The Great Raleigh Trolley — Local services in Raleigh

We were gifted the tickets from a friend and took the holiday sights tour on Saturday 12/11! First let me say that some of these reviews are a bit ridiculous. As a bartender in downtown Raleigh, I am not surprised by the comments. This is a small local company and they are obviously passionate about what they do. Their North Pole location is beautifully decorated and there are plenty of photo ops and a photographer is there to take complimentary photos of you and your family. Even if the photographer isn’t there when you arrive the staff is more than willing to help you get the perfect photo! A storm came out of nowhere right before we got on our trolley and the staff did a great job of handling the power outage and managing all the scattered guest. They made the best of a situation that was out of their control!once we got on our trolley ride Jeffery was an amazing driver and Tim was an amazing tour guide, they worked together well as a team and ensured we enjoyed our time on the trolley. Tim knew his history and was very engaged with everyone even the grinches that where on board, Jeffery obviously is a skilled driver and knew what he was doing we felt so safe aboard the trolley. We saw 3 nicely decorated light displays and learned some very interesting history about Raleigh. We did some singing and Christmas trivia and even got to see see the city tree and get even more photos there! We will be back next year and will be joining any trolley event these guys put together, from check in to trolley ride we enjoyed ourselves. After the rough last year we have all endured it was so nice to be able to get together with friends and strangers to experience a little Christmas magic. The Great Raleigh Trolley Christmas is a wonderful thing...

Well… we just did this “tour”.. and even didn’t know how describe the experience. Very disappointing!

Starting from parking. When trying to park at Tap Yard we were advised to leave the room for trolley and park along the street, which was NOT safe to walk with a kid.

Not all kids got the bags when they arrived. And actually the lady was telling to grab a gift bag for kid only (even when the note was saying that every ticket holder can get one).

When you enter Tap Yard, nobody welcomes you or tells you want to do or where to processed, or what is offered for kids.

The program at Trolley . Very poor… Santa was trying to real book and do some tricks , but my kid got scared and we were sitting in front. And she couldn’t really see properly being partly blocked by photographer trying to make some pictures. Not sure what surprises were promised but this was very sad experience. This tour was advertised as kids-oriented, but entertaining was terrible. There are so many things that could have been done with kids!! So many songs to sing with them or games to play. Instead there was loud music and lady was trying to sing in front , and basically that’s it.

What kind of lights did yo plan to show the kids?? I counted on showing my little one main Christmas tree but this didn’t happen… disappointed again.. Honestly our neighborhood has better lighting that were offered by this tour.

Duration! The tour itself started after 7pm and we were done at 7:50pm. Where is your promised 60min of entertainment? Tell the truth that’s it’s...

I booked the 6:30 holiday "Griswold Lights and Sights" tour for my parents and myself. To describe this tour In a nutshell, I'll take a quote from my mother that evening: "If I wanted to spend an evening being bored, I would have stayed home." The pre-tour hot chocolate and North Pole decorations were fun and are the reason why this isn't a 1-star review, but everything after the pre-tour turned out to be frustrating and confusing. As soon as we boarded the trolley, we made a beeline for north Raleigh. We went out to the boonies and ended up getting caught in stand-still traffic as tons of people were trying to get to the same farm we were (Piper's Lights). The trolley was hot, and the windows were steamed up. The tour guide did pour champagne for the adults and provided us with some historical tidbits about Raleigh, as well as some trivia about Christmas movies. Admittedly, he tried to make the best out of the situation, but once we finally arrived on the farm, we were told we could have five minutes to use the bathroom, but due to time, we had to get back on the road with the promise that we were going to see two houses that were supposed to be all decked out with lights. Traffic coming out of the farm was almost as bad, and so we were told that the trolley would be heading back to the North Pole (without visiting the two houses). The whole thing was lame and a waste of time and money. Go to Piper's Lights in your own car and save some money. They need to send a scout out to check on traffic before...