It was a great experience! We really enjoyed our visit here. Kids had lots of fun and the train ride was just a memorable experience. We highly recommend visiting this place for anyone who’s looking to have some family fun time together. Kids or adults I’m sure everyone will have an amazing time. And for the very competitive admission fee you’ll be hard-pressed not to visit this museum. I was genuinely shocked seeing their relatively low prices. It’s amazing how in this day and age such fees still exist. We probably spent more money on gas to come here than we did for our 4 tickets (our little one who’s under 3 years of age had a free entry). I’m sure we’ll be back here again very soon. 😊

This was a very fun and affordable family trip. It is a privately operated by private donations and volunteers. We really enjoyed all of the vintage train exhibits. There were several interactive exhibits and the volunteers are very friendly and helpful. They have a train ride that you can ride as many times as you would like. They hold events for both Christmas and Halloween and it is family friendly. Follow us for more great reviews ™

This is a nice place to visit for anyone. I paid to operate the locomotive. It was a definite bucket list check off. The staff are mostly volunteers and are very personable. The track is about 6 miles, and they offer both ac and open view cars. They have restrooms on board for passenger convenience

It was a cool rainy afternoon, so we decided to check out the museum. The train ride was nice and relaxing, looking out the window. The little museum was nicely done. We had the chance to talk with the conductor, and he was telling us about all the special events they do. Sounds like a lot of fun.

My kids and I had a great time. We didn't know what to expect but happen to see the signs for the museum when driving by so we decided to check it out. I'm glad we did. My kids loved the train ride. I think more activities, maybe a train themed playground or things to see at the destination station would make it a better experience for the younger kids.

It was beautiful weather for the train ride today. A great, relaxing adventure through old natural Florida. Loved being on the open air car for this journey. The trip took us past some farms growing produce and a solar farm near an old power plant. The guides were very knowledgeable and friendly.

How does this place not have 100% 5 star reviews? This isn't some tourist train making someone rich. This is a non-profit organization run by amazing volunteers. Their goal is to preserve these amazing trains for people to enjoy for many years to come. I highly recommend riding in the locomotive. It's incredibly affordable. Can't recommend this enough. They also have a great holiday program.

The Polar Express train ride is a fun evening for littles or special needs individuals. We took our special needs friend and he loved seeing Santa. All in all it was a fun evening. Free hot chocolate and cookies for everyone. They had a couple of fun little rides for the kids. A “snow” (bubbles) machine that was a hit with the kids, food vendors, fire pits, Santa, and an area to sit at tables and eat or listen to singing. The negatives for us were the strong smell of the train fuel on the way over. And then when you get to the “North Pole” you are stuck there for 2.5 hours whether you want to be or not. If I could change anything I would have a train running at the half way point for whoever didn’t want to stay the whole time. It was late and we were done and ready to go long before the train came back for everyone. You kind of feel stuck. Overall great job to the staff! Everyone was very friendly.

Nice day to experience a train ride.... We want to share a BIG shout out and thank you to the museum and the manatee county library for partnering together and offering a free kid train ride ticket.- I just had to pay for mine.(must be checked out at library, may be a waiting list, as we were #6 in line, and for kids under 11yrs of age....) Contact library for more info, must be a Manatee county resident, although you can check your local libraries and see what they offer! Our day was Very educational and the train experience is ran by many friendly volunteers.....fun for kids and adults.

Attended the Polar Express event. Great time. Christmas Carolers were on board the train. Arrived at the North Pole after about a 30 minute train ride. Smores and glow in the dark necklace also food was available for purchase, (Italian Sausage, pretzels, funnel cakes.) Several fire pits available to roast marshmallows. Beautiful Christmas lights and some fake snow falling down. Sugar cookies and Hot chocolate were tasty. Of course the North Pole wouldn't be complete without Santa!! MERRY CHRISTMAS!

It's worth buying the Locomotive Cab Ride ($39) and sitting with the engineer. I ride with John. Pay attention to the 3 points of contact when climbing up the train steps. Also, go down backwards when exiting the train because it's like a ladder. Otherwise you'll faceplant into the ground and they'll have to call EMS. What a way to start your day. No common sense. No refunds 😂. In all seriousness, the engineer is a wealth of knowledge. Take lots of pictures and videos. Share all over social and donate to their cause. The local government wants to rid of the track for walking trail. Blasphemy. The train is a 70 year old train which is seven years in dog years and they do all sorts of themed train rides, Halloween pumpkin 🎃 patch, Christmas 🎅🤶 to the North Pole, murder mystery, and more.

We had a great time, special thanks to Mr Bobby who gave us a great mini tour. We drove up not realizing that they were closed. Thankfully our trip was a nice one thanks to Mr Bobby talking some time out of his busy schedules to guide us and show us the trains and tell us brief history on each car. Really awesome experience! Thanks again!!

We went to the Polar Express and I went with 4 kids 13, 9, 6 and 18 months. We had so much fun!!! There was so much to do for all the ages! The 18 month old had a blast on the jump houses and even enjoyed making Reindeer food. The Grinch came out and I think that was the highlight for the 6 year old as he is obsessed. The Grinch interacted with him on several occasions and made him feel like he was the only one around. The Grinch was awesome. The Santa was fantastic!! He spent so much time with our group they kept opening the door thinking he was done. I even think he made the 9 year old believe again. Santa was so good!! Please keep that Santa!! Overall we will be back and look forward to next year!! Thank you so much for putting on a fantastic event and can’t wait for the next one!!

Great day celebrating my sons birthday! The volunteer staff members were amazing, friendly and knowledgable. They shared a lot of information about the history of the trains. Would recommend at least one visit here. Will be back for the events they told us about! It was nice to ride the open rail cars on a beautiful day.

Great place for site seeing and relaxing. The train ride will almost rock you to sleep. I've been multiple times and was lucky enough to catch a historic reenactment once which exceeded any expectations you could ever have. The open air cars are perfect for the slightly cooler fall days so kids can experience a little bit of nature. Try something new and different, buy your tickets and have a casual morning outing.

🙏🤠🧝💞💸wow kewl❗ Fun 4familie$ & friends ❗Neat 🚂 ride w/action train hold~up~robbery❗ DON'T FORGET UR CAMERA ❗🤠😷🙏 dk$

That was great! It was the end of July. We got a train ride on the Parrish-Willow line. I hoped that we would be allowed to see the trains and other interesting exhibits at the station where our train arrived. However, unfortunately this did not happen. I would like more!

This was a murder mystery dinner show with train ride both ways. The show was fun. With audiences participation. Food was very good. All people I came in contact with were very pleasant and friendly.

We were a couple of minutes late but they waited for us as we rushed from the car to get on. The enclosed cars are a little too rocky for my liking, so we sat in the open car. The "train graveyard" would have been better if you could go in the old trains, but I'm sure there were safety reasons as to why we couldn't.

Went on the train ride to Santa’s village. It took about twenty minutes to get there. The staff was ultra friendly, the ride there was nice, my only complaint about the train ride was the smell of fuel the whole way. But very neat being on such an old locomotive. At Santa’s village we saw Santa and that was a hit for our kid then the rest fell kind of flat. They had a few activities but they were all short lived and they leave there for a while. They said 1 1/2 hours but we arrived at Santa’s village at about 7:45p and was stuck there until about 10:30-45pm. We had to wait for people to SLOWLY meander to the train, like no one was waiting. The food at the village was all junk food. My husband spent $12 on a mediocre sausage. The sausages outside of Home Depot tasted better and they’re $5. They gave away hot coco for free but couldn’t tell us if it had milk in it and it was served from a plastic COOLERS which isn’t supposed to have hot beverages in it so I’m sure lots of chemical leakage from the plastic was happening. So yeah… it was fun but probably won’t go again. The best part was definitely the staff.

If you are a fan of railroads and trains, this is a very good place to go. First of all, they are in the process to grow and make improvements, but that doesn't mean you can't have a really good time. The train ride to Willow and back for us was great, but, once there we only had about 20 minutes to walk around, which I think is to short for the amount of people around. Other than that, a very good day and experience.

Trains, Hot Dogs & Hobos.... I was the fortunate recipient of a wonderful Christmas present gifted to me by my Fab One. She bought 2 tickets to the Museum's Hobo Campfire Cookout train ride! C'mon January 22nd! The big day finally arrived. It was time for me to virtually unwrap my present. Driving like a safe Casey Jones, I guided my land locomotive into the depot of the Parrish landmark. Silver white streaks glinted across the windshield, reflected off stainless-steel railcars in the pre-dusk sunlight. There was a small crowd of cold-weather coat in hand passengers queued at the gate. The mood was very upbeat. The unified pulse of excitement was palpable. As our boarding time arrived, so did the various train icons. The Conductor. The Train Master. The Engineers. Boarding this rolling museum, we headed towards the rear of the train. In a railcar with an enormous amount of legroom between the rows of seats. A post-trip conversation with Josh, the Train Master, taught me the exciting history of the railcar in which we rode. Every detail of this man showed his love for his work! Built in the early 1950's, our passenger car started life riding the tracks of the Union-Pacific Railroad. Then it moved north to the Alaska Railroad, which explained the huge amount of leg room within! Had to have plenty of room for those bundled up travelers, their boots/gear AND their sled dogs! Wow! After a while the car came back south to warm up on the Amtrak lines. Its last paydays were with the New Georgia Railroad, before the Florida Railroad Museum acquired it. We were literally riding in a museum masterpiece! 5:30 departure time. We felt a low clunk as that mighty Number 204 diesel engine five cars ahead of us eased out of the station. Slowly slipping past our vintage windows were other remnants of the glory days of rail travel. Steam engine. Baggage cars. Railyard artifacts. The lullaby of the rail with its clickety clack lilt and the car's slow rocking tilt hypnotized and romanticized. For the next few hours, we were the baggage being handled with extreme care. Giving way to the panorama of potato row, Florida flora and orange tree 'graveyard' at Periwinkle Junction (as explained by our car's guide and docent Caroline), we soon sighted Willow, our next stop, as ol' 204 began to brake. 220 passengers (as counted by Edward, the Conductor) began to disembark the train. Oak-infused columns of campfire smoke triggered the olfactory OH!-factory of the mind. Inhaled remembrances of campfires past. Of food, fun and family. Our detraining path took us to a table where we were presented with the icon of the hobo world, a red or blue bandana hanging off of a stick. Tucked safely inside was our hobo meal of a hot dog, bun, condiments and marshmallows. With a glance to the left, our hobo tables were set! Steel rings of fire surrounded by 4 bales of hay or 4 low benches. I did not count them all, but surely there were 20 or more of these blazing fire rings! As did the other hobos, Fab One and I found a set of comfy bales to call our own, next to another hobo couple. Opening hobo sacks and unwrapping foil-wrapped weinies to kabob onto the sack stick was our next order of business. Believe me, there is something about cooking a hot dog over an open fire on a cold night with the murmur of ol' 204 in the background as ambiance. Graciously, this was an All-You-Can-Eat hobo feast! The air was alive with an intoxicating mix of franks and marshmallows, music and mirth. Did I mention there was a 7-man Bluegrass band playing? Plenty of train tunes to pick and pluck. With an "All Aboard" and campfires to our backs, this load of hobos was getting back ON the train. No need to ride in boxcar or under a car. For 2 1/2 hours, 220 people plus crew were transported not only to a place of music, food & fires, but also to a place that inspires. A soothing stop in an oft-crowded station we call life. Best Christmas present ever! Thank you Fab One AND the Florida Railroad Museum!

Absolutely the most perfect way to spend my Mother’s Day! We loved it so much. Debbie, thank you for making our day extra special, you are awesome!

We love it! Soooo much fun! Great way to make memories! My grandson is autistic and he loves this train ride. We eat under the tent and this year enjoyed a snowball. The fire pits were a hit as well. Merry Christmas!

We had so much fun on the North Pole Express. It was a short ride to the “North Pole”, which was all beautifully decorated (all outside) with tons of lights and decorations. There were so many activities to do and lots of yummy food. We mostly walked around and enjoyed the sights, and we got to visit with Santa as well. Highly recommend this one especially if you have little kids!

We were there for Father’s Day, relaxing and cost friendly way to spend an afternoon with family. We enjoyed sitting in the enclosed car with the snack area and air conditioning.

We did the north pole run. It was nice. The kids had fun. Seems like everything these days is struggling with the lack of available labor. There's a lot of room for improvement at the north pole in regards to cleanliness and function. I have to say that the line we stood in for Santa was worth it. There was no one as jolly as that man and it made it all worth the trip for the kids.

The Polar Express ride did not fail. The trains were decked out in lights and carolers. The ride took all of ten minutes and ended with Santa At the North Pole. There are several activities available including dancing in fake snow, making decorations, roasting smores over an open pit fire, and don't forget the famous reindeer food. Everywhere you look there are dancing lights and an overall feeling of happiness. And yes Santa has a real beard. Each encounter with Santa is private, so no pressure from those still waiting in line. The line does tend to move quickly. I would suggest booking early as possible, seats will fill up quickly. Well worth the price. This is our 3rd year attending.

Having been on the Miami Polar Express last year, we had no idea what we were walking into with Parrish's experience. Now, I want to express that this is just our experience and does not take away from anyone else's opinion of this place. With that being said, we will not be back. We did it, don't need to do it again. The ticket says to be there 45 min prior. You most def. do not need to be there that early. I mean do not wait until the last min. but 45 min early is a stretch. You are walking on rocks and dirt so that was uncomfortable and then you wait outside in the grass/dirt for the train. Need I mind you, it's cold outside (again, had no idea we would be waiting outside.) The train is very old, smells like old wet wood and is in need of some upgrading. The fuel smell there and back gave me such a migraine that I felt like I was going to vomit. The restrooms were out of service. They tried decorating the train but it was very underwhelming. They do provide snacks and drinks on the train. Which I thought was odd because in the "gift shop" prior to boarding you can buy snacks/drinks there and there is a sign on the door that says "no food/drinks allowed on the train." When we arrived at the "North Pole" it was decorated very well for Christmas. It was almost like a mini fair ground. Again, with the dirt everywhere by the end of the night my 9 year old's feet were black because he wore crocs. There is a hay ride, very underwhelming, just riding by trees. There is a centipede ride for the little kids. There were 3 small, very small, bounce houses. My 9 y.o was not allowed on them. It was for the very small children. There are activities, smores, fire pit, fair food to buy (didn't know we needed to bring $$), Santa and a foam party. The kids were absolutely soaked from the foam, we had no clue they were doing this so we did not bring an extra change of clothes. Once you are dropped off you are stuck there for over 2+ hours until the train returns. It is very cute there but not enough to do for 2+ hours. As an adult, I did not care for the smoke smell either from the fire pit or people smoking themselves, children fighting/screaming/crying everywhere, walking on dirt the entire time, and being stuck with no way to leave. The Miami experience is cleaner, cheaper and classier by far!!