10 Favorite Dutch Wonderland Attractions

Just the other day, Fox News posted their list of 10 Best Attractions at Dutch Wonderland. It seems like an odd choice for an article by a national website and just like the Fox News we're all come to love and admire on television, the story has more than one factual inaccuracy. Either way, the article made me think, "Well, I should do a list of favorite DW attractions!" Just about every attraction at the park is hit with one member of my family or another, but this is a sampling of the things I enjoy most at the Lancaster park...

Astroliner  Long before every theme park had a motion simulator ride and even before Disney perfected the art by taking us on a Star Tour into the Star Wars universe, the Astroliner would provide similar thrills by rocking back and forth while a movie showed an out of control space mission on the cockpit screen. This ride would pop up at carnivals and beach-side amusement areas and I loved it. Whenever I saw one of these set up, I would beg my parents to let me ride it. I even have fond memories of riding it at Dutch Wonderland when I was little.  Dutch Wonderland installed the ride in the 70's and tried to sell it shortly before 2000. When they couldn't find a buyer, DW decided to spruce up the ride and present it as a piece of amusement park history. Now the ride serves as one of the parks more unique attractions.  The 8mm rear projection film has been replaced with a wide screen TV and a DVD of the original film, but the experience is still good old fashioned fun. (There's a more modern version of the ride, the VR Voyager, housed right across from this amusement park antique.)

Decades of Dutch Wonderland Dutch Wonderland offers quite a bit of live entertainment for a park of it's size. As season pass holders for three years I've probably seen at least a dozen different shows in the park. To celebrate the park's 50th Anniversary in 2013 they added Decades of Dutch Wonderland which offers a brief history of the park but a pretty darn good soundtrack of hits from the 60's through today. Most of the musical show offerings at DW consist of a two person cast, Decades benefits from four live actors as well as Duke The Dragon (who doesn't sing, but he can dance!) The show basically plays like a mini-concert and if you look around in the middle of the show, you'll see more than one parent tapping their feet or bobbing their head to this great collection of songs.

Double Splash Flume This is a fairly standard Log Flume style ride but it is a nice one, where the track sits in the ground instead of above like most others. The ride has two drops, the first one is small but produces a surprising splash. The ride out to the main lift is enjoyable. There used to be statues of animals and a mist tunnel along the way but the animals have retired and the mist shut off. You still get a nice scenic trip with great views of the roller coaster and a nice way to cool off without getting drenched. It's also nice that there is no height restriction so the whole family can ride together.

Dragon's Lair This is one of the park's earliest attractions, even though it has been altered greatly since opening day. Little log boats, similar to the ones on the log flume ride, take you on a nice relaxing ride around a small lake in the front of the park. There's not much action here, just an experience similar to renting a boat for an afternoon and peacefully cruising the local lake. The boat is guided by an underwater rail, but steering wheels on each log boat give kids the opportunity to drive. There are a few animated and non-animated pretend animals along the way before entering the dragon's lair itself. The dragon in question, is Duke, the park's lovable mascot represented by a huge audio animatronic that pops up out of his mountain home every so often to laugh and sing. Once you are greeted by Duke, you boat takes a quick tour of inside his mountain for a brief glimpse and a look at Dutch Wonderland's own "back side of water."

Exploration Island Last year, Dutch Wonderland took a neglected portion of their park (a large island along the back end of the park) and spruced it up into one of the most modern and heavily themed areas of the entire park. Exploration Island is now the home to 20 audio-animatronic dinosaurs that you can visit along Prehistoric Path, a short walking trail with great views of the various dinosaurs. Some of them are animated, some of them make noise, some you can ever control. None of the dinos are too tall or frightening keeping the parks target audience in mind. A nice touch is that similar attractions at other area parks have an additional entrance fee - but at DW, the dinosaurs are included with every admission ticket. The dinosaurs are also visible from the islands two other rides; the Gondola Cruise and the newly renovated Sunoco Turnpike - which was moved from the middle of the park to the island and expanded to triple in length. Exploration Island is also where you will find Dino Dig, three large sandbox areas where kids can use excavation tools to uncover dinosaur fossils. The entire island experience is enhanced with terrific atmospheric music and sound effects as well as it's own dino-filled gift shop.

Kingdom Coaster  You wouldn't expect a real, honest-to-goodness roller coaster at such a little kiddie oriented park, but Dutch Wonderland's wooden coaster is the real deal. A family coaster that provides every bit of fun as a bigger coaster, just minus the first drop. Kingdom Coaster was the first project of Custom Coasters International back in 1991. Since then, CCI has gone on to be the largest manufacturer of wooden coasters in the world. The coaster hits speeds of 40 MPH and features plenty of air time, sharp curves and a pretty intense helix near the end of the ride.  In the evening hours of the park, it's not uncommon to be able to stay on the ride and go multiple trips without getting off the train. Sometimes they don't even slow the train down through the station - and that's a unique experience you'll never get at a bigger park.  On more than one occasion, the kids and I rode 5 times without stopping - nowadays one trip around at a time is enough for me!

Monorail Not many parks have a monorail, in fact Dutch Wonderland was one of the first to have one after Disneyland.  Dutch Wonderland's monorail leaves a very vintage looking station in the middle of the park and travels a loop around most of the grounds. You'll get a bird's eye view of the adjoining Mill Stream Campground as well as some of the behind the scenes areas of the park. The monorail also travels through the park's wooden roller coasters at a couple different points. The ride also takes you out of the castle walls and into the parking lot through an old abandoned monorail station and out along Rt. 30 in front of the park. Kids often have a fun time finding the family car in the parking lot. This is another of the park's great relaxing rides and I'm happy to announce that as of mid-2015, there is a new (updated) recording that plays in each monorail car to accompany your ride.

Tug Boat Sadly, the Tug Boat (and it's sister vessel the Lady Gay) has been out of commission for the entire 2015 season. The park's website listed the attraction as temporarily closed until recently when it stated the ride would be shut down for the entire season. The Tug Boat was just another boat ride, that actually traveled the same path as the Gondola Cruise, just along the outside of the island. What set the Tug Boat apart from all the other boat rides at Dutch Wonderland is that it was a free floating boat that did not ride on a track or rail, and required a real boat captain to pilot the ship alone the Mill Stream Creek. It was a great ride though, that allowed you to take in more of the surrounding nature than the other boats allow. This ride was a favorite of my kids as well, and we hope it makes a comeback before our season passes expire.

The Wonderers Music plays such a key role in the theme park/amusement park experience and few things can top a live band strolling the grounds. The Wonderers are a 4-5 piece band that stroll throughout the park playing classic kiddie tunes, a few hits you might recognize from the radio and they have more than one Disney song up their sleeves. The best place to catch the guys is in front of the One Room School House, next to the Off-Road Rally. There they often stop a play a few numbers before continuing a loop around the park. We've also seen them stop in front of the Celebration Theater. One of our favorite bits is a TV theme song medley they do, where guests shout out the names of the shows to each theme. The Wonderers also make an appearance at the daily 5:30 Funsation Celebration show and every night at the exit of the park at closing time. This is a group of talented guys you won't want to miss.

Wonderland Special   Man, I loves me some amusement park trains! Dutch Wonderland has an especially nice miniature train ride. The excursion starts off with a trip through an abandoned diamond mine before making it's way out into the park and zig-zaging through the grounds showing off most of the park's offerings. The train even goes over an old fashioned authentic Amish covered bridge. The station for the train is the very first thing you see upon entering the park, so the lines can get quite long at the beginning of the day. On days where the lines are long, DW is able to run two trains at a time to cut down on the wait.

New Amusements For You in 2015

Spring is in the air and all the theme parks and amusement parks are rolling out new attractions for the upcoming Summer season. Here's a rundown of what's new behind the admission gates of some of the parks in the region...

Kings Dominion updates it's water park and gives it the new name Soak City. Besides the name change and facility upgrades the new park will feature several new attractions. "Hurricane Heights, the 65-foot tall slide complex features three thrilling new attractions. On Paradise Plunge, thrill-seekers will step into one of three chambers and wait anxiously for the floor to drop out from underneath their feet, sending them in a high-speed, almost vertical free fall through a series of loops and s-curves in a translucent flume. Aqua Blast will send riders twisting and spiraling through an enclosed chute featuring four intense 360-degree loops across 449 feet of slide before they’re dropped out into a pool of water. A wet and wild adventure will await guests on Thunder Falls as they climb into a single or double raft before being launched down a series of intense drops and turns." There will also be a new kids area.

Busch Gardens Williamsburg debuts a new roller coaster: "In the rich tradition of the classic Italian daredevils, no single man wowed the crowds like Tempesto. Busch Gardens’ daring new roller coaster, Tempesto, lets riders take center stage and recreate his signature stunt. Guests daring enough to take on Tempesto will race into unbelievably tight turns at 63 miles per hour and defy gravity as they roll through a complete inversion 154 feet in the air. Busch Gardens^® newest thrill coaster features three launch experiences and Tempesto’s signature loop-the-loop."

Hersheypark in Pennsylvania also has a unique new roller coaster. "Laff Trakk is the first indoor, spinning, glow-coaster in the United States. This family friendly house of laughs spins riders through an exciting adventure of sights and sounds complete with glimpses of colorful characters, a dizzying hall of mirrors, and more!"

 Impulse is the largest construction project in Knoebel's history. The traditional amusement park in Elysburg, PA has added a major new coaster to their lineup. "This steel tower coaster will consist of over 2,000 feet of track throughout which the ride will reach speeds of over 55 miles per hour. To begin the ride, the cars will be pulled via a chain lift up a 98-foot vertical hill, creating anticipation for what’s to come. Following the ascent to the peak of what is called a top hat hill, is a 90-degree free fall drop."

Dorney Park in Allentown, PA offers a new swing ride, Cedar Creek Flyers, to it's guests in 2015.  Riders will sit in one of eight “eagles” suspended from arms 28 feet in the air. As the ride spins, the eagles will swing outward – and riders have the unique opportunity to control their flight experience from mild to wild!"

Another variation on the swing ride with debut at Dutch Wonderland. “Bon Voyage Balloon Chase will take guests on a magical ride in one of eight flying hot air balloons where every seat has a view. The ride soars to lofty heights of 20 feet while rotating clockwise. Your balloon will ascend and descend as it spins; while the wheel at the center of your gondola basket lets you control the direction and speed of your spin."

For Six Flags fans, Six Flags America presents a shiny new version of a carnival classic, "Bourbon Street Fireball, a wild looping coaster. Our new coaster will seat riders in a forward and backward, face-to-face position for a pendulum style take off with multiple 360° revolutions. Just when you think you can’t take any more, the train will suspend upside down and reverse course for additional loops!" A similar ride will also debut at sister park Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey, with the name El Diablo.

Quoted information from park's press releases.





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Dutch Wonderland Castle Construction

There's plenty of activity inside Brooke's Castle before the park opens next weekend. On a recent visit to the Season Pass Office, we snapped a few pictures of some of the progress just beyond the castle drawbridge...

There will be a whole new view when guests enter the castle this year. On the right hand side of the picture, covered by the tarp, is the gift shop. Just beyond the retail area is a new room. On the other side, what once housed more retail space is now taking shape to become Merlin's - Dutch Wonderland's first full service restaurant.

You can see at the far end of the hallway, a new yellow room is making it's debut where just a wall stood before...

...Not sure exactly what this room will be yet. It looks like cubby holes, which is a doubtful addition. Perhaps these are display units for merchandise?


On the other side of the hallway, construction is still moving forward on Merlin's. The restaurant is scheduled to open at the beginning of the Summer and it looks like they've still got quite a way to go. The new restaurant will give guests the opportunity to dine inside the castle in what promises to be a themed dining experience.
It certainly looks like there will be plenty of new surprises just inside the castle alone when the park opens for the 2012 season. It make you wonder what other surprises Duke has planned inside the park...

Classic Commercial Sunday - A Day At The Park

Walking In A Dutch Winter Wonderland

In December, Dutch Wonderland transforms itself into Dutch Winter Wonderland. Not only is the park decorated with lights and other such Christmasy stuff but there's a few new attractions as well. The Christmas time park is open for the next two weekends and then also the week after Christmas. At $12.99, it really is a good bargain for a Christmas attraction! The admission price is fair just to get in and see the park's main attraction: The Royal Light Show. The Light Show is a display of thousands of Christmas lights blinking and twinkling to the rhythm of seasonal music. The show just about literally envelopes the audience. When seated in the viewing area, the lights dance not only in front of you but on every side of you including behind and above. It's a great spectacle and nothing like the neighbor down the street who has a couple of lighted trees synced to Manheim Steamroller. This is good stuff! As if that wasn't enough...

...my kids LOVED the new Polar Playground attraction. A semi-outdoor pizza joint in the park has been turned into a wonderland inside a wonderland. The walls depict Arctic scenes of penguin life while hundreds are soft foam "ice cubes" are waiting for kids to play with, build and use their imagination. Elias and Tanner easily killed 45 minutes having a blast inside this seasonal setup. They loved it. We ended up going back to it two more times through out the night. The park did a real nice job of transforming an existing space into something completely different.

Santa's Reindeer-In-Training are also on display in the area usually reserved for pony rides. I guess it has been a while since we've been to an attraction with real live reindeer because my boys flipped when they were standing face to face with Santa's real reindeer. We even got to see a little reindeer scuffle!

Entertainment options during the Christmas season include the live show "Jingle Bell Rock." This is a simple 10 minute show with two very talented dancers knocking out a few Christmas tunes and a few bad jokes. Unlike other shows at DW, this one appeared to be lip-synced however the dancing was a couple of levels above the summer shows. Either way, I can never seem to make it to the Radio City Music Hall Spectacular so this will have to do for me for now.

In the large Mill Stream Eatery in the back of the park, they have set up a Train Display and Gingerbread Houses. You can vote on your favorite Gingerbread House, which were all designed by local kids and organizations. This Smurf Village was one of the more elaborate displays and got a vote from all three of us! The Mill Stream is also open for business as usual adding Baked Potatoes with Chili and Cheese on top! Didn't try one, but if I make it back this season I just might have one!

Another neat little touch were there little houses set up in nooks and crannies of the park, each depicting a little Christmas scene inside. Nothing too elaborate, but it reminded me of the kind of things shopping centers used to do at the holidays when I was a kid.

Duke and The Princess were both decked out in their gayest apparel. Neither of my boys will go anywhere near the Princess if I've got a camera on hand, but Elias did cooperate for a snapshot with Santa Duke. In addition to all the Christmas fun, the park also has a dozen or so of their rides open. There's a list of the available rides on the park's website, but we were very happy to find a lot more that weren't on the list open for business. The kids were delighted to take another spin on the Turtle Whirl, and we took unplanned voyages on the Astroliner and the VR Voyager. Again, a nice little bonus touch DW!

Of course, this trip didn't cost us a dime (except for some Kettle Corn and a round of Shooting Gallery) as DW includes the Halloween time and Christmas event with their season passes. We're hoping to hit up the park one last time before our passes expire on December 30. Even if you're not a season pass holder, Dutch Winter Wonderland is a top notch Christmas attraction worth every penny.

Party of Five at DW: A Trip Report

Wednesday was our 9th visit to Dutch Wonderland this summer. I'd say we got our money's worth out of our season passes. The kids were extra excited about trip #9 because for the first time this year Mommy went to the park with us. They were very excited to show her all their favorite rides. As we were driving up to the park that day, my good buddy Joey called me and he was doing nothing so he ended up meeting us up there too to hang out for the day. It was a fun day for all of us with an extra large touring group. The park was PACKED that day. The parking lot was full as was the overflow parking. I managed to grab a spot in the very last row of the parking lot. Still, even all the way in the back it's not a long walk to the castle entrance.


The boys were very excited to take Mommy on the Turtle Whirl. They can't drag me on that spinning death trap but Mom's a big fan of the ride and the kids were so happy to have somebody to ride with. They actually had to wait in line through four rides before it was there turn. We've never see a crowd like that at the park.

One of the main reasons Joey and I have been friends for so long is that we both like acting like big kids. Needless to say, Joey had fun on all the rides big or small.

Here's Elias on Dragon's Liar. This is a neat shot of him because it's taken from outside the park.

In Duke's Lagoon, Tanner was climbing up the side of the play structure and swinging from a rope. Instead of getting a picture of him doing it, I was only able to grab a snapshot of one of the lifeguards telling Tanner to stop. (Tanner's on the stairs.)

Elias has been dreaming about getting his hands on this huge Slushie glass from Day #1. He was very excited when I finally broke down and bought it for him. After Season Pass discount, it was only $3.50. I guess I could have sprung for it a while back.

My wife was all about getting her some Dole Whip. Dole Whip is a staple of any true Disney World fan's trip and it was pretty cool that Dutch Wonderland opened up a Dole Whip Junction this year. It's a delicious pineapple soft serve ice cream served with pineapple juice. It's the very definition of Good Eats!

My kids will never pose for a picture with the Princess of Dutch Wonderland. Luckily, I had my buddy Joey with me - whose always down for snapping a picture with a pretty gal. After we took the picture, I told her I was gonna put it on Facebook and she said, "Make sure to tag me!" Nice touch, Princess Brooke!

Here's a picture of the Sunoco sign they recently added to the Sunoco Turnpike ride. Everytime we visit the park, they've added something new to this rechristened ride.

And finally, you know you're getting old when...

...you get so excited about a good parking space that you take a picture of it. This photo was snapped right at the park entrance and look at my red van over there - just steps away from the gate! I moved the car later in the day when I went out to get bathing suits. You can't beat a spot like that folks!

Trail of the Dutch Wonderland Trip Report

If you're keeping score, you're actually behind on two Dutch Wonderland trip reports. My kids are just loving the park so much that they ask to go every week, and since it's all paid for and it's one less day of the summer I have to fill with activities - I'm all for it. Plus, this park really brings out the best in my kids. They get along so well when we're at Dutch Wonderland and they just have a blast going on rides, exploring the park and playing.

We went two weeks ago for Duke The Dragon's Surprise Birthday Party. This is an annual event which is held in the water park, Duke's Lagoon. Duke came out for his regularly scheduled 2:30 pool side appearance and there was a big crowd waiting to shout "Surprise!" and sing Happy Birthday to him. They also had cake and ice cream for everyone who attended. In addition to that, they put out a huge spread of food - FREE! - to all guests. They had burgers, corn dogs, chicken, fish, shrimp, waffles, pasta salad, cole slaw, potato salad, beans, chips, juice and soda. It was crazy! We ate well and it was certainly a nice treat for the ol' wallet. We had a lot of fun that day, but I forgot to bring my camera - so who cares about a play by play, let's skip to the next visit.

I was planning on taking a week or two off from going to the park, but the kids were so excited to go again so we ended up there Friday of last week. The park was pretty crowded but we managed to get through the day without any really long wait times. Some of the rides had a 10 - 15 minute wait time instead of their usual 5 minute wait time. It was nice to have a full track of cars for the Bumper Cars. Since it was kinda hot out, the line for the Double Splash Flume was a bit longer than usual, but it moved briskly.

I did make a point to snap a photo of one of DW's newest rides, Kite Flight. The kids had shied away from this ride on our first couple of visits, but eventually got up the nerve to ride it and now it's one of their favorite rides in the park. As you can make out in the picture, you lay down on your tummy on this ride to sort of simulate the experience of hang gliding. Certainly not as convincing an effect as Disney's Soaring but it's still a pretty cool ride. It takes you soaring up and down around in a circle reaching a height of 17 feet. I rode it once and it made me kind of dizzy. I've sat out additional rides so far but the boys will ride it two or three times in a row. They flip for it!


Next we have me probably not setting a good example for my children, but I could do alot worse. One of the most popular rides in the park is Dragon's Lair which is a very slow, relaxing boat ride around a lagoon. A feature of the ride, added recently, is a huge mountain and a cave where Duke lives. Inside the cave, you ride past a giant egg with colors that match Duke...

...my kids ask every time why Duke the boy dragon has laid an egg. I tell them not to read into it so much, I don't think Duke's backstory has really been fleshed out all that much. Maybe the mom dragon is away...I don't know, but anyhow when you ride past the egg it's sitting in a nest. Somebody has tossed a plastic Easter egg into the nest with Duke's egg. (I'm pretty sure it's been there a while.) So I had the idea that we should try and start a new park tradition and see if other people will start throwing eggs into the nest. The kids loved the idea of course and we tried to make a mental note to dig up a plastic egg at home and bring it on our next visit. Then later we remembered there is a Chicken Laying a Prize Filled Egg machine at the monorail station. So, we had our egg supply right there in the park!

Mission accomplished! We added the yellow egg in front, you can also see the blue egg in the nest. The picture is a little blurry since you can only snap a shot from a moving boat. So, if you're a DW fan - get yourself an egg and add it too Duke's collection. I'm sure he would be most pleased!

Like every other parent, I had midway games. Rip-Offs! The only time I'm likely to drop a few bucks on one is when it's either kid oriented and they win a prize every time or when you can buy a bucket of balls (or rings) so that everybody can have a turn tossing a couple of rings/balls at the game. Elias really wants a full sized Minion from Despicable Me. They have them in a giant sized claw machine which I'm not spending a dime on, but they also had them in a game where you had to land a wiffle ball in a colored hole. So, I dropped five bucks for a basket of balls so both the kids could have turns and so I could toss one of two "skilled" balls at the game. First toss of the game, Elias lands a ball in a blue medium hole. The Minion is a large, but if we scored one more medium we could trade up for the large. Of course, we didn't win anything else with our remaining basket full of balls. Instead of getting the character from one of his favorite movies...

...he gets Shrek. Elias shares my complete indifference to the world of Shrek, and he was not quite as thrilled with his win. We'll try again another visit to trade up to the Minion.

In the back of the park they have two free floating boat rides that cruise around the waterway system along the farmlands at the rear of the property. One cool experience this last trip, on the Lady Gay River Boat the captain slowed the motor down and let Tanner take over in the driver's seat. He was really steering our boat and was really proud of himself when he was done!

Well Played Dutch Wonderland

And finally, are you ready for some big time Theme Park nerdiness? I love when they have little road signs on Antique Car rides. Guess what? Dutch Wonderland added some to their Sunoco Turnpike ride. They are so cool!

Loves it!

Both trips: nothing but a great time!

Revenge of the Dutch Wonderland Trip Report

Summer Vacation officially started for us this past Thursday afternoon when Elias got home from school. For a stay at home parent, Summer Vacation is like tax season for an accountant or Christmas for Santa Claus - it's the busy season! We decided to start things off with a bang with an all day visit to our new summer home Dutch Wonderland. We had beautiful weather and a very light crowd as most schools are still in session for at least another week or two.

For the first time in Dutch Wonderland's history, they've split their parking lot into two sections are are now charging $10.00 to park in "Preferred Parking" or the lower lot as it's commonly known. These are the handful of parking rows located directly in front of the castle entrance. The parking is still free about six lanes up from the entrance, it's a pretty silly idea to charge for slighlty better parking. Honestly, the furthest spot in DW's parking lot is closer to the entrance than most theme park's best parking spot is to theirs but obviously when you start to charge for something that's been free (for almost 50 years) people are going to get upset. Dutch Wonderland has tried to quiet some of the upset guests by including the preferred parking as a Season Pass privlage. I assume it was an afterthought since this perk was not mentioned in any of the literature when we signed up for our passes.

I don't really care one way or the other. The walk from the lot is not bad, in fact the kids enjoy following Duke the Dragon's footprints across the crosswalk. But since I can park down front for free - I'll take `em up on the offer. The lower lot was not nearly full and the handful of dashboards I examined all had Season Pass parking tickets displayed instead of the $10.00 ticket. For all the ill-will it's buying Dutch Wonderland, I doubt it's worth paying someone to sit at a ticket booth to look at season passes when the average person is not going to pay $10.00 to park a few rows closer to the castle doors. Dutch Wonderland isn't exactly the hangout for big spenders!

But beyond the parking lot, we had another really great day!

Tanner has turned into a real daredevil. He had earmarked a dozen rides that he wasn't going to ride because they were too tall, too fast...or whatever other reason he decided. He's five years old, so you can't hold it against him, right? Well, he's been picking off those rides one by one. This visit he conquered The Twister - a Tilt-A-Whirl/Scrambler variation. It spins round and round in both directions while raising and dropping to the ground. I can't handle spinney rides - I get sick way too easily but the kids loved it and rode it several times. The Twister was moved to Dutch Wonderland a few years ago from Hersheypark where it was named the Rodeo for many years. Tanner also overcame his fear of the Flying Trapeze - a high flying swing ride which he had labeled too high. Even though last year at the beach he cried and cried because he wasn't tall enough to ride the big swing ride with Elias.

Tanner was also ready to ride Kite Flight, one of the park's two new rides this season. This was the first ride for all of us on this new addition. It simulates hang gliding by riding in vehicles laying down on your tummy. The ride spins round and round while ascending and descending. I got a little dizzy near the end...the kids rode it two more times. I didn't get a good picture of the ride, but I'll try next time.

One of the things I really admire at Dutch Wonderland is their appreciation for their own history. They have a small section called Memory Lane where a few old ride vehicles are on display. This train car is from Old 99, a really fun little ride that you could still find at some old parks. It was active at DW until fairly recently, it's footprint was where the current Thomas The Tank Engine theatre is. The ride took the trains on a twisting track around a garden with a couple of hidden gags. Sensors in the track would activate gags such as a stack of barrels falling on the train or a cow popping out of of hiding onto the track. The cow now resides in the back of the park on the Gondola Boat Ride and I'm happy to say they went to the trouble of hooking him up to the boat track so he can still surprise guests.

The park's resident ducks continue to be a popular time consuming attraction for my kids. On this day, we found three baby ducks walking the path near the space rides. I gotta admit the little ducks were pretty darn cute and my kids and others went nuts following the little peeping ducks all over the area.

The antique car ride has been rechristened Sunoco Turnpike with plenty of product placement all over the place. The cars are now sporting not only the company logo on the hood of the car, but are also outfitted with a fake speedometer and gas gage. Nice tough I thought. Almost every park has an antique car ride, and I think Dutch Wonderland's is one of the most scenic although it's a bit brief.

Duke's Lagoon - the water park section of the park - opened on Memorial Day weekend. We had decided to leave the swimsuits home this visit but we ventured across the bridge to the Lagoon to check it out. The boys jaws dropped to the ground when they saw this enormous collection of Slush Puppy machines. The Slush Shack in Duke's Lagoon let's kids mix and match from over 10 different flavors of Slush Puppy. They even have some DW related drink recipes if kids want to make their own cocktail. The nice thing is they let you use your regular refill cup from the park which saves you a couple of bucks. Well played, DW!

The Dutch Wonderland Trip Report Strikes Again

Saturday was an absolutely gorgeous day outside. The sun was out and the temperatures were in the mid-70's. We went to a street fair, did a good amount of yard work and then a friend of mine came up from Baltimore and we had dinner on the deck with some lovely beverages. Sunday was to bring the temperature up to 80 with a slight chance of an afternoon/early evening shower. The kids were up for another trip to Dutch Wonderland and so was I. When we left our house the temps were in the upper 70's and you could already feel the warmth of the sun. There wasn't a cloud in sight. About 20 minutes into our journey to the park there wasn't a ray of sunshine in the sky and the thermometer had drooped almost 10 degrees. It was a bit overcast and gloomy most of the day, but we arrived at the park around 12:15 and were ready to make the most out of our day. I gotta say, Dutch Wonderland really works some magic. Both my boys had been wound up for days and Elias had been in a crabby mood for just as long. Elias and Tanner were both perfect angels full of youthful energy and excitement all day long. It made for an extra nice day!

Dutch Wonderland used to have a really big multi-lane Giant Slide - which were apparently all the theme park rage back in the 70's. For whatever reason, DW took out the original slide a few years ago and but in two three-lane portable Fun Slides. They're not quite as nice, but they get the job done. Here's Elias and Tanner racing each other - which was a nice surprise because the girl at the top of the ride last time wouldn't let anybody race. (Booooo!)

The first weekend we went to DW, Tanner won a little green plush duck at the duck pond game. Both the kids really took to the little guy and he's become their Dutch Wonderland trip mascot. Elias really wanted one, so I let him play but instead of winning the small sized duck he wanted - he actually won a medium. Elias was disappointed and I asked the girl working if he could just have a small. She gave him three small ducks since that was the trade-up value. Elias and Tanner might as well have been handed the keys to their own toy store. They were beside themselves with joy over having a collection of four of these (cheap) ducks. They went on all the rides with them, they all got names and they were just so pleased with the whole ordeal.


One of the unique (and not very publicized) attractions at the park is letterboxing. That's where you follow a trail of clues to find a hidden surprise. There are three hidden throughout the park. You can print out the clues at home or load them onto your phone. I loaded them up while the kids were on a ride and we found two of them. We do alot of letterboxing in the summer, so they were pretty excited to get a chance to do it in the park. The boys could not have been more excited when they found the two boxes we looked for. Inside the box is a giant stamp (we stamped our season pass coupon books) and a journal to record your name and when you found the box. Since it's the beginning of the season, there weren't many names in the book yet.

Turtle Whirl is basically a Tilt-A-Whirl. Tanner has been dead set against riding it but decided to give it a try this past weekend. He was instantly hooked and the two of them rode it eight consecutive times. As for me, I sat on a bench because spinney rides make me sick to my stomach! Turtle Whirl quickly rose to the top of the boys list of favorite rides. You might remember this ride from John and Kate Plus 8 in the episode where they took the kids to an amusement park. It was Dutch Wonderland, and I remember there was some kind of Gossling meltdown right in front of the Turtle Whirl.

This weekend was the opening weekend for The Wanderers, a fantastic strolling band that performs throughout the park. We caught them earlier in the day by the monorail station where they played Name That Tune with movie songs. Of course, Elias got several right and impressed the guys in the band with his movie knowledge. At the end of the day we caught them again in the courtyard along with the park mascots Duke the Dragon, Princess Brooke and Sir Brandon. Here's a shot of everybody (including the characters) doing the Hokey Pokey. A fun ending to another fun trip!