This is going to be a sort of a two part entry.. I’m going to start with what a great time the girls had, and go on to my experience.. just because I think it should be talked about…
So, tonight we went on the first ever Polar Express Train in Sacramento! The girls have been so excited about going on this train. They’ve seen the movie a handful of times already and they knew a little bit about it. They love trains, and are beginning to actually “get” the whole Santa, and gifts, etc thing…. so they’re getting more and more excited about Christmas. We got to the station, and they had it all decorated up. There were the guys there singing Christmas Carols that were also on the Santa train that we took the day after Thanksgiving. They had a “store” where you could purchase all kinds of “Polar Express” merchandise from sweatshirts to gift sets of movie, book and jingle bell. They had some cute things, but a size 4T sweatshirt for $29.99 was quite steep for me, especially since an adult XL was the same price. I noticed they had the single jingle bells for sale for $5 a piece, and I had thought about buying one, but I didn’t want to take the chance on the girls losing it, so we decided to wait until after the ride.
At about 4:20, they were going to start boarding the train, so we all got in line, bubbling with excitement. Then we noticed the line getting longer and longer in front of us. Apparently, everyone else decided to just have one or two people wait in line for everyone in their 10 person party… but oh well. We got down to our gate, and hopped on the train. We were able to find a couple of benches near each other for meemaw and peepaw to sit right across from the 4 of us.
The train moved slowly out of the station, and almost as soon as we passed the Tower Bridge, the Hot Chocolate song started, and 2 dancers came out and were tap dancing down the aisle. The girls got a kick out of that. Heck, I did too.. That was a skinny aisle! Nothing like the movie LOL. As soon as they were done, they brought the carts of Hot Chocolate, and let me tell you, it was the best Hot Chocolate I’ve ever had. It was really really chocolate! The girls LOVED their Hot Chocolate too! They’ve only ever had it one time before that and it was not as good. They then brought out chocolate chip cookies for everyone which was pretty cool.
After the cookies and Hot Chocolate, they played a narration of the story over the speakers, and one of the “chefs” went up and down the aisle with the book, showing the pictures to the kids. He came by a few times and the girls saw the pictures and got excited when they remembered the movie. Just as they ended the story, we pulled up to Baths, or should I say, the “North Pole”. They had Santa in his sleigh, and the HUGE bag of presents in the back of the sleigh. He got up, and waved to everyone, and at this point, all of the children were noses to the windows waving at Santa, who was showing everyone his “Nice & Naughty” List. I can’t remember if I saw my name on it or not.. but I’m pretty sure it’d be under the Naughty list before it’d be on the Nice list… LOL…
Baths is where they move the engine to the “back” of the train to pull us back to the station. When the engine passed by the platform, Santa magically disappeared! The girls were worried and asked where Santa went. We tried to tell them that he was already giving out presents to all the good boys and girls, but they quickly told us the reindeer and the big bag were still there.. Ehhh.. too smart.. new excuse evading us… LOL .. Oh well. It wasn’t more than a couple of minutes and the train was on the way back to the station. The door at the end of the car opened, and we heard Santa come in! He asked the kids if they believed, and held up a bell stating that it was the first gift of Christmas. He then came by and handed one out to every child on the train. The girls were so excited, and they didn’t even freak out.. much.. Man, I’m scared to see what happens on Christmas Eve, when Santa comes to visit them in their own home! Their first Christmas, they were oblivious, and all smiles. Their second Christmas, they were scared out of their minds, and wanted nothing to do with Santa. Now we’ll see how it goes for their third Christmas.
Not too long after Santa came through, we were back at the train station. The girls had huge smiles, from ear to ear. They couldn’t stop shaking their jingle bells and telling everyone “I believe! Oh! I hear it!” It was just too darn cute. I’m so glad they really truly enjoyed it! It makes it worth every bit of trouble… read on .. and you’ll find out what that is all about..
So, I mention trouble. So, we invited meemaw and peepaw to come on the train with us. We knew peepaw would bring his camera.. and we were very excited to see what kind of pictures he could capture of the girls having a good time. Well, he has a DSLR, and a nice flash setup. It’s not a little handheld camera like most people have, thus the reason we get such awesome photos of the girls all the time. Anyway, he was snapping pictures left and right of all the cool displays, the girls coloring, and the guys singing! All the fun things I’d love to have as memories for the girls in my scrapbooking. Not more than 10mins after we arrived, someone came up to my dad asking him who he was with, why he was taking photos, and telling him he wasn’t allowed to sell photos taken here, etc, etc. He told her that he was there with his family, taking pictures for us, etc etc. Ok, easy to understand, he had a larger than normal camera set up. He could easily be mistaken for a newspaper reporter or something.. Not too long after that, one more person came up to him and gave him the same reprimand. Ok, maybe he didn’t know the other lady already asked him those questions. No problem, dad just told him the same thing that he told the previous person. We all got in line to board the train. The girls were getting more and more excited, as were all of us adults!
We find out gate.. gate 3.. and get ready for an adventure. Little did we know.. our adventure was quickly going down hill. As we all got on the train, yet another guy stopped my dad. All I heard was “Sir, I see that you have some pretty high tech equipment there. Who are you taking pictures for?” All I could think was LEAVE US ALONE! Sure enough, my dad finally came on board with us, and was frustrated. The guy had given him a hard time about being a professional photographer, and telling him he can’t sell his pictures, etc.. He was there with his family people! We figured we’d let it go, and just get on with the trip.. we hadn’t even left the station yet and we had a whole hour of fun ahead of us.. or so we thought.. OH.. did I mention we hadn’t left the station yet? One more lady came up to my dad. She had to have talked to the guy that stopped him at the train. She says to him that she understands he’s a freelance photographer, and she tells him that he shouldn’t take too many pictures, because the flash, as large as it is, would be too intrusive to the rest of the people on board the train, and then she reiterates that photos taken at the event can not be sold… Ok.. I was about done.. Leave us alone. He’s taking pictures of HIS family… He’s not here to sell anything, and for goodness sakes.. his flash may be large, but there’s a filter on it that subdues it for close up shots. His flash wasn’t even as bright as some of the flashes that people were using on their tiny little hand held cameras.. I mean seriously people.. He knows what he’s doing. He’s taken photos, really great photos for longer than I’ve been alive.. and that’s a long time.. UGH!
Ok, so we finally leave the station, the guy that’s sitting in front of my dad turns around and says that they’re ridiculous.. It’s an event we paid good money for, and if they don’t want people taking pictures, they should have stated that before we bought our tickets… He even commented on how surprised he was that dad’s flash wasn’t that bright. He said that the flash on his little Sony camera was brighter.. needless to say, I told my dad that if they had any issues with him taking pictures of his family, that I’d deal with them.. I had hoped and prayed that after 4 people saying something, that it would be done and over.. I mean, it was beyond ridiculous. The moment was ruined for me, and my dad was just all in a fix about whether or not he should take certain pictures.. I told him to take the pictures he wanted to! The other cameras were going off all around us, why should he be the only one that can’t take a picture?
We had a mostly quiet trip down the line, and when we stopped at the “North Pole” we thought all was going to be well. Wrong again. Just before Santa came on the train, one more guy came to my dad and told him that he couldn’t take photos facing forward, because it would “interfere with his video” that he was taking. He also worked for the Polar Express Event. At this point, I was downright pissed off.. My dad, trying to be accomodating, held back at taking photos, until I noticed this guy trying to wave at my dad to let him know it was “ok by him” for dad to take pics… So, we didn’t get any good pictures of Santa coming into our car, or explaining about the first gift of Christmas, etc. We were lucky to get get the pics of Santa handing the girls their Jingle Bells.. I can not explain how mad I was. This was not the first train, and this would not be the last train. Why the heck did they have to video tape this ride, let alone OUR CAR? Why the heck did we (my dad) have to be singled out when everyone on the train had a stinkin’ camera? I was so upset, that this trip was truly ruined for me. Thank goodness the girls are only 2 and were completely oblivious to all this crap. If it wasn’t for their smiles and excitement every time I heard them ring that bell and yell “I CAN HEAR IT!” I’d have thought this was a complete waste. But instead, I’m glad that no matter what we went through, they still had the magic of Christmas with them.
So, on Monday morning right when they opened, I called the office and filed a complaint. It was a long complaint as I explained absolutely everything that happened, and how I felt. I spoke with a very sweet lady, who even told me she thought this whole situation was quite ridiculous (I use that word a lot. I like it, can you tell?) I was assured I’d receive a phone call from a manager. As of closing on Monday, I haven’t heard anything… so, now, I wait.
Update: as of Thursday 12/13, I still have yet to receive a phone call back. I’ve called every day, only to be told that the manager is not in. I’ve left several messages. I’m still fuming, and now I feel like they really don’t care. What wonderful customer service they have. NOT! I will update again as soon as I hear something back.
Update: I finally received a phone call on the late afternoon of 12/13. Basically, all I got was “You’re the only complaint we’ve received”, and “I’ll talk to the crew and make sure they understand to be more considerate to the guests”… I got the feeling that they weren’t really going to do anything, and they didn’t even offer any type of compensation, or a formal apology to my dad. All she could say was that the “manner in which my dad was taking photos, was that of a professional photographer.” I asked her how that was the manner of a professional, all he was doing was taking pictures of various things around the station… the decorations, the girls coloring, the guys singing… how is that professional manner??? I saw everyone taking pictures of all these things.. The only difference is that they had a small hand held camera, and Dad didn’t… GAAH! It still makes me so upset… I told the lady I wanted an explanation… she promises I’ll get one, but here it is, Tuesday, and Sunday was the last day of the event. I’ll never hear anything…
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