This year is a year of celebrations, from The Smiler (and Hero’s) 10 birthday, to the coronation of King Charles. It’s also the 15th anniversary of Thomas Land at Drayton Manor, and we went along to see how everyone’s favourite tank engine was doing.
Thomas land was subtly decorated with bunting around most of the railings, a large birthday cake by the entrance and Thomas had a little hat on and birthday livery. It was very in keeping with the area and didn’t look out of place at all!
There were shows on throughout the day, but I couldn’t tell you what shows are new for the event or the usual ones as I don’t spend enough time in Thomas land to notice them I’m afraid! Though we did see one of the shows where Rusty, Dusty and The Fat Controller were playing musical statues with the kids. It was very entertaining and didn’t feel overly silly or awkward either!
That’s about it for the 15th Anniversary event and I’m not sure what more they could have done, so I might as well use the time to talk about Thomas Land itself!
The area is set out in two halves, with the Train Tours attraction bisecting both halves. It would be nice to have a cut through over the rails from one side to the other, but this is a very minor thing! At the time we visited for the event, there were around 20 attractions, ranging from simple carousels and demolition derby rides, to guided rail car rides and a junior roller coaster!
Standout attractions for me are Thomas, Percy and Rosie’s Engine Tours, Troublesome Trucks Runaway Roller Coaster, Winston’s Whistle Stop Tours and The Thomas Exhibition (though this is undergoing renovation and relocation).
Engine Tours takes you from the main section of Thomas Land, to the back of the zoo where 2 more attractions are based and though it can take a while to load, check and set off, it goes past a few scenes from Sodors railways before returning the other way. Sometimes the attraction will run two trains that have to synchronise and set off at the same time, but this time only Thomas was at work.
Troublesome Trucks Runaway Rollercoaster is a great little Gerstlauer junior coaster that only has a simple helix and small hill but offers just enough to make it fun for us, as well as being a great introduction to roller coasters for you younger thrill seekers!
Winston’s Whistle Stop Tours is a Zamperla monorail with single cars that take you on a tour of one side of Thomas Land. It gives great elevated views of most of the area and interacts nicely with some of the rides it goes past with the on board audio. Very gentle and charming to boot, and recently they’ve added a photo green screen to the queue, so you even get a photo before you board the ride!
The Thomas Exhibition is a fantastic look back through the life of Thomas the Tank engine, from the early days of the Railway series of books by Rev. W. Awdry, to the Thomas and Friends TV series and all the way up to All Engines Go! As I said earlier, this is undergoing a relocation as it was set at the end of the zoo tucked away in a corner, but it’ll now be in the same building as the shop, you’ll not miss it if you ride Whistle Stop Tours as the exit path takes you through where the exhibition will be.
We’ve only seen it once and it was great to look back at how far the series has come and how much it has changed over the years. It was also a bit eye opener as to how many new characters have been added to the series over time. I grew up with the original Thomas and Friends series, and so much has changed and been added from what I knew! The model railway inside the exhibition even uses models from the original series which was great to see!
There are plenty of other rides too, Captains Sea Adventure will get you wet, and Cranky’s Drop Tower is a great entry level tower ride, but there are some rides that we can’t have a go on, such as Sodor Classic Cars. They require and adult and child in order to ride this one which has meant we’ve been unable to ride it even once! It is a shame but the area isn’t designed with us enthusiasts first and foremost so I’m definitely not going to grumble!
There’s also a great café in Sodor Airport, very comfortable and welcoming. They sell a range of teas and coffees as you’d expect as well as kids meals and sandwiches. it wasn’t too expensive when we’ve been in their too, which is nice!
So that’s Thomas Land really, it’s a wonderful area full of good attractions all well themed and in kepeing with the spirit of Thomas and Friends. New for this year there will be a junior log flume ride called Thomas and Percy’s Submarine Splash which we’ll be hopefully riding during the Coronation Street Party, which will be our next blog!
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