First Time Travel Info Please

[Liz]

Hi Everyone...

I am going to be traveling with my 6 y/o from Orlando to NY... I am on The 92 Silver Star, car 9211, room 004

My question is... how close am I to the dining car since I know that i will be visiting it a lot with a very hyper active child...lol (the closer the better)

and if anyone has suggestions on keeping her busy...its gonna be a long ride...lol

 

[the_traveler]

Welcome!

There will be one other sleeper between you and the Dining Car. Roomette #4 is near the center of the sleeper.

 

[Guest]

You are only able to visit the Diner for breakfast, lunch or dinner. The Lounge is where you can visit at your leisure throughout your trip.

 

[me_little_me]

Hi Everyone...

I am going to be traveling with my 6 y/o from Orlando to NY... I am on The 92 Silver Star, car 9211, room 004

My question is... how close am I to the dining car since I know that i will be visiting it a lot with a very hyper active child...lol (the closer the better)

and if anyone has suggestions on keeping her busy...its gonna be a long ride...lol

Bring some games and things.

Have her look out for things from the train window.

There will be "smoking" stops at various cities. Ask your Sleeping Car Attendant which stops they are. Then get off with the smokers (but stand upwind from them) to let her stretch her legs.

Save a special new surprise for her until she is finally worn out from boredom, then introduce it to her.

Have enough free minutes on your cell phone? Let her call her friends and describe what is going by on the train.

Spend time in the lounge car (it is the car after the diner) which has tables and benches.

Have her track your progress with a timetable (downloadable from Amtrak). There should be ones on the train but not always.

Download and print menus. About 30 minutes before meals, pull them out and let her think about what she wants to eat and talk about what her favorite foods at home are.

Ask the SCA and conductor when they have time to explain their jobs to her.

Take her up to the engine and let her run the train for a while (only kidding. You are not allowed up there).

 

[TimePeace]

Sounds like a great trip.

I took my daughter and son (then aged 13 and 4) for their first train ride from New York to North Carolina, and we had a great time - the kids both loved it and have since both ridden the train numerous times with me and on their own.

This is the perfect time for her to learn about trains and see what a great way to travel it is! Have fun.

Edit: Oh, and although you can't go up in the engine, you can walk up toward it on the platform during those smoke breaks that were mentioned, see how big it is, hear the powerful engine idling, etc. You might see the engineer climb down as he is replaced with another during the trip.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Take her up to the engine and let her run the train for a while (only kidding. You are not allowed up there).

Aw. But you are allowed "up front" on the monorail at Disney World. Why not on Amtrak. j/k

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

Take her up to the engine and let her run the train for a while (only kidding. You are not allowed up there).

Aw. But you are allowed "up front" on the monorail at Disney World. Why not on Amtrak. j/k

Hey, wait a minute! I know you can't just walk up tere, but how do people schedule cab rides?

 

[TimePeace]

Take her up to the engine and let her run the train for a while (only kidding. You are not allowed up there).

Aw. But you are allowed "up front" on the monorail at Disney World. Why not on Amtrak. j/k

Hey, wait a minute! I know you can't just walk up tere, but how do people schedule cab rides?

I'm guessing you have to know somebody... that's usually how it works... kinda like getting backstage at a concert etc...

 

[FunNut]

Good suggestions from me-little-me. Get a number of new coloring books, new crayons, age-appropriate puzzles and games to play on the train. A 6-year-old will love the roomette, so cozy and perfect for a small chile. Be sure to take a travel packet of Clorox sanitizing wipes and completely wipe down the roomette surfaces before you even sit down, especially the tray table and surrounds. Every tray table I've ever encountered on Amtrak (airlines too) was totally filthy.

Be sure to hold both your little one's hands when walking from car to car. Put her against your body and hold on, you may have to hold one hand and hold on to the grab bars yourself to keep your balance. If the track is rough, wait to move from car to car.

Walking around the train is good exercise, carefully going up and down the stairs will stretch the legs. [Oops, I missed that the equipment will be single level on this train, disregard the reference to the stairs. Later posters are correct, most of the trains I ride are Superliners and I'm used to 2 levels. Sorry for the error].

Just be sure to always keep the child under complete supervision. I was about four when I took my first train ride and I vividly remember sleeping in the berth with curtains!

 

[benjibear]

I was going to say go to the doctor and get some drugs but I am only joking with this suggestion.

 

[Texan Eagle]

Walking around the train is good exercise, carefully going up and down the stairs will stretch the legs.

Except that the train they will be traveling in from Orlando to NY will not have any stairs to go up and down. It is a single level train. One must not assume everyone is traveling on western Superliner trains, especially when explaining to a newcomer.. they may get confused.

 

[me_little_me]

Walking around the train is good exercise, carefully going up and down the stairs will stretch the legs.

Except that the train they will be traveling in from Orlando to NY will not have any stairs to go up and down. It is a single level train. One must not assume everyone is traveling on western Superliner trains, especially when explaining to a newcomer.. they may get confused.

I hate to disappoint you but you have to climb up to get to the car level.

 

[me_little_me]

Take her up to the engine and let her run the train for a while (only kidding. You are not allowed up there).

Aw. But you are allowed "up front" on the monorail at Disney World. Why not on Amtrak. j/k

Hey, wait a minute! I know you can't just walk up there, but how do people schedule cab rides?

Silly boy! You use your cell phone and call 1-800-YELLOWCAB! The driver comes by; you get in; he starts the meter; he runs you around in circles and eventually takes you to your destination; you pay him;. You now have had a cab ride!

 

[Texan Eagle]

Walking around the train is good exercise, carefully going up and down the stairs will stretch the legs.

Except that the train they will be traveling in from Orlando to NY will not have any stairs to go up and down. It is a single level train. One must not assume everyone is traveling on western Superliner trains, especially when explaining to a newcomer.. they may get confused.

I hate to disappoint you but you have to climb up to get to the car level.

I hate to disappoint you but I don't think the previous poster was referring to those stairs. Read the statement "carefully going up and down the stairs will stretch the legs" - this is something you can do in Superliners, I did not know it is possible to go up and down the stairs in Viewliners and Amfleets during the journey.

 

[benjibear]

Not everyone relizes that Amtrak has different equipment. Even if they do, they may not relaize which trains run which. I see she is from NM so it may ven be possible that she has never seen an Amfleet car. All somebody had to say was the train in nquestion is a single level train and there is no stairs.

 

[BobWeaver]

Take her up to the engine and let her run the train for a while (only kidding. You are not allowed up there).

Aw. But you are allowed "up front" on the monorail at Disney World. Why not on Amtrak. j/k

Hey, wait a minute! I know you can't just walk up tere, but how do people schedule cab rides?

Cab rides on Disney Monorails haven't been offered to guests since the 2009 incident that killed an operator when two monorails collided as far as I know.

 

[AlanB]

Take her up to the engine and let her run the train for a while (only kidding. You are not allowed up there).

Aw. But you are allowed "up front" on the monorail at Disney World. Why not on Amtrak. j/k

Hey, wait a minute! I know you can't just walk up tere, but how do people schedule cab rides?

Cab rides on Disney Monorails haven't been offered to guests since the 2009 incident that killed an operator when two monorails collided as far as I know.

Sadly, correct! No more cab rides on Disney monorails anymore.

Used to be one of the best perks, especially for the run between EPCOT and the TTC.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Take her up to the engine and let her run the train for a while (only kidding. You are not allowed up there).

Aw. But you are allowed "up front" on the monorail at Disney World. Why not on Amtrak. j/k

Hey, wait a minute! I know you can't just walk up tere, but how do people schedule cab rides?

Cab rides on Disney Monorails haven't been offered to guests since the 2009 incident that killed an operator when two monorails collided as far as I know.

Sadly, correct! No more cab rides on Disney monorails anymore.

Used to be one of the best perks, especially for the run between EPCOT and the TTC.

My kids got to do it once or twice. And, no, we didn't know "anybody". Just got lucky, I guess (was quite a while ago).

 

[AlanB]

My kids got to do it once or twice. And, no, we didn't know "anybody". Just got lucky, I guess (was quite a while ago).

Yup, that's how it worked. I didn't know anyone either. You just asked as you got into the line and if there weren't too many others making that request, then you got to ride up front. I got several rides myself and on a few occasions I got rides for my nieces & nephews, even though I didn't get to go up front as they maxed out the capacity.

 

[TimePeace]

My kids got to do it once or twice. And, no, we didn't know "anybody". Just got lucky, I guess (was quite a while ago).

Yup, that's how it worked. I didn't know anyone either. You just asked as you got into the line and if there weren't too many others making that request, then you got to ride up front. I got several rides myself and on a few occasions I got rides for my nieces & nephews, even though I didn't get to go up front as they maxed out the capacity.

I thought the question pertained to Amtrak locomotive cab rides - how does one do that?

 

[AlanB]

My kids got to do it once or twice. And, no, we didn't know "anybody". Just got lucky, I guess (was quite a while ago).

Yup, that's how it worked. I didn't know anyone either. You just asked as you got into the line and if there weren't too many others making that request, then you got to ride up front. I got several rides myself and on a few occasions I got rides for my nieces & nephews, even though I didn't get to go up front as they maxed out the capacity.

I thought the question pertained to Amtrak locomotive cab rides - how does one do that?

Well like many other times, we sort of morphed off into a secondary topic.

As for Amtrak cab rides, you can forget that idea. As I understand it, FRA regulations don't allow for anyone without a license to be in the cab of an Amtrak train or even a freight train these days. Anyone riding up front without said license could be punished legally and the crew would almost certainly lose their license to operate a train and therefore lose their job too.

So only an extremely foolish engineer will allow anyone up into the cab these days. Especially with today's technology where just about everyone now carries a camera with them in their cell phone and more and more people are even carrying a cell phone capable of video.

And I've seen fewer and fewer stories of people claiming to have obtained a cab rid these days.

 

[FunNut]

Please excuse my reference to walking up and down stairs in my previous post. Several who corrected me were correct, I'm used to riding trains in the west where the cars are 2-level. I went back and re-wrote what I had previously posted. I was tired when I posted or I might have realized the OP was referring to a single-level train. I also had mis-read the age of the child and corrected that in my previous post. I should be more careful with comments and thanks for the corrections from others.

 

[ehbowen]

Your roomette will have a power outlet, so a portable DVD player or a laptop computer with DVD drive and a short stack of favorite movies could be a favored diversion. Also, check in the lounge car to see if they have one of those "Children's Activity Packs" that they sometimes stock for $2 or so with puzzles and coloring pages.

 

[nygirl69]

You have all been so sweet and thoughtful...I thank you for the great suggestions!!

@OBS Chief...LOL!! Believe me I thought about that...haha

I'll make sure the portable DVD player is charged and ready to go, and have lots of coloring booksand crayons on hand......