SingleParentBlagger

Amy and Evan have been desperate to go to Thomas Land at Drayton Manor Theme Park ever since they saw the advert for it on the TV. So when Jo Beaufoix inadvertently let slip in an email that SingleParentDad was organizing a freebie trip to Drayton Manor I lost no time at all in trying to elbow myself onto the guest list.

True, the trip was being organized as a meetup for the Midlands chapter of the British Mummy Blogger Network and I don’t really fit that geographical inclusion criteria. In fact the only way you could classify where I live as “The Midlands” is if you counted Scotland as being merely a Northerly district of England (which lets face it, is every Scot’s secret dream anyhow). But as SingleParentDad had recently announced he and I were in the midst of a “Bromance” I naturally felt he owed me something to make up for the humiliation. It’s not the concept of Bromance itself that upsets me you understand, it’s just the implication that I can’t do any better than him

And anyway, it’s not that hard to pass yourself off as a Midlander. You just slacken your jaw a bit and make your eyes go dead.

SingleParentDad very kindly invited us to come and stay at his house the evening before. I’d not been feeling too well the day before, so had a few reservations about the trip. But I’m really glad we decided risk my dodgy belly as a great time was had by all. Amy Evan, and Max (SingleParentDad’s son) hit it off straight away and lost no time in tearing around the house shrieking and giggling. There was bouncing on trampolines, games of hide and seek, and general gloriously rowdy behavior.

The adults gelled similarly well and the conversation flowed freely and effortlessly (which is unusual for me as I often take a little time to come round). All in all the evening was worth the trip in itself and has produced a real and valuable friendship, at least from Kerry and my perspective anyhow. SingleParentdad is probably composing a cruel and biting character assassination of us for his blog at this very moment.

As for Drayton Manor, I’ve never been to a theme park with the kids on a weekend before, and you can certainly tell the difference. On discussing the trip in the car on the way home we all had differing opinions about what the best part of the day had been, but we were all agreed that the queues had been the worst. Not that that’s Drayton Manor’s fault of course, but if you intend on going with preschool children then I’d advise going on a term time weekday when it’d be more quiet. It’s one thing queuing patiently for an exhilarating thrill ride like Shockwave or Stormforce10, but waiting for twenty minutes with a fractious two year old to get onto Harold’s Helicopter Tour can be a little disheartening.

But queuing aside Dayton Manor was a pretty good place to take a pre-schooler. Not only do you have the presence of Thomas the Tank Engine (which acts like catnip to a certain breed of little boys), but the rides for this age group are a cut above those that are found in other theme-parks I’ve visited.

The Troublesome Trucks Runaway Coaster was really very fun indeed and had a very generous hight restriction policy. I’m not sure if it was good enough to shell out £5 for a on-ride photo mind you, but seeing as though SingleParentMug was kind enough to email me a scan of his I didn’t have to.

What was also good was meeting up with other bloggers, particularly Jo Beaufoix who is coming on Hadrians Walk with us next year (as is SingleParentDad incidentally).

I also spent time chatting with Rosie Scribbles in the queue for a ride called the Maelstrom. I’m glad we chatted before we got on however as I wasn’t much in the mood for chatting after it finished, being too busy trying to rearrange my internal organs back to their original positions to strike up much of a conversation.

Also there was Tara and her family from Sticky Fingers who I talked to briefly but who we unfortunately got separated from quite regularly (probably due to the fact her son, Dan, may have been a little too sophisticated for the Thomas Land rides).

As with all good days, it was over all too quickly. It was a very happy and tired couple of kids that we bundled into the back of the car to go home. And to be fair it was a couple of happy and tired adults sitting in the front too.

Thanks go to Drayton Manor, who very kindly let us in for free; and to SingleParentDad who somehow blagged it for us. Maybe that Bromance isn’t such a bad thing after all.

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