New Jersey Polar Express Train Ride 2021

It's Christmas in...almost July. While many feel that summer in New Jersey is "the most wonderful time of the year," Christmas is a close second. Tickets for New Jersey's most popular holiday attraction sell out in record time every year. I don't want you to be on the naughty list, so here's how to plan ahead.

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The wildly popular Polar Express Train Ride out of Whippany will begin selling tickets on July 6 at 9 a.m. Groups of 20 or more may purchase passes beginning June 29 via phone only at 973-419-6255.

Go Inside New Jersey's Most Popular Christmas Attraction - The Polar Express Train Ride

Set to the sounds of the motion picture soundtrack, passengers live the magic of the classic story The Polar Express as they take a special one-hour trip to the North Pole. Once on board, your car hosts will work their way through the coach and punch your golden ticket before hot chocolate and shortbread are served by dancing chefs. Passengers then read along with the classic children’s book, The Polar Express, by Chris Van Allsburg.

Santa and his helpers board the train to greet passengers and each guest is given the first gift of Christmas – a silver sleigh bell. During the trip, characters on each car lead passengers in caroling and onboard entertainment just like in the film! Each guest will take home a keepsake sleigh bell.

I've been on The Polar Express Train Ride and there's a reason seats go so quickly. It is simply the best holiday attraction in the state. While it's a blast for those young and old, the kids will absolutely love this. This is totally worth the road trip.

The trains depart from November 3 through December 30.

LOOK: We wonder if Santa spends any time at the 50 best beach towns in America

Every beach town has its share of pluses and minuses, which got us thinking about what makes a beach town the best one to live in. To find out, Stacker consulted data from WalletHub, released June 17, 2020, that compares U.S. beach towns. Ratings are based on six categories: affordability, weather, safety, economy, education and health, and quality of life. The cities ranged in population from 10,000 to 150,000, but they had to have at least one local beach listed on TripAdvisor. Read the full methodology here. From those rankings, we selected the top 50. Readers who live in California and Florida will be unsurprised to learn that many of towns featured here are in one of those two states.

Keep reading to see if your favorite beach town made the cut.