Thank you! Our plan is to go to the lounge, check our bags, and we will inquire about dinner rez when we do that, then head down to Traxx for either apps and a cocktail, or early dinner, depending on what the lounge attendant says. Then head back up before 6 for the Red Cap service. We have to take an early Metro in because our area has limited departure times in the afternoon, so will have a few hours at Union Station before the TE departure.
Thanks for the recent experience info
When I go west, I book from Austin in the sleeper (train 421). I have the option of a flex meal right after getting on, but I have usually repaid my transport-to-station friend with a meal enroute from Bastrop County to the Austin station. So, I forego the flex, fiddle around until bedtime, and wake up to real breakfast in a real diner, somewhere in west Texas.
I Googled station information on the San Antonio station, since the hubby and I plan to take the TE from central IL down to San Antonio, and return the following day. Apparently, the station opens shortly before the southbound Eaglet arrives, stays open overnight, and closes shortly after the northbound Eaglet departs at 7AM. We plan to hang out inside the station overnight.
SAS looks, sounds, and smells like a bus station and most businesses in the immediate vicinity are closed during calling times. I've never seen the toilets in a clean state and that includes being the first customer to enter the building as soon as they unlocked the door.
I don't think SAS hold non-checked bags anymore but maybe you can charm them into it or get lucky with new clerk or a recent transfer from another location. As for Denny's I'd suggest reading reviews before ordering.
SAS opens before the first train arrives and closes after the last train leaves (assuming everything is on-time).
I remember one May leaving my hotel on the Riverwalk and walking to the station in San Antonio about 5:30 or 6 a.m. to board the northbound Texas Eagle. It was much more pleasant to wait outside. I don't know what the seating capacity is in the station but it looks cramped and is certainly not spacious.
For what?
If they are continuing on the same train, they wouldn't have to disembark and re-embark, especially not in the sleeping cars. (Although there might not be any electricity or running water during the time when the Eaglet is coupled to the Sunset Limited westbound or decoupled from the SSL eastbound, so best if you can just sleep through it.) In my & the hubby's planned trip on the Texas Eagle this fall, we plan to disembark from the south & west-bound TE at San Antonio, and board the east & north-bound TE the next morning, but those are 2 different trains, and we don't plan to travel any further than San Antonio.
The only problem with wandering the city is that the time when the TE/SSL is stopped in San Antonio may be quite late in the evening, with very few businesses open. (I have no idea if personal safety late at night in that part of San Antonio might also be an issue, but some travelers might be uncomfortable wandering around on foot anywhere that late.)
I think that, from what I've read elsewhere on these forums (and on the Amtrak website), passengers on the TE/SSL continuing beyond San Antonio in either direction MAY disembark, but are not required to. (On days when the Eaglet ends its run at San Antonio, everyone has to disembark, as the next morning's train back to Chicago counts as a separate train, even if it's using the same cars.)
It's still Open, let's just say some of the street characters you see in Dennys make New Orleans night people seem normal!
For your consideration:
Since I haven't yet booked the trip, I will have to look into getting off at Austin instead of San Antonio. Sounds like it might be an improvement over spending the night in the San Antonio station, then perhaps hiking 1/2 mile each way to the 24/7 Denny's for "first breakfast" before "second breakfast" on the train!
