Amtrak Kids Ride Free to San Diego During Kids Free October

Credit: Amtrak

October is going to be a GREAT month in San Diego for families. I shared earlier that both the San Diego Zoo and the San Diego Safari Park are offering free admission to kiddos in October, along with dozens of cool places like the USS Midway, The Birch Aquarium, and many many more places. Kiddos can also travel for free to San Diego in October.

On Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner, kiddos can ride for free with each adult rail fare to Oceanside, Old Town San Diego, and the Downtown San Diego Station. You can travel from the Los Angeles, Ventura, and Orange County areas. The Pacific Surfliner kids ride free offer is valid for travel October 1-31, 2014 and three (3) day advance reservations are required.

For additional info head here.

Steam Weekend Feb 15&16 Orange Empire Railway Musuem

Aside from amusement parks, have your kids ever ridden a real steam locomotive? We have a little gem of a museum in Perris, the Orange Empire Railway Museum. They have all types of trains, trolleys and train exhibits. We’ve talked about this place many times before, but it really is just a fun place for anyone that likes trains. History buffs will appreciate the various forms of railway transportation that has existed through the years. The museum has an extended line of train track and these trains actually run and you can ride as a passenger.

Bring the entire family to Steam Weekend at Orange Empire Railway Museum on Feb. 15-16. Everyone can ride behind the powerful VC #2, which will be chugging down the tracks and learn how a steam engine works. With an All Day Ride Pass, you can ride the steam locomotive, a diesel powered train and vintage trolleys for the entire day.

Date: Feb. 15 and 16
Admission: Ages 12 and up, $12.00, Ages 5 – 11, $8.00, 4 and under are free
Time: 9 am. to 5 p.m.

For directions and ticket information, visit www.oerm.org or call (951) 657-2605.

www.facebook.com/orangeempirerailwaymuseum

Fun Adventure – Metrolink Friends and Family 4 pack

My almost 4 year old son has been obsessed with trains ever since I can remember. He loves every kind of train, from miniatures to the commuter trains he sees everyday.

He will be taking a field trip with school to Union Station soon and he is so excited he can’t stand it. He talks about it every single day! I think he forgot that just a few months ago, we took this same trip ourselves. We parked our car at the Fullerton Station and took off on our adventure to Union Station. We had a great time touring the beautiful station and actually wound up riding the subway from Union Station to Hollywood and Highland. It was an inexpensive but very fun trip that my daughter still talks about. My son actually only remembers the subway segment and nothing else.

Needless to day when I read about this great deal from the folks at Metrolink, I had to pass it on. You can purchase a family four pack of round trip tickets on Metrolink for $29 to use on the weekends. I would highly recommend taking the train to Union Station, touring the station, riding the subway to Hollywood and Highland and having a fun lunch at Hollywood and Highland. I can’t rave enough about what a great time we had as a family when we did it.

Here are the details..

The Metrolink “Friends and Family 4-Pack” (FF4P) is a ticket package specifically geared toward weekend travellers. It consists of a package of four individual round trip tickets that can be purchased from any Metrolink ticket vending machine (TVM). The FF4P round trip ticket will allow a group of up to four persons to travel together on Metrolink all day on either Saturday or Sunday for only $29.

Press the “Friends and Family 4-Pack” button on the ticket vending machine ONCE only. Four individual round trip tickets will be dispensed from the ticket machine. DO NOT PRESS THE “FRIENDS AND FAMILY 4-PACK” BUTTON MORE THAN ONCE FOR EACH SET OF 4 TICKETS.
Future dated (advance purchase) FF4P tickets are also available through the TVMs.
FF4P is good for weekend systemwide travel on date of purchase.
FF4P is also available for Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving Friday and New Year’s Day.

Restrictions for the FF4P include:

Valid for Saturday or Sunday travel only
Up to four persons may travel together, as a group, not separately, on the FF4P
Not transferable to Amtrak Pacific Surfliner trains
Not valid for free transfers to EZ Transit Pass operators including the Metro Rail Lines and bus operators.
No refunds for this 4-Pack tickets

It is a great deal! To learn more about the Friends and Family Deal head here. Happy exploring!