Royal Gorge Route Railroad — Attraction in Cañon City

I'll start from the top. We were told to arrive an hour early to pick up tickets. It took us less than five minutes, but then we got to look around their tourist center/gift shop for the rest of the hour. Arrive with five minutes to spare and you will be fine. It takes quite a while to load the train cars because they insist on taking every boarding passenger's picture to sell to them later. Would not let us opt out either.

Paid over $59.00 a ticket to ride in the Vista Dome and were initially impressed with the facilities, until we were told the toilets weren't working and there was no running water on our car so any requests for water/drinks etc, would take longer. During the ride our staff was friendly and knowledgeable, if forgetful. Specifically they promised an informational CD to tell us about the history of the gorge and rail and promptly forgot to put it in - for the entire trip.

The trip itself was an overpriced let down! I'm sure the passengers on the river side of the train would actually disagree, however, those of us stuck on the mountain/rock side of the train all agree. The ride hugs the side of the gorge that runs alongside a lovely river view. We were stuck on the 'hug the mountain' side of the train. After five minutes of rock there really isn't much else. I asked the waiter if we turn around so everyone gets to see the river/rafters/wildlife and he said no. It sucked but if I wanted to view the river I would have to go to the 'open air car.'

Leave my air conditioned, $59 seat to pack into a single open car with over a hundred other people to hopefully catch a glimpse of the view I'd paid for. I had to agree with the server, it sucked.

The food was mediocre and overpriced. A burger for $15.00 that was the size of a hockey puck and arrived cold? $10.00 Nachos where the meat tasted like it was marinated in sugar? No thanks. I wouldn't feed it to my dog. The best part of the meal was the potato skins stuffed with bacon and green onion. Those were actually edible and fared well despite being cold.

Bottom line? If you want to see ride this 'historic train' get seats on the river side. Make sure the train you are riding on is fully functional, and avoid the food. There are better places to...

We paid for the Visa Dome ticket and drove over two hours from Denver when my parents came to visit from Texas. We got there early so we could pick our seats. I will admit it is was my fault for assuming this was how it works. You must pick up your tickets will call style, and then you see what seats you were assigned. I was incredibly disappointed to find that we were not seated on the gorge side. This is "the Royal gorge train ride." A gorge by definition is a narrow canyon with water running through it. The gorge was never in fact visible to us. Even when we walked out to the open car to try and view the gorge (at three different times), there were people camping out forever and taking pictures on the gorge side. So we were unable to squeeze in for a view there also.

Please be aware that this train goes out in one direction, stops and moves backwards in the other direction. So it never turns around or switches views with the other side. Unless you are seated on the gorge side, your view will be a rock wall about 2-4 feet from the huge window you paid extra for.

I can't believe these tickets are the same price as you will have a very different experience depending on what side of the train you were seated on. The views I was able to see in between walking to the restroom and back were beautiful. The ice looked amazing and the moving water would have made for a consistently gorgeous view. At over $100 per person, this is not worth the money if you cannot see the gorge. Shocked to find this is the reality of...

While we had a delightful time, I wanted to make sure you were aware of an issue we had on our ride.

Our server was excellent. Everyone on board was excellent except one individual (who's name escapes me) kept complaining about how she only gets paid $13/hour. In addition to informing me of what she makes, she also made several other complaints like, "Oh this is all messed up, it never goes like this", suggesting that there was something wrong with the ride and how the staff were handling it for the guests.

I understand people don't like working on Christmas Eve, and luckily she didn't ruin the magic of the night for my kids, but it certainly does ruin things a bit for the adults to hear how bitter an employee is about what they're paid for the entire ride, especially when the ride cost me $800+.

In addition to this, there were other nuances that made the ride frustrating, like we didn't receive silverware until over 30 minutes after we received our food, which forced my kids to eat their macaroni and cheese with their chips.

As I stated previously, I can't remember her name, but she was a middle aged/older blonde woman who seemed to mainly help with drink/hot cocoa delivery. We were in Section...