Ghost Train is Tweetsie Railroad's Family-Friendly Halloween Celebration. Tweetsie provides events and attractions for all ages! If you love Halloween, dance parties, haunted train rides, haunted house, beautiful Halloween decorations, and more, then Tweetsie's Ghost Train celebration is for you!
In this guide, we'll tell you all about Ghost Train and our visit for Halloween 2022. We'll share some photos and a video of our adventure as well!
Disclosure: We are part of the Tweetsie Railroad Enthusiasts Program, and tickets were provided to us for our visit by Tweetsie Railroad; however, all opinions and information are our own and we were not asked in anyway to influence our review/article.
Ghost Train at Tweetsie Railroad
Tweetsie's Ghost Train event is an annual Halloween celebration that includes attractions and events for families. The different attractions and events are intended for different ages, and they have something for everyone!
The highlight of the evening is the Ghost Train, where Tweetsie engine #190 is dressed up for Halloween with a skull face, flowing red eyes, lights, cob-webs, and the engine blows smoke and fire! The train is really a sight to see!
The staff all dress up as ghosts and ghouls, and really play up their Halloween sprit. The park additionally provides:
- Trick or treating on main street for young children
- Main Street Dance Party, where the "Spice Ghouls" dance and perform
- Ghost Train - A yearly themed ride into the world of the dead for a haunting adventure
- Visit the Boneyard:
- Freaky Forest - A haunted forest you can walk through, featuring special effects
- Black Hole - Step into another dimension with lights and motion
- Warp Tunnel - A fun and exciting light show you can walk through.
- The Haunted House - Explore the creepy house full of surprises around every corner!
- The Creepy Carnival - The lights come up in the Creepy Carnival when it gets dark. Experience your favorite Tweetsie Amusement rides at night!
The full park isn't open in the evening During Ghost Train, including the chair lift, and miner's mountain, but there is still tons to do and experience.
Videos of Ghost Train at Tweetsie Railroad
Warning: Spoiler alert.
When is Ghost Train?
Ghost Train begins the last weekend in September and runs through October, on Friday and Saturday nights.
For 2022, Ghost train is from 9/23 - 10/29 on Friday and Saturday nights. The park opens for Ghost Train at 7:30 pm with the first train scheduled for 8:00 p.m. On October Saturday nights starting on the 15, 22, and 29, the park opens at 7:15 p.m. with the first train scheduled for 7:30 pm.
Attractions for All Ages
Tweetsie has a number of different attractions, designed and intended for different age groups.
- For Young Children - Main Street Dance Party and Tweetsie Palace Spooktacular, The Bone Yard (except for the Freaky Forest), and the Creepy Carnival (some rides have height restrictions).
- For Adults, Teens and Children 8 and up - Ghost Train, Haunted House, and Freaky Forest
Is Ghost Train at Tweetsie Railroad Scary?
In general, yes, Ghost Train at Tweetsie Railroad is scary. However, as described above, Tweetsie Railroad provides different attractions intended for different ages so the whole family can have a good time.
The Ghost Train ride, Haunted House, and Freaky Forest are all fairly intense for younger children, but still pretty tame compared to more adult focused haunted attractions found in many towns and cities.
Tickets
Tickets are sold in advance for a designated night with a scheduled train ride departure time. A limited number of guests will be admitted each evening. Guests are encouraged to purchase tickets well beforehand to avoid missing out on all of the spooky fun.
Our 2022 Visit to Ghost Train
We attended opening night for Ghost Train 2022 on 9/23 and had so much fun. We arrived around 7:00, about 30 minutes prior the park opening. We were surprised to see many people already there, and lining up!
For most Tweetsie Events, you enter through the main ticket building. For Ghost Train, you'll walk down to the end of the parking area, where you'll enter through the Ghostly looking gates. The line will also form there. There is lots of energetic and Halloween themed music playing.
Gates Open
Sir Darkest Night will make an appearance about 15 minutes or so before the show, and tell you all about the evenings events and remind you to get your tickets ready.
The line continued to grow as we waited, and went far enough back that we couldn't see the end of it by the time is time for the gates to open. Many families and children dressed in Halloween costumes. We even saw the Grinch!
About 7:38, Sir Darkest Night announced the gates would soon be opening, and a countdown began, followed by a large firework exploding in the sky above the gates, and we began to enter.
Main Street Dance Party
We entered and went into Main Street to prepare for Ghost Train's arrival. As huge railfans, seeing and hearing Ghost Train was one of our favorite parts of the visit. Tweetsie Railroad really dresses engine #190 up, and they equip it with a special whistle that gives it a very creepy and haunting sound!
As we walked down main street, it was full of Tweetsie staff dressed up and dancing to the Halloween music. They were all having fun and really put us in a Halloween mood! Sir Darkest Night was walking around as well and interacting with all the guests and posing for photos.
Ghost Train Arrives!
Soon after, the haunting whistle of the Ghost Train could be heard, and it appeared around the corner of the railroad shop and pulled into the station for the first ride. The train was decorated in Halloween attire, with lights, cob webs, and even flame throwers. The Ghost Train is really a sight to see, especially with the creepy face and glowing red eyes.
Our train ride wasn't until 8:30pm that evening, so we headed over to the Boneyard to explore in the meantime.
The Boneyard
The Boneyard is located in the Hacienda area and features a number of Halloween displays, and attractions. The Block Hole and the Warp Tunnel are for all ages.
You'll also find the Freaky Forest here as well, which is for children 8 years or older. It is a bit scary, and there are actors that intentionally try to scare you. We really enjoyed it though, and was one of the coolest attractions that night. One room in particular was very well done, simulating a swamp using laser lights and fog.
Riding the Ghost Train
A visit to Tweetsie Railroad would not be the same without a ride on the train, and for Ghost Train, you get to ride the Ghost Train.
Each year, Tweetsie has a special themed event for the train ride. We're not going to give it away, but will update this article once Ghost Train has wrapped up for 2022.
Warning: our video above does let you see the theme a bit, so heads up!
We really enjoyed our night-time and dark ride on the Ghost Train, and the theme this year was really cool and well done.
The Haunted House
After riding the train, we headed over to the Haunted House. The Haunted House is located in Tweetsie Junction, and like the Freaky Forest, is intended for guests ages 8 and up. The haunted house was really well done, and pretty creepy and scary. See our video!
Also in Tweetsie Junction are a few rides for younger kids to enjoy.
The Creepy Carnival
Finally, around 10:30pm, we headed up to the Creepy Carnival. At this point in the evening, many guests had left for the evening, especially those with younger kids. The Creepy Carnival as all lite up with Halloween lights and decorations, and many teens and kids were enjoying riding the rides at night with all the lights!
Wrapping Up
We headed back down to the Main Street area, and watched the train come in, preparing for its last ride of the night. We then called it a night, thoroughly enjoying our visit, and talking about all the cool things we enjoyed that evening on the way home.
Ghost Train is really a fun, unique, and spooky event.
Tips for visiting Ghost Train
Here are a few tips we picked up from our visit:
- Like the normal daytime Tweetsie Train rides, there are shows that are part of Ghost Train. Car #3 is the best car to see the action.
- When we visited, it was in the 50s, and pretty cool by the time we left. We brought extra clothes with us, so we could add clothing as the temperatures dropped down. Definitely glad we did, and this is something you'll want to do a well.
- Get there early, as the line to get in when the park opens gets long.
- Be in line for your train ride, and have your tickets ready 15 minutes prior to the train departure time.
- Plan to spend about 2-3 hours to see everything and ride the train. The Park is open until 11pm.
- Dress up! Many adults and kids were dressed up for the event.
- Don't forget, Tweetsie allows families to bring their own drinks and snacks. This is a great way to save money for families on a budget. Kudos to Tweetsie for allowing this, most amusement parks don't.
- All of the shops on Main Street provide trick or treating, so kids (and adults) can get candy. Be sure to bring a bag or candy container!