I can’t tell you how much fun having a two year old is. I mean Cameo is just brilliant right now. He says the funniest things, is learning every second and is excited about almost everything. So you can imagine how happy I was when Red Letter Days gave us tickets to Drayton Manor Theme Park for a fab family day out.
We live in Nottingham now and Drayton Manor isn’t far at all. I’d say a 45 minute drive on a good day. Chiino remembered visiting when he was little so it was exciting for him too. Taking his little ones to the place where he went when he was little!
I don’t know about you but it can be really tricky to plan a day out with two little ones. Firstly, British weather is hardly reliable and to be honest, neither are two little ones. We made a couple of attempts at getting to Drayton Manor. The first we swiftly changed our mind when it turned into hail outside. Second time, we made it into the car, 10 mins down the road and Cameo decided to vomit in the car. A swift turn around home and an hour cleaning out the car meant our second attempt was also quickly thwarted. So… third time lucky!
This is the charm with Red Letter Days and their Drayton Manor Experience. The tickets are printable (so toddler vomit friendly because you can just reprint them!) and, what really helped us, was that you didn’t need to book in advance. You just print the voucher off, take it to the booking office and they give you your tickets. No fuss. It means you can buy the voucher for yourself or someone else and use it when the time is best for you. It’s SO good and means you’re not left getting soaked in a theme park because you’ve booked the one-day in summer where it’s minus 5!
So the entry into Drayton Manor was so easy thanks to the Red Letter Days voucher. It’s currently £5 to park for the full day and you can pay at any point of the day, so probably best to do it as soon as you arrive so you beat the queues at the end of the day. We knew that some of the park wouldn’t be suitable for our little ones so we headed straight to the Zoo and then got the Thomas Train to Thomas Land.
I have to say, Cameo is two and a half (90cm tall when we went) and he could pretty much go on all the rides in Thomas Land and there were quite a few! It was hid first time at a theme park and I couldn’t believe how much he loved it. Talk about a little adrenaline junkie! There was a range of rides that he could go on.
As a plus size mama, I feel like I have to give you the low down on the rides from that perspective. Most of the little ones rides required a seat belt for the adults and the child. To be honest , some of them went at like 5mph but I totally understood why the kids needed to wear one. However, on the couple of rides I did go on with Cameo the seatbelt wasn’t going anywhere. I was very confident and asked the attendant could I carry out without it. Obviously I don’t want to get anyone in trouble, but they just let me carry on. I’m talking about the rides that are on one level and are carousel like, nothing that whizzes around in the air!
I can’t say that this would be the case on every ride, with every attendant. But they were pretty friendly. Chiino didn’t have an issue on the rides but in all honestly, you’ll probably need someone ‘standard’ size to accompany your little ones on some of the rides that go up in the air etc. It’s a bit disappointing when all they have to do is increase the seatbelt because the seats themselves are pretty roomy. But if I’m honest, if you’re a plus size mama going it alone you’ll have to hope for the best. But all is not lost if you don’t go on the rides. There’s still the zoo, the Thomas train and lot’s of things to look at or fair games to play (at a little extra cost). We played hook a duck simply because it was Cameos first time. To be honest I think I was more excited about him hooking a duck than I was.
The zoo was good, but not amazing. The monkeys were the most entertaining but we didn’t see the Tigers even after going back three times which is a shame. There were some other fab animals though that really caught Cameos attention. The African pancake Turtle was one and the South American Tapir was another. But there was still lot’s to look at and to do. Including running around some huge model dinosaurs next to a fab play park. There’s so much to all over Drayton Manor and it’s still nice to have a few animals for the kids to look at. It definitely added something extra to the theme park for little ones and was nice to just let Cameo walk and run in a safe environment.
Overall, we will definitely be going to Drayton Manor again. There’s lot’s of outside space to have picnics or place to buy food. Lot’s of toilets and plenty of bay changing areas. The staff were great and the ladies in the help section were lovely. Even for someone as young as Cameo (2.5 years old and 90cm) he pretty much went on all the rides in Thomas Land with his dad and a couple with me.
Getting the tickets through Red Letter Days as either a gift for someone else or yourself is a fab idea. No stress, go when you like and you’re not just buying a gift, you’re buying a memory. It’s a brilliant family day out in the UK. Oh and there’s one thing for sure, the kids will fall asleep on the way home. Ha!
Find out more about Red Letter Days and their fab experiences here.
