Like many of the other reviews state, the views are not breathtaking. We did the 1 hour Holiday Express ride and what made it so enjoyable and memorable was the visit by Santa and Mrs. Clause (with a photo-op) and the Grinch visit as well. Santa also handed out some coloring books and crayons for the kids. If it weren't for the holiday, it would have been a bit of a boring ride. I wouldn't book again but it is worth doing it at least one time if you are in the area.

Went in June. I’ll just cut to the chase. It’s a bore. We went on a Monday and the town that you get dropped off in for an hour or two was terrible. Nothing was open to eat except about 4 places. You don’t see much on the train ride at all. We were in the air conditioned 4 group blue seats and I’m so glad we were because the open compartments were very hot. The red seat compartments were so loud you couldn’t hear yourself talk. Maybe in the Fall it would be nicer or the Polar Express but in the summer it is boring. Didn’t even take any pictures I could post here because there is nothing really to see. I guess our expectation was too high. We thought we would see beautiful mountains, valleys something. Nope. Do yourself a favor and rent a pontoon boat from Lake Blue Ridge. You will see beautiful mountains, the water is fabulous and so much fun.

We thought this would be a awesome experience. First confusion was booking online. It's deceptive unless you closely read the details. We thought we booked riding in a car with enclosed but ended up in a open car with no windows. It happened to be raining and cold that day. Had I known it was a open car, I wouldn't have booked it. We sat in the back up against the train car wall to try to avoid getting wet as we started the journey. Not much of a scenic ride. Nothing really exciting we saw that you couldn't see driving in your car. When we got to the layover, it's a small town with not much in it to view or kill time. It rained harder. Going back to blue ridge, we were slowed down with a report of the track being slippery from the rain. The train car that was opened had two long benches one facing one side and the other facing the other side. They had everyone switch sides returning so you can see the other side going back. I was truly disappointed but not as disappointed as the town of blue ridge knows this is what draws people to town for this 4 hour trip. The town stresses parking around blue ridge is only for 3 hours and you can get your car ticketed. That doesn't make sense at all. Well on a nicer day this may have been a little better but it lacks scenic and entertaining. If you never went on a train ride before, that's seems to be the lure. Some people who rode in our car didn't like it as well but just said it was something different to try.

Our family did the Christmas tour. We had an inside car which was perfect since it was cooler. The decorations were nice. I was a little disappointed that there wasn’t Christmas music playing during the trip. Santa was a little cheesy but the Grinch was perfect. Magic Mike was our host. He was funny and had a few dad jokes and even a magic trick.