This year on our Christmas vacation, we surprised Tyson with a trip to the North Pole to thank Santa for all of his gifts. So we gave him tickets to The Polar Express on the Grand Canyon Railroad. It was a little expensive for what was supposed to be a one hour trip, but we decided the memory would be cherished more than the money. So we went to the 5:30 trip on Wednesday night.
We got there at about 5pm, just in time to find out that they want you to pick up your tickets no later than 30 minutes till departure time! Luckily there were still people in line at will-call so we were able to get our tickets and get on without any trouble. Just a side note, if you are buying these tickets for someone else, you will need to put their name on the order. They ask for an ID and if it doesn't match the purchaser then they will not hand you the tickets. The other option is to call them and tell them that you bought them but that whoever is actually taking the trip needs to be noted as your "guest". Back to the original point, we were happy to get there only 30 min. before the trip because my kids got bored very quickly of sitting in the seat waiting for the train to move.
There were three times available for departure, 330, 530 and 730. I knew better than to do 730, too close to bed time and my little ones would have a meltdown before Santa even got a chance to get on the train. What I didn't expect was to want the 330 departure. 530 was okay, but it took till 630 to get to the "North Pole" and it was already dark outside. That left my kids with nothing to look out the windows at and they quickly became bored with mommy and daddy and sitting nicely in their chair. At least at 330 we could have played "What do you see out the window?" for a little while.
Once the train got started the "chefs" were great at reminding the kids of where we were going and keeping them mildly excited. They brought some of the most delicious hot chocolate and snickdoodle cookies for us to snack on during the trip.
Like I mentioned earlier it took about an hour to get to the "North Pole" which turned out to be a little city of Christmas lights and a very big santa sleigh. Tyson was so excited to see Santa. As we were approaching the "North Pole" the "Chefs" asked if all of the adults on the right side of the train would move to the left side so that the kids from the left side would be able to see the "North Pole" and that was pretty cool I thought.
Also, on the trip they read "The Polar Express" to the kids so they knew what the story was and the gift made sense when they got it.
A little bit of advice before you go. . . keep in mind the age of children you bring. Chase and I both agreed that this might be better for kids that are at least three years old. Bug was so bored and she didn't understand why we had to stay seated. It was a little too long for her. I would also suggest that you bring your own copy of the book "The Polar Express". They read it outloud and Ty really wanted to look at the pictures closer. In addition, there were a lot of people wearing their pjs onto the train. Why you ask? because in the book it says that everyone on the Polar Express was in their pjs. I don't think I have ever seen so many people in their pjs :) lol
The highlights of this experience, awesome snacks and hot chocolate, well organized, cute idea and thoughtful staff. Downside, it was a little too much sitting still for the little ones.
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