Drayton Manor Magical Christmas, Top Marks for the Park, Must do better for the Hotel

There is no doubt, that for any child of a certain age – and certain of their dads, a trip to Thomas Land at Drayton Manor Theme Park is several dreams come true. For my son Joe, at 2¾ and a Thomas fanatic, almost word perfect on the Theme tune and able to identify every engine at 100 yards. He was beyond excitement as we checked in to the Parks own Hotel the night before..

This though is where you were reminded – as if a glance out of the window didn’t already confirm – that you were in Britain where generally good customer service is the exception rather than the rule. Having used Theme Park hotels in the States, the clear intention there is for staff to maintain if not ramp up significantly the excitement levels, furnish you with every detail and every park map you need to ensure those levels remain.

The UK model exercised, amongst other by Drayton Manor is to knock all excitement out of you, leave you having to eek out every detail you might need, such as what time the park opens, what rides will be open, do any of the bars have Sky Sports (ok that was just me) whilst being as downbeat as possible. Even a simple request as to the location of the lifts (they are out of sight at check in) was met with little more than a grunt.

Our room was billed as a family room but was actually an executive room.  In my experience an family room is light and airy, colourful perhaps and built for families. They are not executive rooms, dark wood, soul-less and just a little tired. Parts came off in your hand in the bath and shower, windows had a weird catch the like we had never seen before which took an age to close…. This room becomes a family room exclusively by virtue of the number of beds available.  It is of course true that Thomas themed rooms are available, at a premium, sadly none were available at the time of booking.

Having had a hectic day already and then travelling down from Yorkshire, Joe was exhausted and by 7pm was in his bed, time for the grown-ups to order food and some drinks to the room, we should have known better, cold and tasteless. That’s the food.

So breakfast the next morning and we are all excited, trying to get Joe to eat, too giddy.. and then…darkness. Oh no Drayton Manor haven’t paid their ‘leccy bill. Actually it seems the whole area, including the Theme Park has suffer a power cut, so the already luke warm food was chilling nicely, no toasters, no juice machines… We retreated to the playground outside as several families had waiting on news.

THOMAS LAND IS OPEN! the cry goes up, power is restored. and like the first day of the Next sale, the families drop everything and dash towards the park…

For this Christmas season much of Drayton is closed but of key interest to the little Santa believers, Thomas land is a collection of Thomas the Tank engine themed rides almost all suitable for the younger end such as Joe. As we walked down, we came across The Fat Controller, himself walking to take up his duties.  Joe was thrilled as he spoke to him, excited beyond belief. And then, there it is, first glimpse of Winston, the controllers car on his whistle stop tour ride and then there is Harold the Helicopter, Scruff, Captain, Flynn, the troublesome trucks, all of Joes favourites right there, going through their paces in preparation for opening.
 
And then spotted in the distance, chugging his way into Knapford station… its Thomas, with his Rudolph red nose, antlers and fairly lights, the smile on Joe’s face was priceless, the rides are now open..

Flynns Fire Rescue
This is a ride that suffers seasonally, in summer I imagine its great fun standing on the back of Flynn and squirting water at a ‘burning’ building as you go round. In winter its decided that it would be too cold for water and so it is a largely pointless exercise though thanks to our child’s imagination and ‘pretend’ hoses he enjoys it so much that both Mum and Dad get a turn on the ride.

Jeremy Jets Flying Academy
A great ride for the little ones, taking controls of a plane – well you can send it up or down – Joe tells me we are flying to the sunshine and swimming pools. We must be horrendously delayed as we never got there.

Captains Sea Adventure
Sit in Captain and beam the spotlights into the water  (see, its search and rescue) whilst spinning around – a little faster than we anticipated but Joe is unfazed and this was a contender for a second ride

Blue Mountain Engines
A simple ride based on the smaller trains like Skarloey etc.. a basic sit and go round but again because of the characters its great fun for the little ones.

Winston’s Whistle-stop Tour.
An aerial car ride, giving your little on the chance to drive Winston on  an inspection of Sodor, there is an amusing in car commentary which adds to the fun and the tour offers great views across the park

Sodor Classic  Cars
Directly underneath Winston and a tenuous link as how many times do you see cars on Sodor, especially of this vintage. Again the little ones get to drive along this guided track through the farm land. Again one that Joe wanted to do twice..

Harold’s Helicopter Tours
Again an aerial roundabout type ride but again one that thills as they fly Harold while Mum and Dad relax in the back

Ladys Carousel
One of the most sedate rides suitable for even the very youngest.. Daisy and her carriages on a small roundabout 

Diesels Locomotive Mayhem
One of the rides that Joe had most fun on, especially as he got to go on xx. Travelling around in a figure of eight, so many near crashes and close misses. 

Carousel
Joe has always loved these big old fashioned carousels and again this was one he did twice

Finally we visited the Castle for (another) meeting with Santa, our appointment was 2pm but we were accommodated early, that said that is and nearly always is apparently a 15minute wait. There is nothing to see or do during this wait which is a missed opportunity. Finally you are split into two queues behind closed doors and alternately families are led through into a corridor with several doors, green and red lights above them. Now the adult cynic might say there were , shock several Santa’s at play here, controlling safe entry via a red and green entry system. That said, our particular Santa, though not as old as I would have expected by now, was highly personable, very friendly and coaxed all the relevant info out of Joe. 

The present were a bit of a let-down, a corporate Elf cuddly toy, the slide in the pound against the euro and dollar seems to have hit Santa too this year.

There were other things we just didn’t have the time or inclination to do, we didn’t actually take the very short train ride up to the zoo etc.. seemed like too much time was wasted queuing Nor did we visit the Zoo, there aren’t a great many animals and the key Christmas attractions are the Reindeers which can be seen as you exit the Castle. The Troublesome Trucks ride is a small scale roller coaster and not suitable for small children, I quite fancied it but this was a special day for our Son, a treat before he stops being an only child! Tobys Tram Experience, Cranky Crane, Bertie Bus are all more vigorous rides and not suitable for our little one but look good fun for those a little older.

As we climbed into our car for the journey back up North, Joe couldn’t stop chattering about his favourite rides and wanting to tell Nana all about it. Ten minutes later he was fast asleep. Joe will take some lovely memories away from this, it really is perfect, as Parent we too took immense joy in seeing his enjoyment but the visit was tainted by the poor service and accommodation at the Hotel which had massively increased the cost of our visit.

The winter season continues and we thoroughly recommend you visit if you are so inclined but select from a range of offsite accommodation unless you can get a themed rood. We only wish we had..