Source: www.travelvideo.tv
Nov 03, 06 | 1:40 pm
Tickets for Grand Canyon Railway’s 2006 presentation of The Polar Express are still available. As of Nov. 1, 85 percent of the available tickets for The Polar Express have been sold. Approximately 10,000 tickets are still available and evenings with the most availability, include Nov. 13 – 16, 27 and 29, Jan. 5 – 7 and Jan. 12 – 13.
This is the sixth year that Grand Canyon Railway will bring the magic of the classic children’s book by Chris Van Allsburg to life. What began as a weekend adventure with 5,600 people has grown into one of Arizona’s most treasured holiday traditions with an anticipated 75,000 people traveling aboard The Polar Express in 2006.
“We’ve ended up expanding our dates into January to accommodate demand,” said Robert LaCivita, Polar Express committee chair and executive vice president of Grand Canyon Railway.”We weren’t sure how popular they’d be initially, but found last year that parents got really creative with the gift giving – often wrapping the tickets for The Polar Express and then putting them under the tree as a special invitation from Santa to visit his home at the North Pole.”
The Railway’s journey is a nighttime trip from Williams through the starlit wilderness to the “North Pole.” Along the way, passengers are treated to a special reading of The Polar Express while enjoying hot chocolate and chocolate chip cookies.
Once at the “North Pole” – a Christmas light village featuring an Aurora Borealis – Santa Claus and his reindeer welcome passengers before boarding the Polar Express for the return trip to Williams. After boarding the train, Santa makes his way through the historic Pullman passenger cars, greeting every child and presenting each one with a special gift – a jingle bell signifying their belief in Santa Claus.
Grand Canyon Railway’s The Polar Express kicks off Nov. 9, 2006 and continues select evenings through Jan. 13, 2007. The round trip journey is approximately an hour in length. Most evenings, Grand Canyon Railway offers two trains, with one departing Williams Depot at 6:30 p.m. and a second train departing at 8 p.m.
Approximately 10,000 tickets are still available for the 2006 season. Tickets are $24 for adults and $12 for children. Packages start as low as $269 for two adults and two children, and include the trip The Polar Express, one-night stay at the Grand Canyon Railway Hotel, breakfast and dinner at Max and Thelma’s Restaurant and a $10 retail gift certificate per adult. Reservations can be made by calling 1-800-THE-TRAIN.
Families can also add a wintertime Grand Canyon experience aboard Grand Canyon Railway, which returns well in advance of the 6:30 p.m. The Polar Expres train. Recreating the historic trip by rail to the South Rim, Grand Canyon Railway covers 65 miles of classic Old West territory, including high desert plains with endless vistas, small arroyos and portions of the world’s largest ponderosa pine forest.
Grand Canyon Railway operates daily train service between Williams, Ariz. and the Grand Canyon. The Railway offers five distinct classes of service, as well as money-saving packages featuring the Grand Canyon Railway Hotel in Williams. Overnight stays at the Grand Canyon also can be included in the packages. Grand Canyon Railway is an authorized concessioner of the National Park Service and the Kaibab National Forest. For more information, visit www.thetrain.com or call 1-800-THE-TRAIN (1-800-843-8724).
