North Pole Express Christmas Train

 

North Pole Express Tips and Covid-19 Information:

North Pole Express is a fun 90-minute round-trip train experience. Here are some tips and suggestions for buying your tickets and ensuring a great experience.

 

1.       With Covid-19 the North Pole Express will be a little different this year. Below we describe those differences and our safety precautions that will be part of NPE (North Pole Express) this year.

2.       Buy your tickets early! For the past 6 years, almost all NPE tickets are sold out by early November. The Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving, Saturdays, and the days just before Christmas sell out first. You should assume that all trains will be sold out before the first train runs in November. As we get closer to November start date, moving groups, adding tickets, or making other changes to orders becomes very difficult.

3.       Masks. All passengers must wear a mask when entering the depot and while riding the train.  

4.      Seating. When you purchase tickets for NPE, you are buying tickets for a specific train car and class of service. This year, we will pre-assign your family or group to specific seats in your car. Each group will be social distanced on-board from other families or groups. When your group boards the train, we will escort you to your pre-assigned seats. For example, a 70-seat train car would normally have 60 people on board for NPE. This year because of Covid-19, we will limit tickets available in that car to 30 or half-capacity. This will allow us to have at least one empty seat or bench on either side of your family or group. We assume that your family or group (your ticket purchase) does not need to social distance from one another. You will be seated with them in every seat as any other year.  

5.     Combining Groups. Please remember if you have other friends, family, or groups who have purchased tickets separately from you, they will not be seated next to you. If you want to combine your group (of purchased tickets) with another group who purchased separately in your same car, we will try and accommodate that, but we need to know several days or even weeks in advance! Please note that North Pole Express always sells out, and we will be unable to move you or change assigned seats as we get closer to the November 20 start date.

6.     Heated Train Cars. The train cars are all heated. Please note that most of the train cars on the NPE are 70-100+ years old. They are heated in variety of ways, some with steam heat and others with propane heat. We suggest passengers dress warmly and shed layers as needed. This year each train car will only be about half-full and so it may be a little cooler than normal.

7.       Toilets on the train. The NPE will have a few toilets on the train ? for emergency use. Some cars do not have toilets and so if you need to go, one of our staff will escort you to the nearest car with a toilet. Note that in some cases you may have to walk through two or three train cars to reach a toilet.

8.       Classes of Service. This year we have three classes of service: North Pole Class, First Class, and Luxury Class. All classes of service are an amazing, wonderful experience. There are two main differences between classes. The main one is the equipment ? or train car itself. The nicer and more luxurious cars are in First Class and Luxury Class. First and Luxury Class also receive a larger gift from Santa (sleigh bell), and a take-home souvenir NPE cocoa mug. All classes are served a delicious chocolate chip cookie and a hot cocoa during the ride.

9.       Touching. In typical NPE years, our talented staff of elves, chefs, hosts, and Santa interact closely with passengers including dancing in the aisles, posing for pictures, holding babies, etc. This year we will try very hard to not cozy up to passengers. Elves on board will wear masks. Our hosts will typically not wear masks while hosting. Nor will Santa and other entertainers who pass through the car. Santa will be able to pose for pictures with families, but at a little distance. Santa will not lean in for close-up pictures with children or families and will not hold babies.

10.   Cookies will be individually wrapped and handed out by our elves with gloves on. Hot cocoa will be delivered by gloved hands and will include cellophane-wrapped straws. Bells handed out by Santa will be wrapped, or in a bag this year.

11.   Boarding and deboarding the Train. This year boarding will take a little longer than in years past. We will board family/groups one at a time, and wipe down/sanitize touched surfaces before the next group boards. This process will also be followed at deboarding. Passengers should wear their masks when boarding and deboarding the train (and on board).

12.   Arrive early. All NPE trains leave on time! NPE trains usually start boarding about 15-20 minutes before departure. The canyons (Provo and Parleys) in route to the Heber Valley often have traffic and weather slowdowns. Allow extra time to arrive. We suggest arriving at the depot no later than 30 minutes prior to your departure time. If you are late and miss your train, it is unlikely that we can put you on a later train as all trains are usually sold out.

13.   Toddlers and Toddler Tickets. Toddler tickets specify that your toddler is sitting on a lap and does not occupy a seat on the train. The Toddler Ticket includes the cocoa, cookie, and gift from Santa.