Day Out With Thomas *Review*

My daughter has suddenly taken a shine to Thomas the Tank Engine! She goes to two different mommy/toddler classes during the week & one of the classes is pretty much all boys! & what do little boys play with? That's right, trains. Now I have a tutu loving little girl who plays with trains all day. People always comment about how she's a girl etc, & you know what? She can play with whatever she wants! If it's trains she wants, it's trains she will get, so when the awesome people at Thomas & Friends invited us out to spend the day at there event we were more than happy to take them up in the offer!

Now to the nitty gritty!

Ever since I posted the Medina event ticket giveaway last month I have been flooded with messages asking me all sorts of questions! Is A Day Out with Thomas worth the pricey ticket? What age group is best for A Day Out with Thomas? Is it just a train ride?

Honestly, I thought it would be an overpriced, quick gimmick type of event. The type of thing you show up to, snap a photo & leave. After all they are catering to little ones who are easily impressed with anything & parents these days will spend money on anything. This was all before I actually went to the A Day Out with Thomas event. I’m here now to set the record straight and to encourage you to not miss the chance to take your little ones to this event when it rolls into your hometown! There is definitely a reason that A Day Out with Thomas has been running strong for 20 years across the country and Canada & it's totally worth every penny!

All heads turn and the excitement builds as Thomas the Train pulls into Medina Railway Museum! We arrived about an 1 hour early, as they recommend since we were on the media train & in WNY I honestly had no clue how many people that ment. I know in Central Florida where I spent most of my adult life that means 502829 bloggers/radio station/news peeps etc fighting to be first in line & I wanted plenty of time to pick up our tickets & didn't want to be fighting crazy moms with giant DSLR camera bags that double as a whack people out of the way weapon to get where we needed to be. Well WNY is definitely not that crowd hehe.... But they did sell all the other seats on the train so I was definitely glad we were early! This event, atleast in Medina was sold out every day so I would encourage you to be there early, especially if you are picking up will call tickets! There will be a line.

When we first saw Thomas, my daughter wanted to head straight for him! It is such a beautiful, vividly bright blue engine that can’t be mistaken for anything but Thomas the Train. We told her all morning we were going to see Thomas, but she really had no clue what we were even talking about until she saw Thomas roll up in person! This is probably my only negative thing to say about the event, even though I totally understand the reasoning behind it. As you can see from the photo about my daughter doesn't look too happy. She wanted to "pet" Thomas and hang out with him & when you tell a 3 year old they can't do something, no matter where you are this is the reaction you are going to get lol. You cannot touch Thomas for safety issues & believe it or not my child wasn't the only one throwing a temper tantrum over this lol. I can't even think of a way to "fix" this issue, so it's just something parents are going to have to deal with lol.... Don't let it ruin your day. Kids will totally forget about this little issue after about 10 seconds ;-)

Don't have a camera with you? Don't worry! For afew extra dollars they have a photographer on hand to snap photos of you and Thomas :)

What kid doesn't love bounce houses?!?! I seriously have to get better with this because every time my child enters one its a battle to leave! We even have a bounce house at home, but for some reason they are more fun other places and it's always tantrum city all the way to the car lol.... Atleast I know she had a blast! Good idea having a bounce house INCLUDED in the ticket price Day Out With Thomas!! What kiddo doesn't love unlimited bounces?!

When I read that there would be “Thomas-themed activities”, I didn’t expect anything remotely like what they had at A Day Out with Thomas! Upon arrival, I knew that A Day Out with Thomas was going to be MUCH bigger than I had anticipated. I would have worn better shoes had I known it was such a large event. I did wear flat sandals, but gym shoes or a comfy pair of flip flops would of been a wayyy better idea!

Expect to spend at least 2-1/2 – 3 hours at A Day Out with Thomas since your kiddos can play with train tables, mega bloks, get there faces painted & even get a Thomas tattoo ;-) ALL included in the ticket price!

And the best part of Day Out With Thomas? Of course, a chance to ride on Thomas himself!  The rides leave every hour and are extremely well organized.  Each group boards about 20 minutes before departure.  This was the perfect amount of time for kiddos to check out the train interior and pick the perfect seats. Prior to departure the conductor comes around and punches your tickets.

Then off we went!  The ride itself was approximately 25 minutes out and back.  During our ride we looked out the windows to see the green landscape and we even had a brief stop when another train passed us on a nearby track. Thomas and Sir Topham Hatt are your tour guides throughout the 25 minute ride & they talk about life as Thomas the Train, his friends, playing, and having fun. There are segments with music and interactive times to toot like Thomas. My daughter was smiling, dancing, and enjoying the scenery the entire time :) It was also her first ever train ride so it will make for a great story when she's older that her first train ride was on Thomas himself ;-) 

Near the end of the train ride you get a certificate from the conductor! I thought this was a pretty awesome keepsake to recieve! So you may want to plan on bringing a backpack or a way to keep it ‘neat’ and not get crumpled. My daughters now resides on her cork board in their bedroom. She's so proud of it :)

Other activities include meeting Sir Topham Hatt, taking pictures with various Thomas backgrounds, Live & Interactive Music Shows, Magic shows, storytime, and more.

They even had a bubble machine, which I have no clue what it is with bubbles, but kiddos were flocking to this thing! I guess you know you truly are at a kiddie event when the one thing we can all do at home is one of the main hits of the event -_- ughhhh.... Kids!

What age is good for A Day Out with Thomas?

Will my young kids like it? Will my older kids like it? So, what age is A Day Out with Thomas for? This was the number one question I had!

You will find many preschoolers at A Day Out with Thomas wearing their Thomas shirts and gear. This is the age that little girls & boys really get into Thomas & is the age group this event is catered too! My daughter turned 3 in March and had a blast! If your kiddo is a sand box, train table loving Thomas freak, they will fit right in! If I had older kids, like over the age of 5, I probably wouldn't bring them to this unless they were going with preschool age kids. Older kids might get bored quickly.

If you haven’t been able to gather what my answer to the question "Why is A Day Out with Thomas worth the ticket price?" It's YES! Worth every last penny for preschool aged kiddos & there families!A Day Out with Thomas is a family-fun event that has a lot of exciting things to do in addition to the amazing train ride! For alittle over $20 a ticket, honestly I don't think it's a bad price to include all that it does! I know where we live in WNY it's half that just to jump at the bounce house for 2 hours!

Want to know if Thomas is coming to a town near you? Click the link below for more info and how to purchase tickets!



http://events.hitentertainment.com/en-us/dayoutwiththomas/index.html