Tweetsie Railroad

[ghtx]

Do any fellow DISers know of any good tips or recommendations, or of a website that would have them, about the Tweetsie Railroad theme park in North Carolina? I'm taking the kids this weekend (practice run for WDW!) and am looking for advice. TIA

 

[HM]

It's been 15 years since we've been with our preschool age kids. We had such a good time. Best things were the train ride, interactions with the cowboys out in the street, the Rainmaker show, and getting the kid's tintype photo taken.

 

[SideshowBob]

Wowsa ... I have not heard that name in many, many, many years! Almost forgot that I went as a child but your post reminded me. I hope that you have a great time!

 

[lovesmurfs]

http://www.tweetsie.com/

Google is your friend. http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Tweetsie+Railroad+theme+park+in+North+Carolina

 

[Straitlover]

It's not a huge park and shoul not be really crowded, so not a lot of tips would be needed IMO. Has the Ghost Train started yet????

 

[WDWAurora]

One of my high school friends is a cowboy. Male sure to get pics with the cowboys! I remember very little from going there as a child-we went to Disney constantly, but almost never tweetsie, even though it was close.

 

[ghtx]

http://www.tweetsie.com/

Google is your friend. http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Tweetsie+Railroad+theme+park+in+North+Carolina

No reason to be a jerk.

I knew the Tweetsie website; I wanted to know if anyone had any tips for me.

 

[ghtx]

It's not a huge park and shoul not be really crowded, so not a lot of tips would be needed IMO. Has the Ghost Train started yet????

That's kind of what I thought (that it wouldn't be crowded so strategy isn't really important). We are one weekend too early for the ghost train.

 

[Talking Hands]

Don't wear clothes that you would be upset getting burn holes in them. While the train is wonderful it does put put cinders that will burn your clothes if they come in contact. Great little park.

 

[Straitlover]

That's kind of what I thought (that it wouldn't be crowded so strategy isn't really important). We are one weekend too early for the ghost train.

Well, I guess I can give you 2 tips. One, it's very hilly, so wear comforatble shoes that stay on your feet (no flip flops IMO). Two, check the weather good before you leave. It's higher elevation that you, so the temps could be cooler. I know it can be in the 70s in Raleigh and in the 50s sometime in Boone, which is right up the road from Blowing Rock. Tweetsie is actually between Blowing Rock and Boone.

Oh, and I remember a pretty good ice cream place near the front. It was near the jail, maybe inside the general store.

 

[clarabelle]

The train show is so cheesey -but fun
There is a petting zoo
Lots of cap guns for sale -so if you don't want to buy something like that I would have a talk about it before you go to avoid tears
There is also gem mining and some little kid rides
Oh -and funnel cakes!

 

[MrsPete]

I'm not sure when you wrote this, so I don't know when "this weekend" is, but you might want to google Appalachian State football before you commit. The town fills up and the hotel prices go up for home games -- restaurants will be full too. Forget driving or parking. If your dates are flexible, avoiding football weekends might be worth your while. Unless, of course, you want to bring along your Black & Gold and hit the game . . . though they may well be sold out by now.

Other than that . . .

calling Tweetsie a "theme park" is a bit grandious. It's fun, but it's small. Be sure your kids have a penny in their pockets. Sometimes the outlaws who rob the train demand a penny from the kids.

Consider nearby Grandfather Mountain. Love the animals and the Mile-High Swinging Bridge. Some easy hiking for the kids. Have quarters in your pocket so you can buy food to feed to Mildred the bear.

The Blowing Rock is fun, but it's a minor attraction.
Ditto for Mystery Hill.

The best place to eat in town is the Daniel Boone Inn: delicious home-cooking type food served family style. Note that they accept cash only -- wouldn't want you to embarass yourself. If you want something a little less expensive, walk down King Street and you'll find plenty of pizza and sandwiches. Black Cat Burrito is good, but not 'specially child-appropriate.

If your kids are adventerous, consider the Zip Line (not on Tweetsie property).

You'll see plenty of places to pan for gems. You will get your clothes FILTHY -- wet too -- so this is a good end-of-the-day activity. Or be ready to go back to the hotel. This is really fun, but I'm not over-stating the mess factor, even for adults.

If you go back in warmer weather, look up Hebron Rock Colony. Super-cool place to cool off in the summer heat, and enjoys the added benefit of being free. Okay, you risk having your car towed, but it's totally worth it.

Stop at the roadside stands and buy some yummy apples and a pumpkin.

It will be chilly in the evenings, but you'll probably be good with jeans, a tee and a sweatshirt during the day.

 

[DVCLiz]

I was so terrified of the train robbery as a child that I never took my own children to Tweetsie, despite the fact that it's practically in our backyard lol. It was so cheesy but it just traumatized me.

Hey, I took them to WDW dozens of times to make up for it!!

 

[ghtx]

Thanks everyone for all of the tips!

I'm not sure when you wrote this, so I don't know when "this weekend" is, but you might want to google Appalachian State football before you commit.

Thanks for reminding me! I can't believe I forgot to check that. Luckily, it's an away game tomorrow.

Consider nearby Grandfather Mountain. Love the animals and the Mile-High Swinging Bridge. Some easy hiking for the kids. Have quarters in your pocket so you can buy food to feed to Mildred the bear.

We've been there. It's fantastic.

The best place to eat in town is the Daniel Boone Inn: delicious home-cooking type food served family style. Note that they accept cash only -- wouldn't want you to embarass yourself. If you want something a little less expensive, walk down King Street and you'll find plenty of pizza and sandwiches. Black Cat Burrito is good, but not 'specially child-appropriate.

Also have been to both of those restaurants. Also fantastic!

 

[ghtx]

Thanks again to everyone for the advice. We just went yesterday and had a great time, so I thought I'd post some thoughts here in case anyone was interested.

We arrived for "rope drop" - ten minutes before opening time (9am) - and we where the second family there. We mingled around at the main street area for a few minutes, and then I decided to move up to "Country Fair" to do some rides instead of riding the earliest train ride (9:30). I think that was a good strategy. We got to the Country Fair around 9:10 or so. There were about a dozen employees milling about. I asked if it was open, and one said "sure, what do you want to ride?" We rode the carousel twice, the tilt-a-whirl once (that made me nearly barf), and the helicopters once by ourselves. We next went to the turnpike cars and had to wait about 5 minutes for a trip.

By that time it was about 9:50, and I decided to head back to the train depot to catch the next train ride, which was supposed to start around 10 or 10:15. The train ended up coming at about 10:20 or so. My kids enjoyed the train ride, but they were pretty bored by the shootout and the jokes in the show (they're only 5 and 2). Some other kids were screeching in terror.

After the train ride we took the chair lift up to miner's mountain (that was terrifying - how hard could it be to add seat belts!). We saw the 11:00 kids show, had some lunch, then rode a bunch of the rides up there. I think that the miner's mountain area doesn't open until 10 - it said that the chair lift doesn't start until 10. Even when we started riding rides there around 11:45 there was never much of a wait.

On the mouse train ride my two year old jumped off the train while it was stopped inside the cheese mine and gashed open a couple of spots on her face! Luckily she couldn't care less about it, and someone was nice enough to give her a Spongebob band-aid. She wore it proudly for the rest of the day!

We went to the petting zoo, did some more rides, took the bus back down and finished with another go-around on the carousel. It was 2 by then and I was wiped out, and the kids probably would have had a meltdown if they didn't get a nap soon (which they did in the car - even the 5-year-old).

All in all we had a great time. It is a great family-friendly park. We never waited more than 5 minutes for anything, except the train ride (I am guessing that in the high season they have two trains running at a time, but yesterday there was just one train). I would recommend it for anyone with kids 10 or younger.