Train to Christmas Town Experience #XmasTown

We just had an amazing evening riding the Train to Christmas Town!

This Train to Christmas Town is in Watsonville, near Santa Cruz, California, but there are other locations. We barely made it there in time, but were greeted with smiles under a large white tent. The train was beautiful and it was only a short wait to get on.

We had never read the book
that the train ride is based on, so were surprised to see a big a white Polar Bear in the crowd! He came over and gave my excited kids high fives.

We found our seats easily, which were quite roomy compared to trains we’d previously been on. The windows were large, though it was too dark outside to see much of anything. The inside was decorated with Christmas paper on the walls, stockings, and ornaments. It was delightfully cheerful, and I was happy it was warm! It didn’t take long before we were off!

Before we knew what was happening, the elves aboard were singing, clapping, and dancing up and down the isles! My family loves music. Boo especially, she can’t help but move when she hears a beat. So, we all joined in! I loved seeing the thrill in her face as she clapped along and bounced in her seat!

Not only did we not read the book, this trip was planned last minute and I hadn’t had time to do any research or ask anyone for details about this train ride. We were all shocked when we were given hot chocolate to drink and even a cookie, too!

Rocking and Rolling

The story book, ‘The Train to Christmas Town’,
was read over the speakers and elves walked around with the book, showing us the pictures. It was a nice distraction to pass time and fun to tie the story in to the ride, especially since we were not familiar with it. However, we were just as happy to go back to singing Christmas carols along with the radio and then suddenly, we saw something out the window!

It was, it was..

This might be a spoiler, but it was the best (and worst) part. The kids’ eyes opened up as big as saucers as they saw Santa come in! They waited in awed silence until he got to our row. Boo had said she was going to give him a big hug and Monkey had wanted to ask if Santa had gotten his letter, but all was forgotten as the big man himself walked up, and handed my darlings…

a Train Whistle Each!

What a great gift! I have nothing against them, though, if I had known I would be sitting in a metal tube full of high pitched whistle blowing children, I might have thought to bring ear plugs. However, every single one of those noisy kids was as happy as could be, and not even that kind of racket could dampen the fun!

The excitement (and thankfully, the hoots and toots) of the whistles died down quickly as one after another of the animal characters from the story came in and gave each child attention.

The squirrel was a big hit!

As was the conductor. Every kid likes to see a real, official train conductor! And he punched a smiley into all our tickets!

We all had so much Christmas fun, we didn’t want it to end!

Though, really, it was the perfect length of time for young kids to be confined to a train seat and to have so much excitement!

I highly recommend the ride. It is not cheap, but it’s not just a train ride, it’s a whole experience!

For tickets and information go to: https://www.traintochristmastown.com

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