Honestly not worth the price. So much worse than it has been in years past and I bet my 5 year old lost some of the Christmas magic because we did this. We told him we were heading to the North Pole bc in years past, we DID. Save your money, seriously.
Enrique Pompa
It was a good experience but it was not worth $200 for 2 rows (4 people).
Santa look like a biker with grey hair (not white) It did not look like a Santa. Kids were confused about Santa. He looked like an elf with a really small beard.
The elf's were great hosts.
Cookies and hot chocolate were a big disappointment.
Ms. Klaus was a big disappointment as well. The marketing let you believe Miss Klaus will be handing out the cookies and hot chocolate. That never happened!
Todd Krumholz
If I could give no stars, I would. Bought 9 tickets for $630 plus tax for the 630pm bus in Dallas at Mockingbird station. Got a text as we were finishing dinner across the street at 545 that our bus was delayed until 715. No problem, we finished dinner, hit the bathroom and went over around 630 to be 45 minutes early for the bus. As we park there is a bus there that pulls off. Panicked I called, the number and they said no, that isn’t your bus- you’re good for 715. Ok. So it’s cold, we wait in the car, and I called at 7 to see if the bus was on the way - yes, it’s on the way. I asked if it was empty or was the bus that was out that we saw leave. Was told it was empty and on the way. Nope. It was the bus we saw leave at 630. It finally arrives at 735. People unload. No one from the bus says anything to us (and the two other families that also got the “your bus is late” message. So we finally get on the bus at 7:55. No one scanned our tickets, asked our name, nothing. The woman said that we were the 715 bus, I said no, we are the 630 but got a message we were delayed until 715. She had no idea what I was talking about and that we missed the bus. No, we were told the bus was delayed until 715. Ok fine. Finally at 810 we depart.
Ad says caroling, storytime, cookies, hot chocolate. We got some hot chocolate and gas station pre packaged grandmas cookies. No Caroling, no music for half the ride - finally a small speaker had music after 30 minutes, a really half assed Santa, you got a bell to take with you and a cheap Santa hat. The bus is way too big for Highland Park, we were ramming tree branches the entire ride. No way HP puts up with this for long.
Felt bad that the staff seemed so clueless but for almost $700 - a total ripoff. Going to call for a refund Monday.
Don
Horrible. I wouldn’t go if it was free. Note that “North Pole express” is NOT in any way a “Polar Express” experience! At all!!! considering the cost and the comparison to a real Polar Express Experience, this is a giant waste of money and time, and such a disappointment that must be documented. The wait was over an hour, half of which is in a tent with no circulation. Good luck keeping young kids under control in this stale environment. The “town” and shops are WEAK. It is not pretty at all. Just some good ole asphalt and tents.
We got on the train and started off with one of the cast members obliterating the bathroom. So that was fun. My toddler said “it’s smells yucky” 😆 Sound system didn’t work, couldn’t hear a thing. My boys didn’t even know there was a production, if you want to call it that, going on. Honestly it was sad and likely damaging to their Christmas imagination. No one seemed to really be in character, the conductors were especially uninspiring. There is no way a producer / owner ever sat through the production in full. It was embarrassingly bad. To charge $90 a ticket is absurd.
Choose something else.
Jose M
Excellent for 2-4 yr olds
june kelley
The train was festively decorated and the actors were very energetic and entertaining. The visit from Santa was nice and great individual photo opportunities. The cookie & milk were tasty. But the ride was short, and the scenery was terrible. We went during the day and wish we had gone at night so at least it would have been dark outside. As expensive as it was, it would seem like something festive could have been staged along the way. The exiting snow was really a nice touch. I’m glad we went but will not be a repeat.
Amanda Barbosa
Borderline damaging and very disappointing. Come here if you don’t want to believe.
We waited to board for the same amount of time that we spent onboard. Once onboard, we couldn’t hear anything. The sound system was terrible. My four-year-old kept saying it wasn’t fun. Overall, it was a janky experience and complete waste of money.
Kaitlyn Rios
We purchased tickets this year excited to relive the magic we experienced back in 2019 as a surprise 4th birthday experience for my youngest daughter who had never been before. Boy, were we disappointed!
The experience is completely different and has totally lost its magic.
Even the North Pole “town” with little shops had less attractions: less photo ops, the carousel was broken, and no reindeer to feed.
Back in 2019 you took a simple trip on the train - admittedly obvious that you only made it as far as the dfw airport overpass exit - but back then, when you returned to the station it wasn’t so obvious. Back then you felt transported - the grapevine station carefully concealed - you stepped foot off a train into a magical wonderland full of trees and fake snow, as you were led into the workshop for a full performance by the elves and a magical “spell” that brought you back to Grapevine, USA.
This year that same sad little train ride still happened while some elves sang poorly to you and read aloud a pop up book that was difficult to follow as they mixed in Christmas carols and a visit from Santa. My kids noticed his beard was grey, not white, and continued to point out all the landmarks we had passed by in both forward and reverse motion.
When we got back to the station, I was sad to see that the experience was basically over with the exception of the fake snow whose machines were painfully obvious to my kids. The last time there was so much activity and snow you couldn’t tell where it was coming from or how they made you feel so “transported”.
I’m writing this to the families who are planning for next year, to the ones who struggle to get the time to sit in online cues for 2+ hours, the ones who don’t come by hundreds of dollars easily and this experience feels “worth the money” when you hear about it. It’s not, not at all. Do not waste your hard earned dollars.
Joe Loya
If you have little ones, this is a MUST!
Murat
Don’t waste your money, find something else to do. Not worth the cost, and honestly even if it was cheaper I wouldn’t recommend it.
This is a lie. Don’t waste your money here. The ads created high expectations compared to what you actually find. I honestly feel like I lost $400 for nothing.
Veronica Reynolds
We were really excited for the North Pole Express in Grapevine, but unfortunately it fell far short of expectations. For the price, this ended up feeling more like an overpriced karaoke train than a holiday experience. Both my 5-year-old and 11-year-old were bored within minutes.
We attended one of the later shows, and it seemed like the elves were tired. The energy was low, the performance lacked excitement, and one of the elf’s microphones kept cutting out. The train itself was decorated nicely, but the entertainment and overall experience didn’t match the cost.
You’re given a packaged chocolate chip cookie at the beginning, and you don’t get the “hot chocolate” until the end which turned out to be just a small sip of cold chocolate milk. It doesn’t make sense to eat a cookie with nothing to drink. You do get a photo with Santa, and while he was kind, he did not resemble the traditional Santa, which confused my daughter.
We spent more time waiting in line than we did on the actual train ride. For $100 per row, the value simply isn’t there. A quick photo with Santa, a cold chocolate drink, a cookie, and lackluster entertainment don’t justify the hype or the cost. There’s no reason these tickets should be so hard to get based on what is offered.
Overall, this was very underwhelming. I would not recommend it and would not encourage others to spend their money on this experience.
Susana Rodriguez
We liked the experience and the show inside the train, but giving a mug with literally 2 sips in it is disappointing, I think you could serve a normal quantity in the mug with the fee we paid and you advertise you give that not only a “taste” of chocolate the size of the tasting cups in Costco.
Charlotte Neumeyer
I am writing this because I waited an hour and half on hold to purchase tickets for my three grandkids, my daughter and myself. In precious years, I knew it was worth the wait. Well, not this year, this is why… It started out with a let down of what we experienced in the past… there was no conductors to punch the gold tickets or yell on aboard when the kids loaded the train. Mrs Claus did not hand out her cookies just the elves. It was more magical with Mrs Claus.
The snowy forest you walked through to actually get to the North Pole after you stepped off the train didn’t exist. Sure, Santa showed up on the train but what a let down when you get off the train- no show. There were no reindeer, or magic gift shop that was FULL of toys. It didn’t feel like the North Pole, just a train ride that was magical but for the price we won’t be going back and to think twice before waiting on hold to purchase tickets.
Christina
It was our first year attending the North Pole Express. Everything was well organized and I loved how engaging the staff was on the train. They kept it entertaining and kept handing out goodies that my kids loved.
My only negative was that I waited online for 2 hours the day the tickets dropped to buy them. Their ticketing system is very hard to navigate on a phone, especially when you’re trying to buy several seats next to each other. I wish they would come up with a better process rather than having to click on each time and searching the whole train for a group of seats.
Honestly not worth the price. So much worse than it has been in years past and I bet my 5 year old lost some of the Christmas magic because we did this. We told him we were heading to the North Pole bc in years past, we DID. Save your money, seriously.
It was a good experience but it was not worth $200 for 2 rows (4 people).
Santa look like a biker with grey hair (not white) It did not look like a Santa. Kids were confused about Santa. He looked like an elf with a really small beard.
The elf's were great hosts.
Cookies and hot chocolate were a big disappointment.
Ms. Klaus was a big disappointment as well. The marketing let you believe Miss Klaus will be handing out the cookies and hot chocolate. That never happened!
If I could give no stars, I would. Bought 9 tickets for $630 plus tax for the 630pm bus in Dallas at Mockingbird station. Got a text as we were finishing dinner across the street at 545 that our bus was delayed until 715. No problem, we finished dinner, hit the bathroom and went over around 630 to be 45 minutes early for the bus. As we park there is a bus there that pulls off. Panicked I called, the number and they said no, that isn’t your bus- you’re good for 715. Ok. So it’s cold, we wait in the car, and I called at 7 to see if the bus was on the way - yes, it’s on the way. I asked if it was empty or was the bus that was out that we saw leave. Was told it was empty and on the way. Nope. It was the bus we saw leave at 630. It finally arrives at 735. People unload. No one from the bus says anything to us (and the two other families that also got the “your bus is late” message. So we finally get on the bus at 7:55. No one scanned our tickets, asked our name, nothing. The woman said that we were the 715 bus, I said no, we are the 630 but got a message we were delayed until 715. She had no idea what I was talking about and that we missed the bus. No, we were told the bus was delayed until 715. Ok fine. Finally at 810 we depart.
Ad says caroling, storytime, cookies, hot chocolate. We got some hot chocolate and gas station pre packaged grandmas cookies. No Caroling, no music for half the ride - finally a small speaker had music after 30 minutes, a really half assed Santa, you got a bell to take with you and a cheap Santa hat. The bus is way too big for Highland Park, we were ramming tree branches the entire ride. No way HP puts up with this for long.
Felt bad that the staff seemed so clueless but for almost $700 - a total ripoff. Going to call for a refund Monday.
Horrible. I wouldn’t go if it was free. Note that “North Pole express” is NOT in any way a “Polar Express” experience! At all!!! considering the cost and the comparison to a real Polar Express Experience, this is a giant waste of money and time, and such a disappointment that must be documented. The wait was over an hour, half of which is in a tent with no circulation. Good luck keeping young kids under control in this stale environment. The “town” and shops are WEAK. It is not pretty at all. Just some good ole asphalt and tents.
We got on the train and started off with one of the cast members obliterating the bathroom. So that was fun. My toddler said “it’s smells yucky” 😆 Sound system didn’t work, couldn’t hear a thing. My boys didn’t even know there was a production, if you want to call it that, going on. Honestly it was sad and likely damaging to their Christmas imagination. No one seemed to really be in character, the conductors were especially uninspiring. There is no way a producer / owner ever sat through the production in full. It was embarrassingly bad. To charge $90 a ticket is absurd.
Choose something else.
Excellent for 2-4 yr olds
The train was festively decorated and the actors were very energetic and entertaining. The visit from Santa was nice and great individual photo opportunities. The cookie & milk were tasty. But the ride was short, and the scenery was terrible. We went during the day and wish we had gone at night so at least it would have been dark outside. As expensive as it was, it would seem like something festive could have been staged along the way. The exiting snow was really a nice touch. I’m glad we went but will not be a repeat.
Borderline damaging and very disappointing. Come here if you don’t want to believe.
We waited to board for the same amount of time that we spent onboard. Once onboard, we couldn’t hear anything. The sound system was terrible. My four-year-old kept saying it wasn’t fun. Overall, it was a janky experience and complete waste of money.
We purchased tickets this year excited to relive the magic we experienced back in 2019 as a surprise 4th birthday experience for my youngest daughter who had never been before. Boy, were we disappointed!
The experience is completely different and has totally lost its magic.
Even the North Pole “town” with little shops had less attractions: less photo ops, the carousel was broken, and no reindeer to feed.
Back in 2019 you took a simple trip on the train - admittedly obvious that you only made it as far as the dfw airport overpass exit - but back then, when you returned to the station it wasn’t so obvious. Back then you felt transported - the grapevine station carefully concealed - you stepped foot off a train into a magical wonderland full of trees and fake snow, as you were led into the workshop for a full performance by the elves and a magical “spell” that brought you back to Grapevine, USA.
This year that same sad little train ride still happened while some elves sang poorly to you and read aloud a pop up book that was difficult to follow as they mixed in Christmas carols and a visit from Santa. My kids noticed his beard was grey, not white, and continued to point out all the landmarks we had passed by in both forward and reverse motion.
When we got back to the station, I was sad to see that the experience was basically over with the exception of the fake snow whose machines were painfully obvious to my kids. The last time there was so much activity and snow you couldn’t tell where it was coming from or how they made you feel so “transported”.
I’m writing this to the families who are planning for next year, to the ones who struggle to get the time to sit in online cues for 2+ hours, the ones who don’t come by hundreds of dollars easily and this experience feels “worth the money” when you hear about it. It’s not, not at all. Do not waste your hard earned dollars.
If you have little ones, this is a MUST!
Don’t waste your money, find something else to do. Not worth the cost, and honestly even if it was cheaper I wouldn’t recommend it.
Restaurantji Recommends
This is a lie. Don’t waste your money here. The ads created high expectations compared to what you actually find. I honestly feel like I lost $400 for nothing.
We were really excited for the North Pole Express in Grapevine, but unfortunately it fell far short of expectations. For the price, this ended up feeling more like an overpriced karaoke train than a holiday experience. Both my 5-year-old and 11-year-old were bored within minutes.
We attended one of the later shows, and it seemed like the elves were tired. The energy was low, the performance lacked excitement, and one of the elf’s microphones kept cutting out. The train itself was decorated nicely, but the entertainment and overall experience didn’t match the cost.
You’re given a packaged chocolate chip cookie at the beginning, and you don’t get the “hot chocolate” until the end which turned out to be just a small sip of cold chocolate milk. It doesn’t make sense to eat a cookie with nothing to drink. You do get a photo with Santa, and while he was kind, he did not resemble the traditional Santa, which confused my daughter.
We spent more time waiting in line than we did on the actual train ride. For $100 per row, the value simply isn’t there. A quick photo with Santa, a cold chocolate drink, a cookie, and lackluster entertainment don’t justify the hype or the cost. There’s no reason these tickets should be so hard to get based on what is offered.
Overall, this was very underwhelming. I would not recommend it and would not encourage others to spend their money on this experience.
We liked the experience and the show inside the train, but giving a mug with literally 2 sips in it is disappointing, I think you could serve a normal quantity in the mug with the fee we paid and you advertise you give that not only a “taste” of chocolate the size of the tasting cups in Costco.
I am writing this because I waited an hour and half on hold to purchase tickets for my three grandkids, my daughter and myself. In precious years, I knew it was worth the wait.
Well, not this year, this is why…
It started out with a let down of what we experienced in the past…
there was no conductors to punch the gold tickets or yell on aboard when the kids loaded the train. Mrs Claus did not hand out her cookies just the elves. It was more magical with Mrs Claus.
The snowy forest you walked through to actually get to the North Pole after you stepped off the train didn’t exist.
Sure, Santa showed up on the train but what a let down when you get off the train- no show.
There were no reindeer, or magic gift shop that was FULL of toys. It didn’t feel like the North Pole, just a train ride that was magical but for the price we won’t be going back and to think twice before waiting on hold to purchase tickets.
It was our first year attending the North Pole Express. Everything was well organized and I loved how engaging the staff was on the train. They kept it entertaining and kept handing out goodies that my kids loved.
My only negative was that I waited online for 2 hours the day the tickets dropped to buy them. Their ticketing system is very hard to navigate on a phone, especially when you’re trying to buy several seats next to each other. I wish they would come up with a better process rather than having to click on each time and searching the whole train for a group of seats.
Loading...