Friday 4 September 2015

A Day Out with Thomas & Friends!


My son is a huge Thomas and Friends fan (Thomas the Tank Engine for all us 80's/90's kids). I swore that I didn't want him to get into anything like this when he was younger but I actually don't mind now. I quite like it, I find myself humming the songs and watching them with him and I bet you anything that I can name a fair few of the trains! Alfie however takes the obsession to a new level and can identify characters out of it just by seeing a random a train part! He also has a huge collection of Take n Play which continues to grow, but seeing how much pleasure he gets out of these classic toys makes me very happy.

Last year for his birthday he received tickets to a Day Out with Thomas and he had such a fantastic time that for his birthday this year my parents bought him a ticket (and us obvs!). The concept is simple, you head to a local heritage railway, in our case, Wakes Colne in Colchester and ride on Thomas and his friends, see the Fat Controller and generally have a fun filled day out! It's completely geared up for Thomas fans and very much family orientated. The price of the ticket gains you entry and you can ride on the trains that are running as many times as you like. 

http://www.dayoutwiththomas.co.uk/index.php

We were booked to go on Bank Holiday Monday which turned out to be one of the wettest and soggiest bank holidays in a while and typically this is pretty much all outdoors so I was unsure how enjoyable the day would actually be. I was quite gutted to be honest, I'd been looking forward to taking Alfie to it for ages as I knew how much he enjoyed last year but not wanting the day to be ruined we gathered up all our rain coats, brollies and other wet weather paraphernalia and headed over to Colchester. When we arrived Alfie clearly was over the moon, the wet weather wasn't going to spoil his day and he wanted to go straight on Thomas.


One downside of heading to an old heritage railway is there is no way to get to the other side without walking over the bridge so we had to lift the pram up numerous steps, not ideal when you're trying to control an excitable child! Never mind, we were soon over and it was clear to see that the weather had definitely had an impact on the visitors, it was noticeably quieter which was great as it meant not alot of queueing to get on the trains and less hanging about in the pouring rain.

The trains available to ride on were Thomas (of course), Percy and the Troublesome Trucks and Toad, Daisy Diesel, Toby (well a replacement Toby as the real one was broken) and the miniature railway (which was closed when it was raining too much).  As well as the trains, there are the open air parts of the museum to look around and a play area which was new for this year. This was a fab idea as it was out of the rain and lots of Thomas toys had been provided to be played with which was a god send for all the wet and soggy toddlers. 


While Alfie was busy playing with the toys I snapped this train that was being restored, apparently the oldest locomotive in the museum and dates back to 1905, I think you'll agree it's looking very smart!


Trying to get a picture of Alfie standing by Thomas of course turned into some what of a mission and this is the best that I managed to get! Cheeky thing!




Not only is Wakes Colne a historic living heritage site it is connected to the main rail line so there are a few other trains coming through which is great for train spotters! There are also lots of other little interesting things to see, I quite liked these little buckets on the wall, slightly random I know! It's a great place to walk about and learn about how the station used to operate years ago.




 You can see from the picture below taken from the bridge the scale of the station. Despite the awful weather we had a great day out. It was truly such a shame that it was pouring for the majority of the day but in all honesty it didn't dampen (pardon the pun) the atmosphere and it certainly didn't seem to bother Alfie.







Elarna wasn't overly bothered about the trains as you can imagine but she was a good girl all day and Alfie had fun pointing out the different trains to her. If you do visit one of these days out be aware that there is Thomas merchandise aplenty to purchase and the chances of coming away without something would be slim I'd say! We purchased a talking Ferdinand train for Alfie to go with the rest of his take n play and all we heard in the car on the way home was the bloody train talking..........until Alfie fell asleep, completely 'Thomased' out, train still in hands. Bless. 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/221866609652?adgroupid=&hlpht=true&hlpv=2&rlsatarget=&adtype=pla&ff3=1&lpid=122&poi=&ul_noapp=true&limghlpsr=true&ff19=0&device=c&chn=ps&campaignid=&crdt=0&ff12=67&ff11=ICEP3.0.0-L&ff14=122&viphx=1&ops=true&ff13=80

So if you have a Thomas fan then you must book up for one of these days, the tickets are reasonably priced and you can stay as long as you want. I just think it's a shame that they don't put these on in more places around the UK!

Have you ever been on a Thomas day out? Would you like to?

* Please note these are my own honest opinions, I received no payment for this post I just wanted to share what a great day out it is. :-) 


The Reading Residence

Binky Linky
#ToddlerApprovedTuesday




Family Fever

38 comments:

  1. He does look all thomased out in that last pic - the weather was awful for the BH wasn't it? We hardly ventured out, like many others it seems ! #wotw

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. He was very! I was so disappointed with the weather, typical British soggy bank holiday! Although thankfully it wasn't too cold, just very, very wet! X

      Delete
  2. Sounds like it was a wonderful day out and love all the different trains from Thomas and Friends - I didn't realise there would be so many different ones to ride on. Will have to try and do this with my girls at some point :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know it's such a fab day out,definitely go I'd you get a chance!! Thanks for the comment x

      Delete
  3. Oh it looks ace like an old episode Of Thomas has come to life. Shame the weather was so awful! I bet Alfie was absolutely ridiculously excited. Xx #wotw

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh he was, he just loves it so much,it was a lovely day out even though the weather was pants x

      Delete
  4. I would love to visit Thomas !! Well my girls would haha. My youngest is a little obsessed with trains! xxx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's quite fun for the adults too,the kids are just a good excuse to go hehe x

      Delete
  5. What a lovely day out! Monkey loves trains and we have done a few steam railways. I recently won tickets for our nearest one so we are headed over at the weekend I think! Love shots of you and the kiddies! Xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh fab,they are a great day out, they seem to captivate them don't they! X

      Delete
    2. Oh fab,they are a great day out, they seem to captivate them don't they! X

      Delete
  6. Aww! It looks like you had a wonderful day out....Even with the rubbish weather! Lovely photos x

    ReplyDelete
  7. aww! We have one of these near us, my 3 year old is such a Thomas fan I think we'll have to go along after reading this review! Glad the rain didn't spoil your day x

    ReplyDelete
  8. This looks like a lovely day out.
    Our local heritage railway don't do the Thomas days (my father in law volunteers there and says it is too expensive to run them!) but we have taken Aria up for a ride on the steam train, she loved looking out of the window and watching the world whizz by.

    ReplyDelete
  9. My girls don't really know of Thomas the Tank Engine, but they do enjoy playing with train sets. Looks like you had a great day. Thanks for linking up to the #BinkyLinky

    ReplyDelete
  10. Sounds like a great day out. My boys would love it!! #binkylinky xx

    ReplyDelete
  11. Do you know this is a superb review, the website is severely lacking in describing what is there bar the video which I never overly go by as they do not give you a true feel. The prices I just checked are rather good. Shame about the buggy carrying, not so good as surely lots of them on a hot busy day and two carrying it with a toddler racing to see Thomas. However the superb photos and description show a fab day out, must look into it for our family. #comp

    ReplyDelete
  12. Wow, what a fantastic day out! I love Thomas the tank engine although I prefer the old books to the new TV series!! I'd love to take my little two to this! Thankyou so much for sharing with me on #busydoinglife this week it's GREAT to have you! Hope you have a lovely weekend Claire x

    ReplyDelete
  13. Wow! I could just imagine how your little boy enjoyed seeing Thomas... My little boy loved Thomas the tank engine too when he was a bit younger, and we surprised him one day when we went for a Day Out with Thomas, his reaction then was just priceless. Lovely photos, despite of the wet weather! #busydoinglife

    ReplyDelete
  14. Oh this loos amazing. My little boy has just been saying wow to all your pics! #justanotherlinky xx

    ReplyDelete
  15. Awww its like living a dream for your little one isnt it! Such a lovely day spent. My son loves him too and the songs!!! #wotw

    ReplyDelete
  16. That looks like a fun day for a Thomas fan! We escaped that one!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Ah, I love how he's asleep with train still in hand, bless him! Looks a lot of fun. We have Thomasland a few minutes away from us and the kids love it - my son was there for his birthday last week. Can't beat a bit of Thomas! Thanks for sharing with #WotW x

    ReplyDelete
  18. This looks amazing! My son loves Thomas and I have looked into A Day Out with Thomas for him but there are no railways near us that it is available at. However, looking at this, it seems like it would be worth a little drive to see the look on his face when he sees the engines! I thought it was only Thomas but it looks like there's more than that. #bigfatlinky

    ReplyDelete
  19. Looks an amazing place I do love Thomas the tank thanks for linking to the binkylinky

    ReplyDelete
  20. Popping back from #justanotherlinky - thanks for linking up xx

    ReplyDelete
  21. Found you via the #toddlerapprovedtuesday linky.

    We love Thomas Land - we live SO close we should really go more often! Glad you had such a lovely day x

    http://3dancingdandelions.blogspot.co.uk/

    ReplyDelete
  22. That looks like a fab day out! Great photos too. Sorry the weather was so rubbish but glad you all had a lovely day. Thanks for sharing #ToddlerApprovedTuesday

    ReplyDelete
  23. How amazing is this day out for kids. My son was a HUGE Thomas fan when he was younger. We went to something like this then. #triedtested

    ReplyDelete
  24. There is nothing quite like bringing the Thomas magic to life! What a lovely looking day and a real experience. Popping by from #TriedTested and I'd love you to join me for Country Kids too

    ReplyDelete
  25. This looks like a great day out! My daughter would love that! :) #ToddlerApprovedTuesday

    ReplyDelete
  26. What a great place for a Thomas fan! My girls aren't really into it - we are more Peppa Pig on loop in this house! #triedtested

    ReplyDelete
  27. We were at a Day Out with Thomas last year in Colorado, but your visit looks like even more fun then ours. We only had Thomas visit and not as many fun things at the station! I'll have to see if there is another one near us soon because it is all Thomas all the time around here!

    ReplyDelete
  28. I love this, my small lady loves trains, we went on a steam train out of taunton during the summer and we all loved it!

    ReplyDelete
  29. What a brilliant read and what gorgeous photos, looks so much fun! Suz x Beauisblue.com

    ReplyDelete
  30. It rained on and off when we went to a Christmas meet Santa and Thomas at Didcot Railway. They're great days out though, even if you're not into Thomas. Looks like you had a great time.

    ReplyDelete
  31. My son loves Thomas too, this would be his idea of a great day out! Thanks for linking up with #TriedTested

    ReplyDelete
  32. A lovely idea for a day out. Thanks so much for linking up to #toddlerapprovedtuesday this week x

    ReplyDelete

I absolutely love it when someone leaves me a comment, I will always reply back when possible! You can also follow me on twitter for more beautiful chatter: @Helsy_1983