Tickets sell out every year 🎅🏻 🎄

The ticket situation is the first thing you need to know. This sells out every year, sometimes within minutes of going on sale. So if you're reading this in early December hoping to show up this weekend, there's a real chance you're already too late. Check the availability, get on whatever notification list they have, and move fast when the next batch drops. That's not me trying to build suspense — it's just how this one works.

I went because my wife kept seeing it pop up and thought it'd be a good call with the kids. Englewood isn't exactly a destination for us on a normal weekend, but for $12 per ticket, it wasn't a hard sell. The price is part of what makes this stand out. Denver holiday events have a way of quietly costing $40 a person before you've done anything, so when something comes in under $15 and actually delivers, it gets your attention.

What You're Actually Getting

The setup is straightforward: unlimited train rides, a s'mores station, pictures with Santa, and enough Christmas decoration to keep small kids visually occupied for a couple of hours. The train itself is the draw — kids who are into trains are going to lose their minds a little bit, and even the ones who aren't tend to get caught up in it once they're on. You can ride as many times as you want, which my kids interpreted as a personal challenge.

The s'mores station is genuinely a nice touch. It's the kind of thing that sounds small but ends up being one of the things they talk about on the way home. Santa pictures are included, which, if you've ever paid for a mall Santa photo package, you know is not nothing.

What Works and What Doesn't

For families with small kids — we're talking roughly 2 to 8 years old — this is close to a perfect holiday outing. It's not too long, it's not too loud, there's something happening the whole time, and nobody's asking you to spend more money once you're through the gate. At that price, you can take the whole family without doing any mental math.

Where it gets complicated is the availability. The fact that it sells out every year is a real barrier, and depending on when you find out about it, you might miss the window entirely. Tickets go on sale in batches throughout the season, so if you strike out the first time, there may be another chance — but you have to be paying attention. I'd recommend treating it like a concert ticket situation: know when the next sale date is and be ready at your computer when it opens.

The experience itself is scaled for young kids, which is also a limitation if yours are older. My wife and I had a fine time, but this is clearly designed with a specific age group in mind, and it delivers for that group really well. If your kids are past the Santa-and-trains phase, this probably isn't for them anymore.

Getting There and Planning Ahead

Englewood is south of the city, easy enough to get to if you're coming from Denver proper — not a long haul, but factor in that you're heading into a suburb for a ticketed event, so traffic and parking will depend on your timing. Going on a weeknight when possible is probably the smarter move.

The main thing to do before anything else is figure out when the next ticket sale date is and put it on your calendar. The $10 base price (plus a small fee) makes it one of the more accessible things you can do with kids during the holidays in this area, which is exactly why it fills up so fast.

If you've got young kids and you can get tickets, this is worth making the trip. It's not a flashy production — it's a well-run holiday event that does what it says it's going to do, and at that price, that's enough.