Our Experience of The Polar Express Birmingham 2018

Those who know me will know – I absolutely love Christmas. By far my favourite time of year, I love it even more now I am a parent, and with the girls growing up fast, I was keen to do something a bit special that our family would remember for forever.  I had heard great things about the Telford Polar Express – a steam train ride inspired by the film; so when I heard that it was coming to Birmingham Moor Street for the first time in 2018 I was pretty much already sold.

Like many parents, I sat in a huge queue to get on the Polar Express Birmingham website (which pretty much crumbled under the pressure) and patiently waited for the site to come back up before ordering our tickets. At £35 each for standard class or £45 each for first class, they weren’t cheap – but I told myself that it was a once only experience, and as such, we could justify being a little extravagant. As under 3’s were free of charge if they didn’t have their own seat, I decided to just order the 3, and as such opted for First Class tickets, which included a few extras in with the price.

Having been on our Polar Express Birmingham ride this weekend just gone, here’s all you need to know about the experience:

The Tickets

There was some delay in sending out the Polar Express Birmingham tickets this year, and I hope that in future years they sent them out as early as possible, as I have to admit I was starting to get a little nervous when they hadn’t arrived just a few days before our scheduled date. They eventually turned up on the Thursday before the Saturday event, which still gave me plenty of time to give the tickets to the girls and explain where we were going. For me, part of the added anticipation about the Polar Express Birmingham was that the tickets were the gold tickets just like in the film, and handing them over and explaining that they were going to go on a special train was quite a special moment – they were both very excited when we told them!

We live in Shirley, so we did have to take a train ride to get to Birmingham Moor Street first, and I will be honest this confused Neve a fair bit, as she kept asking whether this was the ‘train with Father Miss Mass?’ – she was probably a little underwhelmed and wondering why we had appeared so excited about a regular train 🙂

The Cube

Our Polar Express Birmingham train was leaving Moor Street at 17.05, and the tickets advised that the initial part of the performance was in The Cube, which could be accessed from the main Moor Street concourse and not from the platform edge. It was very easy to find, after we got off our train from Shirley, we simply walked through the ticket booths and it was immediately in front of us – a large glass walled room where the initial part of the Polar Express began.

The tickets encourage people to wear pyjamas (children and adults alike) and almost every child I saw looked adorable in their dressing gowns, slippers and pjs. Some adults had worn pyjamas too (including me!) but it wasn’t essential, so please do not feel  like you have to if you don’t feel comfortable doing this! We had matching pj’s and it was something Erin really wanted to do, but Mike drew the line at the bottoms and just wore the top instead 🙂 (I think he was worried about people thinking he was odd walking through Birmingham city centre!)

When we were first allowed into the cube, there was a small shop for you to buy Polar Express items should you wish, with items like teddies, bookmarks, mugs, scarves etc which were really nice if you wanted to have a little momento or keepsake from your day. I didn’t think the prices were too bad, with a small teddy keyring in a polar express scarf being one of the cheaper items at £2.50 each.

The cube was full of Christmas trees, lights and decorations, and had a small stage with The Polar Express book perched on a chair, which was an ideal photo opportunity.

A tip from me is that you should try and congregate as near to the stage as possible. We didn’t realise that the first part of the act would be on the stage, and as such, were quite a way away. It was busy and Erin couldn’t see the stage, and having just had back surgery I couldn’t lift her up. It wasn’t a major issue but it would’ve been nice if she could have seen as well as heard the actors.

A young boy comes on stage and introduces the story, just like in the film, so for those that aren’t familiar with the story it helps set the scene. That said, I would recommend perhaps watching the film with your children before you go if you haven’t seen it already as I think it helps bring the experience to life. The conductor then walks through the crowd before chatting to the boy with the “well – ya comin?” speech, before shouting ALL ABOAAAAARRRRRD”, after which the carriages are called from the earliest letters first e.g. A and B first.

All Aboard! 

When Erin heard them say we were going to the North Pole, she looked up at me all excited and went “Are we really going to the North Pole??!” – it was adorable.

If you get chance, ask someone to take a quick pic of you by the engine part of the train, as it really is something special. As we walked down to our carriages, a few of the chefs on the train peeped out of windows, shouted hello, or waved and acted a bit silly – it really made Erin laugh.

When we entered the carriage of the Polar Express Birmingham, we found that our seats were split across the aisle, with two seats on one side, and one seat in with another family of 3 – the tickets do clearly say that this may be the case for uneven numbers of seats). We decided in the end to have both the girls on our laps instead and stay on the side with two seats. At just 5 and 2, the seats were plenty big enough for us to sit together, and Erin and I sat side by side on the one chair (and my bum isn’t the smallest!!).

With our first class tickets on the Polar Express Birmingham, we got given a Polar Express tankard mug included with the ticket price, and this was sat on our tables waiting for us when we arrived, as well as a big cookie and a cup for our hot chocolate. There was also a large silver tote bag on the table included (one per booking) which was handy for stashing all the goodies in before we left the train.

The Polar Express Birmingham Experience

Soon after boarding the Polar Express Birmingham, the train sets off on it’s journey to the North Pole and our chef (with a strong American accent – acted I assume!) came on fairly soon and introduced himself and said some hellos, before asking who was thirsty, of course to resounding chants of “meeeeee”. As in the film, he then broke out into the fab HOT HOT CHOCOLATE dance, up and down the aisles of the train, with lots of tray spinning and jumping – he was FULL of energy and really gave it everything he had. He was excellent, and Neve and Erin both clapped along with big smiles as he came backwards and forwards doing his routine.

A few different chefs then came up and down with a flask of hot chocolate and poured us all a glass. I’m not going to lie it wasn’t the best hot chocolate I have ever tasted but it was warm, and added a nice festive touch to the experience – Erin in particular loved it. We also opened up our big cookies and had a little snack.

Next up, some additional parts of the Polar Express film were recreated on the train, with a number of children talking and running through the train, as well as the ‘ghost’ with his little guitar. At times I couldn’t hear clearly everything the children were saying, but this didn’t detract from the experience.

The chef then returned with a large Polar Express book, and the story of the Polar Express was played over the tannoy system in the carriage whilst he showed some of the images to the girls and moved between families. Neve got to turn a page which she really liked – I think it made her feel pretty special!

Soon, we were getting close to the North Pole, and we were knew it was nearly time for Father Christmas as a cheeky little female elf called Chippy entered the carriage. She was a very attractive elf, and so Mike was smiling like a Cheshire cat almost as much as the girls 🙂  She came and chatted to the girls and asked them a few questions, told them who she was and made a few jokes.

Father Christmas

Soon we arrived at the North Pole, and although it was dark, I could see out the window that part of the freight yard had been decorated to look like an elves workshop; this would obviously be more visible if you were on an earlier daylight performance.

The girls peeping round out of their seats waiting for Father Christmas was so lovely to watch, and their faces lit up as soon as he entered the carriage.

He was a VERY authentic looking Father Christmas, with a great outfit and real beard, and he had a friendly face with sparkling eyes – just the way Father Christmas should be. I am not sure if there were multiple Father Christmas’s or whether this one worked his way down the entire train, so the actor for this part of course may vary, but I honestly couldn’t fault this one. He was perfect.

Up until a few weeks ago Neve had been TERRIFIED of Father Christmas and wouldn’t go anywhere near him, so I wasn’t expecting such a lovely reaction from her. She was smitten and went all shy and love struck. It was such a precious moment.

Father Christmas bent down and said hello to them both, before handing them a little bell.  He asked them if they had been good, and what they wanted for Christmas. After saying hello to all the children in our carriage, he then came back to have a photo taken with the girls and wished them a Merry Christmas. He asked them to close their eyes, rattle their bells and make a wish, which they happily obliged. It really felt like we got to spend a little time one on one with Father Christmas and that was really special. 

When Father Christmas left, some more elves then entered the carriage, and came to check whether the parents were believers too – giving us our own little bells and seeing if we could hear it chime. We were told which of the reindeers our bells had come from, and the elves told us funny little stories about the reindeer and their personality traits.

Some Christmas music was then played in the carriage and a few of the children got up and started dancing (and flossing!) in the aisles – it was really special, and what made it lovely for me even more is that we had an older girl in the family next to us – the thought of it being one of her last years of being a believer made me feel quite emotional!!

Finally before we left the train the conductor came on and stamped our tickets – it was nice that they did this however it wasn’t in the letters as you may expect from the film – I guess that may be a bit high tech when they have over 100 people on board, but he did a little curve for a smile on ours which I thought was cute! 🙂

When we got back to Moor Street station the girls were both quite tired – but at least they were already dressed for bed! 🙂

Overall, the girls (and us!) had an absolute ball on the Polar Express Birmingham. The actors staff and supporting team for the Polar Express all worked very hard, and were all really engaging and happy with the children. The train itself is a beautiful old classic, and true to the film, the experience felt like a magical experience from start to finish. You can see from the photos just how caught up in the moment the girls were, and I will remember it for a long long time.

If you are going on The Polar Express Birmingham before Christmas, have an amazing time – I am kind of jealous I wont get to do it again! 🙂

*Disclaimer – this is not a sponsored post – I paid for my Polar Express Birmingham tickets myself, but wanted to share my experience. You can see all the FAQs and learn more about the train ride on the Polar Express Birmingham website.*.