Edaville Family Theme Park is Worth Your Weekend (Let’s Be Honest, It’s Thomas Land)

It’s 1947, before thoughts of Thomas Land ever existed, and finally all the pieces to a dismantled narrow gauge (2 ft-rail) railroad are finally up and running at Ellis D. Atwood’s 1800 acre cranberry plantation in South Carver, MA. The railroad, unusually small, moves sand, supplies, and cranberries back and forth across the property on a five and a half mile track. But even with its practical purpose, it becomes much more of an interest piece as neighbors frequently stop by and ride the railroad themselves. As more and more people show up, Atwood decides to charge a nickel for each ride and the railroad becomes much less of a working railroad and more of a tourist attraction. And that is how Edaville Family Park was born (named for the initials of Ellis D. Atwood).

Over the next almost 25 years, the Atwood Estate kept the property, over which the railroad ran, under its ownership, though operators of the railroad itself changed hands. During this time, more and more locomotives were acquired and the “Christmas Festival of Lights” was started. (Today this event runs with over 18 million lights visible from the iconic train ride.)

In the early 90s the tourism began to run dry (except for the “Christmas Festival of Lights”), and by 1991 the rail equipment was being sold off. Throughout the 90s a number of attempts were made to revive Edaville, but each failed for different reasons. By 2005, though, the rail lines in place and the land on which they were placed were opened by the same person, and Edaville, USA, as it is now known, began to take shape.

Edaville, USA first began to find it’s current identity by focusing on two aspects deeply embedded in its history: cranberry harvesting and railroading, and both these themes are present in the current version of the park as well. The park has recently been reconstructed and refurbished, including its rides and rails, as well as a revamp of the park’s infrastructure. It holds a number of events throughout the year (check here) from character breakfasts to special themed weekends . In 2013 the park opened an area called Dino Land, and on August 15, 2015 the park opened a Thomas and Friends themed section of the park. And that is how Edaville, USA was born in our minds (well, particularly in the mind of the our middle little who kept talking about it after seeing advertisements at the end of his Thomas and Friends movies (thanks skillful marketers)).

The approach to Edaville was a bit…well…underwhelming. There are tiny signs marking the way through small house-lined streets. And then suddenly we turned and it was there. A big, giant, gravel parking lot. Not the ideal situation for pushing a double stroller, but, hey, a little arm workout never hurt anyone. But don’t let that deter you in the slightest.

In the cold, cloudy, morning hours, we made our way under a small archway and walked down a “main street” lined with colorful buildings on one side (it looked as though construction of some sort was happening on the other side as there was a large wooden fence blocking the view). At the end of the street were three small huts welcoming us and ready to take our money ($37 for 3 and up, $32 for 1-2 year olds and seniors) and welcome us to a world of very useful engines.

The park itself is broken into what seems to be three or four main sections. The first one wraps around one side of a small lake. It’s the older section that is more carnival-themed, called Cran Central. Well, sort of. First, we walked by a small, pretend village that is called “Dicken’s Village” (as in Charles Dickens). I’m fairly certain that it’s main reason for existing centers on the park’s “Christmas Festival of Lights” because when we were there it merely served as a place to purchase pictures taken professionally in the park. But it was quiet and quant as we walked by. Beyond this, rides start to dot the landscape. Here we found the typical rides and attractions like “Scrambler,” “Balloon Ride,” “Ferris Wheel,” and “Tilt-a-Whirl,” among others. With it’s food stands and candy shops, it really is the equivalent of going to a local fair or festival.

The rides are close together, so it’s incredibly easy to get to a number of them in a short amount of time. We found this to be pretty essential because the train that took us around the cranberry bogs and the park itself starts in this area, and we had some time to kill before we got on the rails. And no, we couldn’t pass it by because, you see, Thomas himself pulls this train, so it’s a huge deal to all the little people running around the park in Thomas shirts, not to mention the three we brought with us.

So, after a few of these rides (some for big littles, some for littler littles, all with a whole lot of going in circles) we finally got a chance to take a ride on the trains Thomas pulled, and it was…well…a train ride for the grown ups, but pure bliss for the little people. Thomas himself talked to us. Thomas music was played (including “Go Go Thomas” which my littles have been known to race around the house to for hours every day. Literally hours. Literally every day. I’m happy to report that they held it together on the train though.)

After this we made our way to the piece de resistance: yep, Thomas Land. There is a gate, probably more spectacular than the one at the actual park entrance, that marks the entrance of this part of the park. And for good reason. This park feels different in every way. It is planned out, newer, given more space.

There are eleven rides of varying degrees of intensity. Some rides are nice and slow, some are a bit faster, rockier. One is a roller coaster. One is an elevated car. There is variety and color in this part of the park. The bigger little loved “Troublesome Trucks Runaway Coaster” (the others were too small to ride it). The middle one loved “Toby’s Tilting Tracks.” The tiny one really was just happy to get out of the stroller and get on some easy going rides like “Diesel Derby” and “Winston’s Skyline Express.” A note about “Winston’s” though: the ride is on an elevated track, and to get there we had to stand in a slow moving line that went up a flight of stairs. With unstable little feet, it isn’t the most ideal place to try to keep the littles occupied.

In Thomas Land, Tidmouth Sheds are also available to check out. Here the little people (really just the smaller two) got to meet Percy, James, Emily, and Sir Topham Hatt. This proved to be an emotional experience. My middle little was thrilled at being near the trains (they actually move their eyes around, so it seems a bit real), but absolutely horrified to be near Sir Topham Hatt. I mean, I don’t think he’s such a bad man, but apparently in kid world, he’s awful. The worst. Not only is this a meeting location, it’s also a theater with shows a few times a day that are definitely work checking out.

Thomas Land was crowded, most definitely the most crowded part of the park, but it was a bearable crowd. And given it was a holiday weekend, it was beyond manageable. Within two hours we were through that part of the park. Of course, we hadn’t gone to the giant Thomas-filled store that sits between the rides and the exit, but that’s a whole different story. (There was an awesome limited edition Cranberry bog Thomas. Is that awesome? I don’t know. My three year old tells me it is.) I should also note that the park has train tables littered throughout it, so when the middle little needed to play with his new loot, there were plenty of places for him to do it.

The next part of the park we made our way to was situated right next to the train Thomas pulled: Dino Land. Dino Land, honestly, was different than we expected (I don’t know why we expected something different though, so that’s all us). We had anticipated a theme park centered on dinosaurs, but instead, it was a trail that was punctuated with animatronic dinosaurs. Some of them moved and some of them made noise. There was some fog. Some threatening signs. Some clearly-destroyed-by-dinos theme park attractions. But that’s it. Well, there was a single ride at the entrance. The little people were still delighted by it though. And the big people enjoyed frightening the little people a bit, so it was a good time regardless of the unmet expectations (seriously have no idea where they came from).

Finally, we decided to go to the main gift shop that seemed to be in a large barnesque building back in the carnival part of the park, Cran Central. Fortunately for us, we got lost trying to find the handicap accessible entrance (stroller), so we ended up entering the second floor first and stumbled upon a room filled with rides perfectly suited for the tiniest of little people. Who could ride alone. Yeah I said it. Alone. No more rides going in circles and circles and circles for this momma. The little people can go it alone. There were four, really old might I add, rides for the littles to try sans parents. And they felt big. And we felt happy to watch them. (There was also a party space, ball pit, small arcade, and museum located here, but we didn’t spend any time checking those out.)

It took about six hours in all. Just six. We could’ve spent more time there if we wanted to, I guess. But the little people seemed ready to put Edaville behind them. They had come. They had seen. They had ridden. (And they would’ve been happy to come back again the next day.) For a family that typically does Disney World at least three times a year and a momma who grew up working at a family-owned theme park in Pennsylvania (which we visit annually), we really didn’t know what to expect before showing up. But it was perfect. It was small and sweet. It was managable. It was suited for everyone. And, most importantly, it had Thomas.