Drayton Manor’s Magical Christmas

Over the weekend we were invited along to experience Drayton Manor’s Magical Christmas, and we all had a brilliant time.

Drayton’s Magical Christmas includes entrance into Thomasland and all of its rides and there are even a few rides running out in the rest of Drayton Manor. There are snow showers up to three times a day in Thomas Land – oh, Boo’s face when she saw that it was snowing, it was so sweet! There’s a new 4D film showing ‘Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas’, Christmas shows in Thomasland, a 30 foot light-show Christmas tree, end of the day fireworks and reindeer in the fifteen acre zoo. Oh, and then there’s the big man himself, Father Christmas, in the Castle of Dreams.

Drayton Manor is always a firm favourite in our household, the kids always enjoy their visits there and as it’s so near to us, they have been lucky enough to go many times over the years. Yet it never ever gets old, they run around from one thing to the next, eager to explore, and we always have a lot of fun there. This time, along with the festive treats, we managed to fit plenty of rides in, explored the zoo and saw the reindeer, played in the great adventure play area and walked the dinosaur trail.

Our Father Christmas visit was one of the best we’ve had, which is saying something as we’ve been to a fair few over the years! We had a 3pm time slot to meet him and fortunately there was no queue at this point so we went straight to the front and the kids enjoyed chatting with an elf who confirmed that they were both on the nice list, though daddy was actually on the naughty list – do not panic, the kids set the records straight and their dad is now back on the nice list! We were then ushered through into a little room to meet Father Christmas who had a lovely chat with them, asking them what they wanted for Christmas and getting them to pinky promise to be good, before giving them their gifts. They received a Christmas story, chocolate lollipop and a golden ticket to return in 2018 free of charge.

On leaving Father Christmas we walked through into a pretty grotto area that had Christmas crafts set up and free face painting, as well as a sleigh to sit in, festive decorations and a little shop. Boo was delighted as she managed to find a Christmas tree decoration with her name on it, which is unusual, so we had to buy that and one for Little Man of course.

We could not resist the skating rink. I vividly recall Little Man’s attempts at skating when we were here a couple of years ago, so I was looking forward to watching and laughing again this time! They did not disappoint. The Husband seemed a bit steadier this time, Boo was brave in letting go and making her way across the middle of the rink, and Little Man stayed a bit more upright!

As dusk drew in, the park got a little quieter and we found we could walk straight onto many rides. The Husband accompanied them on a few, and then they felt very grown up as they are both tall enough to ride most of the rides without us now. We are no longer needed!

With rides, animals, play and skating, with Christmas magic sprinkled throughout and that lovely Father Christmas meet, it was a truly wonderful day, one that we’d definitely recommend. You can find more details, available dates and prices for Drayton’s Magical Christmas here.

Would your children enjoy this?

Disclosure: We received entry FOC for the purposes of this post, but all opinions remain my own

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25 thoughts on “Drayton Manor’s Magical Christmas”

  1. What a special visit to Drayton Manor. Looks like you guys had a lot of fun. My son is a bit too young at the moment but this is something I can look forward to in a few years for sure. #TriedTested

  2. Oh wow this looks amazing! I am so excited about Christmas already! I know my daughter she would love this.She loves iceskating.
    I really like the idea of the Golden Ticket
    #triedtested

  3. Aww look how festive it looks. Your littles look so happy. I haven’t thought about visiting at Christmas – in fact we haven’t been for 3 or more years. I think it would make a lovely festive day out x #triedtested

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    1. We’ve kind of seen them grow up with it as we’re so local. So many happy memories there and their Magical Christmas is wonderful x

  5. We’ve yet to visit Drayton Manor as its a bit too far away from us but the Christmas event looks magical. Love the displays and they make fantastic photo backdrops! #TriedTested x

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