CHILDREN and their parents have flooded to a Midlands theme park to enjoy a bigger and better first-hand taste of the children’s classic tales of Thomas the Tank Engine.

The Thomas Land area at Drayton Manor Park has increased in size by 40 per cent because of a £2.5 million expansion which was unveiled last week.

Europe’s Thomas Land is now home to a host of exciting new rides as well as the main attraction, Sodor Airport. The airport complex includes balconies that offer ‘jet-setters’ unrivalled views over Thomas Land and beyond, with the Thomas & Friends themed event rooms, which will be opening in Summer 2015 and it’s very own Sodor Coffee Shop.

Visitors were keen to climb aboard, fasten their seatbelts and prepare for take-off as they became the first to experience the three brand new rides – Captain’s Sea Adventure, Flynn’s Fire & Rescue and Toby’s Tram Express.

Jeremy Jet’s Flying Academy was as popular as ever in its new location outside the Sodor Airport complex and Merrick the Crane, a new addition to the Blue Mountain Engines, was also a big hit.

The newly improved attraction is now 3,200 square metres bigger, allowing visitors to move around more freely and rider capacity has surged by 23 per cent to 5,130 people per hour.

In addition to the new rides and café is an impressive fountain of the Fat Controller and four Victorian fairground games, plus a bandstand for live performances.

Colin Bryan, CEO of Drayton Manor Theme Park, said: “Since its launch in 2008, Thomas Land has been hugely popular, attracting guests young and young at heart from all over Europe.

“It is due to this popularity that we made the decision to expand the attraction and accommodate the increasing visitor numbers, which have surged year-on-year. We hope that this investment will delight visitors, offering even more Thomas & Friends themed fun. The atmosphere here today has been fantastic and we are all really excited about the season ahead.”

Drayton Manor Theme Park’s 2015 main season runs every day until Sunday November 1. Its 65th anniversary Firework Spectacular weekend will take place on the October 31 and November 1 and the established Drayton’s Magical Christmas event on selected dates from November 21 until December 31 2015.

The park will be closed to the general public on Sunday September 13 and on selected dates in September and October. Visit www.draytonmanor.co.uk for full dates and times.