With a promise of snow and entertainment it was too hard to resist, plus my 7 year old daughter is a comeplete Thomas addict.

As a land themed around the popular childrens books written by Rev W Awdry Thomas Land is a superb addition to Drayton Manor with all the rides and the area (known as Island of Sodor in the books) themed around the adventures of the 6 wheeled train and his friends.

For Christmas the staff at Drayon Manor have really raided the piggy bank as the Christmas theming is superb with a great mixture of decorations and entertainment.

As we entered Thomas Land we were greated with the controller and entertainers singing and masses of snow coming out of two machines next to them.

The controller.

Thomas heading for the turntable.

Snow everywhere, my kids in the center of the photograph with the entertainers singing in the background.

Entrance to Thomasland.

Percy leaving the station.

A very festive looking station, wait until you see the inside.

Thomas in the station, ready to come out, turnaround and take the next train full of passengers.

The controller singing away.

Inside the station.

Station at night.

Percy heading back out with a train full of passengers.

Overhead look at the station from the footbridge crossing the track.

Inside the station, queue area.

Platform 1.

The Christmas Show.

As part of the admission all children under 9 get a free present as part of the Christmas show.

The show lasts about 30 minutes and our session was 4pm. Our trip was prebooked via telephone and we were allocated a 4pm slot. I wont go into detail about the show and spoil it for anyone, but its obviously aimed at children.

As this was a Thomas Land event the rest of Drayton Manor was closed only Thomas Land and the Carousel are open for these weekends.

Heres the rest of the photographs taken during this visit.

If you are thinking about visiting Thomas Land at Drayton Manor then I would really recomend it especially if you have young children. Please dont steal any photographs if you want copies of anything please get in touch via the contact form.

Thanks for reading

The south side of the park (Pepsi max big one) is currently closed but nearly all attractions from the main entrance to the bridge over Watson road are open.

The one exception been the wild mouse which is currently covered in scaffolding and having some maintenance work done for next season.

So what attractions are open.

Noahs Ark
Ice Blast
Valhalla
Gold Mine
Superbowl Dodgems
Maxims flyers
Derby Racers
Grand National
Alice in Wonderland
Ghost Train
Trauma Towers
Impossible
River caves
4D cinema
and finally Infusion the new coaster for 2007.As well as a number of indoor (pay extra) for attractions. Pasaje de terror, Ripleys, horror crypt and Ice skating in hot ice from an additional £3.50.

To add to the attractions all food outlets in the north park are open. Admission is by ticket only which is £15 for adults, £10 for children with under 3′s free.Santa’s Grotto is also open, if you have children you get a free ticket when you buy your wristband. Take this over to the magnolia cafe (next to the Ghost train) where the kids meet santa and are given a bag of goodies and an optional (not sure of the cost) photograph. My kids 11 and 6yrs were made up with this.Wrap up well if your thinking of going over to Blackpool anytime soon, it was freezing cold.Some pictures taken this afternoon.

Ghost Train. virtually no queues all afternoon.The area around Alice.Santa’s GrottoMaxims Flyers.Infusion, the days only queue.Looking down from the Watson road bridge towards River Caves.Towards the Ghost Train.River caves.Most of the game stalls were very quiet.Christmas show and dance, with a front row dominated by dads. . The show is on every hour 1,2,3,4pm and lasts for about 15 minutes.They did all the usually christmas songs and dances, Bradley Beaver was also about strutting his stuff.Some guys doing some juggling which was very good.Valhalla.Main Entrance.Overall we had a really quiet afternoon with virtually no queues on any rides except Infusion with a 5 minute queue, most rides like the ghost train, alice etc were all walk on.

If you want to use any photographs on this blog please get in touch paul@ridemad.com im quite happy to share and have high resolution copies of everything used, to see the complete gallery visit the Ridemad Gallery

Thanks for Reading.