The Polar Express Experience

A couple of weeks ago we had the Polar Express experience at the NC Museum of Transportation. My mother in law treated the whole family to the early evening train ride and we had a blast.  It is a family event and much of it is geared toward children and the young at heart.  The storyline follows the movie pretty closely, it's about an hour long with some events set up for kids in the gift shop afterward.  We went early and walked the museum - my husband was such a big kid, he enjoyed the round house, especially the train cars we were able to tour.

We started our afternoon with a visit to Lexington Barbecue. We Eastern North Carolinians are always a bit suspicious of "red sauce".  I'm happy to report that it was delicious and we will definitely stop in again if we are in the area.

Our museum tour:

 All aboard at 4pm.

After we boarded our train, the actors served us hot chocolate (in really nice travel mugs) and chocolate chip cookies.  They also sang carols and we read the Polar Express together.  The conductor came around and clipped letters into our "golden tickets".

 The North Pole!

 The big guy!  He came around to each guest and hand delivered a bell.  The guests also received little bags of treats  for coming on the ride.

 R and I aboard the train.

It was a Christmas treat to be able to enjoy the ride together.

I would recommend the Polar Express ride in the future.  I think this was their first year and the actual train ride isn't as long as some others that are available, but it's good fun and the production is very good.  I think everyone in our crowd enjoyed it.  The kids were able to see Santa afterward and the staff had a few goodies set up in the gift shop so no one had to hurry home.