Grand Canyon Railroad?

[ruadisneyfan2]

Has anyone done this? Is it worth the money? We'll be flying into Vegas, staying overnight (seeing Cirque show) and stopping by Hoover Dam on the way to Sedona. (traded our timeshare)
We can't decide if we should take the train or drive from Sedona. My Fodor's book says it's very crowded along the south rim in summer; lots of traffic/parking congestion. (our dates are July 12-19) The train co. also offers bus tours which we're considering too. It will probably be just a day trip since our ts resort is always for a 1 week segment so why pay for 2 rooms?
Part of me likes the freedom you have with a car but part of me wants to sit back and enjoy the view. I like having a narrator for tours cuz just looking is nice but we like to hear info too. We did an extra tour at Kennedy Space Center and really felt it made the trip extra nice.
Thanks for any all input!

 

[Barbday62]

The train or Bus tours only get you to the Canyon then you bored the Grand Canyon buses to the look outs. Personnally I prefer to drive because once there you can park and ride their buses and take in the beauty and you control when you come and go.

 

[DalGal]

We took the train May 30th and absolutely loved it. We liked seeing the landscape, occasional wildlife, and the train enterainment. Yes, it was slower than just taking the car (we were staying in Flagstaff) but worth it to us. My nephew (7) really got into the entertainers and interaction with the porters in our car (coach), Morgan and Mark, who were so friendly and full of info. Parking was so-so from what I could see when we arrived at the canyon. Most of the outer lots had some availability. If you take the train you really only have about 3.5 hours to explore unless you stay overnight at one of the lodges. Of course I believe by the time you go, the red line buses will not be running due to paving of the Hermit's Rest Route. I know we could only go out to Hopi Points on that route when we went. That will eliminate some of your shuttle touring.

Had we not taken the train, we probably would not have visited Williams either. Its a great little town, so that's another reason I'm glad we did.

You'll have a great trip no matter how you visit. Sedona was gorgeous, as was driving through Oak Creek Canyon. The AZ part of our vacation was just as good, if not better than Anaheim.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

We took the train May 30th and absolutely loved it. We liked seeing the landscape, occasional wildlife, and the train enterainment. Yes, it was slower than just taking the car (we were staying in Flagstaff) but worth it to us. My nephew (7) really got into the entertainers and interaction with the porters in our car (coach), Morgan and Mark, who were so friendly and full of info. Parking was so-so from what I could see when we arrived at the canyon. Most of the outer lots had some availability. If you take the train you really only have about 3.5 hours to explore unless you stay overnight at one of the lodges. Of course I believe by the time you go, the red line buses will not be running due to paving of the Hermit's Rest Route. I know we could only go out to Hopi Points on that route when we went. That will eliminate some of your shuttle touring.

Had we not taken the train, we probably would not have visited Williams either. Its a great little town, so that's another reason I'm glad we did.

You'll have a great trip no matter how you visit. Sedona was gorgeous, as was driving through Oak Creek Canyon. The AZ part of our vacation was just as good, if not better than Anaheim.

We did book the train. It looks like fun and since we'll have a whole week to explore from Sedona, we can always drive back another day.
We booked the Pullman coach (open windows) even though it's July and highs can be 90, we're hoping it's not that hot in the morning and evening when we ride the train. Dh wants to be able to take pictures with his new fancy camera and doesn't want the window in the way. (Ah, men and their toys...)
Even if it is 90, it can't be any worse than being 90 in east coast humidy! It's dog breath here. yick!

 

[DBBean]

We did the train, The kids were bored until the train robbery. But then got bored again real fast. Would I do t again, probably not. I would save my
money for other things. But, that's just me. =\

 

[CruiserMom]

We booked the Pullman coach (open windows) even though it's July and highs can be 90, we're hoping it's not that hot in the morning and evening when we ride the train. Dh wants to be able to take pictures with his new fancy camera and doesn't want the window in the way. (Ah, men and their toys...)
Even if it is 90, it can't be any worse than being 90 in east coast humidy! It's dog breath here. yick!

We did the train in August 2007. Trust me, 90 in Arizona is nothing compared to 90 with humidity on the east coast! And we are from SC, so we know hot and humid. We did protect ourselves from the sun when we could, and being monsoon season in August, it was more humid than usual for Arizona, but we never felt uncomfortably hot in Sedona or at the Grand Canyon.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

op here.
We did ride the train and enjoyed it. It wasn't too hot at all but it left us very little time to enjoy the Grand Canyon. We added in the rim tour which included lunch and then back to the train station by 4 pm to go back. At that point I really wish we drove so we could watch the sunset and just drive back to Sedona later at night.