Travel Week: Thomas Land Part Two -- My Toddler's First Rollercoaster

At some point, most toddlers will develop a fascination with Thomas the Tank Engine. (Check out Sophie's post yesterday for more on Thomas!) For my son Toby, the introduction was the natural progression from my need to buy him books with his name in the title: Toby is a tram engine in the Thomas stories. Then came the wooden toys, the wooden track, the bubble bath, the magazine, the socks and so forth. For me Thomas the Tank Engine evokes the dulcet tones of Ringo Starr, who narrated the series in Britain during my childhood. It brings thoughts of my Great Aunt's house where my cousins and I played, and the stories my family used to tell about working on the railway. Now it will always make me think of that fateful day in May when we visited Thomas Land in England, the day my baby rode on his first roller coaster.

Thomas Land is a small portion of a larger theme park, in the middle of the British countryside. There are rides suitable for all ages, and after measuring my son and realizing he was the requisite minimum height, off to the Troublesome Trucks he went. Troublesome Trucks is a Stell Gerstlauer roller coaster that has been in place only since March 2008. At its highest it is 18 ft tall, and at 755 ft in length it isn't a long ride, though you do get two go-arounds of the track for each ride. Its maximum speed is 20.5 mph and, as I quickly found out, that is fast enough for you to lose a baseball cap.

I stood off to one side with a sleeping baby while my husband rode the coaster with Toby, two-and-a-half going on 16. His grandfather stood closely by to capture the whole thing on video. His face seemed expressionless as he went by for the second loop, and my grip on the stroller relaxed as he pulled in for the final stop. The picture they captured was of course purchased, and I waited for my son. There were to be no comforting hugs for mom however, as a little Toby-sized blur ran straight past me, away from his father, to rejoin the line with cries of "Trucks again, trucks again." He rode again with his father, then with his grandfather.

I used to be a huge fan of roller coasters, not so much the legs dangling, standing up kind, but give me a traditional sit-down coaster and I was happy. So of course I had to ride with my little boy on his first roller coaster. He was so excited when we got in line, it was one of those key parenting moments that you know you'll remember forever. We managed to get in the front truck, important when scrapbooking the pictures, and I have to admit it was exhilarating being there with my boy. Then the thing started to move and I felt my arms reaching around and gripping his shoulders tightly. Then it really started to roll, and I had to catch my hat before it flew away from me.

It was a real roller coaster.

It wasn't a baby coaster; it didn't just go in circles with a mild bump, it was a real roller coaster. I was shocked. He was laughing his head off and having a ball, all I could think was "MY BABY!!!!" Tears streaming down my eyes, I knew we couldn't get off before the next go-around. I felt a little hand reach out and touch me gently on the knee, and in that moment, my little boy grew up a little. "It's okay mommy. You're big mommy, it's okay. It's okay mommy, don't cry. It's okay." All the while he tapped my knee softly.

He went on almost every ride in Thomas Land, and loved every one of them. He had several conversations with Sir Topham Hat, who was walking the streets of Sodor talking to children, and didn't even show signs of wear when naptime came and went. It really is an excellent corner of the park for small children, but in general this is a great day out for families. The rest of the park is made up of normal theme park fare and so there is something for every age. There's even a zoo. The funniest moment of the day, however, came not from Toby, but from a group of teenagers sitting near me while I was feeding the baby: "Thomas is way cooler than Ben 10." Given the rides offered at Thomas Land, I have to wholeheartedly agree.