#aspencrossing

I had the opportunity, this Christmas season, to be a singing and dancing chef on Aspen Crossing Railway’s Polar Express. What a great experience! There were three trains to the North Pole most evenings that it ran, and most were sold out especially as we got closer to Christmas. The Polar Express train ride is licenced through Rail Events Inc. and last year won the Silver Bell Award for the best North Pole. It is a truly magical seasonal experience for the entire family and even I felt tears prickling behind my eyes as we listened along with the book reading and approached the North Pole. It was fantastic to see families wearing matching pajamas and onesies. Red and black checker seemed to be the trend this year. There was one little boy – he must have been about 5 - who was so upset that our train didn’t go through a tunnel as in the film! He told me and the conductor off! We told him that it had to take a different route this year.

I got to work in three different cars, but my favourite is Glenview and the Dome, which has a fabulous view. Seats in the Dome are VIP tickets and the most expensive, however, after working in there, those are the seats I would recommend the most. There is a reason they sell out fast.

From left to right: Bob, Jarrod, Elaine, Leigh-Anne, me, Brendan.

Working on the train, as well as being a part of a show and earning some extra money for the holidays, I got to work with familiar faces from the summer trains and Train of Terror as well as getting to make some new friends. Another bonus was perhaps getting some lyrics to Christmas songs ingrained in my memory (to be forgotten by next year!) We also all got hugs from Santa as he made his way through the train. Working on the Polar Express did make the weeks leading up to Christmas rather busy and I unfortunately suffered from a couple of colds for most of it, but by the time Christmas Eve arrived with the two last trains, it was sad to see it over for the year.

Halloween 2018 has been the best Halloween ever for me. It officially finished last night with the last Aspen Crossing Train of Terror, however I think I will leave up my home decorations for a little bit longer.

After finishing the summer season with Aspen Crossing Railway, I decided I wanted to be a “scarer” (mostly as a zombie) on the Train of Terror. The Train of Terror is exactly what it sounds like and Aspen prides itself on having one of the most terrifying Halloween haunts in the area and, other than 2 trains which were for teens aged 12 and up, the trains are 18+. Passengers meet in an area ready for boarding where they sign a waiver and can enjoy a couple of drinks, then they go through a dark maze where we wait and scare them at certain spots and they make their way to board the train. They start out at one end of the train where there is a bar and once the train sets off, are then sent through the haunt (two train cars filled with a maze of terrifying delights using animatronics and actors) in couples or small groups. The first day on the train we were taken through the haunt and it was scary enough being shown the animatronics in action without actors adding to the horror. As we went to our places for each train, most of us would be careful not to set these off, but when we finished yesterday, I set every one of them off just to experience this year’s Train of Terror one last time.

A couple of other actors that I worked with at Aspen over the summer told me that I would hate the Train of Terror due to the behaviour of some of the passengers when drunk. Yes, we had some idiots go through, there was one girl that did sort of attack me (as she did to other scarers in the haunt) and another one yesterday had to have a talking to as she attempted to kick down a door at the beginning. There were other altercations that some of the other scarers experienced (usually the younger guys). As an actor you have to learn to read people in such an interactive experience, and know when to back off, for your own safety as well as theirs. Overall, for me, however, the Train of Terror was so much fun!

On Halloween itself, I was a zombie at the W. Brett Wilson Annual Halloween Trick or Treat. His house in Mount Royal was done up as the Durham Avenue Funeral Home with zombies roaming the grounds and scaring the trick or treaters as they came up the drive. Our make up was truly terrifying. Several children were in tears and some did not even make it on to the property. Mission accomplished! I think that the children in Mount Royal make it a goal to successfully make it up the drive for treats on Halloween! For some it takes years before they have the courage.

I also got to check out Screamfest as a guest this year as well. Sadly, it was its last year. It was a lot of fun. General admission gets you access into 6 haunted houses. Two were pitch dark and probably the scariest for me as you did not know when something would jump out at you. I think the clown house was my favourite. It was done in 3D and we were given special glasses to wear to go through it. Some of the scarers were excellent and they were not just in the houses, they were roaming the grounds too. I might be biased, but the Train of Terror is definitely scarier, Screamfest was for a more PG audience.