A Thomas Premier and Exploring London

Last weekend had a Thomas the Tank Engine theme.  On the Saturday we visited Thomas Land in Tamworth and Sunday saw us in Leicester Square rubbing shoulders with the likes of Sophie Ellis Bextor and Stacey Solomon who were among a host of celebrities guests walking the blue carpet with us at the premiere of Thomas & Friends™ latest and greatest adventure, Sodor’s Legend of the Lost Treasure.

Celebrating 70 wonderful years of everyone’s favourite little blue engine, the new movie is Thomas & Friends biggest theatrical release to date showing in over 400 cinemas across the country this summer.

Under the direction of Director David Stoten and Executive Producer Christopher Keenan, the 60-minute movie Sodor’s Legend of the Lost Treasure sees Thomas and his friends embark on a spectacular new adventure scouring the Island of Sodor for lost treasure.  Introducing a host of new characters voiced by a stellar line up of the UK’s biggest stars including Oscar winning actor Eddie Redmayne, Sir John Hurt, Jamie Campbell Bower and Olivia Coleman, the new movie is set to be Thomas’s most exciting adventure yet.

Thomas Premier

The show stopping premiere event opened with a special performance from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra on the Odeon balcony as well as a 9 foot Thomas replica engine greeting guests as they walked the blue carpet.  We even got to do battle with a Pirate with some balloon swords!

Thomas Premier

A legendary triumph of friendship and adventure, this must-see feature length film will air across cinemas in the UK from the 17th July until 1st August. You can also watch the new Thomas & Friends movie, with music from the soundtrack performed live by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Cadogan Hall Wed 26th & Thurs 27thAugust. For tickets click here. The DVD will be released on 28th September 2015.  

I was really surprised that Sebastian sat through the whole film but he thoroughly enjoyed it and even our feet were tapping along with the catchy music.  We emerged from the cinema to a sea of Thomas balloons much to the children’s delight and they all selected the one they wanted before heading outside.

The plan had been to take the kids to a museum afterwards but we decided to have a wander around Leicester Square itself. Last year we found Regent Street closed to traffic with hundreds of buses new and old on show and this year, Regent Street is hosting traffic free Sundays throughout July for their Summer Streets events. The street was open to a host of family sporting activities with food, live entertainment and exciting giveaways not to mention special offers from Regent Street retailers.

Summer Streets

The kids turned their hand to crazy golf, rugby, hockey and even some dancing with the Harlequins bear. We walked the entire length of Regent Street and back, taking part in each event we saw.

By this time we felt it was too late to go to a museum so made the decision to be tourists. I haven’t seen some of the London sights for many years and as we had visited HMS Victory a couple of weeks ago we decided to take the kids to see Trafalgar Square. I was slightly disappointed that there were no pigeons but the kids were more interested in the lion statues anyway.

London

We then headed through Marble Arch towards Buckingham Palace.  Isaac and Eliza were fascinated by the soldiers marching up and down outside Kensington Palace.

Of course we had to stop outside the infamous gates for a picture, but sadly the Queen didn’t invite us in for a cup of tea.

London

We headed back up the Mall towards the Horse Guards building.  Trooping the Colour is now on our to-do list for next year, just seeing the arena and the building itself was impressive.

London

I never realised how close together everything is in London and was surprised to find ourselves at Whitehall when we exited the Horseguards building.  We proceeded along to Downing Street and asked Isaac if he knew who loved here – he may have had a clue from a Policeman but got there eventually.

London

By now it was apparent that the kids were getting tired so we headed for Westminster Tube station to get back to our car which we had parked in Richmond.  We did get to Big Ben just in time to hear its famous chime.

London

Our whistle-stop tour of London has given me the exploring bug and I hope to return soon to explore all the sights we missed out on.

Have you done the London tourist thing – what is your favourite place to visit?

Country Kids from Coombe Mill Family Farm Holidays Cornwall

15 thoughts on “A Thomas Premier and Exploring London”

  1. I love sightseeing in London there is so much to see and do. Looks like you made the most of it and have some lovely photos to remember the day by.

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  2. This premiere of Thomas and Friends’ latest movie sounds so interesitng and exciting. How wonderful that a Thomas replica was greeting guests as they walked the blue carpet. Your exploration of London also sounds exciting.

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  3. My 3 year old son is nuts of Thomas he when crazy going to ThamasLand, wanted to take him to see the movie but he would not keep still to watch it.

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  4. That premier looks like it was great fun. We love a day of sightseeing in London too, but you know, the Queen has never invited us in for cuppa either!

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  5. My son wants to see this film in the holidays but my nine year old daughter doesn’t! I think I’ll have to send her to her friends for the afternoon so we can sneak off and watch it!

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  6. Sounds like a lovely jam packed day out. I can’t wait until my one is old enough to understand and appreciate London, I love it there #CountryKids

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  7. I love doing the London sights, though I must admit when mine were the age yours are now loosing them was always my nightmare. I did have one bus disaster when the bus drove off and 3 year old Jed still on board! Thankfully no such drama for you here and it looks like a great way to top off the Thomas Premier, as you say London is quite compact and manageable once you are in the centre. Thank you for sharing with me on Country Kids.

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