We love traveling to Orlando (as you can see) and we visit often. From our home in Virginia, we’ve made the trip down to Florida three different ways. Whether it’s by car, by plane, or by Auto Train, each way has unique advantages that we prefer for very different reasons.
Here’s everything we’ve discovered about traveling from the mid-Atlantic to Orlando… by plane, train, and automobile!
Getting to Orlando
We are lucky to live in a great area for easy southbound travel. We live fairly close to two major airports, I-95, and the Auto Train station in Lorton, Virginia. This gives us access to multiple modes of transportation each time we travel to Orlando, which is once or twice per year.
One important consideration for our family is that, though we don’t always travel as a whole, we are a family of five. This increases our travel costs for anything that requires individual fares or that has a fixed occupancy.
Of all these methods, you’re certainly familiar with driving and flying, but perhaps not the Auto Train. The Auto Train is the only one of its kind in the United States. The Auto Train is an Amtrak train that runs directly between Lorton, Virginia and Sanford, Florida and its namesake feature is carrying passenger’s vehicles. That’s right — you arrive in Orlando with your car!
[Peek inside the Auto Train and learn all about our ride on the rails here.]
The Quickest Way
Comparing the length of a flight, a train ride, and a drive might seem like the surest way to determine how long traveling to Orlando takes. That isn’t all there is to it, though!
Plane
We live about 45 minutes from both Dulles International Airport (IAD) and Ronald Reagan National Airport (DCA). Both airports recommend an arrival time of 2 hours before flight departure. Once we land in Orlando, we face a decent amount of time taxiing, waiting for our luggage (depending on our airline’s policy), and waiting for a hotel shuttle, bus, or Uber to pick us up and take us to our hotels.
Car
Traveling by car bypasses travel time between stations and airports. It provides the most direct route to wherever we are staying. We live about 825 miles from Orlando by car. While the drive is mostly straight down I-95, there are always stops and traffic! In fact, the quickest we’ve ever made the 12-hour drive is in around 14 hours. We’ve proven it can be done in a single day, but it isn’t easy!
Auto Train
We live about 20 minutes from the Auto Train station in Lorton. The train runs on a fixed daily schedule, departing around 4:00PM and arriving time around 8:00AM the next day. Cars have to be loaded on well before departure and after arriving at the station in Florida, there is a wait for cars to be unloaded.
Time Spent Traveling (One-Way)
| Car Toyota Sienna | Plane | Train Auto-Train | |
| Travel to airport/station | N/A | 45 minutes | 20 minutes |
| Wait time (embark) | N/A | 2 hours | 2 hours |
| Travel time | 12 hours | 2.5 hours | 16 hours |
| Stops/traffic | 2 hours | N/A | N/A |
| Wait time (disembark) | N/A | 1 hour | 45 minutes |
| Travel to hotel | N/A | 45 minutes | 30 minutes |
| Total | 14 hours | 7 hours | 19 hours, 35 minutes |
Caveats
One important thing to note is that the majority of driving time is time that you must be actively engaged. For 12 hours, at least one adult must have his/her eyes on the road at all times. The alertness required for this long drive means we don’t attempt it unless both adults are traveling together. (If only one adult is available, we break the trip up over two days.)
While flying, I use time on board to watch a movie, knit, or both. This downtime is a welcome break from herding children and their luggage!
On the Auto Train, the majority of time is downtime, too. Travel occurs overnight, so much of the time is occupied with sleeping! We spent the rest of our time reading, watching movies, knitting (in my case), playing cards, or eating.
The Cheapest Way
The biggest consideration we face when planning any trip is the bottom line. (What will traveling to Orlando cost us this time around?) We have a budget in mind for each trip and if the travel cost exceeds our predictions, we have to make it up by giving up something else.
Plane
The cost of flying can fluctuate quite a bit. We usually fly Southwest and can find competitive prices by adjusting our travel dates. After taxes and fees, the typical cost for a one-way flight from Virginia to Orlando is around $125 per person. When flying, we also need to factor in the cost of transportation to and from the airport (or overnight parking at the airport, if we take our own vehicle) and, once on the ground, the cost of transportation to our hotel.
Car
The cost of traveling by car is dependent upon our vehicle’s mileage and current gas prices. Gas Buddy has an excellent trip cost calculator that will use a vehicle’s information and current gas prices to determine the cost of the trip. Traveling to Orlando, we’ll spend about $150 in gas. We’ll also stop for meals along the way.
Driving especially benefits larger families since there is not a per-person cost. We did not spend any money on rideshares and being able to make a trip to the grocery store mid-week meant we saved on dining throughout the week. (These two benefits are shared by the Auto Train.)
The cost listed below does not include parking at our destination or wear-and-tear.
Auto Train
Luckily the cost of Auto Train tickets is generally stable at $89 per adult. This makes saving up for a train trip a lot easier! Amtrak offers kids’ fares at 50% (with purchase of adult tickets); this means that a family of four can travel for the cost of 3 tickets ($267). Our family has 5, so we pay for 3 adult tickets and 2 children’s tickets.
The Auto Train requires that you bring a car and the charge is based on its size: $258 for standard vehicles and $297 for extended vehicles like trucks, minivans, and some SUVs. Also, transportation to the station or your hotel is not an issue since you’re bringing your own vehicle.
Cost to Travel (One-Way)
| Car Toyota Sienna | Plane | Train Auto Train | |
| Transportation to airport/station | N/A | $40 | N/A |
| Tickets | N/A | $625 | $356 + $258 ($297) |
| Transportation to hotel | N/A | $40 | N/A |
| Gas | $150 | N/A | N/A |
| Total | $150 | $705 | $614 ($653) |
Our Favorite Way
When it comes to traveling to Orlando, our favorite experience, by far, is the Auto Train. It takes the work out of travel and boarding the train makes the vacation feel like it’s starting early. It’s just fun!
Traveling with children on the train is incredibly easy, too. Trains are roomier than cars and planes, both regard to leg room and vertical space, and you get to use all of it. The tables are large enough to play cards or doodle on. Walking the length of the car prevents everyone from getting too stir-crazy. You don’t have to wear seatbelts. Frequent bathroom trips don’t affect arrival time. You can charge your devices on board. There’s free WiFi!
We also love having access to our own vehicle while in Orlando. We stocked it with non-perishables for the week, but we were able to grocery shop if we needed to. It also made it easy to run errands and bring home a trunk full of souvenirs without worrying what would be permitted on a flight or fit in a suitcase. We could also pack full bottles of shampoo without thinking twice! [Note that the Auto Train does have restrictions on what is permitted in your baggage, but they prohibit far fewer items than airlines, mostly weapons and other potentially dangerous items.]
The size of our family and cost of the Auto Train are a bit prohibitive, so we aren’t able to take it every time we visit Orlando, but the times we do are always a unique adventure!
