Hey! We're so excited! This is our first experience on a train.
Welcome to AU and indeed Amtrak! I'm sure you will enjoy it.
If you can believe it, I've been on the Surfliner about 160 times
Admittedly, about 120 of those are 10-minute trips as part of my daily commute, but the other 40 were real longer-distance leisure trips, about 2/3 in business, so I think I should be able to answer your questions.
We are leaving next week, leaving an unmanned pickup location, headed to San Diego. It is me and the kids only, Dad has to work. Kids are 5 and 7 and I'll be taking fun foods and things to do. I'm reading a lot and learning but my only unanswered question is.........Business or Coach?
I think based on where you're boarding, the age distribution of your party, and the fact that you'll bring your own fun foods, I think Coach will suit your needs just fine.
I fully understand (I think) the difference between the 2 but I still don't know if it's a waste of $ to choose Business.
Probably.
I cannot check my luggage therefore I must lug all the way to my destination. I'll be in SD a week so the load won't be light, though I will pack as light as possible. Looking at pics of the Coach seating, WHERE THE HECK would my luggage go.
There are spacious luggage racks on the lower level, as well as running the full length of the car above the seats on the upper level. Something about the thickness of a tilting rollaway (~10"?) will fit above just fine.
In business, if I get seats facing one another, I could try to fit our luggage on teh floor in front of us.
There are also at least 3 such groups of 4 seats in each Coach car; unfortunately (at least for luggage storage purposes) they come with tables whose thick leg makes it difficult, unless your luggage is extremely flexible and/or compressible, to 1. get it under there; 2. thereafter have room for your legs.
What other reasons would Business be worth the extra $108 I'd spend? I don't want to get on and say, "Well that was a waste of 100 bucks! Coach would have been just fine too!"
I agree.
The extra food is not a real draw b/c we take our own goodies
The extra food is tasty, if not particularly impressive. In the morning, you can help yourself to danishes and muffins; in the afternoon water, wine, or soda, and Snack Pack #55, the second one on
this page. Pretty tasty, but not quite worth the upgrade fee. Especially mind your teeth on the rock-hard Mentos.
In addition, free-flowing drip coffee at all times of day.
As far as snacks go, you'd be better off bringing your own (and you are)...and/or, if you like such things and just want to experience buying food on a train, the 'cheese and cracker pack' in the cafe is quite good, and the Jalapeno Burger is very tasty.
Despite the description, there isn't any. I will now wax poetic about the real and imagined equipment differences.
The seat pitch (travelerspeak for the distance between you and the seat in front of you) and seat width are no better than in coach (if [as you will be] you're on superliner equipment [see also below]). Coach has outlets at pretty much every seat, something they would have you believe is available only in Business. The only difference I've seen in the equipment itself is a service area, including coffeemaker and counter for the pastries, on the lower and upper levels, where a coach car has bicycle storage and a few more seats, respectively. Both classes have four-seater tables, of which you may want to take advantage.
and atmosphere might be a reason to choose Business......?
As far as atmosphere goes, Business may only have an advantage for the shy, quiet, or non-gregarious, or those who bring work onto the train, as no one passes by you except the occasional fellow Business passenger on his way to/from the Cafe. Another advantage that, because you're boarding very early in the train's run, will probably not affect you, is that, because Coach is unreserved, it can, at very busy times (holidays, Friday nights, etc.), be standing-room-only further down the line.
In your case, with children, especially if they're gregarious, Coach has a better chance of having other children for them to play with.
Three exceptions I've noticed where Business does have an enhanced atmosphere:
- Of the two round-trips that go as far north as you, one uses older single-level equipment more commonly found in parts east. On this particular train, business class does have noticeably wider and deeper leather seats. If you leave Lompoc around 3pm and/or get back to Lompoc around 11:30am, this is the train you'll be on. PS if you are on this train, most of the stuff I said above about upper and lower goes out the window and I may need to adjust my advice.
- I doubt it will affect you, but the business class attendant, Gloria B, on trains 572 and 583 on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays is, IMHO, the nicest Amtrak employee I think I've ever encountered; she goes out of her way to make each customer feel like her only customer.
- When boarding at San Diego (and no where else along the whole Surfliner route) Business class lines up separately and boards first.
I'm just 50/50 on this one........help!?
In summary, I think Coach will suit you just fine. A couple more tips incidental to your main question:
- If you need to take your children to the restroom, use the one downstairs (even if you sit upstairs); it's very spacious (being designed to be accessible to the mobility-impaired).
- If you're in coach, but want to stay out of most of the traffic, try to sit on the upper level of the cafe car, near the center or the business-car end (i.e. anyplace but between the top of the stairs and the closest next-car door).
Enjoy your trip!
And, if (read: when) you enjoy your trip, and you like writing, well, there's even
a place where you can tell us how much you've enjoyed your trip.
PS I've just noticed that, during the half hour it took me to write this, other people have given helpful replies saying essentially the same things. But I've already typed, so here's my contribution. 
