Tag: trains

A Day Out With Thomas Makes a Stop in Phillipsburg, NJ + Giveaway

by Jen Rabulan-Bertram

Thomas and Friends are making a stop in Phillipsburg, NJ at Delaware River Railroad Excursions once again. The boys and love making the trip to check out A Day Out with Thomas and Friends. This fun outing is perfect for Thomas Fans and train afficianados alike.

 

 

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In celebration of this year’s theme, Day Out With Thomas: Big Adventures Tour 2018 will feature an array of friendship-inspired activities. Attendees will be able to participate in events that encourage and celebrate friendship including photo opportunities, and a fun activity that invites kids to collect passport stamps throughout the day to receive a Day Out With Thomas Foam Ball. The 2018 tour theme is in line with this year’s Thomas & Friends global brand campaign, ‘Set Friendship in Motion’ – a campaign that ties together content, social integrations, and event activations across the entire Thomas & Friends franchise to highlight the importance of first friendships and the development of key friendship skills in toddlers.

 

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A Day Out with Thomas is a whole day affair with train rides and activities galore—perfect for those who love Thomas and trains in general. The best part of this fun day is that there’s something for everyone. From the Thomas-themed story time to the mini petting area to the train play area to the arts and crafts area, the fun is endless at A Day Out with Thomas.

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 My sons and I have had the opportunity to visit A Day Out with Thomas several times over the years. And as major fans of Thomas, this is one of our favorite summer day trips; it’s so fun to get our fill of train fun.

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Beyond the fun ride aboard the train itself, we love meeting the conductors and engineers who are always so cordial with all of the kids. My boys love all the fun activities, especially the bouncy rides and toy trains and demos. We have such a great time exploring the grounds of the Railways, which is about an hour away from us.

  

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D1CBF9F3 C302 4AB5 A6E3 F9A7426314AB A couple of things to note for those in Northern NJ like me, Phillipsburg is about an hour drive. July is typically super hot and there isn’t AC on the trains, so bring plenty of water to drink and to stay cool! Definitely plan to arrive early to enjoy all of the activities as it does get crowded for certain times AND to figure out parking. I found parking to be somewhat tricky. It’s cheaper to park further away, but there are shuttles available. Be sure to take all of these things into consideration.  
 
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And of course, don’t forget to wear your Thomas shirts and conductor’s hats if you have them. There are lots of photo opps and the kids love being in character with their favorite Thomas friends.

Heading to Phillipsburg

A Day Out with Thomas will make stops in Phillipsburg, New Jersey on June 29, 30, July 1, 6, 7, 8 2018. Thomas the Tank Engine rides depart every 60 minutes, rain or shine. Departure times begin at 10:00 a.m. through 5:00 p.m. each day of the event.  Tickets for Day Out with Thomas are $21 for adults and children ages 3 through 12. Children 2 and under are admitted free.Tickets are on sale now! To buy your tickets or for more information, call The Delaware River Railroad Excursions at 877-train-ride  or visit 877trainride.com

Win it!

We are giving away a four pack of tickets for the July 1 at 3pm excursion. This is a quick turnaround for the giveaway. Before entering, please ensure that you can make the July 1 excursion in Phillipsburg, NJ. If you’d like to win the 4-pack of tickets, please enter below:
 

 
Full disclosure: We received tickets to review and share about A Day Out With Thomas. As always, opinions on The Next Kid Thing are my own.

Thomas and Friends Birthday Fun

by Jen Rabulan-Bertram

My little guy recently celebrated his sixth birthday and we had a fun time celebrating. He’s been obsessed with Thomas and Friends for quite some time, but this year, he was especially excited about having a Thomas birthday.

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Since we were also celebrating my brother’s wedding on the same weekend, we did our best to make Little’s birthday extra special.  In addition to fun Thomas books and special Thomas trains, he was gifted with quite a few fun Thomas playsets.

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The highlight of his birthday, however, were his birthday cakes! Yup, plural cakes! He had a Thomas cake in the evening of the rehearsal dinner, as well as a special cake at his party,  which was a custom made by a company in Va called Diana’s Sweets.

 

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We got him several brand new tracks that are compatible with Thomas and Friends sets, as well some track accessories from Learning Resources. Thomas and Friends Minis has been a longtime favorite for my train aficionado, especially for its collectibility factor. My cousin gave him the Boost N’ Blast Mini set, which was an immediate hit with all the kids. It was so fun watching the kids blast the Minis into the tubes.

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One of the best things I love about the Thomas has is how it encourages STEM learning and discovery. As much as I love my guy growing and flourishing, I want to savor these sweet, innocent days forever—including all the trains and tracks ALL over my house! 

Thomas & Friends Minis and DC Super Friends Mash Ups

by Jen Rabulan-Bertram

Thomas & Friends Minis might be tiny, but they’re certainly big with the preschool set. In a move that will likely blow my Thomas AND super hero fanatic’s mind, Thomas & Friends is unveiling even more cool DC Super Friends character Minis.

Last Fall, Fisher-Price launched a line of Thomas & Friends MINIs featuring mash-ups of the iconic characters from Thomas & Friends DC Super Friends™, including Thomas the Tank Engine as Superman, and friends decked out as The Flash, Robin, and Cyborg, and others.  The collection was a huge success among preschool and fanboys alike, selling more than five million minis at Walmart in just 10 months, and now Fisher-Price will be expanding their mash-up collection by heroic proportions, adding 36 new DC Super Friends mash-ups. In addition to the DC Comics mash-ups, Thomas is also taking things to a pineapple under the sea for an all-new set of 13 Thomas & Friends-SpongeBob SquarePants mash-up MINIs. 

Here’s a look at the 2016 Thomas & Friends  and DC Super Friends Minis releases:

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I want the entire collection for myself, please!Fisher Price is set to debut more than 35 new DC Super Friends mash-up MINISinspired by the world’s greatest Super Heroes. 

Brand new mash-up MINIS for 2016 include:

 

  • DC Super Friends:
    • Bizarro/Thomas
    • Batman/Thomas
    • Wonder Woman/Emily
    • Bane/Hito
    • Poison Ivy/Emily
    • Lex Luther/Paxton
    • Green Lantern/Gator
    • Supergirl/Roie
    • Catwoman/Millie
    • Green Arrow/Henry

 

  • Nickelodeon’s SpongeBob SquarePants:
    • SpongeBob/Thomas
    • Patrick/Percy
    • Mermaid Man/Bash
    • Gary/Spencer
    • Plankton/Diesel 10
    • SpongeBob/Toby

 

 

 

Day Out With Thomas to Pull into The Delaware River Railroad Excursions in Phillipsburg, NJ + Giveaway

by Jen Rabulan-Bertram

There’s never a shortage of fun summer things to do around here. And since we’re always up for a family day trip, what better way to go out and see things than by train—Thomas the Train, that is!

Thomas the Train is pulling into The Delaware River Railroad Excursions on July 10-12 and 17-19 for Day Out with Thomas: The Celebration Tour 2015. In honor of Thomas & Friends celebrating 70 years of friendship, this fun day is expected to be as exciting as ever.

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At this event, little engineers can take a 25-minute ride with everyone’s favorite blue train, Thomas the Tank Engine, and enjoy the day on the grounds doing arts and crafts, meeting Sir Topham Hatt, enjoying storytelling and other fun Thomas-themed events. The rides operate hourly July 10-12, 17-19. Now in its 20th year, will make 42 stops across the U.S. and Canada and is expected to welcome nearly one million passengers in 2015, including Phillipsburg, NJ overlooking the Delaware River.

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And what’s a celebration without a fun giveaway! In conjunction with Nextkidthing.com, we’re giving a 4-pack of tickets away for the Sunday, July 19 3:00 Day Out with Thomas event. Winners will be picked at random after entering below. We will notify winners on Friday, June 10. Winners’ tickets can picked up by will call. It is advised to arrive an hour ahead of departure time to park, pick up tickets and board Thomas The Tank. Of course, feel to arrive earlier and stay later to enjoy all the Day out with Thomas activities. Enter to win tickets below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Tickets for Day Out with Thomas: The Celebration Tour 2015 at The Delaware River Railroad Excursions for July 10-12, 17-19 are on sale now and available by calling Ticketweb toll-free 866-468-7630, or by visiting 877trainride.com  Ticket prices are $21.00 plus tax for ages 2 and up (service charges and fee may apply). Not in NJ? Check and see if Thomas and Friends are visiting a railroad near you!

For more information and directions, contact the Delaware River Railroad Excursions, 877trainride.com.

For information on Thomas & Friends, visit www.thomasandfriends.com or follow along here: @ThomasFriends #DOWT #ThomasObsessed

Chuggington Picked up for Another Season

by Jen Rabulan-Bertram

Good news, fellow Chuggington fans.  The Disney Channel has picked up Chuggington for another season on Playhouse Disney.  Following a traintastic first season in the U.S., Brewster, Koko, and Wilson and the gang will be riding the rails once again on The Disney Channel.

Chuggington has also announced that it will be hosting a sweepstakes on Chuggington.com, with prizes including die-cast trains and packs.

 

Traintastic: Chuggington Toys are Coming Soon

by Jen Rabulan-Bertram

One of our favorite Disney shows, Chuggington, unveiled another new episode this past weekend.  I hope you guys were able to catch it.

I’ve got a bunch of Chuggington news planned in the coming weeks…and actually, I was planning a fun viewing party with a few of our fellow Chuggington friends for last week, but had to reschedule.  I’ll be sure to share our soiree once our family is moved and we can get together with our Chuggington pals.

In the meantime, I thought I’d share about some other Chuggington news.  Did you know as of May 17, you can now pre-order Chuggington Toys?  The toys, already available in the U.K. and other locations, are making their way stateside.

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Chuggington Marathon Set for Sunday on Disney Channel

by Jen Rabulan-Bertram

Chuggington fans, be sure to hop onboard for Disney Channel’s Chuggington marathon this Sunday, March 14.  The marathon begins at 6 a.m. and runs until 10:30.  They’re calling for rain all weekend, so I can’t think of a better way to spend a rainy Sunday.

The train-centric, CGI-animated show that premiered in the U.S. in January has been quite a hit.  Just from the reactions I’ve seen on Facebook and Twitter, I know many of you are big fans of the show, just like us.  I wrote a detailed post a few months ago about my first impression of the show.  So, in case you haven’t seen Chuggington, be sure to check out my post for a preview and a quick review.  I’m happy to report that the kid can not only pronounce “Chuggington,” but he asks to watch it often.

So, in case you’ve missed an episode or two, you’ll be able to catch up on Koko, Brewster and Wilson’s adventures with the nine back-to-back episodes of Chuggington scheduled to air on the Disney Channel this Sunday.

Chuggington Arrives in the U.S.

by Jen Rabulan-Bertram

Chugga, Chugga, Chugga! Already a global hit, Chuggington, a Ludorum property, is a CGI children’s show that focuses on a trio of trainee Chuggers and is set to debut on Playhouse Disney on Monday, January 18. Playhouse Disney, home to kiddie favorites like Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and one of our faves, the Imagination Movers, is known for introducing fun and playful shows—especially ones with theme songs that are sure to linger. (Hot Dog dance, anyone?)

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Chuggington, which is geared to the preschool crowd, follows three young trainees, Wilson, Brewster and Koko and their colorful adventures. Introduced in the U.K. in 2008, and then in France, Australia, Germany, Japan and Canada, Chuggington is poised to be the new favorite locomotive series stateside.

The show conveys life lessons and social-emotional values relevant to preschoolers, validating its global popularity with kids and their parents. Chuggington was developed by the same brains behind Bob the Builder (Sarah Ball, Director and Writer) and Thomas the Train (Don Toht who led the creation of the toys systems).
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