We just finished a 2 week trip to Disney and Universal where we took the Auto Train roundtrip. Previously, we only booked a family bedroom but as our kids are getting older we need more space. We booked a bedroom and a roomette (both in the same car) and we loved it. We left late on the way down to Sanford as I mentioned above but we did get in on time. On the trip home we wound up leaving the station about 30 minutes early to get to Lorton and arrived around 7:30am.
Almost everyone was wearing their mask in the station, they make repeated announcements that they can deny you boarding if you aren't wearing one properly over your nose at the station. We saw someone boarding our sleeping car with their mask down so obviously enforcement isn't matching the message on the announcements. The employee who brought our car out also had his mask down under his nose while he was in our car. We had priority boarding both ways and we were out of the station shortly after they started unloading the cars. The Lorton crew handled the unloading process much more efficiently compared to the Sanford crew.
The food was good, we had the kids mac and cheese, kids nuggets, chicken and manicotti along with the jello, lava cake and cheesecake (the jello was in pre-packaged cups). We had all meals in our rooms and for whatever reason they no longer deliver salad to rooms due to Covid. You can get salad in the dining car. When you order soda, you receive it in a can with a travel cup filled with ice. Kids are allowed to order off of the kids or adult menus. We also enjoyed the complimentary wine with dinner.
Pan roasted chicken and kid's chicken nuggets
manicotti and children's mac and cheese (minus the dinner roll that my son already ate)
The 'signature dessert' on the southbound train was lava cake, a chocolate cake filled with a caramel sauce that you would expect to see on an icecream sundae. Very messy but good. This dessert was not offered on the northbound train.
Breakfast choices included Cheerios (plain and apple cinnamon) as well as Raisin Bran. Bananas, juice cups and coffee cake are also offered. I feel so bad for the attendants that have to clean up the coffee cake remnants from the floor of the sleeping cars! There is no way for kids to eat that coffee cake and not make a huge mess. We tipped well lol
After several trips on the Auto Train, I finally figured out how to stop the banging and rattling in the sleeper cars that annoys me and keeps me up at night. I used the extra washcloths provided in the cabinets under the sink to stuff behind, on top of, next to all the rattling pieces of the room! The chair in the bedroom was rattling against the wall and mirror separating our room from the next so I shoved a washcloth behind it. The plastic box around the call buttons was rattling as well so I stuffed another washcloth on the side to silence it. For the first time in years we had a quiet room thanks to the washcloths!
We're already looking to book the Auto Train roundtrip for next summer with both a bedroom and roomette. It is so much more relaxing to take the train instead of driving all that way.