Thomas Time

At the beginning of April, Zachary got to meet one of his heroes - Thomas the Tank Engine. Chad and I opted not to tell him about it before hand. I wasn't sure if he would freak out on us or get so excited that he was a mess.

So we parked and took a little white shuttle to the hoopla area. As we were driving over in the shuttle, Zachary saw Thomas. The look was wonderful -- surprise, disbelief, and shock. As soon as we got off the shuttle and wandered into the Thomas Wonderland, we made our way to the station so that Z could see Thomas. Bad timing on our part, Thomas was pulling away and Z was soooooo upset. "NOOOOoo I want to ride Thomas!" Oops. We finally convinced him that Thomas would be back and he could ride later.

Going into this festivities, I thought the tickets were very pricing. $18 per person?? For the three of us that was $54 plus tax and Ticket master fees etc. The ride itself was supposed to be 25 mins long. I was so skeptical. Lots of money for little time.

I was pleasantly surprised that most everything was free. The shuttle to and from parking, the live kiddie band, the jump house the tent with toys to play, tattoos, the video and story building, all were included with the price of the train ride. There was of course a souvenir shop that Zachary was not allowed to go into for fear we'd never leave.

The food was the carnival type -- both style and pricing -- but Z had the biggest corn dog his little eyes had ever seen.

He played in a tent with about 100 other little kids trying all to grab an engine and push along the track. It was crazy. He loved it though because he played with engines he doesn't normal play with or have. Smart on the Thomas peoples end cuz now he wants them.

We finally waited in a long zigzag line to board Thomas - Z was impatient because he thought we were going the wrong way and was frustrated. He didn't want to miss him again. Once we were on and settled - he was so excited. He decided we were riding in Clarabel (not sure why not Annie but I don't question these things) and sat back for the ride. We got to go over a bridge - wahoo - much excitement. Z also handed over his tickets to the conductor to be punched like we were on a real train. What a happy boy!!

About ten minutes into it, the train stopped and reversed and went back the way we came. Back to my $18 per person for what argument. However before we got back to the station, Z was done with the train. He was bored and ready to go play again. It seems those Thomas people actually knew what they were doing. 20 mins is plenty of time on a train for a 3 year old.

Then I made Chad and Z stand in line to get his picture with Thomas. Z just wanted to go back to the tent and play. We waited about 20 mins (ironic that was the length of the train ride) but I got my sweet picture!

We let him play a little more in the tent and then took the white shuttle bus back to the car. We had been there about 2 1/2 hrs and it was way past nap.

If you ask Zachary if he had a good time, he will say "Yes! And I got to ride in the white bus!"