Osceola & St. Croix Valley Railway — Attraction in Osceola

My family of 3 decided to do the ice cream event this past Saturday. When we purchased our tickets, it said to arrive 15 minutes early and the train was going to leave the station at 1:15.

We arrived at 1 and parking was very slim. We ended up parking on a hill and had to walk to the location. When we finally made it to the station, there was no direction on what you should do. We finally asked another family and they didnt know where to go either, so we just stood in line for tickets, even though we had our tickets already.

Once we were next in line to be helped, a woman who worked there gave us three tickets and said nothing. Then we were called up to the window and the man asked for our name that tickets were under and gave us 3 more additional tickets?

They didn't tell us where to go, so we followed the crowd. We noticed section 1 was very busy, so we stood around section 3 & 4 to wait. The train didn't arrive until 1:45 - remind you, no one said a word about the train being late.

We finally boarded the train and found open seats. I highly recommend that if you have a bigger family to get there early because seats fill up fast and many families were separated.

The ride to dresser was maybe 15 minutes? Not much of a view. Just woods and open fields when you came closer to town. When we arrived at Dresser to receive our ice cream (which we thought was from an ice cream shop) instead it was store bought ice cream, but they did have a selection - cones, popsicles and more.

We stood at the Dresser station for 15 minutes. My family decided to get back on the train once we were done with our ice cream and I'm so glad we did because the bigger families were boarding early to get seats together.

We went back the same route, so the same views. They we're very unorganized and lacked communication. My 11 year old was very bored. If you have younger children, maybe 5-6 or younger, they may enjoy it, but my preteen was not impressed. We have the fall experience booked for the middle of October, hopefully that...

Went today with the family to ride the pizza train at 11am. Got there early as instructed but we waited a while to board as they were still setting up and waiting for the pizza to be delivered. Finally got seated at our table but let me just say, it really only accommodates 4 adults. Not sure how a child is meant to fit there much less 5 adults. I’d recommend parties of 4 + adults get two tables.

We got our pizza once people were seated but as we were missing a plate we waited for Sandy to get us another plate and the rest of our water bottles. He never came back and we had to ask another employee if they could help us. The pizza is not good and is barely lukewarm by the time you get it. Had I known the pizza wasn’t great, I would have passed on purchasing a ticket that included pizza.

As for the train ride, it was a huge letdown. 30min out with just trees for a view and a brief pass over the river. Then you wait 30 min, in the middle of nowhere, while they pass out brownies. These brownies were lackluster and I didn’t appreciate how they were practically slapped down on top of our pizza boxes. We weren’t offered plates or additional napkins for them either. Honestly, the lack of service alone is enough to tell people to steer away from this place. The train then heads back the way it came (30min).

All in all, grossly over priced, terrible service, and lack of views. I would...

I had a very positive experience booking the train ride for my family. The person I spoke to was helpful and cheery. I asked if masks were required, they said yes. I asked if there was an open window car option to sit in and I was told the exact car to sit in with my family…including a baby who cannot be masked. When we arrived to check in I was told the person who said we could sit in the open window car never should have said that since it was for people who ordered pizza. Ok fine, we would be ok in whatever car as long as everyone was masked. There were signs posted in a few places (and on their website) stating that masks were required. We sat in a car that was filled. Many people did not have masks on properly or masks at all. We figured someone who worked on the train would take care of the situation. Well, most of the people working on the train either weren’t wearing a mask or not wearing it properly. We felt very unsafe. My husband is an infectious disease scientist who deals with covid daily. We were unable to get off the train so we did the best we could to stay away from people. We ended up not sitting/standing together so we could feel comfortable around all of the people who couldn’t follow one simple rule. The train ride itself was fine, but if you are covid conscious, this isn’t the...