Disclaimer- Precious Little Worlds have been sent out tickets for free in exchange for our honest review to be published on my blog and other social networks. Thomas Land | Drayton Manor Theme Park
Visit Thomas Land, a multi-million pound attraction promising fun and adventure for the young and young at heart at Drayton Manor Theme Park.
Are you a fan of the little blue engine and all his adventurous friends,well if the answer is "yes" then Thomas Land sure is the place to visit!
Hot of the press over the last month has been the highly anticipated extension to Thomas Land that has increased by 40%,with exciting new rides and other main attractions.
So get ready and buckle up as Precious Little Worlds takes you on an adventure for ALL the family. ** HOLD ON TIGHT **
Hers's a little introduction before we move on. we are celebrating Alfie's
third birthday, he is a huge Thomas fan, he has not stopped talking about this place so its a dream come true for our little boy.
First stop ticket booths
You can buy tickets on line from the website, alternately if its a spear of the moment thing, you can buy at the door. hey have plenty of ticket booths with lots of friendly staff to help you have a great day.
We waited around twenty minutes for our tickets so your may find if you have under threes they can get a little restless its a good idea to buy the tickets
on-line and your parking ticket to save on money. If you order seven working days before you can save a lot of money plus queuing time.
Link to ---> Tickets & Prices
Don't forget to pick up your map to show all the attractions around the theme park.
We made our way to through the main entrance and guided by our map plus signs headed straight to the Thomas Land area,at the point Alfie was getting very giddy.
Taking a good five minutes to reach we finally saw the one and only Thomas Land arch way and yes I have to say even I was looking forward to what was to come.Once in you are greeted with the delightful sounds of music playing from the Thomas theme tune that plays around the park.
You can also find in the middle Thomas, Rosie and Percy engine tours where you can take a ride on your favorite trains, not only that you can watched the train as we did with Percy go slowly up to the turntable to turn around so that it could be in charge of train as they alternate between them.
Please no that buggy's have to be stored in the buggy park, the ride takes you near the zoo and is a one way journey and you may have to queue up if planning to get back to your belongings
Heading over to Flynn's Fire Rescue
Why not take up the challenge with your child and combat the raging fire happening with the help of Flynn simply aim at fire your water hose at the targets. Millie went had a go with her daddy & Alfie with Grandad.
Take a look below at the video of the attraction ride in all its full glory.
Thomas Shop
If you are looking for Thomas merchandise then their huge toy shop is sure not going to disappoint.
On entering the store you can find it a little dark not sure why they have its store in such poor lighting, but you soon become distracted by the wide choice of toys.You will come across ranges such as Trackmaster, Take & Play and Thomas Brio plus many more.The prices are somewhat higher than in your typical toy store, but they do have some items that are only found in the Thomas Land shop.
We ended up getting a trackmaster track plus an engine also some Thomas Land t-shirts pack of two for Millie down to £10 and a blue one for Alfie with a few other bits came to £105 ouch!
Why not take a tour around Thomas Land shop in the below video I have taken.
Captain's Sea Adventure
Oh yes, now this is one for the adults too
Set sail with Captain on an adventure across the waves - which introduces not one, but six rotating Captain lifeboat carriages, all complete with their own cannons to squirt water.
We all had fun with this ride if I do say so myself :)
Check out how much fun you could have.
Two-storey Sodor Airport
In a traditional terminal style it has a top level balcony for VIP ‘travellers’ with not-to-be-missed views of Thomas Land. The area has five themed rooms that will be available for private hire for events from this summer. These rooms are ideal for parties or large family groups looking to make their day out extra special!The ground level will feature a café for guests to relax and enjoy a selection of hot and cold drinks and snacks before they depart for their Thomas Land adventure. Jeremy Jet’s Flying Academy will also be landing in its new location outside Sodor Airport, ready to take passengers on their flight over Sodor.
Winstons Whistle Stop Tours
Travel around with Winston on his monorail high above Thomas Land!
How sweet you hop into Winston's red car and get taken on around the monorail to see all of Thomas Land from a height is amazing,nice to watch what's going on around you but not only that you are so close to the Harold ride to get a look and feel for the other attractions.
Why not take a closer look what we capture from above on our real life video below.
After a good few rides we decided to take a break and head over for a bite to eat we did see a burger place called the Burger Kitchen at first glance we thought it was a restaurant style establishment but on walking in it was more of a fast food place but never the less we gave it ago.
You will find they are very good prices as you can get a family deal for £20 or kids meals for £3.95 plus adults ones too at £4 for burger fries and a cold drink.
The only negative we could find is it does look a little run down and could do with updating.
Sodor Classic Cars
Steer your car through tunnels, garages and even a barn! Don't forget to wave to the animals!
Alfie went on with me but on waiting he was not sure about it he kept saying "not the roller coaster ride" I assured him it was only a car then once on he got so excited and took hold of the wheel and took us for a spin. Millie also had ago but she went on with her granny as its only one adult to one child.
This was a bit of a pain as you just can't seem to go on as a family. It was difficult to understand the logic behind this, we found ourselves confused about the rules, how many adults can go on, where are you and your children aloud to sit?On some rides, this meant queues where larger than needed because of the amount of people allowed on at one time, most of the seats where not full on the majority of our rides.
One ride ( Rocking Bulstrode Boat )
It made me a little mad, I know but had good reason, I was not allowed to sit next to Alfie as his dad was at the other side, it may have had something to do with the weight so probably health and safety? I Wanted both us on ,it was his third birthday I had to get off and I mentioned to one family who saw this “oh I feel a little gutted” then he had a go at me saying “well it's not for adults”, I was almost in tears :(. It would have been easier to deal with if the controller would have explained the reasons behind this rule and not keeping me in the dark.
Moving on to Blue Mountain Engines
Join our four new narrow gauge engines as you go round and round
Lady's Carousel
A gentle ride on Lady's engine, for the little ones.
Very good for our daughter as she has hydrocephalus and does not like fast rides.
Harold Helicopter Tours
Up, up and away! See the sights of Thomas Land with Harold!
So many fantastic rides and a wide variety for each age category, not only does Drayton Manor have Thomas Land they even have Dino Trail.
Take a lovely walk around the Dino trail and a closer look at over 15 dinosaur's with lots of Dino facts and information. The kids loved it, especially Millie as she is a little older at the age of 5 going round and finding out the answers under the flip boards.
The park also offers a large play area- Spencers Outdoor Activity Park
Zoo
Drayton Manor Zoo is a fascinating place to explore with 15 acres of open plan zoo, home to over 100 animals from all over the world including endangered species.
Such a good zoo to walk around with a very relaxing and calm feel to the place.
To summarize
Our family verdict of Drayton Manor is going to be the score 8 out of 10 as the park offers a huge amount of activities and great fun for kids I do have to put it at 8 because some improvements could be made i.e. the problems with only letting one child to one adult on a ride, we found this very hard to be on a ride all together as a family, plus some of restaurants need to be updated.
Even me and my husband, at the end of the day wanted go on the Ben10 ride, so it really brings out your inner child.
All in all an outstanding day and a must for little ones birthdays especially Thomas fans.
A huge Thank You to the PR team for letting us attend the theme park.
