Where is the Christmas Train, and Bright Nights?

Bright Nights, and the Christmas Train, take place in the Miniature Train area of Stanley Park.

The Miniature Train is located not far from the Vancouver Aquarium, and Lumberman’s Arch.

A few steps away is the Stanley Park Children’s Farmyard: a cute place where kids can see sheep, goats, cows, giant pig, and snakes.

While the 10-minute Miniature Train ride is fun for little kids year-round, twice a year it transforms into a popular night-time event. Even older kids like the Halloween Ghost Train and the “Christmas Train”, aka as Stanley Park “Bright Nights” because of the sparkling display of lights created every year to benefit the BC Professional Fire Fighters’ Burn Fund.

How to Enjoy Stanley Park Bright Nights

• Visitors are free to stroll through the displays of lights without riding the train: you may wish to make a donation to the Burn Fund, but it’s not required.
• parking is free after 3 p.m.
• Dates for Bright Nights are from November 28 2008 to January 3 2009, 3 pm – 10 pm (closed Christmas Day).
• Snacks on-the-spot include hot chocolate and roasted chestnuts, and popcorn sold by the Stanley Park Ecology Society.
• Street entertainers, choirs, bands add to the fun
• allow enough time to visit the Children’s Farmyard (which closes earlier, at 9 p.m.)
• kids can visit Santa in his “living room” at the train station

The “Christmas Train” Ride

• ticket price includes entrance to the Children’s Farmyard too.
• rates are $8/adult, $5 for kids 2 to 1
• tickets are sold for half-hour time slots
• Tickets sell out fast; fortunately, you can buy online. See Stanley Park Bright Nights for purchase link.
• each day, half the tickets for that night’s rides will be reserved to go on sale at noon, on a first-come first-served basis.

This means that — even if you don’t buy tickets in advance– if you arrive early, you should have a good chance of riding the train that night. While waiting for the train ride you can play at a nearby playground, stroll the seawall, or even drive to a nearby restaurant and return for your time slot.

And of course, once it’s dark, you can enjoy the displays of a million sparkling lights in Stanley Park’s forest setting.

The Dunbar Haunted House – 6478 Dunbar – Hundreds, even thousands of local homeowners will go to town on their Halloween display this year. But the Leith/Flitt house at 50th and Dunbar is one of the wildest, most over-the-top haunted houses you will ever see in your life. They are collecting donations for BC Professional Fire Firefighters’ Burn Fund, Vancouver Police Union Charitable Foundation and BC Childhood Cancer Parents’ Association. The haunted house raised over $19,000 for charities last year.

Haunted Vancouver Trolley Tours – The tour begins in the Vancouver Museum’s eerie gallery where Stanley Park’s dark secrets are revealed. Later, as the trolley manoeuvres its way through the streets, Vancouver’s ghost sightings and murder mysteries will scare and entertain you. Main Stops: Mountain View Cemetery, home to over 145,000 interred remains, and the Old City Morgue, to learn how autopsies are performed. Tours depart between 6:00pm – 9:40pm, from the Vancouver Museum. There is a 7pm and 9pm tour nightly.

World of the Weird at the Vancouver Aquarium – Dare to explore the famous Haunted Hallway, where you’ll come face to face with nature’s nightmares, spook-tacular sights, and our own mad marine scientist! Check out the frightfully fascinating Bat Exhibit, and then embark on our Howl-o-ween

Scavenger Hunt, with a chance to win a Sea Otter Trainer Tour for two!

Halloween Howler Club Crawl – The Biggest Club Crawl around! One ticket gets you party bus transportation to FOUR of the hottest Halloween parties in Vancouver. Get your costume, grab your friends and don’t miss out on this epic Halloween night!

]]> http://bcxs.com/halloween-in-vancouver/feed/ 0 http://bcxs.com/the-stanley-park-halloween-ghost-train/ http://bcxs.com/the-stanley-park-halloween-ghost-train/#comments Fri, 10 Oct 2008 20:08:47 +0000 BCXS http://bcxs.com/?p=63

It’s been a favorite fall family outting since 1999…  The Stanley Park Halloween Ghost Train starts tonight and runs until Nov. 1st.  Get your tickets at The Stanley Park Halloween Ghost Train website

Be ye warned, there be pirate ghosts haunting The Stanley Park Hallowe’en Ghost Train!

Wicked scoundrels will return from the dead to plunder Stanley Park in search of treasure October 10 to November 1, 2008 as Mortal Coil Performance Society creates a voyage of adventure through the dark woods to discover ghostly galleon shipwrecks, devilish dead pirates, skeletons hanging from gallows, hidden maps, sword fights, pirate pumpkins, mermaid ghosts and secret treasures. Enter at your peril… bloodthirsty villains may strike at any moment!

Since 1999, the Stanley Park Hallowe’en Ghost Train has spooked thousands of families who dared to climb aboard. Each year, the Ghost Train reinvents itself with a new theme, a new set, new costumes, and many more surprises dreamed up by the creative and imaginative team at Mortal Coil Performance Society.

Family adventures at this year’s Ghost Train, in addition to the train ride, will include pirate hat making, face painting, the always-popular Haunted Children’s Farmyard and its spooky animals, along with other activities. On Thursday through Saturday nights, you can take part in the Creatures of the Night Walks hosted by the Stanley Park Ecological Society. And on Thursday through Sunday nights, visit the Storytelling Tent, brought to you by Once Upon a Huckleberry Bush.