Tales From My House: Lancaster Trip

After my trip to Newport, we had promised the kids we were going to take them on a vacation. Thomas was supposed to be attending a course the week following mine and the plan was for us all to go up. They were very excited about going out of town. Unfortunately, we learned just a few days before we were supposed to leave that his orders had changed and the trip was cancelled. But, the kids were still anxiously expecting to go somewhere. We began a search of what new place we could visit that was 4 hours away or less. We decided to spend a couple of nights in the Lancaster, PA area.

We drove up on Sunday morning and immediately went to Hershey's Chocolate World. It was incredibly crowded. So crowded that it was difficult to maneuver in the store area. We did the ride, shared some chocolate creations in the food court and then watched the 3D movie. It was really too crowded to do much else, so we did another round on the ride and then left. Our next stop was the Turkey Hill experience--a definite junk-food-filled day! It was a fun place to visit. Kids 4 and under were free, which was all of our kids, so that was a huge plus. I am not sure it would have been worth the price to pay for everyone.

After that, we went to our rental house in Lancaster. Our family is now too big to stay in a regular hotel room, so our choice is to either find a suites hotel (none were available), rent two rooms (too expensive) or find a rental house. It was a cute 3-bedroom house that overlooked a golf course and the kids loved it! In fact, staying at the rental house inspired us to cancel our hotel reservation at Disney and find a house to rent there. We did it once before, when coming to Maryland to househunt, and both experiences were really positive.

The rental house even had a few toys, which the kids loved!

Monday, we visited the outlet malls--including a QVC store. Who knew such a thing existed? Our visit there was mainly a shout-out to Thomas' grandmother, who loves QVC. I myself have spent many an hour viewing the Quacker Factory while visiting her, so it was fun to see the store. We also went into a Gymboree outlet where they were having a great sale. So, the shopping was fun. From there, we went to the visitor's center. I have never seen so many brochures (and, my hometown is just outside of Orlando). We decided to have lunch at an Amish restaurant, The Good 'N Plenty. For those wondering, named after the amount of food, and not the candy. The place was huge! We opted for the family dining style and not the menu. Basically, we had no idea what were were doing. But, that meant we shared a table with two other families and they just brought food out. It was a massive amount of food. It was also really expensive. I think the kids were free and it was still like $60 (for lunch!). The food was good (and plentiful). I am not sure we would go back though. I think it is probably the kind of place you go to once to say you've gone. I wish I had taken a picture. I think that dining room could seat thousands. I just looked it up--4,000 to be exact.

From there, we took the kids to a Pirate-themed miniature golf experience. The kids were a little young for that. Or, a little tired. Or, overwhelmed. Whatever they were, it did not go well. It will be another year or two before we try that again. Anna broke her club, Jack went into the water more than once and Kara just had a bad attitude. After that we decided to go back to the house for a break. Another great thing about having a house, we put them each in a different room, closed the doors and they actually rested. You can't do that in a hotel!

The highlight of the trip was Dutch Wonderland. After driving by, we were not impressed. It looked like part of a strip-mall. When you buy a ticket, they allow you a 3-hour preview the night before. After nap, we decided to check it out. We attempted to have dinner at a Bob Evans' first, but after sitting for (literally) 20-minutes without our order being taken, we realized we were wasting previous time. So, we left. On to Dutch Wonderland! Luckily, our first impression was way off. The kids loved it; we loved it; it was fantastic! The 3-hours flew by. We went on almost every ride. Jack was tall enough for everything and only needed to be accompanied on the big roller coaster and one other ride. The girls were tall enough for most rides, but had to be with an adult. One ride the girls could not ride was a giant swingset. Anna mentioned multiple times how she wished she could ride. So, the next day, we measured her and she just barely made the cut-off, putting her in the same height-bracket as Jack. Lo and behold, who was actually afraid to get on and opted out? You guessed it. Seriously, there was a lot of heavy sighing and "I wish I could go on that.." until it was observed that she actually could. The grass is always greener.

Me and Jack on the swings that Anna really (didn't) want to ride.

The next day, we were there at opening and stayed until about 6pm before making the 3-hour drive home. Besides all the rides, they also had shows, we watched two diving ones that were pretty fun. And, there was a big water area with slides, play equipment, and squirting fountains. It was actually a little cold, so we didn't spend much time in the water, even though we had brought our bathing suits, which the kids insisted on changing into.

Overall, it was a big success and we really enjoyed our mini-vacation. Jack's favorite ride was the spinning turtles. He also went on the big-kid roller coaster. I was the lucky parent who got to ride with him and it was awesome. He threw his hands in the air and just laughed the whole ride. Anna like a river-rapid flume ride. That was probably my favorite too. The five of us fit in one log and it had a nice drop. Kara liked the wonder house. The walls around you move and it feels like you're going upside down in circles. It made me feel incredibly sick. I rode once and then Thomas had duty for the next 2-times they wanted to go on. Just thinking about it makes me queasy! Jack and Thomas both liked the Turtle-Whirl. Thomas' favorite memory is riding the swinging ship with Jack and seeing how fearless he was. That was his first ride and we thought he'd be scared. How foolish we were! Dutch Wonderland is perfect for the preschool set and we think we'll try and go back every year until they outgrow it. Then, we'll move onto Hershey Park or Busch Gardens. It was a very nice, relatively inexpensive, fun mini-vacation. It was also good to see how they reacted to the rides, that is definitely helping me in planning out our big Disney vacation later this summer.