A couple of weeks ago we took Oscar to Thomas Land! We were planning to take him for his birthday which is in a couple of weeks time but we thought it’ll be busier with it being the summer holidays so we decided to take him earlier! It meant we could also take advantage of Drayton Manor’s special Adult and Toddler ticket which is only £25 but can only be used during weekdays in term times so was perfect!
Oscar had no idea where we were going. We told him we were going for a surprise but he didn’t have a clue of what it could it be. Now anyone who knows us, we aren’t great at time keeping as a family unless it’s for an appointment! So when we say we’ll leave at 9.30am to get to the theme park for 10.30am, we actually mean we’ll leave at 10.30am to get there for 11.30am haha! We do try our best and the thought is always there but nothing ever goes to plan with a toddler does it?!
As soon as we pulled up to Drayton Manor and Oscar seen the Thomas Land sign, he couldn’t believe his eyes! He was so excited and so was I to be honest as I had never been before haha! We parked up and headed towards the entrance where there was hardly any visitors! It was lovely! No queues and because we had already purchased our tickets, we just had to scan the barcodes on my phone and that was it, we were in!
Because Oscar is small, we already knew we'd have to go on pretty much every ride with him! I had downloaded the Drayton Manor app before we arrived which is really good! You can plan your visit on it, add the info for each person visiting like the age and height and then you can put together a list of what rides you can go on, which is great because it then tells you the height restrictions etc for each ride.
Straight the way, we went on ‘Harold’s Helicopter Tours’ ride which was good as all three of us could go on it! There was a queue but we were the next ones on it so we only had to wait a couple of minutes! And it was like that for nearly all of the rides so was great! Oscar loved this ride and to be honest, it was my favourite one haha! Next up was the ‘Rocking Bulstrode’ which I nominated Niall to accompany Oscar on haha! I’m probably not the best person to go to a theme park with as I’m not great with rides but definitely worth it to see Oscars face! Oscar wasn’t too sure on this ride but luckily it didn’t put him off any other rides! We then went on the ‘Bertie Bus’, ‘Lady’s Carousel’, ‘Winston’s Whistle-stop Tour’ and ‘Jeremy Jet’s Flying Academy’ rides which were fab!
By this point, we were about ready for some lunch! So we thought we’d get on a train to get to a different part of the park to find some food! We climbed aboard Percy which we had to wait about 10 minutes for but was worth it to see Oscar’s excitement! The journey was about 5 minutes long which was lovely and when we arrived on the other side, we decided to eat at a tea room. I think the food was slightly over priced but I think you get this at most attractions these days and I think if we go again, we’ll definitely take a picnic. But saying that, we haven't been anywhere for so long, it was just nice to have a treat and not have to worry about carrying food around with us. Me and Niall had a hot dog each and Oscar had a slice of pizza - I did think there would have been sandwiches in the tea room but it was just them choices and then ice cream/lollies and a few cakes.
After the pit stop, we then ventured on to the ‘Dino Trail’ which I was quite disappointed at as I thought it’d be more impressive and just a longer trail in general. But never mind, onto the next thing which was the zoo! Oscar loved that part but he did keep asking where the gorillas were! We then arrived in the main part of the park so we sat near the lake and watched people on the water rides which was so funny! We decided to get something sweet to eat whilst we were here as well and so Oscar had an ice-cream, Niall had doughnuts and I had a bubble waffle (which I had never heard of before) but it tasted so good! By the time we had finished eating, it was about 3pm! So we took a walk back towards Thomas Land and it had got slightly busier at this point as there were a few school trips happening but it wasn’t crazy busy! We then seen a ride called the ‘Polperro Express’ which was just about to start so we got straight onto that and had a lovely little journey around some of the park! We also managed to get a rare photo of all three of us haha!
Back in Thomas Land, we went on the ‘’Diesel’s Locomotive Mayhem’, 'Sodor Classic Cars’ ride, ‘Blue Mountain Engines’, ‘James And The Red Balloon’ and ‘Flynn’s Fire Rescue’ which we got absolutely soaked on! I’m so glad we left that ride until last haha! We then headed into the gift shop as Oscar had spotted a cap earlier in the day that he loved so we thought we’d treat him to one! We also bought a flag (which was mostly for me!) and a magnet for our fridge, which is a tradition wherever we go! We were then ready to go home, but there was just enough time to have one last go on Harold!
There were a few rides we couldn’t go on because Oscar wasn’t quite tall enough including ‘Cranky’s Drop Tower’, ‘Toby’s Tram Express’ and ‘Troublesome Trucks Runaway Rollercoaster’ and there was also ‘Captains Sea Adventure’ which was closed because of technical issues! There were also a couple that were closed due to covid restrictions which were ‘Emily’s Adventure Play’ and ‘Terence’s Driving School’ which I think Oscar would have loved but there’s always next time!
Overall, it was a fab day out and it was so good to actually be able to go out too! The next task was to keep Oscar awake on the journey home to avoid the danger nap but you’ll see below how we got on with that one!
