FAQs

All tickets are sold online. You cannot order tickets via phone or in person at the railway. We accept all major credit and debit cards as payment and we use Stripe as our payment processor.

THE POLAR EXPRESS™ Train Ride will depart from Edinburgh Waverley Station. The station postcode is EH1 3EG. You will return there after the train ride.

Your E-tickets will be sent out to you one week before you’re due to visit us.

If you have selected to receive your Golden Tickets via post, available during checkout, these will be posted to you in November. In the unfortunate event that they don’t arrive you will be able to collect them from Customer Services on the day.

Our carriages have seating arranged in 4’s around a table or in pairs. The elves allocate all seats by hand to keep bookings together. Due to the high demand for tickets, if you do not book in multiples of 4, it is likely you will be sharing the fun of your THE POLAR EXPRESS™ Train Ride with another family. Parties of over 4 will be seated as near to each other as possible, priority given to earliest booking. We reserve the right to change carriage configuration without notice.

Please see here for information regarding our guests with disabilities:  Guests with additional needs page here.

There are many public car parks near the station, a full list will be provided nearer to the event.

You can link a booking to your own as part of the checkout process or contact our Customer Service Elves with the details of both bookings and they can manually link the bookings for you.

Our elves do their best to seat linked bookings as close as they can depending on availability and the configuration of previous orders. We do not guarantee we can sit bookings together if you make a separate booking at a later date

You are on board the train for approximately 1 hour.

We ask guests to arrive at the check-in time shown on your e-ticket

Unfortunately due to the popularity of THE POLAR EXPRESS™ Train Ride event we are unable to offer any cancellations, refunds, or reschedules after the 30th September, therefore please be sure you can attend on the dates/times selected when you book. In the unfortunate event the train is unable to operate, you will be notified as soon as possible and given a refund or the opportunity to reschedule.

You are only liable for a refund should we fail to to run the event. There will be NO refunds for guests missing the train or arriving late or who miss the train due to but not limited to, illness, poor weather, vehicle breakdowns, public transport, acts of God and anything covered in the Events Outside Our Control.

If you decide to cancel your order up to 30th September, we will offer this at our discretion only.  Up until the 1st of September a £15 admin fee is applied to all cancellations up to this date and service charge and ticket protection is non-refundable in any circumstance. Between the 1st and 30th of September this will be subject to a 25% admin fee.

There will be NO changes to any tickets after 30th September.

We will consider extenuating circumstances for any cancellation requests after this date and may refund the order at our discretion. This will be subject to a 25% admin fee.

SERVICE CHARGE AND TICKET INSURANCE ARE NON-REFUNDABLE IN ANY CIRCUMSTANCE.

Ticket Protection allows you to re-coup 100% of the paid ticket price if you are unable to make it to your event for any number of covered reasons, including illness, travel delay, adverse weather conditions and more.

Full details of the Ticket Protection coverage can be found here: https://securemybooking.com/make-a-claim/uk/ Please ensure the policy meets your needs before purchase.

Ticket Protection is provided by a third party company Secure My Booking and their Terms and Conditions are final. The Ticket Protection is non-refundable in any circumstance.

Ticket Protection can only be purchased when making a booking. It cannot be added retrospectively.

 

We will offer an alternative hot chocolate and a snack free from many allergens, but unfortunately we may not be able to accommodate all possible allergies or dietary requirements. These must be pre-booked prior to your experience date.

You are welcome to bring an alternative with you for members of your party who have allergies if you prefer.

As we operate out of Waverley Station in Edinburgh, we will be using a Diesel engine. But don’t let this put you off, the magic of THE POLAR EXPRESS Train Ride, takes place on board the train and we recommend reading our Experience page to find out more.

Unfortunately timings are extremely strict due to us running on the main line. If you are heading to the event and likely to be late, just keep coming and we will do everything we can to help you, however, even if the train hasn’t left the platform we have strict cut-offs where the doors are locked and cannot be unlocked to allow for late arrivals, just like a normal train

 

Yes, the train does move. You will be on-board for approximately 1 hour. There may need to be movements backwards and forwards due to caribou or frozen lakes.

Whilst we attempt to run the event as close to THE POLAR EXPRESS™ Train Ride experience as possible we may need to, at short notice and due to technical or mechanical problems, make operational changes to enable the event to continue to run. This may include substituting a diesel locomotive or running the show on a static train.

 

If you are in receipt of the highest rate of Disability Living Allowance (DLA), SDP, or enhanced rate Personal Independence Payment (PIP) benefit, we offer a 50% discount on the carer’s ticket. Please contact our Customer Service elves with your booking number and proof of entitlement. Our elves will then refund you 50% of 1 ticket.

We currently do not offer blue light, military or any other form of discount.

Unfortunately, due to the limited space on our heritage carriages, neither pushchairs or the car seat sections are allowed on board. Please leave them on the platform where our marshalls will look after them until you return.

Unfortunately, dogs and other animals are not allowed on board. Service dogs are welcome to join us but will need to sit under the table for the duration of the journey.

We do not allow Therapy Dogs/Emotional Support Dogs on board THE POLAR EXPRESS™ Train Ride.

An assistance dog is legally permitted to accompany its client, owner, or partner, at all times and in all places, within the United Kingdom. A therapy dog/emotional support dog is not legally recognised in the UK. Emotional support dogs in the UK are not considered to be assistance dogs – this is because an assistance dog is trained to perform specific tasks (such as a Guide Dog or Hearing Dog) to help a disabled person and are usually qualified by one of the charitable organisations registered as members of Assistance Dogs UK. These dogs are trained to be in an environments that are busy and loud. An emotional support dog does not have this training and as such is considered a pet under UK law. We do not allow any animals other than registered assistance dogs on board and reserve the right to refuse admittance to the event.

We encourage our guests, young and young at heart to wear pyjamas just as in the book with a dressing gown for good measure also. Immerse youirself in THE POLAR EXPRESS™ Train Ride, children love it and why not Mums, Dads, Granny and Grandpa too? The atmosphere in the train comes alive for a truly magical experience!

For the safety of our guests we ask that they wear sturdy, closed toed shoes and not slippers, open toed shoes, flip-flops etc. The British winter weather is not kind to fluffy slippers.

Our THE POLAR EXPRESS™ Train Ride shop is available before and after the Train Ride and is for ticket holders only. We also operate our online shop North Pole Trading https://northpoletrading.co.uk/ where are able to purchase a range of THE POLAR EXPRESS™ Train Ride items throughout the year.

If you need to contact us please do so by clicking here. Our elves aim to respond to all queries within 3 working days.

Please remember to check your spam boxes for our reply.

Please see our Terms and Conditions here https://tickets.edinburghthepolarexpressride.com/terms-and-conditions/