Northlandz

What a great experience I went here with my husband and the set up was just incredible. The staff was enthusiastic and so helpful and nice. We are planning to go back with my father in law! Loved it!

The model railroading layout is immense and undeniably impressive. It seems under the auspices of the latest "new ownership" the obvious signs of decay and neglect have been remedied along with a thorough dusting that improves the overall experience tenfold.

The inexplicably creepy doll collection at the exit remains providing a Freddy Kruger, Hallows Eve menace to the proceedings that this train aficionado has always found beyond bizarre. If you're into trains, Northlandz is your mecca. Tell em Jason sent you. Hockey mask optional.

I've driven by Northlandz several times in my travels and always thought the building itself was kind of odd on that stretch of highway. You would never think your mind would be blown away by the amazing train exhibits inside by looking at the outside, but I'm telling you to go see for yourself!

Parking is easily found in their parking lot. You can save a few bucks for your visit by buying tickets online and I'd tell you to do so because they are expensive. The front entrance has steps so we had to come in and open the ramp door located on the left side of the main entrance on our own to bring in our stroller. They apparently keep it locked for security purposes.

Once we started on our journey we were just amazed by the detail, the hours put in, the love of ones hobby and thought that was put into the exhibits. There are literally acres of model train exhibits in mostly HO scale that sprawl the entire building. One section of the building has a thirty foot high display. The craftsmanship on display is just mind blowing. How someone had the patience to put some of this together (one sign said 22,000 pieces of wood were put together for a display) is unfathomable. It leaves you wondering (among many things) how long it took for all of this to come together.

There are some interactive features that are activated by button that really amused my two year old. His attention span held up pretty good we spent almost two hours inside exploring the entire building. From the looks of it they host birthday parties in there and they also sell tickets for an outside train ride. It's a gasoline powered replica Steam train that pulls several open air cars. It was a little chilly on the day of our visit so they had clear plexiglass to cover the windows. It takes two laps around the property and we enjoyed it.

The gift shop has some trains you can buy and Northlandz themed merchandise. There are a couple of vending machines inside as well. We found a local place to have lunch after that was very kid friendly located a few miles down the road.

I really can't say enough about our experience here. Yes, it's a tad dated, but I'm telling you the place is a total gem. Even train enthusiast Rod Stewart paid a visit and has his picture on the wall in one of the rooms!

Thank you to the Northlandz staff for a wonderful experience!!

Did not want to do the tour, considering the price, and that the train ride is described as the best part. So we went online to buy train tickets only, since the little guy loves train rides more anyway.

We get there...
"We're here for the train ride, what's the schedule?"
Staff (in casual tone with slight smirk) "Oh it's not running. It's not working, hasn't been for some time, and we don't know when it will be working again."
"But we bought tickets online"
"Oh yes I know."
"So how is it that you can buy tickets for something that is not available?"
"Because I do not have permission to update the website, to reflect that."
"Soooo, who else can I speak with?"
"The manager is on vacation in Pakistan."
"Can we at least apply that cost to admissions for the tour?"
"No, but hold on to the tickets for when we do get the train up and running."

Nah, I would rather call my credit card company to cancel this charge, and the Better Business Bureau for fraud.

So if you are here for the tour fine, I guess, but if you wanted to include a train ride, or if you buy a season pass including train rides, consider what you are getting.

Horrible experience here. My girlfriend and I bought tickets to ride their train with a 3 year old and I traveled from Edgewater NJ to Secaucus to pick them up to Northlandz and even called the day before to make sure the train would be running and was assured it was all a go. We get there on a Saturday and suddenly it's not running. They refused to give me my money back and the older lady at the counter convinced us to make the long trip again the following week because they were also going to have Thomas the Train Engine show. So to make the child happy we made the long trip again and even brought his little brother. Again I called the night before and was assured the train would be running. We get there and it's not running. I was upset, but what are you going to do with the two children who want to stay. The lady promised us photos with the kids and Thomas the train engine. We had the photos taken, she again refused to give me the money back for the train ride so I spoke to a manager who guaranteed me I'd have it back in 3 days. It's been well over a year and many phone calls and I never received a cent. To make everything worse they wouldn't put our photos online to download like all the other guests. I finally got the photos after a year, but still have never received my refund. They said I have to come back a third time. It was the most horrible experience dealing with these people. And to think they wouldn't give us the children's photos until I raised hell. Still never received my money back.

Bizarre, slightly over priced, fun for the whole family.

We took our toddler and baby to NorthlandZ. I didn't know what to expect! Our toddler had a great time, he was running from exhibit to exhibit shouting "more trains more trains!" Really great to see him this excited.

I thought the place was strange and interesting. Between the large detailed train exhibits and the doll museum it was a weird place to spend the afternoon. I was into it!

Drove an hour yesterday 6/3/23 to take my grandson to see the exhibit layouts and most important to take a ride on the trainride which is clearly promoted on the website. While purchasing the exhibit tickets I inquire about the ride on train schedule. I am told " It's not runinng, has not been running, and probably wont be running for at least another month.) Absolutley ridiculous that this fact is not updated on the website. The managment working yesterday told me that they do NOT have permission from the owner to update the webiste.
DECEPTIVE ADVERTISING! Actually a pitty because the exibits are fascinating, but this visit left me with a bad taste for this venue. :(

Impressive to say the least. It's ironic how a collection of miniatures can make one feel small.

I loved the detail and the stories. There's so much to explore and we loved pointing out all the little things like grandma's outhouse over the quarry. And the random dancing aliens was hilarious. Definitely enough content to walk through to keep one occupied for a few hours.

Its not cheap ($30) and there's some broken facilities (automatic door, vending machine, button triggers) and so many spelling errors everywhere drove me a bit nuts.

The entire self guided tour was stroller accessible and it was great seeing different perspectives and angles. I also appreciated the "play area" with a few toys and seats to watch the video about the creator - it helped break it up.

They did a good effort with built in step-up areas but unfortunately my older son (almost 2yo) was still too short to use them or see over the wall... so one of us had to carry him the whole time (putting him down for even a second you'd hear demands of "i wanna see more train more train more traiiiinnnn"). His favorite part was the hess truck collection because he has a lot of those models at home.

Gift shop itself was fun to browse around and reasonably priced so we left with a few more trains then we came with.

Don't miss this fabulous attraction - it is really unbelievable the amount of work and also the continuous vistas that Northlandz provides. So many fine details - so many stories. I went with my family, all adults, and we were fascinated. I had been to Northlandz a decade ago and forgot how big and amazing it really is. Thank you to the new owner who saved this treasure for us. Seriously, if you have not been in a while it is time to make a return visit and if you have never been - well, be prepared to be dazzled!

Not all that exciting. If you're into HO gauge trains, it's fine. I was hoping to see a variety of different trains. It's just OK. For the money, not really worth it.