Day Out With Thomas: The Friendship Tour 2017 At Greenfield Village
Disclaimer: I received free tickets for my family to attend Day Out With Thomas at The Henry Ford in exchange for this review. All opinions are still my own.
For almost two months Nick has been counting down the days to both his birthday and his trip to see Thomas the Train. Now both of those have come and gone and another month is upon us. Still we have lots of new and amazing memories from both events. With each new birthday that Nick has I prepare myself for that loss of belief and magic that young childhood brings, but luckily for me it is nowhere to be seen yet, and our trip to Day Out With Thomas: The Friendship Tour 2017 this past weekend proves it.
We were scheduled to go see Thomas on April 30. Nick knew the date we were going and for weeks he had been running to the calendar to see how close we were getting to the day. I had been checking the weather app on my phone just as intently from the point that the 10 day forecast came out showing that April 30 would be 70 degrees with thunderstorms.
As the day drew closer the weather forecast changed, but only to decrease the high to only be in the 50’s and for the thunderstorms to be mostly rain. We knew that whatever the weather was though we were going to have to brave it as Nick would have been devastated if we didn’t go.
Attending Day Out With Thomas: The Friendship Tour 2017
Nick woke up extremely early on the day we were attend Day Out With Thomas. His allergies seemed to be the culprit, but I think excitement may have played a good part in that. It worked out for our purposes though because the rain was supposed to hold off until the afternoon, so we were able to get up and get going at a decent time.
We arrived at Greenfield Village after an hour long car ride full of “are we there yet?” and “I can’t wait!” There was no wondering on how excited Nick was to see Thomas. That little blue engine happened to drive by just as we were entering the park and it had Nick almost bursting.
I always feel like we get spoiled by Thomas visiting us in Greenfield Village because there is so much to do there besides just visiting Thomas. We had some time before we could take our ride on the train, so we took in some of the sites while we waited.
We headed to the working farm first. Since it was Sunday they were busy in the house cooking the Sunday meal, and it smelled amazing. We then headed out back to see all the farm animals. The staff was busy sheering a sheep when we got to the barn. Of course one of the highlights of getting to visit at this time of year is seeing all the baby sheep.
Next we headed to Nick’s favorite building, the round house! Nick adores seeing all of the old trains. He usually spends the time telling us their names based on what Thomas train they look like. We got to watch them turning a train on the train table as well. I know Nick will love doing that in the next few years once he’s old enough.
After the round house we headed to Nick’s favorite Thomas exhibit, the model train display! Every year when Thomas is in town the Detroit Historical Society sets up a model train display for the kids. This year it was a bit smaller since the building that they’re normally in is being refurbished. Nick could stay and watch those trains all day. They had Thomas and Percy running around the tracks. While we were there they also put a big train on with a ton of wagons. Nick always loves to attach an insane amount of wagons to his trains, so this really got him excited.
Eventually Nick decided he wanted to go play in the kids play area (which was connected to the building housing the model trains). He played for a few minutes, but we didn’t have long before it was time to get in line to ride on Thomas!
We got in line just as Thomas was about to pull into the station. All of the kids, Nick included, were jumping up and down. Nick could hardly contain himself. Then one of the workers told the kids to listen close because Thomas would talk to them as he went by. I will say it was really hard to hear what Thomas was actually saying, but you could see his eyes and mouth move, and you could hear him speaking, so that was good enough for Nick.
Once the all clear was given we climbed up into one of coaches and got ready to leave. Of course we had to take the obligatory selfie picture. I swear there is an unwritten rule that you need to do it because everyone was.
After what felt like an eternity to Nick it was time for us to all shout “All aboard Thomas!” and to start rolling down the tracks.
The trip around Greenfield Village lasts about 20 minutes. It’s a nice ride. Although it was a bit cold for us. We were so happy that we had avoided the rain for our train ride. Seems Thomas didn’t agree with us through because several times he let off massive amounts of steam, and the wind brought it back getting us wet. Luckily it wasn’t too much water.
Normally we take Nick to get his picture taken with Thomas after our train ride is over, but we were all so cold that all we wanted to do was go somewhere to warm up. It was almost noon, so it seemed like a good time to head to A Taste of America for a little lunch.
After lunch we were ready to go do more things, but when we left the restaurant we found that it was raining a little. The radar showed that it was a small cell of rain, so we dashed to the area that had been turned into the visitor store and activity area.
They had so much stuff to do in the activity area this year. They had several tables with different Thomas track sets for the kids to play with. There were spots to take pictures, play some games, play tablet games, color, and so much more.
Nick played with the train tracks some, but it was pretty crowded due to the rain. Plus little kids, that weren’t being paid attention to, kept taking the trains right out of his hands which got quite frustrating for him.
Eventually we made our way over to the store area where we let him pick out a new toy. He got a new Thomas train for his Track Master train set. We also bought him his big Thomas balloon that he gets every time. This kid simply adores balloons! He plays with them until there deflated and on the ground!
When we got out of the store Nick asked if he could ride on the carousel. Since he had turned 6 the week before he was old enough to ride all by himself. He was really excited about that. While he was riding it poured, and after checking the radar we found that we would have a quick window where it would be dry before it would start raining again and keep raining.
We had wanted to do a lot more, but hanging out in a cold rain didn’t sound like much fun. We decided to call it a day. We luckily made it to the car just before the big band of rain hit.
While we were sorry that our day had ended early we did still have a great time. Luckily we were able to visit the places that Nick wanted, and to take our ride on Thomas, before the rain came. Nick was so happy, and he already can’t wait to go see Thomas next year! Who knows how much he’ll believe in Thomas at 7, but this mommy hopes it lasts at least one more year.
You can still visit Thomas the Train at Greenfield Village in Dearborn, MI for two more weekends (May 6-7 and 13-14). Thomas the Tank Engine rides depart every 30 minutes, rain or shine. Departure times begin at 9:30 am through 4:30 pm each day of the event. Tickets for Day Out with Thomas are $11.75 for members and $38.75 for adults ages 12-61, $36.25 for seniors 62 and up, $32.00 for youth ages 3-11 and $11.75 for children two and under. Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased at www.thehenryford.org or by calling toll-free 313-982-6001.
You can also find out when Day Out With Thomas: The Friendship Tour 2017 will be visiting your area by visiting the Day Out With Thomas site.
