Roaring Camp Railroads-which route?
 

Has anyone been on the beach train trip from Roaring Camp to Santa Cruz? (or the other way)? I just read about this train ride on their website: http://www.roaringcamp.com/beach.html

and it sounds like something my kids would love. We'll be driving Route 1 from LA toward San Francisco and it'll be on our way.

1.) If you've done this before, how was your experience?
2.) Should we stay in Santa Cruz overnight and do this the next day?
3.) Is the trip nicer from Roaring park to Santa Cruz? Can we just park our van in the park, go to the Santa Cruz and play on some rides and then come back?

Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks!

This ride is a blast. Parking is waaaay better if you go from the park to Santa Cruz. Parking in SC at the beach in summer can be a nightmare and very confusing.

If you're driving up from LA then you can go ahead and spend the night in SC and then drive up to Roaring Camp the next day.

However, I think the better thing to do though is to bypass SC and visit the Redwoods in the SC Mtns http://www.bigbasin.org/, stay in a nice place in Scotts Valley or nearby and then take the train the next day into SC.

-doo

You must really love the trees and enjoy seeing them from the train. The ride seemed boring for us, all adults.

We did the round-trip from the beach to the camp. They let you off the train, tell how soon to be back, and where the gift shop is.

There was some recorded narration on the train.

I haven't done it since my kid was little, but I remember it very, very fondly. His school organized trips two or three times. Kids loved it, so did parents.

We took our kids on this ride......from Roaring Camp down to Santa Cruz.
Also took friends on this ride a number of years later.
US parents should be required to take their kids on a train ride......most kids don't know what they are.
This is a nice ride. I never got bored, but then I'm a railfan, and proud of it.
Yes, your kids will love it........leave the ipods in the car!
lol
enjoy! tptr

If you do it you don't need to go all the way up Hwy 9 to Big Basin for a redwood park of first growth. Roaring Camp is in Felton, 7 miles up Hwy 9 from Santa Cruz. Just before you get there you come to Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park.