FAQs

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 yourself 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.

What should I bring?

Please ensure you bring your E-ticket with you, either printed or on a mobile device. You shall receive your E-tickets shortly before the event. Please do make sure to check your junk mail folder if you have not received them.

Golden Tickets will be available for collection for E-Ticket holders at the event.

As you will be waiting outside when boarding and departing THE POLAR EXPRESS™ Train Ride we ask that you dress appropriately for the weather conditions.

The event takes place in Royal Tunbridge Wells at Spa Valley Railway. The train will depart from West Station, TN2 5QY

Parking

Guests will need to make their own parking arrangements for the event.

For more information please visit https://spavalleythepolarexpressride.com/car-parking/

DISABLED PARKING

Disabled guests can be dropped off at the railway. The Spa Valley Railway staff will then direct you to parking.

THERE IS NO PARKING AT THE RAILWAY OR IN THE STREETS AROUND THE STATION.

Remember, it’s December!

As the event takes place in December please do prepare for wintry road conditions. Remember this is England, weather can vary dramatically, however this event will run no matter the weather conditions even in rain and snow. 

PNP Events and Spa Valley Railway are not liable for any road closures or delays. No refunds are given if we run the train as advertised but you miss it due to weather conditions or any other reason beyond our control.

How can I buy tickets?

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.

How much do tickets cost and what dates and times are available?
Our full range of times, dates, and their prices can be found here https://tickets.spavalleythepolarexpressride.com/availability/

Please see here for information regarding our guests with disabilities: https://spavalleythepolarexpressride.com/guests-with-additional-needs/

What is the cancellation/refund policy?

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.

What if the weather is bad and travel will be difficult?

As the event takes place in winter please do prepare for the road conditions. No refunds will be given if you can’t get to us and the experience runs.

PNP Events LTD are not responsible for the winter weather or your transport arrangements to us or any road closures or delays or cancellations on your journey to us. Please leave plenty of time to travel safely to us. 

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.

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.

We recommend allowing 2 – 2.5 hours for the whole experience. You are on the train for around an hour and can visit our shop afterwards. 

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.

 

When will I get my tickets?

Tickets will be E-Tickets and you will be emailed them shortly before the event.

Please note: we can no longer add the postage option to a booking.

You have the option to receive your Golden Tickets via post and you can select this during checkout. These will be posted to you shortly before the event. Once tickets are posted they are beyond our control. In the unfortunate event that they don’t arrive, we will not be able to replace them before you travel.

Golden Tickets will be available for collection for E-Ticket holders when you arrive at the event.

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.

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.

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 where are able to purchase a range of THE POLAR EXPRESS™ Train Ride items throughout the year.

Our Standard seats and Premium seats are in separate carriages. You can make separate orders for Standard and Premium tickets, but will not be sat together. We cannot link orders together in different classes of travel.

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.

Our Standard seats and Premium seats are in separate carriages. We cannot link orders together in different classes of travel.

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.

THE POLAR EXPRESS™ Train Ride will depart from Spa Valley Railway in Royal Tunbridge Wells. The train will depart from West Station, TN2 5QY

Protect Your Tickets

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.

When making your booking with us, if you did not reach the “Thanks for your Order” page at the end of your booking and did not receive an email confirmation from us then unfortunately it is likely your booking has failed. You may however, see a pending payment with your bank. This can be due to a number of reasons, but is likely because our payment provider declined the transaction often based on a security check, usually a CVC or Address mis-match with your bank. The pending payment will be released from your bank usually within a few hours / days and varies bank to bank.

If you did however reach the “Thanks for your Order” Page, then it is likely your booking has been confirmed and your lack of email confirmation is often due to it being sent to spam / junk mail. If you are unable to find your confirmation please contact us at customer services.

Please see our Terms and Conditions here.

There is a £15 admin fee for any changes you request to be made to your booking.

We are unable to make changes to your booking after the 30th of September.

Unfortunately timings are extremely strict. 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, we schedule a steam engine to pull THE POLAR EXPRESS™. Seems only right doesn’t it? The only time we won’t is due to circumstances beyond our control, where we reserve the right to use a substitute engine as required to ensure the event continues.

Thanks to the magic of THE POLAR EXPRESS™, we are able to bypass border controls and travel to the North Pole without the need for passports. All you need to do is Believe.