Over the past ten years, Drayton Manor Park has given more than half a million visitors 280 days of Magical Christmas memories, including 159,600 Father Christmas meet and greets, and endless magical moments.  This year, the festive celebration is set to be better and more magical than ever before, as the popular family attraction celebrates a decade of fantastic festive fun, and tickets are now on sale!

On Saturday 18^th November we arrived for a full and fun day of Christmas fun. We put on our festive dresses and #Elfie headbands.

The girls were so excited, they enjoyed the #DraytonsMagicalChristmas 2016 so much, and this year was no let down!

The girls still loved the ‘Accelerator’ ride and they must have been on this 6 times in total through out the day.

They remembered the ice skating from last year and spent a good half an hour on the 'ice'. I hurt my knee last week, so I gave this one a miss! It was great that this year our girls were both old enough to go on everything with out mum and dad tagging on.

There were hardly any queues for the rides and the staff were excellent. Special mention to the man on the Carousel who asked the girls lots of questions and told us all about himself.

He was so friendly and it was lovely to talk to someone who really enjoyed their job.

Drayton’s Magical Christmas is truly the ultimate magical experience.

Thomas Land™ is still fine for the girls age 7 and 8 and I would bring them next year and possibly the year after.  They love the train and are still young enough to like some of the bigger rides.

On a normal day there might not be quite enough to entertain this age group, but the Christmas season offers so much more. Also for the first year the girls were able to go on everything themselves, and they enjoyed this alot!

The decoration of Thomas Land is always super, it’s a real winter wonderland, with guaranteed snow showers up to three times a day.

Not to mention sparkling decorations as far as the eye can see, plus live shows and magical festive music, sure to get all the family feeling very merry! 

Of course, no Christmas would be complete without meeting the main man himself, the entrance to see Santa is through the enchanted Castle of Dreams. This give the whole Santa experience a fantastic vibe, right from the moment they approach!

We have enjoyed meeting Father Christmas at Drayton for the last 2 years and he is always engaging and totally realistic.

He asked the girls questions, made them feel special, had a photo with them and  gave them a lovely gift. I won’t spoil the surpise.... this but it was good value, and included a Golden ticket offer to return later in the 2018 season.

One leaving Santa the girls enjoyed having their faces painted and walking thought a winter street.

A massive 30-foot Christmas always takes centre stage at Drayton and it plays music throughout the day and looks fantastic at night once the lights are on.

Those looking to take a break from the hustle and bustle of the park can visit the 15-acre Zoo, home to over 750 animals of 130 different species from all over the world.  Visitors can learn all about the exciting conservation projects that the Zoo is actively involved in and meet new arrivals, Kit and Leo, twin baby Cotton-Top Tamarins, Red Pandas, Tika and Pema and the baby Tapir, Obie!

This area also contains a dinosaur area, Poppy is still loves dinosaurs and always enjoys a photo with them.  Next to this there is a huge playground, we didn’t spend any time here, as there is just so much to see, but if you wanted to eat a packed lunch this area would be perfect.

Each day of Magical Christmas will end in style, thanks to a dazzling fireworks display that the whole family is sure to love and will even get the biggest scrooge in the festive spirit!

Those looking to turn their festive day out into a magical trip can enjoy a relaxing stay at the 4 Star Drayton Manor Hotel. Set in the grounds of the park, the 148 room hotel has a selection of packages available over the Christmas period including Thomas & Friends themed rooms with Thomas goody bag and Character Breakfast***. For more information, please visit, www.draytonmanorhotel.co.uk

To book tickets, or for more information about the park, visit www.draytonmanor.co.uk or call 0844 472 1950. Reduced prices are available for tickets bought in advance. For regular updates and news about Drayton Manor Park join it on Twitter www.twitter.com/Draytonmanor and Facebook www.facebook.com/DraytonManorPark

What to do with the kids went along to the grand opening of the new James and the Red Balloon ride at Thomas Land in Drayton Manor Park.

Lowri - 7 and Heath - 6 had a great time in Thomas Land, which was a great replica of the island of Sodor. I was very impressed with the rides, which were great for tots as well as my two.

Staff were all really helpful and pleasant; we heard ‘enjoy your day’ plenty of times during our trip. They were also very safety cautious - checking the height of children thoroughly.

We ventured out of Thomas Land and enjoyed a full day roaming around the park, enjoying plenty of rides – as  Heath is a smidge under 1.2m I accompanied him on some of the bigger rides but there wasn’t much he couldn’t go on (apart from the adult rides).

The zoo, dinosaur and park area were great, it was nice to break up the rides with a walk round and gets the kids moving and interacting. We caught the mini railway back to Thomas Land a few times and kept revisiting parts of the park and helping to avoid queues.

The 4d cinema of Yogi Bear was a great laugh with blasts of wind, splashes of water and bumpy seats! Plus, it warmed us up after a chilly start to the morning.

In terms of the other stuff - clean loos, easy to park, good selection of food and places to picnic if you brought your own lunch.

Overall, an ideal Theme Park for smaller children – we were there from the first to the last ride and I felt it gave real value for money in terms of having all the rides and a zoo.

Thumbs up from What to do with the kids, a really great day out had by all!

We arrived at Drayton Manor at midday with two very excited girls.  We were straight into Thomas Land where right from the word go there was plenty of Christmas Magic!  The bells were ringing and the buildings were topped with snow.  The music was festive and just the right volume for the kids to skip along to.

Evie and Poppy got straight onto the carousel, always a winner with these two.  Poppy chose to ride a chicken and Evie chose a beautiful horse.

Both girls were a little disappointed at first that some the big rides were shut, but actually for us (Evie 7 & Poppy 6) there was more than enough to keep us occupied for 6 hours, and actually I wished we had arrived a little earlier.

This was our first trip to the park and we were not disappointed. I loved the fact that the whole family could go on all the rides and enjoy them together - for the age of my girls this park was perfect. 

Make sure you wrap the kids up well as most of the activities are outdoors. I took Evie hand and foot warmers and she definately needed them, as we stayed until the very end of the day. Drayton Manor has really thought about parents, facilities include a covered picnic area, lots of reasonably priced cafes, clean spacious toilets and for families with buggies there is plenty of parking at the rides. 

We managed to go on all the rides that were running apart from the helicopter ride and the fire-engine ride. But, I had put these to the back of the day as they look a little tame for my kids.

Evie and Poppy really enjoyed Ben 10, Ultimate Mission Coaster it was just the right amount of fast and scary…and, we went on it 5 times over the day!

The Polar Express 4-D Experience was a 15-minute film, it was worth watching and gave us a chance to rest ready for the next activity. Glide and Slide skating is included in the entrance price, which is reasonable, especially if you book in advance. If you can skate don’t think you’re going to be showing off your skills on here though…it impossible to actually skate normally. But,  if you are 6 and usually can’t event stand up on the ice at a rink then you are going to love this. Evie and Poppy spent 30 minutes on here and loved every minute. 

Poppy has always loved Dinosaurs and really enjoyed the Dinosaur trail, insisting on have a photo with most of them.

The highlight was a trip to the Magic Castle. We were given a time for this when we first arrived, so at our allotted time we had no queue and were in to see Santa straightaway. The Elves were friendly and fun and Santa was charming and very lovely. He didn’t rush and took time to speak to each of the girls in turn. On our way out he sang a Christmas little song and chucked to himself. …brilliant touches that really made the experience special. The gifts were good quality and included an Elf for your shelf and a golden coin.

On leaving Santa we had a second walk around the zoo and it was nice to see all the animals settling in for the night.  We left the zoo just in time for the Parade, this included a nice story about a young girl traveling on a train to see her aunt, with singing around a very impressive and tall festive Christmas tree and fireworks over the lake and Magic Castle to end the evening.

The whole day was filled with great photo opportunities and moments the kids will remember right through the season.  We all agreed Drayton Manor really had given us a great day out and had really delivered in their promise of a Magical Christmas!

 #MagicalChriatmas 

www.draytonmanor.co.uk/magical-xmas