The Polar Express Train Ride

I think 1 star is also too much for that idiot back and forth train ride. Our kids are 8 years old they and we got very bored. Maybe for 2 – 3 year old kids will love it. You don’t need to spent too much. I couldn’t believe that when you arrived to North Pole there was no fake snow on the ground too :) Is that so hard to arrange that kind of fake snow. If u love yourself and your family don’t waste your time and money. And the most important thing is our kids mentioned that” we excited for nothing!!!” That was a huge disappointment …

For reference I paid $ 600 to take my family of four and another two young cousins. We had to buy two tables. For this $ 600 we got a 1 hour train ride back and forth in the dark. At about the middle of the train ride there was a plywood village out the window with Christmas lights that was luckily on the side the kids were sitting on. Then we rode back. The Santa was pretty good and the people on the train were cheerful enough but the whole thing is something I would expect for free in a mall. The reading of the story comes over the intercom and one person walks the book back and forth through the train car holding the book up. That and some Christmas songs playing on the way back was the extent of the entertainment.
The warm chocolate (I appreciate warm because kids don’t actually drink it hot) was worse than the just add water variety. Maybe they added too much water. Cookies were also mediocre. Better than chips ahoy hard cookies, worse than chips ahoy soft cookies. Here are some other ways you can spend you money:
Have had a heck of a shopping spree and sit with a mall Santa.
Disney’s Very Merry Christmas Party was cheaper than this.
Stay away from this disappointment. There’s just nothing to see here. My ten year old had this face of «are you freakin serious» the whole time. And he is came with his stuffed elf and is all about Christmas and Santa and still a kid and thought this was BS. My seven year old very quickly noticed the BS and was telling everyone that the houses weren’t real and we didn’t really go to the North Pole and those reindeer aren’t real and on and on. I had to explain it was all a show and we pretend to be convinced its real.

We had a great time. Came on Christmas Eve and even the teenagers had a great time.
Those saying «not worth the price» are missing the point. It’s a special treat and they do a great job at keeping up the theme of the story.
We were in the first class car and had a blast. Really got everyone in the Christmas spirit. The train cars were ice cold, a welcome change from the 83 degrees out side.

Ok so there were a lot of good, and alot of bad too. I’ll start with the bad.
Bad: waited until 7:30 at the front gate to be let in for a 7:45 ride. Then waited another 15 minutes at the station to be lined up for the actual train. It was hot. They let us in to line up for the train, and they don’t even attempt to use a authentic engine, which my kids wanted to see so bad. It’s so far out of the station I couldn’t even see the front.
The good: if you want a cute experience and don’t care about the rest, my boys did love the people serving the cookies and cocoa, Santa was great and the North pole made them very excited. A guy comes through and punches the tickets like in the movie and they tell the story over the speakers. The kids loved it.
Overall the kids liked it so I liked it, but it was borderline.

You do not need to arrive early as stated. It just means you will stand in line– just be on time. Choose seats in the middle when purchasing. The ends do not have windows which is necessary to enjoy the part of the show where you enter the North Pole.
The gist of the show is you ride the train up and down the track. The chefs serve hot chocolate and cookies. Next, story book is read over the intercom. The chefs carry the book up and down the aisle. You get to the North Pole, there is short show (you see if you have a window) then Santa enters the cars. Christmas songs are played over the intercom until Santa visits each child and gives them a bell. The chefs try to get everyone to sing but it just didn’t happen — at least on our car.
It was cute but not worth $ 40/​person. The actors were very nice and accommodating.

I spent over $ 160 on four tickets for this show and the experience was definitely not worth the price.
I took my nephews to this show on opening night and there were a lot of things they could have done to make the experience better. First of all, the show takes place on the Goldcoast Train Museum which is right next to Zoo Miami. Affter we arrived they made us wait a while, standing up for the show to start. Once we entered the train they gave us «hot» chocolate which was barely warm and was served on foam cups, they also gave us cold chocolate chip cookies, which would have definitely tasted better if they had been microwaved for a few seconds.
After after a while they came to pick up the empty cups and used napkins using a regular white trash bag, come on!!! You’re trying to sell the illusion that we’re on a train heading to the North Pole, you could have at least covered the white trash bag with a Christmas decorated bag or anything, I’m not asking for much, I’ve seen these simple and cheap bags on Michaels and they are reusable, just place the trash bag inside it and everything will look so much better.
The train just went forward and back, forward and back again which my nephews who are 4 and 6 years old realized very quickly. Again, if possible, just take us for a longer forward ride and then take us back once or twice only, but not several times.
Overall, I did not think the experience was worth the price.

So the Gold Coast Railroad Museum had a holiday event that was set to the movie The Polar Express Train Ride.
I have to say I was nervous about paying $ 35.00 per person including children for an event I couldn’t find any reviews on. So I enlisted three other families to join me.
Our children ranged from ages 4 — 8 boys and girls. The trains were all old style trains that were refurbished.
The employees were all dressed the part and they had a child actor to play the part of the little boy. If you saw the movie you will get it. If you didn’t see the movie you will have no idea what is going on lol.
On the train they gave hot chocolate and huge cookies! Okay, now to the part you want to know about. The actors were full of energy and did a great job interacting with the families and children. They were so excited about their job and they made it fun for everyone. Now this is no Disney event so don’t expect that. However, it was done nicely. There were a few problems with seating but the employees handled it quick and without an incident and I was kept with my friends so I was happy.
Santa comes on board and meets with each group of children. I was very impressed by this santa. He was great. Super clean santa suit, rosy cheeks and was not creepy like some of the mall santas. All of us parents were happy with that.
THE CHILDREN LOVED IT! This is not geared towards adults at all so don’t go in expecting too much, just grab a camera and enjoy the smiles on your kids faces.
The only con I will mention was when I first got there, I took my 4 year old to the bathroom. Inside were «elves» from the north pole getting dressed. There were probably teenage or college aged girls. My daughter saw them and said they had nice «costumes». Then when the train arrived at the north pole, she said, «oh its the girls from the bathroom» so in my mind that ruined the north pole portion for my kid. She still had a great time though.
I would just recommend to the ones hosting this event to maybe talk to your employees about using facilities prior to gues arrival. Other than that I recommend it.