Our Experience with Day Out With Thomas at Roaring Camp Railroads in Felton, California

Thank you to Day Out With Thomas for sponsoring today's discussion. I received free tickets to attend a DOWT event for with my family. However, this is my completely honest opinion and may be different from yours.

This past week we headed to the California Central Coast for a few days of relaxing family fun. After hanging out as beach bums for a couple days at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, we had the pleasure of switching gears on Friday. We went with total Thomas immersion for Buddy with the Day Out With Thomas event at Roaring Camp Railroads in Felton, California. {Day Out With Thomas will still be in Felton the weekend of August 2-4! For more event locations, check here.}

Upon arrival we were given a map with an event schedule to keep up with all the fun things to do. The main event was the ride with Thomas which lasted 25 minutes. It was incredibly fun for Buddy (despite the look on his face!), and going through the Redwoods of the Santa Cruz Mountains was beautiful.

 

Other than having a specific time of departure for our train ride with Thomas at 11:45am, we had free reign before and after to participate in The Imagination Station activities.

Along with these activities there was also face painting, a Thomas theater with Thomas videos, storytelling, bounce houses, a bubble station, a magic/juggling show, and of course, shopping for Thomas and Friends toys and gear.

Perhaps one of the most anticipated parts of the whole day for some kids is getting to meet Sir Topham Hatt! Buddy completely chickened out so we didn't get to see him. Poor kid had been talking about this day for weeks. But when it came down to it and actually being there, he was totally overwhelmed for most of the day. Hence, the lack of smiling photos! All he wanted to do was play at the train tables, but there were only two trains at each of the tables (there were five tables or so) which was hard with so many kids there. However, I'm sure you can see how easy it is to spend a whole day at this event. We were there from about 10:45 to 3.

I highly recommend arriving at any Day Out With Thomas event as soon as they open and before the crowds roll in. Since we arrived an hour before our scheduled train departure (11:45 am), we were able to participate in a few activities while there waited. When we returned from our train ride the crowd had doubled! However, Buddy eased up after the train ride and wasn't in such a mood so he wanted to do more activities that he didn't want to do earlier. Overall he loved the whole experience and is already talking about next year!

Roaring Camp Railroads also has lots to see in itself, from the General Store to their other trains and historical areas. It felt like we had stepped back in time a bit!

This was a steam engine that apparently came from Hawaii and only runs during Day Out With Thomas every year. It ran just a short way to the far parking lot and back about every ten minutes. Buddy insisted on riding it a couple times, just because. He was officially on cloud nine after such a train-filled day.

Are you going to be in the Santa Cruz area this weekend? Day Out With Thomas will be running for one more weekend, August 2-4! Otherwise, Roaring Camp Railroads has a couple train ride options, including a Beach Train that goes all the way down the mountain to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk. We're hoping to ride that one next time we visit the California Central Coast!