The Trains at NorthPark

Highly recommended for families. Excellent exhibition of miniature trains.

You would think that holiday trains, fun for the whole family, benefitting charity would be a good idea. In practice the tickets are overpriced. There’s no reentry. Strollers are encouraged to be parked while there are no stools for kids to stand on to see the trains. Kind of a letdown. Like a family attraction where families are the last thought.

We went on a Friday just before Christmas and it was terribly crowded and hard to enjoy for my kids. Glad to support a good cause (Ronald McDonald House) and the “Easter eggs” for adults are fun to find (Spider-Man, Moses, Gumby, etc). Choose an off peak time if at all possible and plan to spend time walking the rest of the mall to see the other wonderful decorations.

It’s a cool thing but there’s no bathroom and no readmission, so if you’re bringing a kid be very very sure they won’t have to use the bathroom for a while.

Even though the place is quite small, we had a lot of fun. My baby enjoyed watching the trains and all Christmas trees and decorations. Will be back next year.