Thomasland expands at Drayton Manor Park

A trip to Thomasland

A few weeks ago we had a family day out – a trip to Thomasland, using some Tesco reward vouchers to save some pennies.  You may remember that the day didn’t quite go to plan, so until now I haven’t actually written much about the actual day itself!

A trip to Thomasland

I’m not going to concentrate on the terrible three’s – just on the parts of the day, we did all enjoy!

My son adores Thomas and Friends, his favourite is actually Percy.  We took him to Thomasland last year as he was so excited to meet Percy, and we could hardly contain him when we arrived this year – Percy, Percy, Percy!  One hyper 3 and a half year old had arrived.  He settled for Thomas being the first ride of the day, it just meant he had a number of train trips to fit in.

Thomasland, Drayton Manor Park, A trip to Thomasland

We had to travel up and down a few times as my son loves the train ride so much.

Thomasland, Drayton Manor Park, A trip to Thomasland

Then it was off to say hello to James, who like last year, was fast asleep!!

Thomasland, Drayton Manor Park

Then it was time to explore the other end of Thomasland – so off we went on another train trip to the Farm area.

Now as you know, he is not very adventurous, we always try to encourage him to be big and brave, but you just know when to let him be.  Last year he was too small to go on the Terence’s Driving School, this year he was tall enough – yippee.  We were the only ones there so no queueing, he was excited until he realised he’d be going on the ride by himself – that was it, no chance.  Ok, shame, but never mind.  Are you sure?  Not going on it Mummy!  (This was an early sign of trouble ahead!)

Thomasland, Drayton Manor Park

Anyway, we placated him with a trip to the Discover Thomas and Friends exhibition – a lovely indoor model railway.  Rather than standing still and waiting for the trains to come past him, my son spent ages running around and around chasing the trains – it was funny to watch.  He loved it.

Then it was off to Spencer’s Outdoor Activity Park – I didn’t hold any hope of him going anywhere near this.  Last year he hated it, and he’s not a climber.  But, just to prove me wrong – he was off, climbing, jumping, hiding, having fun.

Last year, he loved the Dino Trail, and now a year old and slightly dino obsessed I thought he’d be running around hunting the dinosaurs – Wrong! Not going in there, Mummy!!!  Ok, shall we look at the Owls in the Aviary then?  No, no, no!

We walked back through the Zoo area, which sadly looks very tired these days, not how I remember it from years gone by.

I’d made a picnic for our lunch, it was a rather chilly day at the beginning of July – too much to ask for a warm, sunny day!  Anyway, we found somewhere undercover and ate our lunch, whilst talking to my son about what he wanted to do next.

Last year he loved the vintage cars – Sodor’s Classic Cars, that you can sit on together and he drove round and round on these.  This was what he wanted to go on next.  We were heading for trouble.  Unfortunately, the ride was closed, they were in the process of building a new monorail type ride – Winston’s Whistle Stop Tour.

Looking back through the photo’s it does look as if my son enjoyed himself, just such a shame about his Terrible Three meltdowns!

Anyway, we did get him on a couple of rides and he enjoyed a trip on the Polperro Express Train.

I’m sure we’ll be back again.  I don’t know whether the Sodor’s Classic Cars has re-opened or closed for good.  I did tweet Thomasland on the day but never got a reply 🙁

Please let me know if you’ve been since early July, so I can be prepared if it’s bad news!

 

 

 

4 thoughts on “A trip to Thomasland

  1. This looks like a place my son would just love going to! We’re planning a holiday to the UK and I hope we can add this to our itinerary. I’m sure we’d have some meltdowns too, it’s part and parcel of being a parent, isn’t it?

    1. Definately worth a visit if you are up that way. Yes, you’re right. I think I’d been so looking forward to it, that my expectations of Monkey were a little too high. Bless him

  2. We visited Thomasland about 2 weeks ago. The new Winston ride has opened and Sodor’s classic cars were also open and running as normal.

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