A day at Thomas Land with the children

Today we planned to take the children to see Mount Fuji. To give them something to look forward to as well, we decided to stop at Thomas Land before heading to Kawaguchiko.

Taking Fuji Excursion to see Thomas

I'd been to Kawaguchiko two or three times before, and still remembered how convenient it was when the NEX ran all the way there. This time we chose Fuji Excursion, which also let us stay on one train all the way to Kawaguchiko. With a tandem stroller and a small suitcase along, that sounded like a convenient choice.

We chose the latest departure, leaving Shinjuku Station at around 10:30 a.m. Japan time, hoping that most day-trippers would have taken the earlier trains. We stayed at Hotel Gracery Shinjuku the night before so the children wouldn't have to rush too much in the morning. The walk from the hotel to the train platform took about 10–12 minutes.

It wasn't quite the easy journey we'd hoped for, though. We'd done some reading and knew the train was popular with tourists. As we understood it, passengers without a seat reservation could sit in an empty seat, but anyone standing would stay in the spaces between carriages rather than enter the seating areas where other passengers had reservations.

Even on the later train we'd chosen, it was so busy that standing passengers spilled into the seating area. We'd reserved seats, but there wasn't much space to ourselves. The hardest part was getting the children to the toilet.

We could barely squeeze through. We'd also chosen to get off at Fujikyu-Highland Station, one stop before Kawaguchiko, and getting off with the stroller and small suitcase was quite a struggle. Luckily, a young Thai traveler standing near the door saw us juggling everything and offered to help carry our bag and clear a path for the children to get off. Thank you so much. 🙏

If we go to Kawaguchiko again, I think I'd try booking a seat on the Azusa or Kaiji train that runs coupled to Fuji Excursion from Shinjuku. We'd get off at Otsuki and take a local train for the last hour to Kawaguchiko. It would mean a change, but it might suit us better.

A stop to see Naruto before Thomas Land

On the way to Thomas Land, we passed the NARUTO × BORUTO area and stopped for photos with Naruto and Kakashi. Something for Dad too, then. 😄

The children's turn to play

Thomas Land is part of Fuji-Q Highland. We'd only done a little homework beforehand: we understood that we could go straight in and pay at each ride we wanted to try. When we visited, it was 500 yen per person, for both children and adults.

Hopping Winston is a red car that takes you around a brick chimney, bobbing up and down as it goes. A still photo doesn't quite show it, so I took a little video of the ride to share too.

The rides at Thomas Land are aimed at younger children. They're gentle, but they certainly kept ours smiling. We especially enjoyed Harold’s Sky Patrol, Nia and Animal Coaster, and Thomas’ Bubbly Splash.

Almost every ride we came across required one adult for each child. With a little planning, a Thomas Land Pass would have worked out better value than paying for each ride. At the time of our visit, the pass cost 2,000–3,500 yen depending on age, and the children could go on their favorites again too.

A lunch break before moving on

We spent a little over two hours on the rides, then went to find some lunch. We chose the food court in Thomas Land itself. The children had lunch and a nap before we moved on.

If you chose a meal served on a Thomas plate, the staff gave you a new plate to take home after eating. You collected it when you returned your tray.

There was a souvenir shop to browse before leaving too, with Thomas merchandise and a toy railway display. Of course, we had to stop for another little look before heading off to see Fuji.

From Thomas Land, we took a local train one stop to Kawaguchiko, picked up our rental car, and drove to the hotel. We were staying at Shuhoukaku Kogetsu that night.