Last weekend we were very lucky that Ethan’s Nana and Pappy took us to see Thomas the Tank Engine and his friends at the East Anglian Railway Museum.
The day started with a bit of a queue to get into the museum as everyone was buying tickets to enter. Ethan doesn’t like queueing and Nana has already purchased tickets online, but there were no signs to say they you didn’t have to queue if you had pre-purchased tickets. The waiting caused Ethan to get a little distressed as he doesn’t understand the concept of queueing, this is an autistic trait and one that some places are starting to accommodate. Unfortunately when I commented on the fact that we had to wait and it was causing some distress I didn’t get a very understanding response. It was more along the lines of that children have to learn how to wait. Now I’m not expecting everyone in the world to be autism aware, I do think it is something we should really aim for, but we had pre-purchased tickets to minimise Ethan’s distress and I don’t think that the museum had really made allowances for this choice.
The East Anglian Railway Museum is situated on a siding of a real working train track, and they run four trains on Thomas days, Thomas, Percy, Toby and Daisy. You can ride all of the trains as many times as you wish, but because of the amount of track the museum has the trains just go up and down the tracks a few times for each ride. You do have to wait for the trains, as running all four trains has to be timed perfectly, and the rides are short and sweet but its perfect for toddlers and small children.
When we arrived we spotted Toby first and is wasn’t long before he was going to set off so we got on the train ready to go.
We knew that Ethan wouldn’t benefit from any of the activities but he did take a look around the imagination station and really enjoyed looking at all of the books and playing with the toy train sets.
After four hours we decided to call it a day as we were all getting tired from the heat. As we left Ethan was given a goody bag and he was even given a certificate during the day to say that he had been to visit Thomas.
We all really enjoyed our day and Ethan coped really well with all he the waiting that he had to do. As long as he is kept moving and has lots to look at we can normally cope with the queueing issues. I think we would visit Thomas again.
A very big thank you to Nana and Pappy for taking us to see Thomas and his friends.
What a great day out. Think Toby would be my favourite. It is a shame when you pre-pay not to have a quick entry. We have a similiar issue at Blenheim with an annual passes – always end up in a long queue when it seems there should be a quicker way to just zap our cards as we pass through.
I really do think they should give you this option, otherwise what is the point of pre-pay ;0)
That is such a lovely post. I’m glad Ethan enjoyed it, though not very good about how unsympathetic they were about the queueing 🙁
Thomas used to come to a steam railway near us and I used to love taking the boys. I think I was as excited as them to Actual Thomas coming down the line!
It really was a great day out. We may look at doing this again at a different location as I know some places Thomas does take you to a different location for the day. It’s on our list of things to do, as well as saving up for it of course lol.
That looks like a great place for Thomas fans – Little Mr A is a bit past the Thomas stage now but he would probably still enjoy it!
There was kids of all ages, and they all looked like they were having fun. I loved seeing the steam engines, a totally different way to travel :0)
What a super day out for Thomas mad children! Such a shame about the waiting considering Nana had pre-purchased the tickets. I can see Ethan had a great day and you have some lovely family photos to cherish. Thanks for linking up and sharing your train adventures with Country Kids.
He did enjoy it, I do hope we can do something like this again :0)
This sounds great, for a Thomas mad kid it must be heaven! Love the photos of you all with Ethan, lovely memories. #CountryKids
Thank you :0)
Ah we keep meaning to go there, with our train-mad toddler and his little brother. Reading this has definitely inspired me to get a date in the diary for it 🙂
I hope you do get to go, I’m sure they will enjoy it.
awww how lovely. Sounds a fabulous day. He looks so happy bet he was on a high after meeting so many of the Thomas gang. I’ve seen rides on tracks with Thomas advertised across the country and would love to take my girls. Think I may have to now! x
It really was a nice day, we have been looking at the different places you can do it as they all offer different things.
What a busy day on the trains! My wee man would love it!
It was busy, I never expected to be able to go on four trains during our visit.