My oldest kids and my adorable husband!
Just imagine this: you drive into a gorgeous historic park, park your car and enter Santa’s Village that is full of millions of twinkly lights, the smell of hot chocolate and fresh pine is in the air and your children’s faces are lit up with excitement to see the best Santa in town – thankfully all of this magic is just a short drive away at the annual Irvine Park Railroad Christmas Train! There is much that I love about the Irvine Park Railroad and we visit for every holiday and random days in between but there is something really special about the Irvine Park Railroad Christmas train. Perhaps it’s my serious love of Christmas, perhaps it’s the genuine wholesome atmosphere or perhaps it’s all the hot chocolate that I consume but I just love, love, love it. We attended as members of the media, all opinions are my own.
Santa’s Village (the locomotive loop) is covered in millions of twinkly lights
The Christmas train will depart from the brightly-lit train station and drop passengers off at the North Pole. Children can share their wish list with Santa and have their photo taken with him too. He is the nicest, most gorgeously real Santa you will ever see. You can take pictures with your own camera or you can purchase a photo taken by Irvine Park Railroad. We always purchase a picture ($10) because it’s a great yearly souvenir.
Funny Mom Tip: Get off the train quick at the North Pole to avoid a long line to see the big guy. Purchase hot chocolate and cookies there to snack on while you wait!
After visiting with Santa, hop back aboard the train and enjoy the colorful Christmas lights and decorations, as well as the magical “Tunnel of Lights”, on the ride back to Santa’s Village.
Back at Santa’s Village you can decorate Christmas cookies, hear a story read by Mrs. Claus, play “reindeer games”, go ice fishing and so much more fun. My kids LOVE all of the activities! (Activities cost extra). When we started going to the Irvine Park Railroad in 2009 we didn’t participate in the village activities because my son (my only at the time) was too little. Now that our family is complete and we have 10,000 children (OK just 4 children) we love having family bonding time while creating wish lists, decorating cookies and running in the hay maze – it’s totally worth it!
Ice Fishing!
In honor of making the Christmas Train the best experience possible for all, tickets are sold in time slots and must be purchased in advance. They have a tendency of selling out so make sure to get yours before they’re gone! You and your children will have the merriest time of your lives, I guarantee it!
We dominated the back of the train!
Head over to purchase tickets Irvine Park Railroad Christmas Train Tickets
