I was recently chosen as a Day Out with Thomas “Mommy Reporter.” I was able to take my whole family to spend a day with Thomas and friends. We went to the Union, IL station to visit Thomas. This was our second trip there. We went once before Little Man was born. It was really the perfect age for him to experience the choo choo! The day started off rough with me not being able to find my tickets and then Buddy’s first football game got rained out. I wasn’t even sure if we’d be able to enjoy the Thomas festivities because of the rain. Luckily when we got on the road the rain stopped. We got there and checked in and started taking advantage of all the fun things for the kids to do. Here’s a list of activities they have:
- 20-minute ride with Thomas the Tank Engine™
- Meet Sir Topham Hatt™
- Clowns
- Puppet Shows
- Magic Shows
- Live Music
- Thomas & Friends™ Storytelling and Video Viewing
- Thomas & Friends Playtable
- Balloon Animals
- Thomas & Friends Coloring
- Temporary Tattoos of Island of Sodor Friends
The kids loved playing mini golf. That’s Little Man’s favorite activity. He plays by his own rules, though, so you’d better watch out! The older two enjoyed the huge sand pile but Little Man wouldn’t go near it. Monkey was acting just like a Monkey and scaring me half to death with her dare devil moves on the giant mountain of sand! They all got tattoos on their arms and Little Man still won’t let me scrub at it enough to take it off. He’s proud of his Thomas tattoo. (He actually had to get a second one while we were there because his first one didn’t stay on. Seems this second one wants to stay for life.) Because of the weather we were late for our train ride so we had to hang around three hours 
before we could get on the next train; all the others were full. Please be sure to arrive at least 30 minutes, if not an hour before your ride so you can get to the train and get in line before boarding time. The people working the train were very nice and helpful. They let us know that if were to ride in the last two cars of the train we’d actually be able to see Thomas pulling us. The ride is about 20 minutes start to finish. Thomas pulls you about 10 minutes one way and then pushes you back the way you came. While we were waiting for our ride we went on the treasure hunt. You had to visit four places on a map in order to get a special prize at the end. We also sat down to watch a clown show. I hate to say it, but it was the worst clown show I’ve ever seen. I could have done better magic tricks and I don’t do magic! The kids were pretty bored during the show, although when asked they said they liked it. They have food and drinks for sale. We bought a bucket of lemonade and two trays of nachos. (Grandma and two of the cousins were there to share in the fun and food.) After we left there we went to the same restaurant we went to a few years ago for dinner. It’s at Donely’s Wild West Town in Union, IL. I can’t remember the name of the restaurant but it didn’t impress me for the second time. I thought the food was very overpriced for what it was and the service kinda stunk. I wished we had planned better, though, to take the kids to Wild West Town after Thomas. Maybe next summer I’ll take them to visit. It looks like it has some fun family stuff there.
Overall we had a great Day Out with Thomas. The weather cooperated and the kids had a blast. I would say that it’s best for kids maybe 5 and under. At least with my kids that was when they were really interested in Thomas and trains in general. Tickets run around $18 per person and anyone that has reached their second birthday needs a ticket. It can get a bit pricey when you have a large family. You can buy your tickets on TicketWeb.
Disclosure: I was given tickets to go see Thomas and report about my experience with my family. All opinions are my own. No compensation was given.
