My family and I went on the Santa Express. We had young children with us and they loved it. We all agreed that the little preshow although meant to be part of the train ride it wasn't necessary. We were anxious to get on the train. We rode in the open car and loved how brisk the weather was. It made it feel like Christmas. The characters on the train were very friendly and came around to take pictures. The kids got served a lot of candy canes... lol! Overall it was a fun experience read more

Family of 4 with two children under the age of 5 went for the Halloween themed ride. I know it wasn't going to be spookie so was even more excited. $20 an adult $15 for 5 yr old, that includes train ride for an hour!!! We have never been to St Mary's Ga, and never have been on a train before. Super pumped!!! We live an hour away. Got there @ 1:50 for our 2 o'clock ride... couldn't find where to park or pick up our tickets we ordered online! Started to freak out bc 10 mins prior of train leaving!!! We had to ask the tent venders beside the building where to go! We get in the dark building where consignment items everywhere! That doesn't bother me but we got lost,didn't know what the venders meant. But all the way up the steps inside the building was this lady in a dark area where we got our tickets. We get on the train which is open cart, now we can relax. We left right on time! The host of the whole train talked and talked and talked. Pirates looked cool, they board the train to slay the zombies. On the way to kill the zombies we listened to old and new music some good some bad. All "G" rated. Defiantly thankful to not listen to someone talk the whole time! Haha pirates walked around talking to kids. Passed out coins and stickers. After a 30min ride we stop at the "zombies section". The pirates got off to fight the zombies. One of the stunt guns broke which kinda messed the script up. They pushed threw haha. By the way...They aren't actors, they are all volunteers so thankful for their time! The pirates for our trip didn't slay the zombies. So we left one pirate to fight them off himself ((fix the gun problem)) lol We took off for our train ride again and we are now going back the way we just came. Only cool view is going over Burrell Creek I assume ((photo attached)). So we saw the same view twice. Which was behind homes and some businesses. I am making this review to let you know what to expect. They aren't paid actors. They are local residents of St Mary's volunteers. No crazy landscape to look at or landmarks while on train. We were facing the right side (if you look at train not on it). Us personally won't be going again. Again we live an hour away... after train ride there isn't much to do in city after that. Unless you love antique shopping!!! I have 2 young kids that break things lol so we drove to park a mile down towards the water. It killed time while we were figuring what else to do. I am happy to say my family rode a train though!!! ((Park= St Mary's Waterfront Park 100 W Saint Marys St Saint Marys, GA 31558)) read more

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Note: our trip was about two years ago, and it came up in my Facebook memories today. I realized I hadn't posted it on Yelp, so I'm doing that now, so parents can be warned before taking their children here. *** So you may have seen advertisements for the St. Mary's Railroad to ride the Santa Express, and be thinking it looks like fun. You might want to take your kids. DON'T. Here's a big reason why: MY SON FELL OFF THE DAMN TRAIN. So one of the advertised highlights of this trip is the stop at a "Winter Wonderland" (more on that later), where a crappy little skit is performed. The problem is, half the train can't see it at all because they're seated facing the opposite way, and the set for the skit is so tiny that only the second car can really see it. So the train employees told us all over the intercom to have the children come forward to the front of the train so they could see better and -- and this is key -- very specifically *told the adults to stay back in their seats*. So Benjamin and my 8-year-old sister went to the front to try to see Santa in the skit. I followed instructions and stayed back, assuming it was safe, and that the employees who had been walking around on the train would be supervising the children. Apparently not. At some point, he fell through an opening between the walkway and the gate, 3-4 feet down onto the ground. I don't know exactly what happened, because I was following instructions and staying back, as I assumed that the train would be safe for children to walk around on. When I rushed to get Ben, one of the employees casually mentioned that someone else had fallen off the train before too. They didn't say how often it has happened. One of the people in the skit is a pediatrician, and she and an EMT came to look Ben over right away. They determined that he was all right. After that, the pediatrician continued to check on him, and she was very attentive and kind, and was very good with him and my other kids. But everyone else seemed to brush it off and acted as if they couldn't see why it was such a big deal, or why we were so upset. Um, maybe because my son just fell off the damn train?? As far as his injuries go, we're lucky that nothing was broken and he didn't appear to have a concussion, although that was a concern according to the pediatrician and my husband, who is an EMT. He was in a fair amount of pain, though, and had scrapes and bruises all over him: his ears, his back, his elbows, his knees, his stomach. He had a knot on his back, his head hurt, his back. He had major bruising. We were told that someone would follow up with us that night to make sure he was all right. Guess what? No one called. When we tried to get our money back, the person at the register argued with me at first, wanting to know why no adult was holding his hand. Um, because they SAID for children to come forward and adults to stay back?! Eventually we did get our money back. We called not long after we left to try to get in touch with a manager of some kind, but we were told that they didn't have contact information for the manager. The best they could do was email them and have them call us back. That never happened, either. Apparently, a child falling off the train is no big deal to these people. When we got back to the station after the train ride, the first thing I did was go get a better look at where he fell through. The story is that he evidently slipped and lost his balance. And because there is a LARGE gap there, he was able to fall right through the gate and the train car. So how often do children fall off of this train? Is that why no one there took it very seriously? Regardless, if you take your children on the train, know what you're getting in for. It's not safe, and it's not because Ben was rough housing around. He simply lost his balance. That was it. A child shouldn't be able to fall off of a train just because they lost their balance, ESPECIALLY not when children are encouraged to walk around on the train. As for the train ride itself, aside from the fact that my child fell off and was injured, it was a massive disappointment. We rode on the train with nothing to see, literally, except houses and old junk train cars. There was Christmas music playing, but that was it. You went to a "Winter Wonderland", which was a tiny skit with a tiny set. You don't get to walk around, and can barely even see it unless you're in the second car (there are three). Then you turn around and go back. That's it. Even before anything happened, I sat there thinking, that's it?? We paid $80 freaking dollars for this?? It was a huge letdown. And on top of that letdown, my child was injured, and most of the staff seemingly could not only care less, but wanted to argue with me about refunding our money. Take my advice: save your money. I was so hoping this would be a Polar Express type ride we could go on every year, but I can tell you right now, we will NEVER go back. read more

St Marys Railroad - Performing Arts Near Me - Saint Marys, Georgia

Pretty cool Railroad. I truly enjoyed the ride. A group of girlfriends and I bought our tickets months ago online. If you buy online in a group, for a specific date and time, then you get to go as a group. The tickets online are $17.00, plus a service fee of $3.00=$20.00per person. If you buy the day of inside the Museum, the tickets are $17.00. But, they might be all sold old. They go out several times per day, we went at 2:00pm. We sat on the side where the sun BEAMS DOWN ON YOU. They did have an EMT onboard and he told my friend who got a little overheated to take her hat off and he was kind enough to proved her with a bottle of water(h2o). They had wonderful, old country songs and some rock n roll music as well. They had a few loose bums who got handcuffed for being in the train. We stopped for about ten minutes to hear a skit from Huckleberry Finn and others. They told fish stories and we got to vote for who we though had the best fish story. Then we headed. Ask down the way we came. This is an open aired train. Make sure you sit on the shady side and bring WATER. Happy cruising! read more

I'm giving this five stars because it was perfect for my kids. They wanted to ride a train (This is a real train) and we wanted to do something with a Christmas theme to it. Once you get to the old town train station it's full of charm. Bathrooms were clean, and our family enjoyed looking at the integrated theatre and RC train setup before going on the train itself. The train ride had volunteers as actors both on and off the train. At the turnaround point, there's a small makeshift village where a fun skit is ran based on the theme of whichever season/theme you show up for. On the way out and back we had interaction with different characters; elves, the grinch and Santa Claus. I have to state again, these are volunteers not paid actors so it's not broadway by any means. If I were to go here for myself I'd probably give this two or three stars but we came for the kids and they enjoyed every minute. Come check it out if you want a real train and can laugh at the little things. If you want Polar Express this is not it! read more

Oh my goodness! What fun. The whole experience was easy. You just go to the website for the St. Marys Railroad and buy tickets. Prices are reasonable. $17 adult. $11 for my 4 year old and my 2 year old was free. Tickets are at Will Call Window. Done! Once outside the attraction has a concession stand, some touristy stuff and of course people in costumes. 1776 wardrobes and even Lady Liberty! Pick any train and you have shade on any side. Every seat is actually a good seat so that's pretty cool! It was hot so they made sure to leave on time as the 10mph trip gave a nice breeze as soon as we started! Music, jokes, and tributes abound. A USA flag was given to the oldest veteran as a "thank you!" For serving our country. If it was your birthday everyone knew it and we all sang. And anniversaries were announced. Lee Greenwood, Johnny Cash and your "All American" songs played throughout the trip. In the middle was a skit about the signing of the declaration with a very profound dedication at the end! Everyone is a VOLUNTEER!!!! Well done! We had a blast so we went twice. Once last weekend and today! Still smiling from ear to ear!!!! read more

We rode the train today and experienced the Wild West show. My 11 & 7-year olds had a great time interacting with the actors and railroad volunteers. There were so many activities to keep them busy before and after the train ride (hay ride, museum, hatchet-throwing, etc.). We live in Atlanta, but will definitely be back for another themed ride! read more

Pluses and minuses, but the good news there's a lot of potential. I can handle train smokestacks. I can handle lurching. What I couldn't handle so well was riding sideways the entire time and the speakers that were way too many decibels. The lady to our left was throwing up over the side and the lady to our right had a migraine by the end of it. I had a queasy stomach and weary eyes that just needed some still land for a little bit. But..... all the kids on the train seemed to really love it. So if you're not prone to motion sickness or migraines, I can recommend it. If you are, you may want to sit this one out. But the good news is that the problems I had are fixable. If they replaced the horizontal benches with vertical benches, that would be a big help. Leave the backs off and people can just turn around when the train starts going the other direction. The other fix would be to turn the volume down. It really doesn't need to be that loud. It's something worth supporting as it's run by volunteers and proceeds from the ticket sales support the local theatre group. Local theatre is always worth supporting. And I think this is a fabulous effort that they have made to remain self-sustaining. I applaud their ingenuity. read more

Would 100% not recommend. You will sit on an open car where the sun constantly beams down on you. You travel through a road by a neighborhood to some half built "town" setup to watch teenagers do a skit and then the train goes straight back. Not at all worth the money for the ride. read more