Macaroni Mom's Review: A Day Out With Thomas the Tank Engine

Summer is finally here! As a mother of three young children I'm always looking for fun activities to do with the family. My three-year-old son Colton is really into Thomas the train and when I found out that a "Day Out with Thomas" was in NJ, I grabbed the opportunity to check it out.

I was excited to see that the ticket not only included the Thomas train ride but also a few other sorts of entertainment, including storytelling, temporary tattoos, and an imagination station with arts and crafts. It also mentioned the kids would have the chance to meet Sir Topham Hatt and Thomas the train of course. I planned to arrive to Phillipsburg about 2 hours before the scheduled train ride so that the children would have time to take advantage of all the entertainment. 

When you first walk in to the ticket area, there are a number of tents setup. There was a tent with a bounce house (not included with admission ticket), another tent with carnival food to purchase and the last tent was a shop setup with tons of Thomas the train accessories, toys, etc. My son, of course, scored a toy train but to see the look on his face was priceless.  


Before making our way down to the train station, we decided to get a bite to eat. We went to "Pino's Union Station Pizzeria and Restaurant" which was on the way to the train station area. We each enjoyed $2 pizza slices. Food was affordable and great! 

Once done with the pizza, we made our way down to the train. Coming down the hill towards the train we noticed they had the entertainment they had listed as part of the package included with our ticket. We were first greeted by the petting zoo, big hit with the kids! At the first station they issue the children a map and each station the children are supposed to get a stamp. If you complete the map with all the stamps you can redeem a prize at the end. 

The kids had the chance to take a picture with Sir Topham Hatt and Thomas the Train. We decided to take a group picture. If you forgot your camera, they have photographers on sight who will take pictures for you.


We boarded the train 15 minutes before departure so that I could take pictures of the kids and get good seating. I was a bit surprised to see that the train did not look like the pictures shown online, not to mention how extremely hot the whole train ride was. I was expecting it to at least be air-conditioned for the kids. My oldest wasn't able to enjoy it as much due to the weather. She actually mentioned the train ride would be a lot better if it was air-conditioned, had louder music, snacks and crafts. She mentioned the best part of the train ride was at the end when you receive a certificate for being a junior engineer and because it rained.

For future reference they should notify parents to plan ahead as the train does not have AC. I think the train ride would be a great success during the fall season. They should also have a stroller station under the tents because unfortunately my stroller was soaked after the ride. Overall I would rate it a solid 3 out of 5.  I had a different vision of what this event would be like, but in the end it's about making the kids happy.

All photos courtesy of Annette Lezette




Disclosure: Macaroni Kid Paramus as provided complementary tickets for the purpose of this review. All opinions are solely that of the author.