Dutch Wonderland: A Kingdom for Kids

We have done a lot of long-distance traveling this
summer.  Jersey shore, Iowa, Chicago,
& the North Carolina coast.  But
there somewhere a little closer to home that was on our must-do for summer this
year:  Dutch Wonderland.   We took our first visit last year & it
was so much fun and joy for the kids that we knew that we had to do it again.

 

Dutch Wonderland is located in Lancaster, PA which is one of
my FAVORITE places to take children for a fun weekend getaway.   (If you haven’t read more about the area,
make sure to check out our post here with some of our must-see places to
visit!)  This year, we met one of our
close family friends from New Jersey at a great farmhouse rental to spend a fun
weekend in the area with the highlight of our trip being a day trip to Dutch
Wonderland.  This 43-acre amusement park
is full of rides, shows, & water play which will make your little ones have
a fun-filled day.

We arrived at Dutch Wonderland with five eager children
between the two families, five and under.
Normally when you have that many young children to manage all day at one
place, it causes great anxiety and perspiration but knowing that a full day of
fun and excitement was lying ahead, the parents were eager to get the kids in
the park and start the day.

After crossing Duke’s Lagoon into the park, we immediately
started our adventure on some thrill-seeking rides.  We spent the morning enjoying ride after ride
where  the kids had a blast.  One thing I love about Dutch Wonderland is
that some of the rides allow the children to ride independently while the
parents can be a spectator, watching their kids’ smiles & laughs.   Some of my kids’ favorites include:  the Wonder Whip, the Off Road Rally mini
trucks, & the infamous dizzy Turtle Whirl.
Other rides are great family-fun rides, including one of my favorites
that Aiden and I enjoyed, the Double Splash Flume log ride!  Even Abby, our 16 month old, got to join in
the fun of many rides including the mini trains on Choo Choo Charlie and the
Dragon’s Lair lazy river log ride.   Of
course, we had to take a break and stop to pick up some of our favorite
“amusement park” snacks from the vendors.
Some of our favorites include the big soft pretzels, the Kettle Corn,
& the homemade lemonade.  We spent all morning long taking turns picking rides that
each of the kids enjoyed with happy kids & no major meltdowns or tantrums because of the
great adventure of the next ride.

One must-do ride at Dutch Wonderland is the train ride, the Wonderland Special.  For my train-loving children, this is one of their favorite things to do when we visit as shown by their smiling faces below (and even the adults had lots of fun!).  We finally stopped for lunch after one of the kids’
favorites thrill ride, the wild Joust Family Coaster.  We chose
to eat at the Mill Stream Eatery where there is a plethora of eating options,
including burgers, chicken tenders, pizza, and more.  Families walk through the line grabbing from the food line what each member would like.  Between the five of us in our family, we had a slice of pizza, chicken tenders with fries, and miniature sliders.  Enough to keep us going for a fun afternoon!

After a quick pit stop for lunch, we took a trip over to Exploration Island.  Exploration Island is Dutch Wonderland’s newest attraction
that premiered this year & is a must-have stop for all our little scientists and dinosaur lovers.  In this shaded area of the park, guest can
encounter life-like dinosaurs that move, “breathe”, and even roar.  Kids can also play in the new fossil dig area
called Dino Dig, take a ride on the newly relocated and expanded Turnpike with
mini gas cars, or hop aboard the relaxing Gondola Cruise.  This was the perfect spot to visit after
lunch when we needed just a few moments to relax & recharge before spending
the rest of the afternoon on more rides and visiting the water play area.  Exploration Island feels a little “secluded”
from the rest of the park as you cross the bridge into a nice shaded area full
of trees.  We walked a full circle path
where the kids viewed over 20 dinosaurs and Abby took a short rest in the
stroller.

Before we left the “rides” area, we made sure to visit one of our
boys’ requests, the Monorail, which circles up and over the park.  Being the first in line, the boys got first
choice on train cars so we happened to get the one with the best view, the
monorail caboose.  The boys loved seeing all the different rides from up high & even our littlest one had a lot of fun taking in the view from her parent’s laps!

Now that the sun was shining brightly, it was time to get
changed and hit Duke’s Lagoon.  This
water-play area at Dutch Wonderland is like a HUGE spray park full of water sprays, slides, buckets
of water, and more.  Truly a highlight of
the visit for the kids, but I have to admit that on a busy Saturday afternoon,
it is not a place to relax as a parent with three little kids all running in
different directions.  But it is fun and more fun.   We beat the
summer heat by splashing, sliding, & getting soaked for as long as possible until Abby, our littlest one, was showing
signs of exhaustion after a full day of fun with very little rest.

We said good-bye to Duke the Dragon, waved good-bye to our
favorite Choo-Choo train, & ventured off towards the car to find a place to
grab dinner & watch our kids fall into beds that night happy and exhausted.
We could have easily spent another day
there as we had plenty of rides we still didn’t have a chance to hop on to
& we would have loved to explore the water play area more, possibly in the
morning before the summer afternoon crowds, as well as visit some of the great shows that are featured everyday at Dutch Wonderland!

I highly recommend a trip to Dutch Wonderland, “A Kingdom for Kids”, to families
with young children.  This has been one
of my kids’ highlights from this year (and last!) and it is truly a great
amusement park for families.  It is
clean, easy to navigate, child-centered,  and gives
families that “nostalgic” feeling of amusement park fun from your own childhood
memories.  Dutch Wonderland is open from
Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend, as well as select dates for
their special events, Happy Hauntings & Winter Wonderland.  Prices to enter the park range are around
$30-40 per person and all children, two and under, are free.   You will have a fun & “royal” day at this awesome place for kids!