Liam and Gibson: Day Out with Thomas

Yesterday (March 28) all four of us went to Grapevine to an event called Day Out with Thomas. Liam has been OBSESSED with Thomas and his friends since last summer. Thomas only comes around once a year, so we had to wait until now for Liam to see his favorite train in person.

Trying to do anything fun with Liam these days is hit or miss. The likelihood of a meltdown that ruins the day is usually pretty high. We knew we couldn't pass up this opportunity, though, and decided the risk was worth it. We went on a Friday afternoon on purpose. That way it wouldn't be as crowded and the kids would mostly be preschool age since school would be in at the time. Our assumptions were correct, and a chance of rain made for a very sparse crowd.

We got to downtown Grapevine and parked within walking distance of the event. (I bet it's much crazier today on the weekend.) The event is set up like a small Thomas-themed fair. There was a tent with train tables for playing, an entertainer making balloon animals and singing, a large model train set up for viewing, a couple of fair food stands (think funnel cake and corn dogs), a petting zoo, and a small train ride. There was also a blacksmith working, but I think that is part of the vintage feel of the Grapevine rail depot and always there. Of course, there was also the full-sized train ride with Thomas at the front and a chance for kids to meet and have their picture taken with Sir Topham Hatt, the controller of the railway on the island of Sodor.

Walking up to the depot, we could see Thomas from across the street. Liam's eyes lit up and the huge smile on his face while he exclaimed, "It's Thomas!" was worth it all. He was seriously very happy to see Thomas.

Once we were in the event, the first place we went was the tent with lots of train tables set up. Real estate was valuable in this place and the toy trains were pretty much all taken. It was difficult for Liam to find a train to play with and a spot he was happy with. It was full of toddlers and preschoolers who haven't learned how to suppress the urge to grab something out of someone's hand if they see something they want. So Liam had trains taken right out of his hand twice (by the same girl!), and both times resulted in Liam screaming and running out of the tent crying. He has just recently started an extremely bad habit of running away if he gets upset, which is not good at all in a public situation. Will caught him and calmed him down, and Liam still wanted to play. Thankfully, he did find a couple of trains to play with that were not taken from him. The situation made me tense. Little kids are so grabby! Liam was definitely not the only kid having a tough time in there.

We finally convinced him to move on out of that tent, so we looked at the model train for a few minutes. Of course Liam was upset that he couldn't touch it. Pretty soon after that, it was time to get in line for our ride on the big train. Once we found our seats in the vintage coach, Liam started getting super squirmy. The only way to keep him seated was to give him snacks. I'm not sure if snacks were allowed, but they didn't tell us they weren't! Finally the train started moving down the track...slowly. The train ride goes about 10 minutes down the line and then goes back to the station. So you end up sitting backwards for half the ride. There wasn't much to look at on the ride: mainly just trees without leaves, some houses, and you can see the Gaylord Texan and Great Wolf Lodge off in the distance. Pretty underwhelming, but we were riding on Thomas! Unfortunately, I don't think Liam was impressed at all by it.

After the train ride, we walked over to get a closer look at Thomas. There was a line where you could get an "official" picture taken with Thomas, but we opted for just looking on from the side. Liam did not want his picture taken at that point. There were also some large pictures of trains set up, and I tried to get Liam to take a picture in front of one of them, but he wasn't into it. I think I got one of him just kicking the dirt in front of it. We then walked down to see Sir Topham Hatt. Liam and Will took a picture with him and Liam got a sticker. After that, we all took a ride on the little train set up on a grassy area, and looked at the petting zoo. We opted to not let Liam go in with the animals. Maybe next year!

The last thing for us to do there was visit the Thomas gift shop. They had Thomas everything! Liam immediately started grabbing items like he was on a Nickelodeon Super Toy Run in 1992. We reeled him back in and Will held him while we looked around. We ended up getting a 2 DVD set that came with two rare wooden trains for a great deal. We also got him a Day Out with Thomas freight car, but it's a 2012 model so it was really cheap!

All in all, we had a fun time at Day Out with Thomas. There was minimal whining and complaining from Liam, but he wasn't really enthusiastic about it all either (except for the first sighting of Thomas and all the merch!). It was still worth going. If Liam is still into Thomas next year, we may very well go again. I'd say we could skip the real train ride (which isn't cheap) and just go to the event (which is free), but I'm sure once we got there, he would insist on riding the train! I'm marking this one in the success column.