Our day out at Thomas Land

We had been to Thomas Land at Drayton Manor in Tamworth for Finley's 2nd Birthday and he absolutely loved it! When my friend, who has a little boy the same age as Finley, mentioned that they were doing toddler and adult days which were £20 I jumped at the chance. We both had a free Friday coming up and my Mum was off work so she could look after Noah. There was no way I could go to Thomas Land with both boys on my own. It was in the diary and I was very excited about my day with my eldest as we don't get that much time just us. Finley told everyone we saw that he was going to Thomas Land. He has since his 2nd Birthday got even more obsessed with Thomas the Tank and has a million and one Thomas trains, the tracks and other Thomas related toys.

 

Friday came and we were both so excited. My Mum & Nan turned up and Noah had his new car carrier, he was engrossed as he is into his cars at the minute, and off we set with our friends Kerri & Harry. The journey was to take about 2 hours which with two 3 year olds that don't tend to sleep at 9 in the morning it was going to be testing. It wasn't too bad but they did spend the whole journey either asking 'are we there yet?' or eating all the snacks we had packed for the day!

 

We were all dressed for summer and some how when we reached Drayton Manor the clouds had appeared and we were looking very out of place in our shorts, t-shirts and no coats! Luckily being the mummy that I am I had packed some extra warm clothes for Finley but not myself. I was set to freeze but was planning on keeping my coffee cup well topped up. As the toddler days aren't pre book there were queues which weren't too bad and we had our tickets and were in the park within 20 minutes. Well the boys faces as they saw the Thomas Land sign & the Sir Topham Hatt statue was amazing and so worth the travel.

 

Amazed at the Topham Hatt statue

 

Since the last time I had been there, there had been an expansion which had only opened the week before. Which included a few new rides and the Sodor Airport which housed the café.

 

Jeremy Jet's and the new Sodor Airport

The first ride we went on was Flynn the fire engine which you stand in a cage or sit in this fire truck. Finley and I stood in the cage and it went up and down as the ride went round in a circle. As you go up and down you can press a button which squirts water into the windows of a building that is on fire. Probably not the best ride to go on first as it got us a little bit wet! But so much fun.

 

Mesmerised waiting for Flynn

 

From here Kerri and myself needed some warming up so we got ourselves a coffee and got into the next ride queue. The queues for the rides weren't too bad and the maximum I think we waited on any of them was about 30 minutes. The next ride we went on was Captain's Sea Adventure. This is where you sit in Captain and he goes round in a circle then the boat also goes round. For someone that gets travel sick not the best of rides but Finley loved it. This was another wet ride where you can shoot other riders and people in the queue with water guns, lots of fun for 3 year olds.

 

It was now about lunchtime and people were beginning to go off for lunch which meant a lot of the rides didn't have queues. And as the boys have stuffed their faces with treats and snacks in the car we took this opportunity to hop on some rides.

 

We went on Jeremy Jet's Flying Academy, which Kerri couldn't go on as she's pregnant, so I got to be a passenger while the boys flew the plane. Just as the ride was ending I realised there was a button so we could determine how high and low the plane went! I remember doing this the last time we were there. But the boys still had a blast on it thinking they were actually flying a plane.

Next it was onto the Blue Mountain Engine ride where we could all go in the same train so Kerri and myself relaxed in the back for a minute while the boys enjoyed driving the train.

From here we were all rather hungry so we headed into the Sodor Airport café. We had decided to treat the boys to lunch rather than lug food around and to my surprise the meals weren't very expensive. While the boys enjoyed their lunch we got a few minutes peace before it was onto more rides.

Once we were all full of food and drink we went into the original part of Thomas Land and saw that Sodor Classic Cars was quiet so hopped on one of these. We went in separate cars so the boys could each pretend to drive their own cars. This is a very chilled ride and you get a photo taken half way round. We weren't prepared for the photo so we didn't purchase the photo. We did get our own though.

 

 

From here the boys had seen Winston's Whistle Stop Tours, which takes you on a monorail above the park so you can see everything. The queuing area is inside so I got some time to warm up. The boys again thought the ride was amazing as they were so up high and could see the rides they had already been on.

 

View from Winston's Whistle Stop Tours

 

As you can tell by now there was no stopping between rides and the boys just wanted to hop on them all, one after the other. Next was Bertie Bus which you sit in Bertie Bus and he takes you round and round in circles, forwards and backwards. This was another ride Kerri couldn't go on so I took the boys on this. As it started I wasn't too sure if I was going to have two crying boys on my hands but to my surprise they loved it. Every time the bus went up and round their faces were plastered with a huge smile!

And if Bertie wasn't a crazy enough ride the boys liked the look of Diesel's Locomotive Mayhem. Now this ride the boys weren't all too keen on and it showed in their faces. The Diesel's go around and nearly bump into each other and is quite fast. The boys did well not to cry but I think the next ride needed to be an easy slow ride.

Luckily just around the corner was Lady's Carousel. After having a ride on this it was straight to Harold's Helicopter Tours. We didn't have to wait at all for this and were straight on. This was another great ride to see the whole park and the boys thought they were flying Harold so were pretty pleased with themselves.

 

Dotted around Harold were some train models. Finley had a photo with Rosie and the boys got to have a photo with Gordon. I thought it was Thomas but I was corrected by Finley that I was indeed wrong lol.

We had now done all the rides that the boys could go on so we headed over to the track to jump on Thomas, Rosie and Percy Engine Tours. While waiting Thomas pulled up and turned around. The boys were in owe of him. It was so lovely to see as to them this was ACTUALLY Thomas. 

We got to go on Rosie who took us to the other side of the park where we got to walk around Discover Thomas Exhibition and then onto Spencer's Outdoor Adventure Play.

 

The Discover Thomas Exhibition

The boys got some time to run around the play area for half an hour when we realised the time. It was 4'o'clock and we couldn't believe where the time had gone.

We hopped back onto Rosie again and went to the shop where the boys got to both choose a toy. This took a while but Finley decided on a Thomas Balloon, a Thomas name mat and a Bertie Bus window transfer. It was now 4.45pm so we grabbed the boys a couple of sausage rolls before heading back to the car park. As it was closing time we had a little wait getting out onto the road but once we hit the road the boys were asleep within minutes. We got home about 8 and after some time telling Daddy what he had done and a quick bath, Finley was tucked up in bed fast asleep and I'm sure dreaming of Thomas and his Friends.

 

Finley had a great day and so did I. It was lovely spending some time with Finley as he is growing up so fast but I did miss my little dude who I had heard had had a great day with Granny. I couldn't wait to give them both a big squeeze in the morning.

 

*This is not a review*