Monday, October 28, 2013

A day out with Thomas the tank engine at Puffing Billy

A Day Out With Thomas The Tank Engine at Puffing Billy

We have talked about going to Puffing Billy since having Marley, but never really got around to it... I had heard about Thomas at Puffing Billy and thought that Mace would dig it, so booked with some friends and their little boys... All in all, it was a good day, there were pros and cons of course, it sort of felt that it could do with a bit of an organisational and customer service overhaul...


My first tip is to print two sets of tickets if you have 2 children, so you can separate if you desire... They aren't always staunch about checking tickets in the non train ride section, but it is inconsistent, and I prefer to be able to comply with the rules... So we had to show tickets at the face painting for Marley, and the boys were going to get seats at the pantomime, we needed tickets for both! Luckily I had my email saved and showed the pantomime people that to get in...


The train ride was the highlight, 20 minutes on a train with open windows, pulled by Thomas... The best tip I have here is sit on the same side as you enter for the best views! Rolling hills, lots of greenery... 


The pantomime was boring as can be... It was completely uninteresting for all 4 of us, and the seating is organised in such a way that if you are at the far right of the stage, you catch about an 8th of the show... Complete waste of time!


The jumping castle and animals were a nice add on, what kid doesn't like those!?! And the face painting was a bit hit and miss... Marley wanted a rainbow unicorn, I knew it could be a stretch and had seen some lovely butterflies, so I suggested that the artist (?) do something else... Unfortunately she didn't think unicorn was above her expertise, she was wrong! It looked like a dinosaur drawn by Marley, it was embarrassingly bad!


The staff were mostly abrasive, car park staff aside... It felt that they were doing us a favour by being there... Lots of bad communication over crossing the tracks, lots of grumpy faces...




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