How to take SunRail to Disney

At least 3 or 4 times every month someone asks us if it’s possible to take SunRail to Disney.

Until now the answer has been NO.

However, at the end of July when SunRail starts serving Osceola County, the answer will become – sort of.

Then riders will be able to take SunRail to the Kissimmee Intermodal Station where they can transfer to the Lynx bus to ride Link 56 to the transportation and ticket center at the Magic Kingdom. Don’t forget you get a free transfer from the SunRail train to the Lynx bus.

Granted this trip isn’t as seamless as getting off the Monorail at the Magic Kingdom but it is a noteworthy improvement.

A Lynx manager told us it’s not out of the question that one day Lynx might consider a bus that would run from the Tupperware SunRail station down Osceola Parkway – a straight shot into Mouse World.

Link 56 to the Magic Kingdom

The Kissimmee station connection news is good for Mickey Mouse fans, and for thousands of Disney employees who fight traffic every day on I-4 and other thoroughfares on their way to work. (No, the employees don’t live under Cinderella’s Castle!)

The downside for Disney fans and workers is that SunRail does not run on weekends, bank holidays and late at night. You can help change that by clicking here to sign a petition to extend SunRail service to Orlando International Airport. Once SunRail connects to the airport, the train will have to offer weekend service and trains later into the night.

See you on The Rail!

Are you ready for SunRail 2.0?

SunRail 2.0 will arrive in the summer of 2018 and we’re looking forward to it.

This new chapter of SunRail opens with the 17-mile extension of the commuter rail service into Osceola County.

Extending the service south will add four new SunRail train stations:

• Meadow Woods in south Orange County, serving the sprawling Meadow Woods and Hunters Creek residential communities

• Tupperware in Osceola County, serving the corporate headquarters of Tupperware and Osceola Parkway – a major crossroad in Osceola that stretches down into the Disney resort area.

• Historic downtown Kissimmee. This station is certain to become a major destination for SunRail day trippers. Downtown Kissimmee is filled with restaurants and shops – half a block from the train station and adjacent to a Lynx bus Super Stop, an Amtrak station, a Greyhound bus station and the Kissimmee Civic Center. The train station is a 5-minute walk from Lake Toho’s waterfront park. For more, click here for a video sneak peek at some of the things downtown Kissimmee has to offer.

• Poinciana, SunRail’s last station which is closest to Disney resort; a 5-minute bus ride to the popular Green Meadows Petting Farm and relatively close to the Polk County line. SunRail will also store a couple of trains in Poinciana and perform light maintenance on trains at this station.

This expanded service provides a great transportation option for many people who endure the aggravating traffic congestion on Interstate 4, Orange Avenue, the Orange Blossom Trail, John Young Parkway and US 192.

From our perspective, the best thing about extending SunRail into Osceola is that the commuter train will attract more riders.

Regular readers of this blog know that we’ve been disappointed in SunRail’s current ridership that is roughly 3,200 daily boardings. For the actual number of riders, you divide the boardings in half because the people who board the train to ride to work in the morning are pretty much the same people who board the train in the evening to ride home.

Some SunRail/FDOT officials predict SunRail 2.0 could add as many as 2,000 new riders to SunRail. We think that’s a credible estimate because many Orlando International Airport workers live in Osceola County. Even though there’s currently no direct rail link to OIA, the airport is a less than 10-minute bus ride from SunRail’s existing Sand Lake Road station. You can get a free transfer from SunRail to the Lynx bus at Sand Lake Road. There’s also talk of public or private express bus service between the Meadow Woods station and the airport. (An airport rail link will cost at least $200 million.)

The Poinciana station can draw more riders from nearby Polk County. There are already Polk County riders who drive up to the Sand Lake Road station to take SunRail to jobs in downtown Orlando, Winter Park and Seminole County.

Improving ridership is crucial to the long-term survival of SunRail, and key to expanding the service to weekends and late night.

SunRail 2.0 can’t arrive fast enough!

Click here for more SunRail news.

SunRailRiders - Kissimmee SunRail passengers have a sweet deal

Kissimmee SunRail riders have a really sweet deal.

Even though SunRail doesn’t run to Kissimee yet, Kissimmee residents are already taking advantage of SunRail. They’re riding an express bus from downtown Kissimmee to the Sand Lake Road SunRail station in south Orange County.

Actually, it’s a little more than your average express bus, Lynx 208 is a luxury motor coach and we checked it out recently.

We picked it up at the Kissimmee Intermodal Station – that’s just fancy talk for a mini terminal where most of the buses serving Osceola County come together. And man, is it busy in the morning. This intermodal station is adjacent to the Kissimmee Amtrak station where SunRail is scheduled to begin service in 2016.

Lynx 208 is actually a big orange Mears motor coach – you know the type with the high-back reclining chairs. It even has free Wi-Fi, a feature they need on regular Lynx buses.

The ride on Lynx 208 costs $3.50 -- a little more than the regular Lynx bus, but you also get a free transfer to SunRail.

Though the motor coach we rode only had a handful of riders, everybody enjoyed it. We chatted with a couple of ladies who said this new Lynx service and SunRail has really changed their lives by relieving them of the stress of driving to Orlando every morning. And they’re saving a fortune. They explained that their employer is paying their SunRail fare (employers get a tax incentive for this) and all they have to pay for is the express bus service.

One woman said she used to spend $75 per week for gasoline. But now it’s only costing her $40 per month for the express bus. Cha-ching!

After leaving the intermodal station the express bus makes one more stop at a park and ride lot on  Shady lane in Kissimmee before hopping on Florida’s Turnpike and zipping over to Sand Lake Road.

The ride took about 30 minutes and there was a SunRail train waiting in the station.

The coordination and cooperation between Lynx and SunRail is great to see. Here’s hoping that more people will get onboard so we can keep it running.