Our Magical Weekend at the North Pole

Last weekend we had the most magical weekend at the North Pole. You can read about our first half of the weekend and our snow adventures in my post (here). We adventured up to Bryson City, TN to ride the Polar Express and literally had the best, most magical time. I couldn’t help but write about it even though this is in no way sponsored by the Polar Express or Bryson City but we had SUCH a great time I couldn’t help but share.
One of the highlights of the trip was an unplanned stop at the Toymaker’s Shop in downtown Bryson City. You guys…I honestly think this man may be the real Santa. This sweet old man (see photos below) sets up a toy shop in downtown Bryson City November-year end because he says he loves children and wants children to see someone who can make toys with their own hands. The entire store only has handmade toys (although strangely none are for sell). The Toymaker sits down with each child and writes their name on a chain link and uses “magic glue” to glue the chain together. He then adds it to a master chain of all the children who have visited his shop and has a registry so if you come back years later you can look up your previous chain. He wants all the children to be “connected.” Truly magical to say the least.

The Polar Express itself was also a great, magical experience. So much so that we have already decided we will take our daughter back when she is 3 and E is 6.5 (we felt like 3 was the perfect age). E’s favorites parts were his golden ticket getting punched, receiving his bell (we could all hear it ring), drinking hot chocolate, and of course Santa coming on the train at the North Pole.

If you are at all considering going I really can’t recommend it enough. We had the best time!

The only piece of advice I would give you is to book early if you are considering going in 2018 – we booked back in June and tickets were very limited. Also, the 5:30 train would be best. We did the 7pm and couldn’t see anything on the way out because it was too dark. 5:30 would be perfect as it would be light-ish on your way out and dark on your way back.

On that note I will leave you with this…

Though I’ve grown old the bell still rings for me…as it does for all who truly believe!

Leave a Reply Cancel reply