Thomasland at Drayton Manor - what do I need to know?!

[philmassive]

Off to Drayton Manor theme park at the end of July - quite a long trek for us but 2 ds's dying to go to Thomasland.

Anybody got any tips as to how to get the best out of the one day we've got there? Anything to avoid like the plague or to definitely see?

Would also like to know what your DC's thought of it there - just to do a bit of damage limitation in case it's not very good!!

Me too. DS1 is 3 and DS2 is 5 months. Obviously taking another adult to hold the baby while we go on the rides

If they are thomas fanatics they will love it (ds is now 6 and has been three times and absolutely adores it...) Try to avoid the shop or it will end up being an expensive trip! Also likes the pirate stuff and the dragon bit (sorry - very vegue but I have always escaped going...). Certainly easily a days worth - take your own food if you can as pricy (of course!)

Take a packed lunch - Do. Not. Buy. Burgers. And. Chips. Whilst. There.

Cant advise much on rides etc - DS had a massive freak out and was petrified by it all. I had one of the worst days of my life.

Have a great time!

How old are your DSs? The majority of rides are ones that you ride with them. There is one - a tractor driving one - that they have to do on their own as the tractors only have one seat, so they have to be a certain height to go on it.
The ride on Thomas/Percy is fun but takes you away from the rest of the rides. You end up at a large playground (with a wooden Spencer at the entrance) and you are nearest to the zoo/farm area - there is a small cafe and picnic area here, too.

Agree about avoiding the shop unless you want to spend a fair few pennies.

The only ride that we had to queue for for any real length of time was the cars as you can only get 1 adult and 2 children in each one and they go one at a time.

You can come and go as many times as you like - so we left the picnic in the car and ate on the grass at the side of it - we deliberately parked futher from the gates so we could get parked at the end of a row with more space.

Check out the review section under Drayton Manor - most people posted about Thomas Land

Oh - if you buy Mr Whipp icecream - get a cup instead of a cone; you get twice as much ice cream for the same price and they make half the mess

Do NOT go in the shop.

Thomas and Percy take you up to Spencer's Playground so don't miss that.

Also try and go on the Polperro Express Train miniature railway and DS loved Splash Canyon, both of which aren't actually in ThomasLand itself.

Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy.

Thanks everyone. MY ds's are 2.5 and 6 so they will be beside themselves (they don't know we're going yet - hope to surprise them when we get there)

Thanks for the advice, wish me luck!

would I be gigantically over-optimistic to think I could do Thomasland all by myself with 3 DCs (almost 6, 4.6, 3.2)???