Thomas and Geotrax Sets - What to Buy?

[swrc00]

DS is becoming train crazy. I got a great deal on some wooden Thomas pieces after the holidays. My mom got DS the Geotrax Timbertown. For DS's 2nd birthday in November he is getting a train table, basic Thomas track set, a couple of wooden Thomas trains, and the Geotrax set. I am starting to look for some deals on either system. Can anyone recommend any must haves for either set? TIA

[swrc00]

No suggestions?

[hillview]

We have geotrax -- I think the best sets are the large ones. Search geotracks and you will see a ton of posts.

We have wooden train sets that are from Melissa and Doug -- we have the large set and that is ALL we need ever. I am not familiar with the Thomas sets. I do think more track pieces are better -- can build something.
/hillary

[MolieMuts]

For DS1's 3rd b-day he received quite a few sets of Geotrax. We ended up buying a pack of extra tracks to get more straight pieces, which made it much easier to configure.

[clc053103]

DS loves his geotrax and also loves the new Cars Geotrax- you can hook them together to make a road and track "town".

As for wooden Thomas, I think the one piece that gets the most love is Cranky the Crane! I would also highly recommend a few of the flexible tracks that make connecting on curves easy- a lot easier than looking for that perfect piece.

[swrc00]

DS loves his geotrax and also loves the new Cars Geotrax- you can hook them together to make a road and track "town".

As for wooden Thomas, I think the one piece that gets the most love is Cranky the Crane! I would also highly recommend a few of the flexible tracks that make connecting on curves easy- a lot easier than looking for that perfect piece.

Would you recomend the basic Cranky or the one that talks?

[mindyd]

Do you know where you can get the flexible pieces or the "s" shaped pieces that connect to the elevated track individually?? We have a lot of extra track, but are missing some specialty pieces. Also, my boys really like the tunnels and bridges...is the only way to get these thru the sets?

[clc053103]

You can buy bridges and tunnels separately! I found a really good selection of parts including flex track and the rising pieces you are talking about at Boscov's.

[hellokitty]

Hmmm, I would be hesitant to get two train systems. We have like 5 of them and I hate it. Stick with the geotrax over the wooden thomas stuff.

[kristac]

We have Geotrax only. My boys favorites are the elevation tracks, crane and the tunnel. Otherwise they really love the RC trains though most of the time they push them instead of using hte remote.

[edurnemk]

We started out with Thomas, we got a basic figure 8 track, and my parents have given DS *lots* of Thomas trains. I wanted to get a train table for his 2nd birthday, but I realized the Thomas table, tracks and other stuff would cost a fortune. So we got this table which is compatible with Thomas trains and tracks http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3931028
It comes with the table, tracks, all the accesories, several engines and cars. I got it on sale for like 120. DS loves it, spends hours playing with it every day. The drawers asre great for keeping all the extra tracks and engines, it keeps our play area looking neat.

I have no experience with Geotrax, but we're really happy with the Imaginarium table and Thomas trains.

[Dream]

DD will be 2 in September. Her first set was a GeoTrax Timbertown, she watches it go but doesn't interact except trying to push the train. And very recently I bought her a train tables and it came with some wooden tracks. She interacts with the wooden set alot. She tries to connect the tracks since its easy with the wooden tracks and hard with the Geotrax.

I think at this age they prefer to push vehicals around rather than use a remote.

JMHO

[HIU8]

DS has both Thomas and Geotrax (he got Thomas first). For DS, they are played with differently. With Thomas it's all manual and with Geotrax it's remote control. DS does play more with Geotrax by building track and using the remotes etc... With the thomas stuff he doesn't use the track as much. He carries trains around and pushes them anywhere (still does this at 5.5 yrs old).