Day Out With Thomas

The Little Guy is all boy — he loves airplanes, cars, and trains. So, when a Day Out with Thomas came rolling into town, I thought it would be a great opportunity for him to enjoy this day.
This year, the event took place the weekends of April 6 – 7 and 13 – 14. We went during the first weekend.
We headed out there in the afternoon and it was hot! Very hot! Other families were already done for the day and headed home. There is a free parking lot and you can either walk or take the free shuttle to the museum where the event is held outdoors. There are a few tents with activities for your children — temporary tattoos, face painting, airbrush art, spin art, coloring, story time, Legos, and Thomas and Friends train sets. There’s also a clown show where he does balloon art. Outdoor activities include a bounce house, miniature golf, and a bean bag toss. The highlight of the activities would be the miniature train ride! Adults and kids can ride this and anyone who grew up watching «Silver Spoons» will know exactly what I’m talking about. The big seller is seeing a life-​size Thomas the Train engine and getting a photo with him. Sir Topham Hatt is also available for pictures. When you’re on the big train ride, they give you a map that encourages you to get four stamps to get your free prize. I would have preferred if we got this map when we entered the area since we had visited all the tents ahead of time. We had to backtrack to get all the stamps for the prize.
We spent about four hours there and only left because it was closing time. There was a minimal wait for the activities, but I think it was because it was the afternoon. I heard that it was a lot more crowded in the earlier times.
Tickets are $ 16/​pp. I pre-​ordered them, so with service fees and all, it came out to almost $ 20/​person. When you pre-​order them, you can pick the time you ride the Thomas the Train engine. Tickets were still available at the location. I was under the impression that everyone needed a ticket to attend the event, but now I’m not so sure. It appears that maybe you only need a ticket to ride the big train?
There is food available for sale, but we never checked out what kind of food it was. There are a couple of fast food places that aren’t too far either.
Overall, if your kid loves Thomas the Train, bring them. If your kid loves trains in general, I think they would still love it. Something to go to next year? Depends on how much fun your kid had at this one.