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 ride was redesigned during this time and following a soft opening in September 1993 it offically reopened in 1994. The ride was opened by two of the films stars Chief Brody (Roy Scheider) and Brody’s wife (Lorraine Gray)

Out of all the rides and attraction at Universal Studios Jaws is one of those rides I had most looked forward to visiting. Im a huge fan of the Jaws films especially the first one and can still recall with anorak accuracy some of the most famous lines from the film. 

As you have probably guessed Jaws is a boat ride around the make believe Island called Amity, home to Chief Brody.

The theming as you would expect from Universal is fantastic. I’ll start this look at the attraction from the outside, queue line and then a trip on one of the Amity Boats.

One of the most popular images from the film, the bill board advertising the 4th July annual regatta.

The Queueline.

Lots of props.

The island and theming.

One of the many tour boats.

The ride itself goes completely around the Island and back into the loading bay. Along the route you come across various fishy/sharky scares along the way and its almost a guarantee that you will get splashed if you sit on either side of the boat. Although for me the left side was the worst.

I must say the boat drivers/guide on this ride are absolute nuts and no matter how many times they have done this attraction and the script they dont fail to get a feeling of suspence over the visitors, if someone tongue in cheek.  

Previous tour boat or shark attack.

Our first encounter with Jaws.

Were gonna need a bigger boat.

To avoid further attacks we take shelter in a salvage shed.

Flames/gas and electrical cables, never a good combination.

  

Here’s Jaws for a bit more action and the final attack on the boat.

Poor Jaws. but he doesn’t give in.

The trip back into the station.

My opinion on this.

Well for what its worth it is showing it’s age but I still feel its a great attraction that the whole family can enjoy. Initially my children were a bit bothered in case it came near the boat.. but if you have kids and they are slightly nervous just sit them in the middle of the boat.

I sat on the left hand side facing the driver and you seem to get more visibility of Jaws and more action on this side.

I purposely missed out some bits of the ride and the running commentary by the guides, I dont want to spoil this for anyone who hasn’t had a chance to ride this.

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

A bit of History about the ride. The Black hole is a Schwarzkopf Jet star 2 coaster with a length of 1919ft, Height of 44’3 and a duration of 1min 50 seconds. It was originally brought to Alton Towers as the Black hole in 1983 before going through a couple of name changes, New Black Hole, Black Hole 2 and finally back to Black hole again. The ride was closed in 2006.

So finally heres a set of photographs taken in July 2007 from inside the Black Hole Tent at Alton Towers.

From outside, some of the old artwork.

Some of the original theming still hanging about

A bit dark but showing the full dome.

Track lying across the floor

Shot of the cars.

Clearly showing the supports still in place.

The ride cars.

Control systems

The loading bay, still pretty much intact.

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.