Cutest. Video. Ever.

Ride on Thomas?

No.

So glad im not alone on this one. We too were releived of a considerable amount of cash to visit the Thomas Day Out and they were out of the dang hats when we were there too! How do you run out of the conductor hats!!??

I can't stop laughing! He's too cute!

I'm so glad I was not the only one who had this happen. We went about a month ago and had similar results. You think you are doing so good...and the reward you get is just hell!

Oh. My. Gosh. My two year old son caught me looking at your post. He got so excited about the photos of Thomas and then when I finally decided it was time to move on, all hell broke loose. It's 30 minutes later and he's still on my lap sobbing because I took the Thomas photos away!

I took my then-2-year-old to Day Out with Thomas at Tweetsie Railroad in NC last year, because it was rather conveniently located near my dad's place. Family visit and MAGICAL FUN for my son, all at once!! Right?

Eh, not so much. He thought Thomas LOOKED cool, but didn't really want to ride him, and he flatly refused to have his picture taken with anyone--Thomas, Sir Topham Hatt, Grandpa, you name it. After milling around aimlessly at a park filled to about 250% capacity with a child who was either too small or too cranky to do much of anything, we left, exhausted. Then, of course, my son napped in the car on the hour-long drive back to my dad's, where he refused to nap any longer. . . so no nap for Mama.

Yeah, Thomas can suck it.

The more money you spend on something, the less fun you have. Guess how much fun we're going to have on our $145 trip to Hershey Park next month? NONE. But we're going, anyway, because I got to meet the Hershey Bar when I was 6.

And those are TOTALLY windmills.

ok, you win. I just blogged about the same event and really, your blog, so much better than mine. Going to go stand in a corner now and weep.

And yeah, such a racket.

Ugh, we too have experienced the insanity that is taking children to Day Out With Thomas only to discover it's really just an expensive slow train ride to hell. Our particular event took place 4 years ago, the last week of JULY when it shoud have been 95 degrees, and it turned out to be 55 degrees and pouring down rain and you couldn't actually get to the steps of the train without slugging through standing water. Hell indeed.

Oh my god, we did this last year. What a strange experience. Needless to say we are skipping it this year and instead paying $90.64 on Thomas Live on Stage. Whooohooo. There better be real choo choo and woo wooing.

My son, now 12, would have died at the chance to see Thomas live and in person-OMG I don't think we could have handled it. He was so totally obsessed with Thomas and any trains for that matter from the age of 1. I have crates full of little wooden trains that I am not getting rid of because god dammit that was alot of freakin money and somebody else will play with them by god, chinese paint or not! I swear THOUSANDS of dollars. At least a year of college in those boxes.

Oh dear Gussy! We took our three year old to Thomas last year, but your post describes it so much more eloquently than I ever could! It was Hell. On wheels. We also have a sensory issues little guy, so THAT'S always fun to deal with everywhere we go. *sigh*

OMG. Totally went to Thomas with my 2yr old (and my cousin and her 3 boys <>) He shreeked and jumped on me elbowing my boobs constantly b/c am preggers also and they are gigantic and very sensitive. Also, got to watch out for the play tables, had wild hormone frenzy when a "very mean dad" stole the spencer that my son was pushing from him so his nasty boy (in a fing pirate hat?) could play wtih it. Needless to say, it got ugly.

OMG we did this last year. Our son was calm the whole time for the most part but it was freakin' just as expensive as your tickets which had to be pre ordered. AND our son would not talk about it either afterwards but he still loves trains so no harm, no foul?! We are also choosing NOT to do this again this year. BUT we plan to pay top dollar for front row center seats at the Bob the Builder show coming next year to the Indiana University Auditorium. Oh and we went to Disney World this year. Do you think I should book the therapy sessions NOW?!??!

Oh my...kind of makes me worry about the tickets I bought for the lowercase to ride Thomas this weekend!

Dude, despite your (likely correct) suspicion about it all being a racket, I am still a bit pissed because **I was supposed to be at that thing and f-ing missed it.**

At least Thomas might have taken my kid's mind off of our current food war. I will win. Oh yes, I will. (Won't I?)

PS TO EVERYBODY: So...uh...if you happen to spot an ad from Overstock that appears to be hawking sex toys of any kind, could you do me a huge favor and get a screenshot of it and send to me at amy at amalah dot com? We're trying to turn it off but need a little more info to track it down.

Thanks. You guys are Really Useful Readers! Ha ha! DO YOU SEE WHAT I DID THERE?

OMG! I can't believe you were there yesterday. That would have been so awesome to see you there. My husband was the dork with the full sized video camera and the tiny thomas backback.

That was worse than a trip to a theme park in terms of money spent and my exhaustion at the end of the day. I don't think I'll ever get "The fat controller's railway" out of my head.

You have just described EVER SINGLE expedition we try to take our autistic son on. We go someplace awesome. We spend a bunch of money. Monkey throws a tremendous fucking fit. We stay because Monkey needs to do things and we spent all this money, damn it. Then we all go home pissed.
Thanks for the heads up about Thomas.

Yes, Thomas, I hate that train. I hate the Day Out With Thomas. You can read about our trip last year, and why we decided not to go this year, if you want to, here http://mommastantrum.spaces.live.com/default.aspx?_c01_BlogPart=blogentry&_c=BlogPart&handle=cns!CB53E8DCEBAFE3DD!330 We are just going to stay home and poke our eyes out with the shrimp forks.

Sorry, I just don't get outlaying that much cash for a 2 year old to see a train. Just like I don't get paying tons of cash to get tix to a Hanna Montana concert for your 8 year old. Does any kid or parent actually enjoy this stuff?

Noah would have had the same enjoyment in the Thomas section of Toys R Us and you could have saved $$

Does make a good blog post, though

DS, who is 15 now, LOVED Sesame St. Those muppets were like our 2nd family. This was before he LOVED Thomas. We took him to Sesame Place in Philly. a good 5 hours, hotel overnights, the works. And we got there, SOOOOO excited!!! And the first thing we head to is the giant climb-slide-ropes-tubes-balls contraption. And he's all "nnooooo. Noooo! NOOOOOO!!" And my husband dragged his butt up that jumbo slide and we have preshus video of him screaming his lungs out the entire way down the slide. yup. But then, as soon as he got on solid ground?? "Again? Again!!" of course. But pregnant me had to drag him into wading pools of cavorting little kids and every other fun thing, convincing him of their funness.

ikate - Read the first couple paragraphs of this entry again. That moment right there is why we do it, and that's why we'll do it again and again, for whatever dumb thing will make our kids scream and squeal with total kid joy.

I wasn't going to comment because no one wants to read a "we actually had fun at Thomas day" comment but I'd like Thomas to have at least one positive experience on the board for those keeping score. We took our 2-year-old and had a blast the whole time with the train tables, riding Thomas, etc. I can't tell you why our day was different and I'm sure not going next year because it would be the complete opposite. And in regards to "That moment right there is why we do it, and that's why we'll do it again and again, for whatever dumb thing will make our kids scream and squeal with total kid joy" ... you are so right! We didn't tell our son until we got there and I will treasure that moment forever. His eyes got so big and he got so excited to see Thomas. So worth it. Just want to end by saying to GOOD LUCK to future Thomas day-goers.

Hilarious as always!

We did Thomaspolooza last September for my nephew's birthday. Ours was replete with a petting zoo and magic show as well. And it was hot as balls. BUT, my nephew had a great time--sitting down and getting excited about going to Sodour, spying Cranky and Bertie all along the way. His meltdown came later that day--when his new Thomas goggles were "TOO TIGHT."

I love your line at the end, all "We'll talk about this later."

Noah speaking in tongues is the cutest thing ever. He's so emphatic!

Ahhh...brings back memories of last year when we went. And said we'd NEVER GO AGAIN.

Dylan almost lost his shit when Thomas pulled up though. It was the cutest thing I've ever seen. Didn't get it on video, damnit.

Oh, man. I think it's a requirement of first time parents to do this to their kids at some point. We have a similar tale involving Storyland. Yes, little overstimulated child, you will go on spinning rides and a rollercoaster and have FUN DAMMMIT!

Good thing kids are so elastic, they bounce back :-)

I have spent far too much on so many things and what they remember is feeding stale bread to the ducks at the pond RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET FROM MY HOUSE! Oh well, live and learn.

OH! So this explains why my mom and dad didn't take me to stuff like this when I was little! I don't have kids of my own, so sometimes I have to be reminded. :)

Amy - There is a great discussion concerning sensory integration and the problems kids have in this area at babyshrink.com. (Got her website from Dad Gone Mad and she's GREAT!).

Might have some new/interesting info for you! :)

To all who have had this and similar experiences, I can relate in 2 ways. 1st, taking a toddler to a fireworks show can cause the same instant and long term issues, as I found out.
But second, after being involved with Thomas events for many years, let me say that 1 in 500 kids react this way with Thomas and the train (of course higher numbers in the activity/toys area). But the hosts have little control of pricing for toys or tickets. There are 2 agenda's at work, the promoter's and the host's. And while you spend 3 hours in "hell", the hosts workers spend 12+ hours a day in it, times the number of days. And they try hard to make it as enjoyable as possible, and would like a little for their time and efforts. And inventory is expensive, so you do the best guess estimates you can, so you are not carrying a lot over for the rest of the year.
So folks, try it again some time. Each venue will differ in their approach to things, and you may find one more suited to your tastes. And really, once you're there, you are in control , no matter what the marketing is trying to convince you of. But there is usually a museum trying to raise funds with an event like this, and they try to make it enjoyable and pleasant for everyone. Maybe come back at a quieter time for a hat or toy or a different ride experience, its all up to you.
Just the flip side... Thanks

now i have that damn "their two, their four, their six, their eight" song stuck in my head. we were lucky enough to get out of the thomas day out with the oldest and there is no way i'm paying that much for the triplets so ha! i win. btw- weirdest thomas thing? why are peter fonda and alec baldwin in the movie? seriously? did they need the money that bad?

We took my first son to Day with Thomas in Illinois when he was 2 and I was pregnant. It WAS extremely crowded and a bit drizzly, and the lines were horrendous, but we did have a good time, and found out about the train museum in Union Illinois. We went there on a NON Thomas day and had a BLAST. Hundreds of full size trains to climb in and through, take pictures of and NO ONE to bump into!! I recommend taking him back to the train yard on a Non-Thomas day. He'll probably enjoy it a lot more, and you'll save a bundle, too!

I wanted to laugh and cry reading that post thinking of all that we do for our kids.My oldest now 17 loved Barney as well as Thomas and when Barney was Live at Radio City and sold out I thought how special that I was bringing him. He hated it kicking and screaming as we even entered the building.I only hope that my 2yr old does not have a melt down when we have our Day OUt With Thomas