Being a train enthusiast I was a bit excited to go on the "Noth Pole Flyer" out of Bertrum TX on…read moreDecember 13, 2025 with my two grandkids and thier parents, six people in total. So this is a grandparents perspective. Upon arrival to the depot area, there is no indication of event parking as the lighting was very poor at 6:15 at night. The web site mentioned free parking but had no maps of the area. What I saw coming from the east, was a long row of cars parked in a Hodge podge fashion along the tracks. We ended up parking by the library across the highway. (Short walk with a light to cross with). I'll mention this again later. I came across a small sign in the middle of a crowd that says "no alcohol, no weapons licensed or otherwise." Would be nice to know before this Texan shows up armed. So had to run back to the car to secure my weapon. Ehh, minor inconvenience. BTW, the rules are on the web site. We pick up our tickets at will call and wait. The train comes up and parks. The engine was a short haul/swicher unit, no steam, with very beautiful vintage passenger cars. My family's car just happened to stop right in front of us, #41. We boarded and it was like going back in time. We found our seats easy enough. However, keeping in mind, either people were a lot taller and thinnier back then, or they have tall tables and do like airlines and add extra tables. It was tight. Little wiggle room for an adult. If you are in the window seat, you get to look forward and to the side. You cannot turn around to see what is behind you. If you adjust your seat, you are bumping the person behind you. And trust me, every car is packed. Being a night trip, there is nothing to see outside. So bring stuff for the kiddos to do and snacks and drinks. The two hour trip is loud. Kids are loud, and you have adults talking over the kids. My train enthusiast self went on an exploring expedition through a lot of the other cars. Some like mine had 4 person tables, others 4 person commuter recling seats with no tables. Some had one bathroom available others had two. I stood between two cars and just watched the scenery go by. It was a refreshing change to the snot-monsters noise in my car. The endless coco was good. Very hot. Eventually a minstrel came out and started some interactive Christmas carols. Pretty good. Simultaneously, a balloon guy came out making hats and the sorts for the kids. Then out came the forgetable part, a story teller. Hard to hear, not well versed in the story and choppy in her reading. Alas, Mrs Clause with some very different tasting, highly addictive cookie for everyone, saved the day. The highlight of the adventure was Santa. The staff had his appearance very organized and orderly. Each table had a chance to take photos with the big guy. The most unimaginable gift was given. A wooden train whistle to about 15-20 kids, my own grandkids included. Imagine if you will, about 30 minutes left in the trip with the incessant "tweet-tweet-tweet" penetrating that one nerve that goes from your ears to your feet and makes your spine want jump out of the window. Now, after a engine switch from one end to the other delay, we headed into the depot. We didn't exit the way we got on. We got on the depot side (city side), and exited on the parking lot side. Well that's fine and great. But if you park on the city side, you are blocked by the train with only two ways to get to your vehicle. Oh yes, I said a bunch of nasty, nasty cuss words. You either wait for a full train to disembark and hope they let you walk through, or, you walk around the shortest part of the train and back to the crossing light I mentioned earlier. So that's the trip review. But now to the staff. Man those cats get 5-stars. Friendly, informative and in character. I can't imagin doing that trip 5-6 times a day. They made an otherwise blah trip much, much nicer. This is a one time experience with kids. Maybe, someday, my wife and I will try a romantic trip through hill country or something like that.

The staff is incredibly friendly, and the check-in process couldn't be easier. The train cars are…read moreimpressively clean and well-kept, and we really enjoyed learning about the history behind the ride. It's a unique and nostalgic experience that takes you back in time. While I do wish the views along the route were a bit more scenic, the overall experience was still absolutely worth it and I would gladly do it again. If you're looking for something different to do around Austin, please support this train. It's a special kind of adventure you don't find every day.

We took in a Saturday Matinee at Cinemark in Cedar Park and it was a really good and refreshing…read moreexperience that included great recliners and optimal view of the screen with a marvelous sound experience! I love this theater because it's clean and we'll maintained plus the concession stand is just what we prefer without full restaurant and beverage service. Standing in the fast moving line to get popcorn, candy, and beverage is part of the experience for us, but you can order online and pickup right outside the Lobby. We haven't gone to movie theaters as much lately but that's changing with the quick and easy way of buying tickets and picking seats online for a really fair price and walking in right to your seats. You can even order your concession items online with your tickets and pickup your concessions right inside the Lobby while you're walking to your seats. Wonderful experience!

Great theater to see movies. Very comfortable…read more Came at 9 AM. Stale popcorn. Must have been leftover from last night. No popcorn smell at the concessions. I should be more alert! Downgraded. I wonder about the other food during off peak times.

They've completely renovated the playground and the splash pad at Brushy Creek Lake Park! The new…read moreequipment is of such high quality, with separate playgrounds for older and younger kids. The splash pad has a dedicated fenced in area for the water fun, and a nice grassy area with tables and seating. Perfect for a picnic! I love taking walks with my daughters along the lake, admiring the views and enjoying the wildlife. If you're adventurous you can rent a canoe or kayak from the boathouse and take it out onto the lake as well. This park is a beautiful place to spend time on a weekend!

Nice park, especially if you've got kids in a stroller and want to go for a short hike. The trail…read morethat runs over the dam is all paved (not sure how far it continues being paved since we turned around). Lots of pedestrians, bikers, dog walkers. You can also walk on the unpaved trail along the water (it's very smooth and stroller-friendly). There is a playground. It's split into two areas for different ages. It's great in theory but I found it a bit lacking. There's a rudimentary playground that's labeled as 2-5. And a crunk playground (3-tiered, with gnarly slides) labeled as 5-12. Don't get me wrong -- this big playground is awesome for older kids. But it's a bit too advanced/scary for a 3-year-old. Meanwhile, the little playground was too simple/easy for her. So there's a middle age that isn't really catered to. But, great for 2-year-olds and 5+. There are also multiple parks with playgrounds within a short driving distance (Champion, Olson Meadows) so you can easily park hop.

This theater is next to Special Noodle. It happens to be one of the theaters showing Guillermo del…read moreToro's Frankenstein. They have an online booking system, and also a box office. Online booking is very simplistic. You can select seats. As far as I can tell, if you purchased online, you can go in and scan the barcode that's located in the confirmation email with one of the people at the concession stand. For theater setup, it's not stadium seating. But there is a subtle slope downwards. Lighting is a bit dark. Identifying your seat requires you to look at the small unilluminated letter on the side of the seat next to the aisle, and then to look for the number printed part way down the arm rest. The screen is slightly elevated, views seem to be fine no matter where you sit. The seats recline. I was a bit confused at first about the controls, but the controls for your seat are on your right, two sets of "open" and "close". Sound and visuals were totally fine, and tickets are affordable. They also seem to host film festival events here.

The movie we saw here was amazing! The theatre itself though is falling apart. One of the bathroom…read moresinks was clogged and filled with a puddle. The recliner seats in the theatre barely had any fabric left on them from years of use. There was definitely an ick factor about sitting in those seats and the whole establishment had an air of being rundown. On the bright side they serve beer and wine at the snack counter! I would not choose to come back here unless the movie I wanted to see was sold out at nicer places.

Easy peasy parking and access. Not sure why folks post the MetroRail is under utilized the parking…read moreis always full. They did switch Apps for purchasing tickets and viewing schedules and to keep this review PG it sux lemons. You need to order/pay for your tickets individually. In the past one person in your group to purchase the tickets for all. Trains are always clean, on-time, and everyone is friendly. Sure beats driving downtown!

This is the dumbest business design. I think Austin has ever came up with. They have one train that…read moreholds about four people every trip and stops about 1k cars passing through 10 or more major intersections. It literally causes traffic way worse

This Homestead Park sits directly next-door to the Leander Public library. It has its own parking…read morelot consisting of about a dozen spaces. This property of antiquity seems very much out of place with the modern residential homes and apartments that surround it. The property consists of a windmill, old tin structures, rusty old farm equipment, and cedar fencing, along with an old home. The house on the property is sparsley furnished with period furnishings and is open to the public, but it was locked on my visit. It has a fireplace on either side of the house. This property serves as a learning tool to what it was like to Homestead in the 1800s. Being next-door to the public library is a plus. There are no livestock and no farming happening here.

3.5 I saw an ad on…read moreNextdoor about a Victorian Christmas event here and figured why not come down and check it out. It's a small property and won't take very long to look at but honestly, I like historical sites and thought it was nice seeing the place decorated up for Christmas. Parking is a bit scarce so you can also park next to the library next door.

The tour was very nice and our tour guide Tanner was very epic and cool and made the experience so…read moremuch cooler-er. I enjoyed the puns especially the rock puns and will miss them and rocky and the chicken nugget we saw on the path. Highly recommend !!!!! :-) p.s. sneak peak of rocky

This isn't the best caverns I've visited within a Texas State Park, but it is pretty darn cool. The…read morebest caverns tour is at Kickapoo Caverns. I did a wild cave tour without the extra charges that Longhorn collects. At Longhorn, our guide, Johnson did an amazing job with our small group of six people for the 10:45 AM tour. My brother and I initially registered for the 11:00 AM tour and am glad that we were suggested another time. We passed by the 11:00 AM tour and they had 40+ people in their group. Johnson showed us cool geological formations. We saw dolomite, calcium bicarbonate, chert, limestone, geodes, stalagmites, stalactites, and quartz crystals. Johnson is somewhat funny; he had a bit of quirky and dry humor. I enjoyed the history of the caverns, but some of it I thought was interesting. It was really delightful to learn that in the 1800's, before the CCC got involved, the locals would dance and play music turning the cave into an auditorium of entertainment. Johnson said that if certain geological formations glows, it is growing. Very catchy phase for memory. I got to see a few bats hanging out. They were tricolor bats which are smallest bats. The cave is cool, but thankfully not slippery. I was wearing no grip support shoes, but I didn't fall or have the urge to fall. There are mats on the floor of the cave to prevent falls. Johnson gave us more time to look around and admire the geology. My brother and I weren't required to bring our own flashlights. Johnson had a flashlight, but forgot to grab the blacklights. What I find is strange is that this is a state park that you cannot renew your state park pass at. This park headquarters is very different than the rest considering that there's a third party company handing the cave tours, they sell ice-cees, popcorn, and the gift shop is very big and vast. The others don't have this. It is questionable to me. I was told that I needed to go to Inks Lake to renew my pass. The cave tours are very pricey. Kickapoo Caverns tour was very affordable at $10. You can use the park pass. You can't get your state park passport stamped at Longhorn Caverns either. It seems like Longhorn Caverns is more for profit and the history about the cavern could be overly exaggerated to attract customers. My opinion. It was hard to believe half of the things what Johnson was telling us. There's one portion of geological formation in the cave that is "dead" because in year 1919, the locals went exploring by touching the formation it "killed" it. I preferred Kickapoo Caverns and the Caverns of Sonora a lot more. Even Inner Space Caverns and Natural Bridge were very exciting to see. Longhorn is cool, but didn't give me that WOW-factor, but I still had a ton of fun on a Sunday morning.

This park is ***perfect*** for toddlers. It's super clean. Has LOTS (and I mean PLENTY) of shade…read morefrom the sun. Lots of trees. A nice restroom area. And it is age appropriate. I didn't feel like my niece was in the mix with bigger kids...everyone was in her age group. My only issue is that the parking lot seemed really small. At least where I parked. I was nervous backing out of my space. And there seemed to be one way in and one way out. I'm new to the area, so anyone let me know if I'm missing the extra areas to park and to leave. But I will most definitely bring my niece here again.

This park is great in that the size is just right for our small family. There is a playground for…read morelarge kids and one for smaller kids. The park is really nicely shaded by tons of trees so it doesn't get too hot during the day. Due to the trees there are quite a bit of mosquitoes so during the summer evenings you should keep an eye out for that but otherwise we have found no issues with this park and love the size of it! There isn't tons of parking but we have never had problems finding parking when we visited.

A very cool but also very overlooked historical marker, on Hwy 183 between an Appliance Repair shop…read moreand a Chiropractor's Practice. Back in 1982, archeologists uncovered the skeleton of a pre-historic human female by nearby Brushy Creek. Because of the proximity of the grave site to the town of Leander, the skeleton became known as the Leanderthal Lady. Carbon testing indicates the woman lived ~13,000 years ago, which is amazing - that's six times further back then when Christ was born in the Holy Land! One can't help but wonder what Yelp review she'd have given to the place back then. Something like: "Three stars. Leander nice place to live, plenty of buffalo to hunt. Wish they had a Whataburger outlet." Seriously, check this marker out, it's pretty cool.

Everyone at Live love Paddle is super friendly and helpful! Enjoyed the time with friends on the…read morewater

This was an amazing experience from start to finish. Staff was professional and friendly. Highly…read morerecommend!