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This is a brilliant post by Bex about the expansion of Thomas Land at Drayton Manor. Having been ourselves at Christmas with friends and loved it, we are excited that they have made it bigger and even better.  Bex describes herself as a Northern Mummy, living a Midland life. Late 20s, mother of 2 kiddies and 1 loony pooch.  Clearly Bex is a fab blog and if you aren’t following her already on twitter you should head over and follow!

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I am very excited to be sharing this fab launch with you, since Lewis was 6 months old he’s had a massive soft spot for Thomas The Tank Engine and still does now aged nearly 6 years old. Even Lewis’s love for Thomas has rubbed off on his sister Leah, they are always playing trains together and even have their own Hornby Thomas “set up” in our loft. Since moving back to the Midlands in August 2013 we have visited Drayton Manor Theme Park a few times so that the kids can visit Thomas Land and spend a day with their favourite characters. The kids have never become tiresome of visiting either, each visit brings something new and magical to them.

In the Summer of 2014 we became aware of a new expansion coming to Thomas Land and we have been eagerly awaiting more details, who was coming to stay and when we could expect to see the new expansion opening. Well today this all happened as we were invited along for the launch of the new Thomas Land Expansion.

The new area has been expanded to the left of Thomas Land thus keeping it all close by easier for young legs but also creating a bit of space to take in the new sights and sounds of Sodor. 2 existing rides have been relocated into the expansion and 3 new rides have been added, Captains Sea Adventure, Flynn’s Fire Rescue and Toby’s Tram Express.

Unfortunately Toby suffered a couple of technical glitches and spent most of the day looking like this.

With Toby not having a very good day he spent majority of the day being repaired but because Thomas Land has so much more to offer this was a minor set back to our day as we still enjoyed all the other rides which were on offer.

The new expansion not only consists of 3 new rides but a whole array of new buildings including a cafe which is located inside the Sodor Airport, a station platform, a bandstand and much more, attention to detail really has been taken into account which is fantastic as it keeps the dream alive for young children.

After taking in the sights, having a look at the new rides, sampling all the popcorn, ice cream and candy floss on offer it was then time for the initial launch of the new park by the Fat Controller and Managing Director of Drayton Manor. We were then introduced to all the teams involved in the making of the new expansion and to Freddie who completed the initial tests, after which we were able to go and sample the new rides before the general public.

First of all we headed straight for the Captain’s Sea Adventure Ride where Leah (not me, honest!!) basically enjoyed squirting water at everyone who got in her way, then afterwards we had a go of Flynn’s Fire Rescue where Lewis enjoyed squirting water at the fire whilst Leah enjoying having a drive in Flynn. As mentioned earlier Toby didn’t have a good day but all was not lost as I grabbed some video footage for you to see at the end of this review so you can see for yourself how his ride operates.

Then Leah insisted on riding the other 2 relocated rides, which were the Blue Mountain Engines and Jeremy Jet’s Flying Academy. One thing we have noticed is that Merrick has now joined the Blue Mountain Engines on their ride which was good to see.

The kids really have enjoyed the new expansion to Thomas Land and we really look forward to returning again sometime soon and providing some footage of Toby in action.

As promised here is a short video consisting of the expansion layout and the new rides in action;

Finally, to add more excitement to our Thomas Land adventure, LOOK what we found on our way out of Drayton Manor – SSQQUUEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

**This is not a sponsored post, we were invited to Drayton Manor for the launch of the all new Thomas Land Expansion. All words and opinions are my own.