The Spills & Thrills on Sodor Take-n-Play Set Review

Leo turned 3 at the end of last June, and in anticipation of this Fisher Price who know of Leo’s love for Thomas, very kindly sent him a new set to try out. The Thomas and Friends Spills & Thrills on Sodor Take-n-Play set was a hit before it even came out of the box, as soon as Leo saw that it had train track and his favourite number 1 engine, excited doesn’t begin to give justice to Leo’s reaction.

Spills & Thrills on Sodor is a plastic track that you piece together and then lay against a wall, this tilts the track so that you can put the included die cast Thomas train on while gravity does what it does best. I had to follow the instructions to put it together as I wasn’t sure where each piece of track should be placed. Some of the track once placed cannot be removed again, so I wanted to make sure that I got it right first time.. And avoid any disapproval from my 3 year old. 

Following the instructions the set was soon together, I had managed to keep Leo entertained with his new Thomas train while I constructed his new track.  Of course he couldn’t wait until it was completely built to try it out, so mid completion Leo was hurtling Thomas down the tracks!

Leo has been enjoying this set since mid-May, and he is still enjoying it as much today as he did when he first received it. With Leo’s love of trains, and of course his love for Thomas, this ticks all of the boxes that Leo looks for in a toy. It has tracks for him to play with not just Thomas, but all of the cars out of his car box, and it comes with a high quality Thomas die cast train.

As a parent looking at this toy I can see exactly why Leo loves it so much, it’s bright, colorful and full of adventure, but obviously we both look at toys in a different light. For me l have found that the plastic tracks don’t stay in place at the bottom of the track like they are supposed to, so it means that I have to keep popping them back in when Leo notices and has a toddler melt down. I think for the money it could maybe benefit from being stronger plastic. Although having said that, the set features a carry handle at the top which means Leo can carry it around himself.

Leo is using the Spills and Thrills on Sodor to play out imaginative scenarios, and as the weeks go on the games are getting more adventurous. I love to just sit back and watch Leo playing his games, listen to the story lines progressing as he makes each character perform in his very own game of make believe. He puts all of the train sounds in and improvises them to reflect whether Thomas is driving fast, or slowly. He knows that bigger trains make different noises and that steam trains have whistles.

It really is fascinating to just sit and watch a child play their very own games.

Over all we both really like this set, I do think at £24.99 it is priced higher than I would like to pay for it, but now seeing how much Leo enjoys playing with it, I can see that it certainly provides the play value.

Amazon currently have the Thomas and Friends Spills & Thrills on Sodor Take-n-Play set priced at £24.97.

Disclaimer: We were sent the Thomas and Friends Spills & Thrills on Sodor Take-n-Play set for the purpose of this review. All views and opinions expressed are completely honest and my own.