Wednesday, November 30, 2011

EnterTRAINment Junction







I saw rock legend Neil Young at EnterTRAINment Junction! Well, not in person, but I saw his photo alongside the big train display he donated.
Sheila here.


My girlfriend Sharon and I took our boys up to West Chester for a day of fun with the trains and a visit with Santa. I hadn't been to the train wonderland with Eric for a couple of years, and I was surprised to see so many new things (including Neil Young's train exhibit).


EnterTRAINment Junction is 25,000 square feet of a train lover's dream. It's a real history lesson to walk through time, seeing how trains have helped to build our country. Of course, Eric and Christopher just ran through that part of the Junction, hooting and hollering about things they spotted, and only taking time to stop when they wanted to push the buttons to make the trains move, cows moo, or church bells ring. Two miles of track are busy with steam engines, passenger trains, and diesel locomotives. Everywhere you look, there are trains, tiny people, and right now, little Santa Claus figures all over the place. You can't look at it the same way twice.

EnterTRAINment Junction also added a funhouse earlier this year, and Chris and Eric scared us to death when they ran into Curtain Chaos -- it's a maze of red and white curtains -- and the boys almost disappeared on us! We found them, and the four of us laughed our heads off, running into walls and plowing through the curtains. The A-Maze-N Funhouse also boasts a Mirror Maze, which is one of the largest of its kind in North America, an Ames Room, where the boys seemed to grow or shrink by walking across the room, and the Outer Limits: Journey Through the Black Hole. It includes a spinning vortex tunnel that'll make you feel like you can't stay on your feet, along with a room full of glowing planets.



Of course, the best part of all was our time in the Main Street Holiday Trains room, all decked out with Christmas trees, a candyland, Santa's toy-making machine, and snow in every direction, followed by our Christmas journey through a winter wonderland on the way to see Santa Claus himself. In one room, snow was falling indoors! Even our four-year-old's figured out it was made of tiny bubbles, but they loved catching the "flakes." Eric stopped to check out Prancer in the reindeer stable, and the guys were treated to sugar cookies from Mrs. Claus before they sat on the Jolly Old Elf's lap and told him about their Christmas wishes. Funny how two boisterous boys got very quiet and polite when it was time to see Santa. (That made their mommies proud!)


We wrapped up our visit with some playtime in the Imagination Junction - a railroad-themed entertainment center where kids can climb, slide, bounce, crawl, and even shovel coal on a steam engine. Our boys worked off some steam, then clutched their Thomas the Tank Engine sticker books as we headed for the car. It was a fun day full of new Christmas memories for all of us. http://www.entertrainmentjunction.com/


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