Ad disclosure: We were provided with 4 free tickets to Drayton Manor in order to review the new Thomas Land expansion.
We were lucky enough to be invited along to the opening ceremony of the new Thomas Land Expansion! It opened over the Easter holidays, and Georgie and Lydia were very excited to see what was new at their all-time favourite theme park. We took along Georgie’s very best friend Sophie too, to join in the fun.
We live around 45 minute drive from Drayton Manor, home of Thomas Land, and so we are fairly regular visitors to the park. Our train mad pair of girls love all of the Thomas and Friends rides they have there, and our last visit for the Christmas experience was simply magical. Georgie and Lydia are mini-thrillseekers and always try to go on every ride possible when we visit!
Our day started out with the opening ceremony, presided over by none other than the Fat Controller (aka Sir Topham Hatt), which was really fun; the girls loved seeing all the new rides burst into life accompanied by huge clouds of giant confetti being shot into the air. Bright blue candy floss, sticky faces, and engineers on stilts made it all very exciting for them!
With this extension, there are three new rides at Thomas Land; Captain’s Sea Adventure, Flynn’s Fire & Rescue and Toby’s Tram Express. As well as the new rides, they have moved Jeremy Jet’s Flying Academy and Blue Mountain Engines which really opens up the whole area and makes a previous cramped bit of Thomas Land feel much more clear & accessible.
Of course the first thing we had to do when the extension was officially opened was to dash to a first ride. Georgie and Sophie made a beeline for Captain’s Sea Adventure, while I stayed on the sidelines with too-short Lydia and watched the action – Georgie, Sophie & her mum Karen took great delight in spraying us with the water cannons on the boats!
After enjoying the boat ride, Georgie insisted on the Jeremy Jet ride – always a popular favourite. Lydia and I flew one Jet, with Sophie, Georgie & Karen flying another. All three of the girls loved it, even if Sophie didn’t quite master the “press the button to go up” concept!
We enjoyed some carnival games on our way to the next ride – I’m not sure that throwing the hoops from right next to the sticks is the right way to do it, but Georgie and Sophie were very proud of themselves nonetheless!
Next up was one of the relocated rides; Blue Mountain Engines. It looks brilliant in it’s new location with a quarry theme around it, and the addition of Merrick the Crane – much nicer than before, as it used to be squeezed into a corner and a bit confusing to get to. All three girls went on this with Karen, and really enjoyed themselves. It’s a lovely slow & gentle ride for the little ones, which was perfect for Georgie as she was feeling a little under the weather.
We had time for one more ride in the expansion area before lunch, so Karen took Sophie and Georgie onto Flynn’s Fire & Rescue for some water spraying fire engine fun. Sophie loved “driving” the fire engine round and round, while Georgie and Karen sprayed the burning building with their hoses, whilst being lifted up and down on the platform.
We were a bit disappointed that Lydia could not go on this ride, as the signage indicated that she could when accompanied by an adult, but when it came to it they told us the displayed regulations were in fact incorrect. The sign states that under 0.9m children can ride when accompanied by an adult, when it should read that 0.9 – 1.3 metre children can ride with an adult. The Drayton Manor website displays the same info as the sign though, so perhaps it was just the staff who were in the wrong on opening day?
Unfortunately the third new ride, Toby’s Tram Express, got a bit shy on his first day and was under maintenance for most of the day, so we were unable to try that out. It looks fantastic though, going up and down, twisting and dipping – I am looking forward to having a ride on a future visit!
As part of the Thomas Land expansion, there is a new Sodor Airport building that will be home to some Sodor themed event rooms (opening Summer 2015), and also houses a rather lovely cafe. We really enjoyed our lunch here; the girls had Thomas lunch boxes with a nice selection of healthy food and a few treats too, I had a lovely panini, and Karen enjoyed a baguette. The coffees were great, too.
A new “hook a duck” entertainment was a hit with all three girls – the “prize every time” meant that they all went away happy with a Thomas pillow, and there was no disappointment.
The new fat controller statue complete with “rain” was much enjoyed in the sunshine!
After lunch we had some fun enjoying the rides in the original Thomas Land area, before heading home with three very tired but happy girls – complete with a souvenir each from the huge Thomas and Friends shop, naturally!
All of us were very impressed with the expansion, and had a lovely day out. The area has increased by a huge 40%, and it’s a massive improvement to Thomas Land – which was brilliant to begin with. We will definitely be returning soon.
It looks like a great day out, 40% is a huge increase!
Leanne – A Slice of My Life Wales
It was so much fun! Despite Georgie being a bit under the weather the girls all really enjoyed themselves, and the expansion was great.
Looks fab and what a gorgeous day to try it all out. My daughter loves Thomas too so definitely one for the list though I might wait until she griws that extra centimetre to 0.9m! #triedtested
Thanks, it was a great day out, and the expansion is brill. There is a fair bit you can go on below 0.9m, but may be a bit better to wait if you have a long drive to get there and want to go on as much as possible – especially with the new Sea Adventure ride being a min. 0.9m one.
This page shows all of the height restrictions at Thomas Land: http://draytonmanor.co.uk/thomas-land/thomasheight
Oh wow! It looks like such a fun day out….Perfect for little people x
It’s brilliant! Georgie and Lydia love it there, it’s definitely one of their favourite places to go, they are a pair of thrill seekers! I can’t wait to go back again soon when it is a little quieter and Georgie is feeling 100% herself again, she was a bit tired and poorly on launch day, and missed out on some of her favourite rides.
The expansion is brilliant.
Its been so long since we visited Drayton manor and Thomas Land. Cant wait to see the next expansion #TriedTested Mummy2Monkeys x
Thomas Land is definitely on our list of places to go – I know Max in particular would love it! Thanks for linking up with #TriedTested
This looks like such a great day out! We’ll have to plan to go there for a weekend at some point x
Wow it looks fab! How I wish I lived closer! x x