I don't know how much more though because we always had a car. Northbound in September should be less expensive than southbound. Have you called Amtrak? Do you belong to AAA?

If you have a car, you can cut your cost by about $140.
A van or suv is usually a little more than double the cost for a car, since they take up more space on the Autotrain. Cars are triple stacked, vans and suvs can only be double stacked. We always use our car rather than the suv because of this price differential.

Also, fares will only go up the closer you get to your travel date - the fare you were quoted is actually pretty good.

We're going in August - both ways (depart on a Sat, return on a weekday). In March I booked our trip (5 months out) and our AAA fare for 3 Adults and 1 child with a car is $930.60. I checked the fare today (at www.amtrak.com), 3 months later, and the car fare has stayed the same, but the passenger fare has increased 26% - $179 more!

It's actually less expensive for us to take the Autotrain rather than fly and rent a car for the 14 days we're away. Driving the entire way is not an option for us, but if it were, we'd have to figure in gas, wear and tear on the car and overnight hotel and food expenses in addition to extreme driver stress and passenger crankyness!! Dinner and breakfast is included in the autotrain fare.

Hope you have a great trip, no matter how you travel!

Grace

 

[singitalto]

We really need to take our mini van because DH has an ECV we need to take (bad knees) and it won't fit with all our stuff in the car(plus our van is in better condition that the car) I guess I will just keep checking back, worse comes to worse, we will just drive.
Thanks!!