To celebrate Aaron's 4th birthday, we decided to take a trip to Dutch Wonderland in Lancaster, PA. Anya had heard about the park from other mothers, and everyone said it was a great park for young kids. They were right! We had a blast. Originally, we were going to spend most of Saturday and Sunday at the park, but it was 102 degrees on Saturday afternoon. So we first went to Hershey's Chocolate World, which is entirely inside and air-conditioned. They have a "factory tour" ride, which is pretty fun. You ride in a car through a mock factory, where you see all of the steps it takes to make a chocolate bar, plus some singing cows. There were free samples at the end, and of course there's a large gift shop where we bought the birthday boy his choice of candy. Then it was off to Lancaster to check into the hotel. We tried a new restaurant for Aaron's birthday dinner -- Texas Roadhouse. The fried pickles were a tasty appetizer, Aaron liked the freshly baked rolls, and Cliff enjoyed eating nearly a pound of steak. We finished dinner early and then it was off to Dutch Wonderland.
You enter the park through a castle and the first ride you see is a train that goes through the whole park. We rode that first in order to get the lay of the land. We immediately noticed the complete lack of crowds. There were no waits for any of the rides. Kira and Anya started with the Frog Bouncer, which is like a miniature version of the Tower of Terror, just without the haunted hotel theme and it's about 1/10th of the size. As you can tell from the pictures, they both enjoyed it. Aaron was about to ride, but he freaked out at the last minute. I think the drop on Splash Mountain has scared him off of all rides that have any type of drop. He much preferred the bulldozer ride, the 4x4 ride, and the spinning panda ride. By 8pm, the kids were getting tired and it was time to get them to bed.
We were up bright and early for breakfast at Merlin's Restaurant in the Dutch Wonderland castle with Merlin, Duke the Dragon, Princess Brooke, and the knight. There were only 3 other families in the restaurant, so Aaron and Kira got lots of attention from the characters. Merlin was the best of the bunch. He did magic tricks for the kids and was very engaging with them. Duke was fun too. Kira didn't know what to think of the large purple dragon at first, but by the end of the meal, he was her favorite character. The princess and the knight, however, were a bit of a disappointment. Aaron notice right away that the knight did not have his shield, helmet, or sword with him. Aaron asked him about these missing items and couldn't understand why a knight would't have at least a sword. Anyways, what do you expect from a knight named "The Knight of Safety," which is a pretty lame name for a knight.
After breakfast, we rode the boat ride that goes by Duke's cave, then Anya took Aaron on the sky-ride (it's like a ski-lift across the park). He liked it, but being so high up was terrifying for Anya and instead of taking the ride back from the opposite end of the park, they decided to walk. Next it was Aaron's turn to be scared on the space simulator. We thought it would be a pretty tame ride (it was, just not tame enough for some). As soon as it started, Aaron was ready for it to end. Kira seemed to enjoy it though. Next up was a pony ride for Aaron. That was one of his favorites. He also loved having his picture taken as a knight. And both kids like the spinning rides, such as the airplanes that spin around a circle. But the best part of the trip was the water park (Duke's Lagoon). Kira and Aaron both loved everything there. It's a large splash park with some slides too. Aaron kept doing the enclosed tube slide over and over. Since there were no lines, he could ride as fast as he could run back to the top. After a very busy morning, the kids seemed to be getting tired, so we decided to call it a day and have a late lunch at Cracker Barrel before heading home.
Overall, Dutch Wonderland was a lot of fun and we're really glad we went. All of the rides are kid-sized and there were plenty to choose from. The park is well-maintained, employees are friendly, and there were absolutely no lines either day. I'm not sure why it wasn't more crowded. It's not a particularly expensive place to visit, and compared to Disney, it's downright cheap. Aaron actually said he liked Dutch Wonderland more than Disney World. I thought it'd be interesting to do a comparison of the two parks. For adults, I think Disney World is a much better choice. Their rides are more elaborate and their food is better (the breakfast we had with Winnie the Pooh was delicious, while the breakfast we had today was on par with the free breakfast we skipped at the hotel). The princesses at Disney world were better too and were more engaging with Kira. We didn't see any of the shows at Dutch Wonderland, but I doubt they were as entertaining as the Lion King musical at Animal Kingdom or the Main Street Electrical Parade at the Magic Kingdom. But for a 1 and 4 year old, Dutch Wonderland seems to be a better choice, particularly if you factor in the value, ease of getting there, and complete lack of waiting in line. One of the differences I noticed about the parks is that the rides at Dutch Wonderland are designed solely for kids, but at Disney, most of the rides are enjoyable for both kids and adults. I don't think any adults would visit Dutch Wonderland if they didn't have kids, while adults visit Disney World all of the time without kids. It was also much easier for us to get to Lancaster. In the two and half hours it took to drive there, we'd still be waiting at Dulles for the plane to Orlando to board.
Now it's time to get ready for Mackinac! I need to see if Aaron is big enough to ride any of the horses there. Maybe Aunt Mary wants to take him to Cindy's stables?
