If you have a little one who is a fan of Thomas the Train then you must visit Thomas Land inside Fuji-q Highland (Fujique) Amusement Park. It is located in the back section of Fuji-q, but feels very separate once you enter the Thomas Land section.There are nine different rides that both kids and adults can ride including a little roller coaster, a water boat ride, and a ride that lets your kids fly Harold. 
You will also find a movie theater, a maze, restaurants, gift shops, and a small man made pond/creek where kids can wade in to cool off. So bring a change of clothes for them just in case. Click here to read a description of all the attractions.
It is a perfect day trip since it takes less than an hour and half to get there when taking the expressway. Note that it will cost you around ¥2,100 in tolls one way. So be prepared for that. There is a train station near by if you prefer.
You could easily spend hours in Thomas Land depending on how many times your children want to ride each attraction and how long the lines are. My family just recently went on a Saturday in July and the lines were very short. The longest we waited was ten minutes to ride the train.
Costs: Click here to see the entrance fees There are two options when paying to get in the park. You can pay just the entrance fee and then pay for rides as you go, which is what we did. Entrance fee is ¥1,300 for adults and ¥700 for children 3-11. Children 2 and under get into the amusement park for free. Children 2 and under also ride all the Thomas Land rides for free. So you will not need to buy tickets for them to ride the attractions. 
Once you get into Thomas Land you will see ticket machines that sell tickets for the rides in this section. Use these machines to buy tickets for the rides you want to go on. Rides in Thomas Land cost between ¥200-¥300 per person.
The second option is to buy a day pass which covers the entrance fee and then allows you to ride all the rides in both Fuji-q and Thomas Land without having to buy additional tickets for each ride. See the website for more details on one and two passes. http://www.fujiq.jp/en/
Important tips
*When you exit the toll road the entrance for one of the parking lots is immediately to your left. It is easy to miss so be prepared. If you do miss it there are additional parking lots but I believe this one is the closet to the main gate.
*Once you enter the main gate of Fuji-q you will have to go through the gift shop and a little French village called La ville de Gaspard et Lisa to get to the actual ticket counter. There are two small rides in this village, but continue on to get to Fuji Q. They accept both yen and credit cards.
*There are park maps available in English for both Fuji-q and Thomas Land. Once you have entered Fuji-q follow the blue line on the ground to get to Thomas Land.
*You will have to pay for parking. I believe it is ¥1000.
* Park hours for Thomas Land are 9:00-17:00 on weekdays and 9:00-18:00 on weekends and holidays Fuji Q stays open longer.
The park closes one Tuesday a month, so check the webpage before you try to go on a Tue: http://www.fujiq.jp/en/guestservice/.
*There were only two rides inside Thomas Land that had age/height restrictions. So this amusement park is suitable for babies, toddlers, preschoolers, and even young elementary school ages. We took our 3 year old and 22 month old and both enjoyed themselves.
*Fuji-q is also know as Fijikyu Highland. This may be what you find when you search for it on your map app on the Iphone.
GPS Coordinates: 35.486463,138.780627
GPS Coordinates for parking lot described above: 35.486655,138.77625 Renee Booe, July 2013
