Florida Day Trip

[Guest_shotgun7_*]

I sort of just felt like getting out of South Florida next weekend and taking Amtrak up to Winter Haven to see some friends and come back the same day. Is there anything interesting around there I can do within say three hours?? And more importantly, I need advice on which train to take back to Deerfield. I'd like to take the slightly later Meteor, but I've seen its on time performance and if I get home at 7 or 8 o'clock.... then somebody's gonna know that I wasn't just out to Bass Pro Shops for the day. Is it worth spending an extra hour in Winter Haven to risk a delay on the later train??

Also, if anybody has any recent pictures or descriptions showing the current condition of the Amcan IIs, they'd be awesome to see.

Thanks alot,

Paul

 

[Steve4031]

I sort of just felt like getting out of South Florida next weekend and taking Amtrak up to Winter Haven to see some friends and come back the same day. Is there anything interesting around there I can do within say three hours?? And more importantly, I need advice on which train to take back to Deerfield. I'd like to take the slightly later Meteor, but I've seen its on time performance and if I get home at 7 or 8 o'clock.... then somebody's gonna know that I wasn't just out to Bass Pro Shops for the day. Is it worth spending an extra hour in Winter Haven to risk a delay on the later train??
Also, if anybody has any recent pictures or descriptions showing the current condition of the Amcan IIs, they'd be awesome to see.

Thanks alot,

Paul

I don't know the area, but I think this is kind of up to you. Obviously, you don't want anybody to know where you have been. Thus a late train would create complications. In my experience in similar situations I have had late trains put me on the spot. Once an 8 hour late Canadian almost caused me to miss a day's work after a winter vacation. So if an extra hour (or 5 or 6 LOL) with your friends is worth it, go for it.

 

[AmtrakWPK]

I've not been to WTH for several years, but the last time we were there there was a nice restaurant on a large lake within a five minute walk from the station. Get off the train, then head to the left (South, I think) of the station, down that road, over a canal bridge, then a right into the restaurant parking lot. It had good food and decent prices. Other than that, if I was going to have a lot more time than that, I'd spend some time of google earth or perhaps mapquest or mapsonus and see what's nearby.

 

[battalion51]

I've eaten at that Lakeside restaurant before, it's very good. There's also a fair amount of stuff downtown. When you leave the station walk up to the crossing and turn righ (I think it's like Ave R) then about a block up there's a Taco Bell, Burger King, Fazoli's and several others. The agent in WTH (if its his regular days) is very helpful with any questions you might have.

 

[Guest_Shotgun7_*]

Hey thanks alot for the ideas. I think I'm goin with the earlier Silver Star since, you know, from New York, it'll probably be like two hours late anyway. Again though, if any of you guys have recent pictures of Amfleet II's, it'd be awesome to see them

Thanks again,

Paul

 

[battalion51]

Take a look at my website. The pictures are mostly circa 2003/2004, but they ain't changed much since then.

 

[VentureForth]

Take a look at my website. The pictures are mostly circa 2003/2004, but they ain't changed much since then.

You got some updating to do. Interesting photos from the '04 Savannah wreck. What a shame. You know there have been 8 grade crossing incidents in Savannah this year alone? I think 2 involved Amtrak, but not to this degree... By the way, all Savannah Morning New photo links are dead.

Nice website, though. Bring it up to 2008!

 

[battalion51]

Well two things slow me down. The first is time. Being a college student, being in a fraternity, and working takes up a great deal of time. The other issue is I'm not traveling by train nearly as much. I do more miles in the state of Vermont annually than I do in Florida, and I live here in Florida.

 

[Guest_Shotgun7_*]

Does anybody know if the refurbished Amfleet II Diner-lounges have replaced the lounge car on these trains yet?

 

[trainboy325]

The list that others have posted is pretty complete. WTH is my home station as I am from Lake Wales.

The agent's name in WTH is Art. He's an older man and works Tuesdays through Saturday. Extraboard employees work Sunday and Monday. They may or may not be able to help you much about the area, but one of them named Darlene knows the area very well. There are a couple of other XB agents in the Tampa Clerk Group that work WTH, but I don't know them at all.

If you go south on 7th Ave, there's a steak and seafood resturant called the Harbor Side on Lake Shipp that's pretty good. About two blocks away down Ave R SW (north side of station and eastbound) toward US 17 (3rd St SW) is a good selection of fast food (Taco Bell, Burger King, Arby's, Long John Silvers, Fazoli's) and a couple of family sit down places (Applebee's and Shell's Seafood). These places are all within a 5 minute walk from the station. Just be aware you must walk down Ave R which is very busy because it runs through a citrus packing and concentrate distribution plant that is in full operation through April.

If you have a whole lot of time (at least an hour and a half), you can walk about 15 to 20 minutes down Cypress Gardens Bv. (SR 540) to an Outback Steakhouse, but since they don't open until late afternoon at the WTH store, it may not be worth the trip. There is another resturant called Christy's which is very nice, which is about 20 minutes away on US 17. Sadly, WTH has a small town transit system called WHAT, but it is very infrequent and no longer serves the station directly anymore.

Have a great trip and enjoy.