This one is worth a second trip, and I know my kids will be nagging me endlessly until we return.
We packed six humans and two dogs into my husbands F250 and hit the road. It was a tight squeeze, and felt even tighter once we hit traffic. Three temper tantrums and two naps later, we were finally there. The campground isn't large, so it was quite easy to find our full hookup site once we checked in with the campground office. The sites are fairly standard, and offer little privacy. Though, we weren't really there for the "camp experience," we were there for the adrenaline rush that comes with amusement park rides, so we didn't necessarily mind the layout.
Lancaster is rich in Amish culture, and while we were getting settled into our site, the kids were treated to an “Amish food truck.” Basically, a horse and buggy pulled into camp trailering a cart filled with homemade treats, pies, and even sodas. Of course, we couldn’t resist the charm, and we splurged on some homemade cookies and maybe a few whoopie pies, as well. It’s all part of the experience, right?
Our plan was to spend the next day (Saturday) at the amusement park before heading home on Sunday. But here’s where we went wrong. If you stay in the campground, you will be eligible for a discounted rate for tickets to Dutch Wonderland Amusement Park. The best bang for your buck is going to be the two day pass, priced at $39 per person. However, in order to truly utilize the full two days, you would need to book an additional night for your site (even if you don’t plan on actually staying). The amusement park opens at 10am, BUT the campground checkout is 11am, so we were forced to head home. (We couldn't leave the RV in the parking lot because we travel with our dogs and it was HOT.) Next time we will also book Sunday night, and that would allow us to leave our camper at the campground all day while we return to the park to use the second day on the two-day pass. Live and learn 🤷🏼♀️.
Dutch Wonderland itself was definitely a crowd pleaser for our group. We traveled with six kids, their ages spanning from age four to eleven. Though, I will add that my oldest daughter isn't a thrill seeker, and that definitely plays a role here. The rides were plentiful, and no one had a single complaint on that front. There were two coasters for the risk-takers, and the rest I would say were for "all ages." We weren't planning on eating in the park, but we did grab a bite at Dragon's Fire BBQ, and I've gotta tell ya... it was delicious. No regrets there at all. *Note* If you are planing on bringing a bag with snacks or towels into the park, you need to know that they are incredibly strict about the size of the bag. The website indicates that you may bring a bag with dimensions no larger than 15x15x15, and they MEAN IT. They measured my bag to be about an inch too large and they wouldn't allow it to pass the gate. In fact, I emptied the contents of it into the bottom of my stroller and they still wouldn't let us shove the empty bag into the stroller pouch. My husband ended up walking back to camp to store the stupid thing. (By the way, it's about a five minute walk from the camp to the park.)
Aside from Merlin's Mayhem roller coaster, I think my kids probably enjoyed Duke's Lagoon more than anything else. This is the water element at the park. There is a large splash pad with several climbing structures. They also enjoyed standing beneath the enormous buckets that fill with water and then spill over onto the kids below - it almost reminded me of the Great Wolf Lodge in that respect. It was the perfect way to cool off after trekking though the park for a few hours.
All in all, our weekend at Dutch Wonderland was a success. The kids all agreed that we would want to return and hit some of the attractions that we passed up this time around. There were some pretty cool shows that we missed out on, we never made it onto one of the bigger coasters, and we also didn't allot enough time for the sky ride, so we will be back ... with a better plan and a smaller cooler 🤣
**More pictures from Dutch Wonderland on my Instagram highlight @wilks.in.the.wild
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