Chehalis-Centralia Railroad & Museum — Attraction in Chehalis

I was deeply disappointed this year in the Polor Express. This use to be a tradition for me and my children but after today experience it will no longer be a continued tradition. I purchased my tickets 2 months in advanced for me and my children but when we arrived they had us assigned to two different tables verses together as a family. I was extremely upset. Why in the world would I pay for expensive tickets to sit with strangers at a table verses with my children. This has not been a problem before but was today. After speaking with the staff and advocating for my family we luckily got to sit together although another family that was mother and daughter sat next two each other at two different tables which is very sad. The seats are way to close together where you don't have room to move your seat at the table. My daughter had a mother with a child sitting behind her with her child in her lap that keep pushing my daughter into the table with no room to breathe. In our previous visits we had actually seats like similar to the train in the movie which is more comfortable. I kept having a child run into me and had grabbed my back and bottom while the parents did nothing. Having the actual train seats keeps families together and allows space for your feet and surroundings and avoids being harassed physically by another children. In previous visits we had all the characters involved in the movie from the two boys and girl, the conductor, hobo, and various other characters. They interacted with you and created a live theme atmosphere. Today there were hardly any characters or live singing. No children, no hobo, and the excitement of the staff was the temperature of my hot chocolate....luke warm. When they read the story they turned off the lights and you couldn't see the pictures. In previous visits the staff actually walked down the train and the lights were on so you could see the photos. The santa was nice and interacted with all the children no matter how many people were there I would say that was the only good part. In previous visits they played Christmas music and you actually got up and dance. Today experience there was no room for dancing and we sung songs out loud. During one the of songs people stopped singing in the middle of the song which was awkward and killed the vibe. A favorable memory was the conductor. He would whole punch your ticket like in the movie, but today the conductor punch one hole and went to the next table. Wasn't much interaction and we only saw him one time and was gone the rest of the train ride when in previous visits you saw the characters multiple times through out the train experience. This was way over priced for what was presented. I seen more interaction at events out of state. I no longer recommend the polor express and I am one who donated to the train to help...

So I surprised my wife and thought it would be a nice cute date night. We booked two seats for the magic dinner train I ordered prime rib, she got the chicken. During the dinner part, they started bringing food out I see and hear them at tables before us and other people saying to the staff no I order the chicken the staff said sorry ill fix that and brought them the chicken. They get to our table which is 7 tables past when people were telling the staff they ordered the chicken. They try to give my wife a vegetarian plate and I said no the prime rib she ordered the chicken. My wife is Jamaican and they then ask to see our receipts for our orders cause we ordered the veggie platter. I gave them our receipts even tho they never asked any of the other riders who said they ordered something else. But they demanded ours for some weird reason. I show them they say oh were sorry we might not have enough for you. They proceeded to reliever tables past us chicken meals and this is starting to anger me.

I spoke to the manager said why did you only ask us for our receipt and no one else. I feel they were being rude to us for her skin tone. They finally bring out a poorly made plate of chicken and said luckily we had one left. Why in the heck was my wife served last. But wait there is more remember this is a magic dinner show. The magician goes to every table but skips us. completely if you are a person of color I would suggest not doing this very poor service for us.

This is my opinion I am a white male and seeI how people treat my wife and it's disgusting that people still are like that. We are in the 21st century...

My family and I went to the Polar Express Christmas and had a horrible experience.

When we first got there the company asked if we could move tables I agreed to it then 10 mins later they asked us to move to the other train car with the bench and I told them no. A few mins went by and they asked us to move to a different table and at first they said it had a time. I have a three year old that’s why I wanted a table so she would seat and eat her snacks. I agreed to move and once I got to the spot it was three years in the corner of the train no table. I told them I paid for four tickets but only for three chairs. I also expressed my concern that my daughter was going to run around due to not having the table and I was not comfortable with that but they were like you will be fine.

Through out the train ride because we were sitting under the speaker my kids could not hear the story. The lady who was holding the book as the book was being read over the speaker was holding the book towards herself so no kids could see the pictures. When they handed out the hot chocolate I asked for a straw and they returned with a hot apple cider and said no strew but this is in cooler.

At the end of the train ride a man seating at a close table came up to me and even said sorry for how you were treated. I’m not one to complain but this was a horrible experience and we will never been back. My advice is go to the polar express...