Aaron's Blog

Posts Tagged ‘reindeer’

During the weekend before Christmas, Kelly and I surprised the boys by taking them straight from school to Drayton Manor Park for their Magical Christmas Experience.  Obviously, we went to a hotel first for the night!! But the following day, we got up nice and early and made sure we arrived at the park for opening time, which was 930am.  The hotel we stayed at was only 15 minutes away, which was great, and we had a nice big room and they even had some activities for the boys to do when we got there.  Once of them was to write a letter to Father Christmas and to then post it in a special box in reception before bed to see if he would write back to them.  They all did this and when they woke up in the morning, there were 3 letters by the hotel room door.  They were all pleased with this, especially Aaron and Coby, as Father Christmas had written back to them all!! The Premier Inn must have had a special agreement with Father Christmas over that weekend, especially as it was so close to Christmas!

The day at Drayton Manor Park didn’t start off too well as Ben pushed Coby out of the car which meant the car door smacked against the car next to us, with them in it.  The guy came out and wasn’t very pleased and made sure we knew that, but it was an accident.  He didn’t want to take any money from us so we left it at that – great start!

Anyway, we walked on in and went straight to Thomas Land.  Most of the rides didn’t start until 10:30 am, but some had obviously been through their daily checks and were already going, so we went on a few.  We then went to the 4D cinema which was showing Ice Age before heading back to Thomas Land for a show with the Fat Controller.  We then went on more rides, mostly in Thomas Land, but some in other areas of the park.  Thomas Land had been decorated for Christmas nicely and there were trees dotted around and they had put snow on the roofs of the little houses there as well.  The trains were also decorated with Christmas lights and tinsel, so it was all very nice. We all went on various other rides before walking up to the other area of the park to see what other rides were open.  We had a go at a train shooting gallery ride, which was completely different to anything we had been on before, which we all thought was great, and another pirate ship ride.  By this time it was time for food so we managed to get a table in the burger bar and had some burgers and chips for dinner.  We then walked up around the zoo to have a quick look and listened to a Reindeer talk and got close to a Tiger which was right next to the fence.  It was getting quite cold at this point so we wandered back down towards the main area of the park and got some nice warm donuts, which were delicious! We then went on a few more rides before it was time to queue up to meet Father Christmas.  We got to the queue before our time but we ended up having to wait a good 40 minutes to eventually see him, which was a bit rubbish really! The boys were playing up at this point as well as they were bored just standing around, which was a shame. When we eventually got to see him, he had a chat with each of the boys individually and asked if they had been good and were enjoying the day, and also asked what they mainly wanted for Christmas.  Coby looked in awe of him, Aaron looked worried when he was being talked to and Ben just took it all in his stride but didn’t get too close! haha. The boys then had a photo with him and he gave them each a gift, which turned out to be a nice star shaped Magical Christmas at Drayton money box, a cool looking Elf and a voucher for entry into the park with a paying adult in 2020.  At least Ben didn’t get a magic set this year!!  Once we had seen Father Christmas, we rushed back to the main area of the park for a Christmas parade that had already started. Typically the parade time was the same time that we were in visiting Father Christmas, which we only found out about a week earlier via an email! Anyway, we saw that and it wasn’t too special anyway but at the end of it came the Fireworks display over the lake. This was really good and we got good positions to watch it.  It lasted quite a long time really but there weren’t any really big bangs due to the animals on the park but it was still very good.  And that was that….it was time to go again.  We did nip in to the sweet shop to get some sweets for the boys on the way out and had a final walk around the areas that we could get to before heading out and back to the car.

Overall, we had a lovely day but it definitely wasn’t as good as Paultons last year.  It seemed more organised there and more magical, with less people so we could just walk straight on to the rides in most cases, instead of having to queue a bit here, and they also did a Roast Turkey in their restaurant.  Meeting Father Christmas was also better there as they had a long Christmassy walk to go and see him, with animatronics and other magical stuff, and we didn’t have to queue up for 40 minutes!  Saying that, it was nice at Drayton and the boys actually said they preferred it here – possibly due to Thomas Land!  We had a nice, magical day out and had some fun before our long journey home in the car.

Last Saturday, we went to Marldon Christmas Tree farm to see Father Christmas. It was a surprise for the boys as we didn’t tell them we were going but they all got excited when they realised what we were doing, moreso Aaron and Coby. We spoke to the Elves but the cabin that Father Christmas was in and they chatted to the boys and asked questions confirming what they wanted for Christmas, as they already knew what they wanted. It was then time to go in and see Father Christmas. They all sat down next to him and he spoke to them about what they wanted for Christmas and checked if they had been naughty or good.  They then all got a present.  Ben got a magic set, Aaron got a spy telescope and, unfortunately, Coby got a baby toy which was for children 12 months old.  It was a real shame as the other two presents were really good. Coby wasn’t impressed as you can imagine! Shame!

We then went for a ride on the Christmas ‘Train’ and saw the animals, that included some Reindeer, Donkeys, Geese and Husky dogs. The boys all loved seeing the animals and stroking the dogs. We then looked around the craft stalls before leaving, with our feet being icy cold as it was freezing.

It had been a nice couple of hours but a shame about Coby’s present.