As I mentioned in my review of Big Splash Adventure, we received a special deal on our room and the ability to purchase tickets for the Polar Express train ride. Our 3 year old, great-nephew had never seen Polar Express so we had a little pre-trip fun a few weeks earlier.
Before the Trip
I figured the train ride wasn’t going to be special if Jeremiah didn’t know anything about the Polar Express. We scheduled an overnight visit for a special movie viewing. For dinner I made hot dog stockings. I got the idea from Cute Food for Kids. I wanted more than just plain hot dogs. I thought it might work if I wrapped crescent rolls around them; like pigs-in-a-blanket. I was wrong. They weren’t horrible but I believe I will just use the hot dogs the next time.
Making Memories with the Polar Express: hot dog stockings
I decorated Jeremiah’s chocolate milk container and cups for our popcorn to look like snowmen. I got both of those ideas from Creative Kid Snacks: Snowman Milk Chugs & Snowman Popcorn Cups.
Making Memories with the Polar Express: snowman milk and popcorn cupsMaking Memories with the Polar Express: strawberry Santas
Jeremiah helped me make fruit Santas. He loves to help me cook and create in the kitchen. We made these cute little Santa Strawberries I found them on Pinterest. They came from Leanne Bakes. I tried using tiny chocolate chips for eyes but I really think they are too big. Next time I may try chocolate sprinkles.
We also made Santa-kabobs. (I renamed them) They are actually called Grinch Kabobs by Nourishing Minimalism. I changed the name because we were watching a movie about Santa not the Grinch. I use plastic, coffee stir sticks for my skewers. They seem to be safer than a sharp stick for little hands and mouths.
Making Memories with the Polar Express: creating Santa kabobs
We gathered the food, changed into our pajamas, turned off the lights and settled in to watch The Polar Express, starring Tom Hanks. If you have never seen the movie, it’s about a little boy that can’t decide if he still believes Santa is real. A mysterious train shows up in the street right outside his front door, on Christmas Eve. It’s there to pick him up, along with other children, and take him to the North Pole. I’m not very fond of the animation. It’s a little strange, to me, but I really enjoy the storyline. There are plenty of laughs and plenty of action. And something I am quite fond of, lots of music.
Jeremiah enjoyed the movie and the special food; especially the Santa kabobs. He ate at least six of them. We didn’t tell him anything about our plans for the following weekend. Since he is only 3 years old, his concept of time is a bit askew. When he knows there are plans coming up with us, he drives his mom nuts, daily, asking if we are there to pick him up.
One of the other things I did, in preparation for the trip, was purchase a MP3 of the soundtrack from the Polar Express. We love to listen to music in the car so I thought this would be another good way to expose him to the music and story of the Polar Express.
The Announcement
We were able to have an extended weekend with Jeremiah, which worked out nicely. We picked him up Friday evening and didn’t get him back home until Monday evening. Our reservations at the Big Splash Adventure and for the Polar Express train ride were for Sunday night; which meant we had several opportunities to listen to our Polar Express soundtrack. Jeremiah likes to sing along, which is absolutely adorable. Of course, I sing along with him.
We waited until Saturday morning to tell Jeremiah about our trip and the ride on the Polar Express. I wish I had taken a video of his expression when we told him. As he began to understand what we had just revealed to him, his eyes grew wide and what started out as a sweet little grin soon grew into a huge smile that brightened his whole face.
Jeremiah is a thinker. That is why we told him a little early about the ride on the Polar Express. I knew his little mind would go to work and he would probably have some questions. Sure enough, within just a couple of minutes, he asked, “Will we go on the ice?”
If you are unfamiliar with the movie, there is a scene where the train tracks are frozen under several feet of ice. The train can’t stop before it hits the ice which results in it sliding and spinning across the frozen lake. We assured Jeremiah that it was too warm for ice and we would be just fine.
Preparing for the Ride
When you go to the Polar Express website, they encourage the children to wear pajamas (like the children in the video). Parents are welcome to join in the fun and wear their pajamas too. Well, I’m just a big kid so I bought us all pajamas that matched (as closely as I could get them).
We dressed in our pajamas and our slippers and got ready for our adventure.
There are a few mistakes that I made and I want to share those with you so you can be a bit more prepared than I was.
1. This was my first visit to the French Lick Scenic Railway. I thought there would be a depot for us to wait in until it was time to board the train. That was mistake #1. There were a couple of tents set up with different activities but no actual building.
Making Memories with the Polar Express: Activity TentsMaking Memories with the Polar Express: It rained…a lot!
2. Pay attention to the weather report then dress and prepare accordingly. Because of the incorrect assumption, under #1, we were not prepared for the rain…not just a little rain…a ton of rain. By the time we walked from the car to the tents, stood in water and puddles (as it ran through the tents), then walked (through the rain) to our passenger car (which of course was the last one), our slippers were soaked! To add insult to injury, we didn’t have any umbrellas. I hate umbrellas. I feel I get wetter from the water dripping off the edges than I do just walking through the rain. In this instance, I really wish I had an umbrella.
I hope I haven’t given you the idea that this ruined our experience because it didn’t! I just wanted to give you a heads up so you don’t make the same mistakes that I did.
The Train Ride
Now for the fun stuff; the ride itself. I don’t know if Jeremiah could have been anywhere nearly as excited as I was. I was excited to experience the Polar Express and I was excited to witness Jeremiah enjoying it.
As we reached our passenger car, the conductor was standing there in the rain to greet us. We boarded and found our seats. I kept hold of the tickets until the conductor came by to punch them. Then we each handed the conductor our individual ticket. He punched it until it “snowed” little dots all over us.
Making Memories with the Polar Express: Conductor & tickets
The music from the Polar Express soundtrack played over the speakers. As the train started to move out of the station, we were introduced to the elves that would be serving and entertaining us. They were so cute and bubbly.
Making Memories with the Polar Express: Our elves
During our ride to the North Pole, the Polar Express story was read. The conductor came by a couple of times to show us the pictures in the book. At the appropriate times in the story, the elves would come out and sing with us.
Making Memories with the Polar Express: Entertainment
One of my favorite songs is Hot Chocolate. I bet you will never guess what happened when they sang that one. Yes, we each got a cup of hot chocolate and then they brought us a Christmas cookie! Yum!
Making Memories with the Polar Express: Hot chocolate and cookies
Thank goodness the family sitting in front of us had been on this adventure before. If something was said to give us a hint of what was about to happen, I missed it. But the family in front of us, got up and started frantically cleaning the fog off their windows. They did tell all of us that we needed to start watching out the windows on the right side of the train. We cleaned off our windows and started watching. Before we knew it, Christmas lights appeared on several buildings and there in front of one of the building stood…..none other than Santa Claus and some elves. We had reached the North Pole! I have a confession to make here and now…I am a sentimental sap…I teared up at the sight of them (and I’m tearing up again, just writing about the experience).
As we pull into the North Pole, the train came to a stop. We didn’t get off but someone special boarded the train. Can you guess who it was!?!
Making Memories with the Polar Express: Santa
Yes-siree! It was the jolly man, himself, Santa Claus. He entered from the back of our car so Jeremiah didn’t see him but when we said, “Jeremiah! Look who just got on the train. It’s Santa Claus!”
He scampered up onto the seat and peered to the back of the car. He was so excited. He asked, “Is Santa going to come see me?”
We told Jeremiah that he was, but Santa had to greet all the children on his way up to us. Now, I wasn’t really sure how Jeremiah was going to handle meeting Santa because he had been kind of bashful during the trip so far. We tried to get him to move to the aisle so he could see better, but we wanted to stay between window and me or between my husband and me.
He watched as Santa worked his way up the aisle. When it was Jeremiah’s turn there was no problem getting him into the aisle. He rushed out and hugged Santa’s legs. Santa picked him right up. They had their picture taken together (which I haven’t received yet but I will add it when it comes in) and Santa gave him something special.
If you haven’t seen Polar Express, you might not know what the gift was so I will tell you. One of the themes of the movie is that anyone that no longer believes in Santa can’t hear the Christmas bells. So Jeremiah’s gift from Santa was a beautiful silver bell. I will tell you right here and now that all of us could hear the bell, because we believe in Santa Claus.
Making Memories with the Polar Express: jingle bell and hot chocolate
The ride from the North Pole back to French Lick was filled with singing and dancing. Jeremiah finally got comfortable enough to go out into the aisle and dance with the elves.
Making Memories with the Polar Express: Dancing with elves
It was a magical night where memories were made. Sweet Dreams!
Making Memories with the Polar Express: sweet dreams
Has your family ever been on a Polar Express train ride? If so, I would love to hear about your adventure.
Disclaimer: I did not receive any compensation for the post. I just wanted to share the fun we had and give you some ideas as to how you could recreate it. There are a few affiliate links throughout the post.
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On Saturday, November 22, my husband, oldest daughter and great-nephew decided to head to the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. Even though it was on my November Family Friendly Events calendar, I totally forgot that it was the opening of Jolly Days Winter Wonderland. I was excited because I had never been to a Jolly Days’ event.
The lobby area is so festive with its snowflakes, over-sized snow globes and two-story Yule Slide.
Jolly Days Winter Wonderland at the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis
Two-Story Yule Slide!?! Oh, yes! Jeremiah was pretty excited about it too. Heather took him up and got in line.
My husband and I stood at the bottom to get pictures. It looks like so much fun.
Jolly Days Winter Wonderland: Yule Slide
I really want to try it sometime. I guess we will have to make another trip back there. You are never too old for the Yule Slide.
Jolly Days Winter Wonderland: Snow Castle
There are so many fun activities to participate in. Your child can “skate” in his/her socks on the special “ice” rink. There is a place for a fun snowball fight. The snowball fight is set for certain times so be sure to check out the schedule so you don’t miss it. The Snow Castle is beautiful but you can’t climb on it if you are too big. It has a slide too but it’s much smaller than the Yule Slide.
Jeremiah’s favorite part was the “ice” fishing. He spent a lot of time at each of the holes. He hooked quite a few.
Jolly Days Winter Wonderland: Ice Fishing
We missed the area where you could “bake” holiday treats. I guess we will have to go back and visit.
There was one more thing we missed. We were too early for Santa’s arrival. He didn’t arrive until the 28th of November. He is there now so that’s one more reason we need to make another trip to the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis.
Jolly Days Winter Wonderland: Santa’s Place
Have you made it to Jolly Days Winter Wonderland? What is your favorite part? Be watching for me on the Yule Slide. I’m gonna get my turn!
It has been several years since we headed downtown to check out the huge “Christmas tree” and decorations on Monument Circle, Indianapolis. We usually just drive around the circle, take in the sights and then move on. I am not a fan of the one way streets, the crowds and the parking situations so driving through is enough for me. But since it was 60 degrees outside, on this December 1st, and I wanted to gather information for my readers I grabbed my camera and we headed downtown for an adventure.
We did have trouble finding a parking spot and the closer you got to the Circle the worse the traffic was but we finally found an empty parking meter. Since it was after 9:00 p.m. we didn’t have to pay so that was nice.
The “tree” was just as wonderful as I remembered it but I don’t know that it was worth parking and walking around the monument. There really wasn’t a lot there. Of course there was the tree, the large toy soldiers and sailors that stood along the edge of the monument and the beautiful Nativity scene in front of Christ Church Cathedral. I believe I would have enjoyed it just as much from my car window.
Since I like to include a little fun learning in my activities I wanted to share a few interesting facts I found in an article by Julie Sickel, a writer with the Indianapolis Star. The title of the article is “Here are 50 Facts Relating to the Long-Running Holiday Tradition”. I am going to list a few of my favorite facts but you should read the article to find the rest of them.
1. More than six miles of electrical wire and more than two miles of garland are used for the Circle of Lights.
2. There are 52 strands with 4,784 colored lights strung from the top of the monument to its base.
3. The colors of the bulbs represent different branches of the U.S. military: green for the Army, clear for the Air Force, blue for the Navy, yellow for the Coast Guard and red for the Marines.
4. There are 26 12-foot-tall toy soldiers and sailors and 26 10-foot-tall peppermint sticks surrounding the Circle. (This would be a great counting opportunity for your kids)
5. The ceremony’s most revered annual guest is Santa Claus, who arrives after the lights are switched on.
6. The switch to light the Monument is flipped by a child 12 or younger.
7. For more than two decades, the lucky child has been chosen through a coloring contest.
8. At 284 feet tall, the Soldiers and Sailors Monument is about 21 feet shorter than the Statue of Liberty and 16 feet short of a football field.
9. The Soldiers and Sailors Monument is the largest in the nation to be dedicated to the common soldier.
10. The 38-foot-tall bronze figure atop the statue is named “Victory” but also is called “Miss Indiana” by Hoosiers. She faces south to welcome soldiers returning from battle.
Here is a fun observation my daughter made when she was about 10 years old and I still see it every time we go to see the Christmas lights. (I’m going to give you some hints before I tell you what we actually saw. I want to give you a chance to see if you see the same thing we did.)
As we drove towards the Circle my daughter kept saying that she saw a certain character from the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer television special created by Rankin/Bass. I looked all around and couldn’t find it. I thought it was a character at the foot of the tree or in a store window. As it turns out, it was an illusion created by looking at the monument through the lights. Take a look at the picture below and see if you can figure out what character we see. Leave a comment as to who you think it is. Once you have made your guess you can click on the picture to see who the character is that we see.
Do you see a character from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer?
If you don’t see what we saw, then click on the picture below. I have created an overlay of the character on the portion of the monument that we saw it. See if that helps you see it when you look back at the Monument picture.
Do you see a character from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer?
So can you see him too or do my daughter and I just have vivid imaginations? If you take a drive downtown to look at the lights please leave a comment and let me know if you saw him. We usually see him as we are driving towards the Circle not once we are really close to it. Have fun enjoying the sights, lights and fun this holiday season.
