We celebrated our little guy on his 3rd birthday by taking him to the Southern California Railway Museum for a Day Out with Thomas. The event itself is something that travels all over to different locations and we were lucky enough to have one happening about 20 min from us. I had never even heard of the Southern California Railway Museum but it was incredible! The grounds were huge and offered so many activities for families to have railway themed fun. They are actually open year round and this year they are having a Polar Express event for the first time! SO magical!! If you have a little one who likes trains like mine, the Southern California Railway Museum is a must see.
* Thanks to the Southern California Railway museum for hosting us. All opinions shared are my own. To read more about my sponsorship and disclosure policy click here.
I’ll be honest, when we planned on attending the event we thought we’d show up for a ride on Thomas, walk around a bit and head home. I had NO idea what to expect! We ended up staying a little over 3 hours and to be honest we could have stayed longer if Teddy didn’t need a nap. Not only did they have so many Thomas themed activities but the actual museum portion of the location was really cool! I was also super impressed with the employees and volunteers for the event. Everyone was so kind and helpful and the employees were so knowledgeable about the museum and trains.
The highlight for sure was walking in and seeing both Thomas and Percy (some locations also have Percy visiting and we were super lucky to get to ride him too!). They are real life size trains which really brings the magic to life. Sully could not contain his excitement as we waited in line for our turn. After that the kids played for quite some time in the jumpy houses that were FREE for kids to use. My children rarely partake in the magic of a jumper because of the extra cost at an event but I thought it was so great that they offered them complimentary. They had a petting zoo, temporary tattoos, coloring, a cool spot indoors to take a break and watch Thomas and Friends movies, a gift shop, meeting with Sir Topham Hatt, a stage with awesome performers, trolly rides, food trucks, and so much more! The kids also got the cutest little passports when we arrived and they got stamps and different locations throughout the event.
This year for the first time the Southern California Railway Museum is hosting a Polar Express event as well. I have always wanted to do one of these with the kids but the “legit” ones are not anywhere near us. Tickets are super reasonable and I just know it is going to be SUPER magical!
