Watch the alphabet come to life when Tweetsie Railroad transforms into the magical world of Letterland, May 5-7 and May 12-14. The popular child-friendly phonics program helps children learn their ABCs by transforming the park into a fun, engaging and educational environment.
Letterland is a unique, phonics-based approach to teaching reading, writing and spelling to kids up to 8 years old. The Letterland characters transform letter shapes into child-friendly pictograms that live in an imaginary place called Letterland. School children visiting Tweetsie Railroad will have the chance to interact with characters like Annie Apple, Bouncy Ben and Clever Cat, as well as Dippy Duck, Eddy Elephant, Firefighter Fred and more. In addition, guests can experience even more Letterland by riding on Firefighter Fred’s Ferris Wheel or Talking Tess’s Train, exploring Zig Zag Zebra’s Zoo and many other letter-themed attractions!
Letterland has been successful in raising literacy standards among children around the world for nearly half a century, and has been coming to Tweesie Railroad for the past eight years. In 2007, local reading specialist Kathy Oliver first brought the program to Tweetsie. Since then, Letterland at Tweetsie has grown to serve as a celebration of student learning achievements, and reading assessment scores continue to improve in districts using Letterland. Last year, school children from North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee attended Letterland at Tweetsie.
As part of the park’s continued dedication to enriching education, Tweetsie visitors can also experience the “Learning Express.” The Learning Express provides a full day of adventure at Tweetsie Railroad, including a ride on the Learning Express Train. After getting an overview of how a steam locomotive operates, students embark on a Wild West adventure where they travel back in time and learn how railroads were a major factor in the expansion of the American frontier. They’ll learn the history of the ET&WNC, and how families isolated in remote mountain communities depended on the “Tweetsie” train for travel, food and mail during the early 1900s. They’ll also discover that Tweetsie’s very own Locomotive No. 12 is the only surviving narrow-gauge engine of the ET&WNC, and is a part of the National Historic Register.
A daily admission ticket to Tweetsie Railroad includes a full day of Wild West adventure, as well as the opportunity ride the Learning Express train, which pulls out of Main Street at 11 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. on Fridays in April, May, September and October. Field trips to Tweetsie’s 2015 Education Days Learning Express will be offered every Friday from April 17 through May 22, and every Friday after Labor Day through October 23. To make a reservation online, or to download curriculum guides to help increase the educational value of Learning Express, visit Tweetsie’s website.
Tweetsie Railroad will be open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays starting April 10, including Memorial Day Monday, and seven days a week from May 29 through August 16. The park returns to the weekend schedule from August 17 through November 1, including Labor Day Monday. The 2015 season ends Sunday, Nov. 1. The park’s regular hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., but will be open until 9 p.m. on July 4 for the Fireworks Extravaganza and June 20 and 27 and July 11, 18 and 25 for Cool Summer Nights. Daily admission to Tweetsie Railroad is $41 for adults and $27 for children ages 3 through 12. Children 2 and under are admitted free. The Ghost Train Halloween Festival will take place Friday and Saturday nights September 25 through October 31 from 7:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m., with an admission price of $34 for adults and children. Tickets and Golden Rail Season Passes are available at Tweetsie.com.
Tweetsie Railroad is located on U.S. Highway 321 between Boone and Blowing Rock, North Carolina. For more information about the 2015 season at Tweetsie Railroad, visit Tweetsie.com or call 877-TWEETSIE (877-893-3874). Find Tweetsie on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Tweetsie and Twitter and Instagram, @TweetsieRR.
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