Are you looking for something to do with the kids?
Northlandz is a huge indoor model train set-up located in Flemington, NJ right on Route 202. It it easy to get to from any location in Central New Jersey and if you're looking for something to do while visiting New Jersey, this might be something you want to check out.
I visited with my 3 young children, ages 5, 4 & 2, on April 11, 2012 which is Spring Break around here for many schools. I arrived around 12pm and got a spot right near the front door. There were two families waiting to buy tickets in front of us. The gentleman who sells the tickets is really nice and tells you to take your time and enjoy the scenery and trains. He tells you about the exhibits and is very welcoming. (My kids were scoping out the gift shop while I paid for the tickets!)
The first couple of areas were a little busy because all the families were taking in the scenery and trains. While it is very stroller friendly and wheelchair friendly, there is not a lot of space to get around the people who have those items. I actually let my 2-year-old walk the entire time which turned out to be much better then a stroller. This meant a lot of lifting. His older siblings could see the entire scene without any listing except for in one or two spots. As we moved through, the crowd thinned out and by the end, there wasn't really anyone around us.
Notice the gray step to help younger children see better? There are also handles to hold on to!
As we walked through each display, there were descriptions about the scenes. Some were rather comical as well! With younger children, I could not really read them. We did talk about the displays like colors and vehicles we saw. We even saw Mater! Toward the end, they have a historical time line of the railroad which was very cool! My son was excited about every exhibit! He screamed "CHOO CHOO" or "I WANT CHOO CHOO" at every one! I thought he would tire out by the end but he still had such excitement. Most displays had a few trains running through and it was exciting to see them going into the tunnels and over bridges.
Overall it is impressive to think that someone had this idea and ran with it. Kids of all ages and adults alike can really appreciate that!
The negative is you can really see the wear and tear from years of people going through. Patrons are probably the biggest reason. You could see where people reached over and ruined stuff which was really sad. Keep your hands off - very simple! Watch your kids! In one display with a snow scene you could see where there were ADULT finger prints in the "snow". Really? You have to touch?! Most displays had working trains but usually not on the closest rails to the people. (Probably because of those rude people who can't keep their hands to themselves!) The carpeting in the walkways could really be vacuumed and cleaned. There was one hallway that was rather dark with nothing to look at. It could have used some pictures with lights to at least have something to look at.
You have an option to take a little train ride at the end. My kids really enjoyed this but older children might not. It's a very simple ride through the woods at the site. You do go through a tunnel which was very exciting to my children!
While the place does need some updating here and there, it is still rather impressive. With a family of 4 it costs about $50.00 but in the end, it was worth it for the experience. You can take as much or as little time as you need. For us, we looked at everything in about 1 hour. If my youngest was older, we could have taken more time but he was so eager to see where the trains were going he was practically running to the next display! They have a gift shop and a place to get food.
I leave you with some pictures of the scenery.
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