Fox Trolley Museum customers steamed over being frozen out of Polar Express ride

The snowstorm this week caused lots of inconveniences for people, including some families who couldn't make a “Polar Express” ride in South Elgin and now are unhappy they are getting only a 50 percent discount for next year.

Doug Rundell, a Fox River Trolley Museum board member who helps organize the Polar Express, said he understands the disappointment. This year's tickets are sold out.

“This is an event that especially the kids look forward to doing, so it's a hard situation when all you do is come back and — from their standpoint — you are just being offered a coupon.” However, “a 50 percent coupon is essentially a bit of a loss for us next year,” he said.

Sandie White of Loves Park and Sabrina Waibel of Rockford questioned why the last ride at 6:45 p.m. Sunday — the one they bought tickets for at $35 apiece — wasn't canceled due to unsafe road conditions. The women said they should get refunds or credit for future train rides. White and her family bought five tickets. Waibel was part of a party of 13.

“By five o'clock there was no driving anywhere. We tried, but an hour later we were only halfway,” said White, whose family stayed at a hotel on Randall Road in Elgin. “You're telling families to put their young kids in the car and drive through those conditions, and I think that's messed up.”

The round-trip ride from Jon J. Duerr Forest Preserve takes passengers 2 miles to the museum that is transformed into a “North Pole.” The part-volunteer organization hires staff — Santas, musicians, servers, readers — for the event with a limited profit margin, Rundell said.

The website states ticket sales are nonrefundable unless a train is canceled, which generally happens “only in the case of extreme inclement weather as defined by the museum, and/or equipment failure.” That's similar to sporting events and concerts, and “kind of the risk you take,” Rundell said.

The museum considered setting up a make-up ride but there weren't enough workers available, he added.

Rundell said he and others kept an eye on the forecast Sunday. Each train holds 80 people and about 30 didn't show up for the last train, he said.

“There was some snow coming down but it didn't seem to us like a blizzard,” he said. “We had 50-ish people ready to take the ride, and at that point to say, 'Sorry, we're canceling ...'”

Waibel said she called the museum Sunday and was advised to leave early to make it on time. She and her family, including relatives in Woodstock and Algonquin, set out but turned around, she said.

The Kane County Sheriff's Office posted on Facebook just before 4 p.m. Sunday saying, “If you have not finished your errands it is a good idea to wait until morning.” By 7:49 p.m., the sheriff's office told drivers to postpone travel because roads west of Randall Road were almost impassable.

Waibel said she won't take the 50 percent discount. “I don't want to spend any more money for a place that doesn't think about their customers.”

White said her family will take the offer, but she hopes the museum will cancel rides with similar inclement weather in the future.