I love, love, love the Christmas season! There is so much to see and do with the kids, and I was happy when I saw a fellow mom in one of my FB groups asking about the Train Garden in Marley Station Mall. I hadn’t realized that the Train Garden was back up and running again after the pandemic. This Train Garden is an old favorite of Rainbow’s and Stormy’s. I’d take the girls there to see the trains, and then I’d take them downstairs to play in the Marley Bounce Party store. Yesterday, in between errands, my husband and I were able to pop by the Mall with Pebble. Pebble has been enchanted lately with trains, and will watch the model ones for hours!
The Train Garden is on the upper level of the mall, near Macy’s. We parked near Gold’s Gym, and had to get our bearings when we entered the mall. We came in near the center court area / Curmudgeon Books, and had to climb up to the 2nd level and walk down toward Macy’s. The Train Garden is tucked back on a side hall, but there is plenty of signage to find the place. FYI, there is a closer entrance near Macy’s, on the other side of the mall from Golds. That should bring you in at the top level, right near the Train Garden. Just as a heads up, too, there are restrooms, including a family restroom, right next door to Macy’s, in between it and Gold’s Gym. I’m going to include a photo of the hours of the place, although it seems to be open most days between 10am and 8pm.
When we walked in, Pebble froze, and didn’t know which way she wanted to go. There was a lot to see! With the number of trains running, there was a fair amount of noise, although, for once, the noise didn’t bother Pebble. After staring wide-eyed, Pebble turned to the left where a racecourse was set up. She discovered that the buttons on the front of the display allowed one to start up a racecar, and she and I had a lot of fun racing each other around the track with the cars. Every time I slowed down and let her pass me, she’d giggle and yell that she was winning!
When she had to give another little one a chance at the race cars, she circled the room looking in the various displays. There was a neat display of LEGO’s, lots of Marvel sets, along with several LEGO trains. Pebble discovered more buttons over here that would start up the train on the inner track. Honestly, that is one of the best features of this train garden. There are multiple places where someone can push a button, and a swing will start swinging, a train will take off, or a steam whistle will sound. Pebble had fun searching out these buttons, and pushing every single one to see what they did! I also noticed on the plexiglass enclosing the displays, that little scavenger hunt clues were posted, like, “Where is the lawnmower?,” or “Can you find Patrick Star?”, etc.
We only spent 30 to 40 minutes here at most, but Pebble was one happy little girl. We must have returned to the race cars 3 or 4 times, and she raced both me and her daddy. She also loved pushing the buttons on the bottom of the life-sized Santa and life-sized Frosty to make them sing and dance. It is a cute place to visit, especially if you have a train loving little one, and, if you are visiting on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday, the Marley Bounce Party may be open for business. They used to be open all week, and have 2 giant inflatables for kids to play on, but I think their business took a hit during the pandemic, and hours were reduced. Happy trails!
