HIT to open Thomas park

News

Ronnie Dungan May 15 2007, 10:45am

HIT Entertainment is boosting its Thomas and Friends franchise further, with plans to open Europe's first ThomasLand in the UK, in the spring of 2008.

ThomasLand will be set within 6,000 square metres of parkland at Drayton Manor Theme Park in the Midlands. It will feature new themed rides such as Cranky Crane Tower Ride, the Troublesome Trucks Rollercoaster and Harold the Heli-Ride. ThomasLand at Drayton Manor will also showcase a brand new Thomas train that takes children on a five minute journey through Sodor, which will include special appearances from the Fat Controller.

The world's first ThomasLand in Japan opened in 1998 and attracts over a 1.7 million visitors per year.

The new park will be supported by a strong retail, marketing and publicity campaign. The attraction will open with a retail presence offering a range of Thomas and Friends licensed merchandise and will offer marketing and retail cross-promotional opportunities for licensees.

Bruce Steinberg CEO of HIT Entertainment, commented: "We are thrilled to be working with Drayton Manor, an outstanding and well respected theme park, in bringing this unique visitor attraction to life. The Thomas and Friends brand continues to grow from strength to strength, with a presence in over 150 countries worldwide and sales of more than 200 million books globally and the has been the number one pre-school toy brand in the UK for the past eight consecutive years.

“ThomasLand is a natural extension of the Thomas and Friends brand and we look forward to working with Drayton Manor to deliver an exciting attraction for young Thomas fans and their families to enjoy.”