We recently went to
Dutch Wonderland for the first time and had a blast. If you've never heard of it, it's an amusement park in Lancaster, PA (Pennsylvania Dutch Country). It has a cheerful prince and princess theme complete with castle and a friendly dragon. Think DisneyWorld but much smaller with generic characters and a bit of Amish charm thrown in.
The park is perfect for kids under 10. Our little one was grinning from ear to ear the whole time...the kind of smile that lights up your world as a parent. I counted 34 rides...everything from a classic merry-go-round to a big wooden roller coaster. Kids under 36" tall can go on most of the rides and there were only 4 rides that kids had to be taller than 42" to go on. The rides are fun for adults, too, who can go on most although some are a snug fit. The smaller roller coaster had nice tight turns and good speed. The lines were short and we rode our favorite rides multiple times.
DW offers a preview deal that you should consider if you go. Buy a full day admission ticket in advance and you can go into the park after 3pm (or 3 hours before they close) for free the day before you use the ticket. We bought our tickets on Sat, went in to the park right at 3:00, rode a bunch of rides then came back Sun morning and spent the whole day there...all on the same ticket.
The park is clean with a friendly atmosphere. Maybe this was because we went early in the season, but the staff seemed really friendly and cheerful too. There are also live shows and carnival games. As I tried to tell my wife, you
will get wet if you sit in the "splash zone" seats at the Frog Prince diving show. What else to tell you...oh yeah, the parking is free.
We stayed at the
Old Mill Stream Campground which is right next door to DW. It took ~5 minutes to walk to the entrance of DW from our site so the location is great. Several restaurants and the outlet malls are also in walking distance. The campground has good facilities, friendly staff and is secluded enough that you don't feel close to the highway. Lots of big leafy trees and a stream running along the back of the property with farms and parkland on the other side. You can also buy discount tickets ($2 off) to DW at the campground office. Every evening an old Amish couple rode through the campground in their horse and buggy selling baked goods...cakes, pies, even farm fresh eggs. Delicious!
We'll definitely plan to go back to Dutch Wonderland again...now if I can just get their theme song out of my head.
My oldest and I visited the Catoctin Central Railroad in Frederick recently. It's a large HO gauge train layout built by the Frederick County Society of Model Engineers (FCSME) on the east side of town. They were having one of their regular free open houses (donations accepted).
