Off to Thomasland at Drayton Manor Park today...(wish me luck)

[TheodoresMummy]

DH is determined that it is to be a surprise for DS (not sure that's a good idea and have convinced him to tell DS that we are going to a special kind of fair).

He will prob be fine and will love it !!

Hope it won't be too busy as it's still term time and that the queues won't be horrendous.

Has anyone been ?

Never been but friends have and they loved it. Good luck!

Ooh - can you report back? DS2 would love this - but it's a long way for us, so will be interested to know what you think of it. Have a great time!

Well...

...it was FAB!!!

DS had a marvellous time (as did we ).

Cost £15 for DS (over 4), £18 each for DH and me. Well worth the money tho. It is for unlimited rides on all the Thomas things and the normal rides.

The rides are fab and there are more of them than I thought there would be. They are not all tame tho... A few go quite high or fast and i'm surprised that DS was so up for it - we had to go on everything again and again and again...

No queues !!! (obviously still term time). The only thing we waited for was the proper train ride with Thomas, but wasn't a queue, was just waiting on the platform for Thomas to come.

Fantastic playground !!!

We took sandwiches so can't comment on the food, although we had drinks whilst there and it was not too pricey, plenty of tables, again no queues .

The people operating the rides were mostly very friendly.

Can you tell we had a fantastic day !!??

Even the gift shop was good. It is seperate, not on the route out or anything annoying like that , and it has 3 tables with wooden train sets out on them to keep them occupied.

The best thing was that he actually thought we were on Sodor !!! Made me well up a bit...

Are some of the rides VERY tame TM? DS2 will only go on those!

sphil - there is a carousel as soon as you go in which is not too fast (am not taking the piss btw, I have been on some where you have to lean in quite far so you don't fly off !!). But that's not in the Thomas bit.

In Thomasland there is:

Lady's ride - she just pulls some carriages round and round. Not fast and no up and down. Very tame.

You can stand at Knapford Station to wait for Thomas, Annie and Clarabel. Then you get in and he takes you to an adventure playground which is great !! It has a sandpit and picnic tables too.

How tame would it have to be ? Is it speed, height, spinning, etc that would be a no no ?

I think it's the reactions of other children on the rides that are the problem rather than the motion itself. He went on a miniature train ride at a farm park during the holidays - we let him go on just with DS1 (my backside wouldn't fit in the seats ). He spent the whole ride with his hands over his ears because children were screaming - the ride was VERY tame but did rattle round some corners quite fast and because he couldn't hold on he was being bumped all over the place. DH and I spent the whole time hanging over the railing shouting 'DS1, hold ON to DS2...hold DS2...HOLD ONTO HIM' with DS1 absolutely oblivious and other parents staring at us as if we were complete loons.

Well I have to say (again ) that it was so quiet there that perhaps your DS would be ok..??

Only you know of course.

No queuing, no crowds, no OTT noise.

Don't remember any screaming from other kids on rides. They are not that fast or anything.

I am def going to take DS again soon, hopefully with my parents, Mum will love seeing him have so much fun !!

But I will not go in the hols, would be quite a different experience I think and not in a good way.

Another ride I forgot was you can ride on Terence the tractor. They are very slow and are controlled by the child. DS was the only one on this.

We would have to go in hols as both Dses are at school.