Dutch Wonderland- Saturday, August 19, 2023

      After we woke up and had breakfast, Abby had time to swim.  She had been very good about understanding that the pool was closed when we arrived late last night, so we took some time for her to enjoy the warm pool water today.  Dutch Wonderland didn’t open until 11, so we had until about 10:00 to just hang out in the hotel in Harrisburg.

     We were about 45 minutes away from Dutch Wonderland at this hotel.  We passed right by Hershey's Chocolate World and didn't stop, which felt odd because there were so many times that we went out of our way to go there.

     Dutch Wonderland is apparently celebrating its 60th anniversary this year.  Many of the rides look like they date back to the 60s, but even so, we thought the park was clean and pretty well kept up.  The park was small-- maybe the size of what Fantasy Island used to be-- but densely packed with rides and attractions, including many carnival-type rides that were great for Abby.   We arrived at after 10:30, and were able to park in the lot for our hotel, which was right across the street.  That probably saved us for paying for parking.  Once we passed through the big castle shaped entrance, we found Duke the purple dragon posing for pictures with people as they waited for the 11:00 rope drop to enter the park proper.  The weather was nice all day. By the afternoon, the temperatures got into the low 80s, but it was sti relatively cool for an August day in Southern Pennsylvania. 

     We came here because we thought there would be a lot of rides that Abby could ride, and in that, we were not disappointed.  The park has a nice system to easily see who can ride what, based on their heights.  Abby was an "emerald" because she is about 38" tall.  We would look at the green stripe on the clearly marked signs by each ride's entrance to see if she could ride and if one of us had to ride with her.  It's good that Emma was able to come with us, too, because she was able to fit on a few rides with her that would have been hard for either of us.  We started with Abby's first choice- the merry-go-round, which was right by the entry.  She rode down a large carnival-style "Fun Slide" on burlap sack with Emma.  Abby rode the "Balloon Chase" with mom, which took them both up into the air a small way.  She rode a purple monster truck at the "Off-Road Rally," with her sister Emma, and that reminded us a lot of the Blaze trucks she rode in New Jersey almost exactly a year ago (Aug. 22, 2022).  

    There were a few rides that Abby needed to ride on her own.  There were bulldozers that circled a small merry-go-round.  She liked those, but couldn't figure out how to lift the blade on hers.  Some panda bears circled a big bee hive.  (Do pandas like honey?  We thought they just liked bamboo.)  Abby liked riding the pandas themselves ok, but they had buzzers that made loud sounds and she didn't like those.  (Again, we don't think pandas are known for loud noises like that.)  There were jumping frogs that she rode on her own too, but they jerked her around too much and she was crying by the end of that one.  The ride that seemed aimed at the youngest children was a train engine that they could turn hand cranks to move or be pushed by a parent with a long pole along a railroad track.  She liked that.  She rode on the "Sky Fighter" by herself and seemed to like the faster but smooth moving rockets.  Finally, she rode a version of the tea cup ride with Emma again. 

    There were "big people" rides that we rode throughout the day.  Emma, Julie, and Abby rode the log flume together.  Abby didn't like getting wet, though. Just before lunch we rode the monorail together.  The slow blue monorail circumnavigates the park, and from it, we could see the cornfields on one side, and the busy traffic and our hotel beyond the parking lot on the other.  It was otherwise, not a very scenic ride though.  We had lunch at a big "Eatery" but couldn't believe how empty it was, especially since it was just shortly after noon.  That's not what a Disney quick-serve restaurant looks like at that time.  After lunch we made our way to "Exploration Island."  Julie sat in the shade while Scott, Emma and Abby walked a short path to see a collection of animatronic dinosaurs.   Abby was intrigued by them, especially the babies, but jumped when motion sensors or timers made the dinos growl when we stood near them.  She especially didn't like the T-rex and had to hold our hands as we passed him, but she was excited to be a baby dinosaur herself at the end and posed for a picture with some egg shells.  From that same area, there is a boat ride called the Gondola Cruise (pictures of the ride were dated 1966 in the queue area).  The line seemed to be moving pretty slowly.  As it turned out there were only three boats going and each could only carry twelve people.  We ended up waiting in line for that one.  It was ok, but certainly not worth the wait.  It wasn't the scenic, considering the most that you got to see were the backsides of the aforementioned dinosaurs and the old timey cars that were circling the island.  We chose not to ride those cars because they also had long lines and we weren't going to be seeing anything we had seen from the boat.  Maybe the most interesting thing there was the mayfly that Emma coaxed onto her finger before passing it first to Abby and then to another little girl waiting in line.

     There were a few more things that we had wanted to do in the park, including the train ride around the park, a boat ride that seemed to take you through Duke the Dragon's cave, a water park and even the large suspended roller coaster for Emma and Dad.  Ever since lunch, though, we had been moving slower and slower.  Around 3:30, we finally decided to retreat, at least temporarily, to the hotel where we could cool down, possibly nap, and swim in the pool.  We got our hands stamped for possible re-admission to the park but ultimately would not end up using those.  We dragged ourselves across the street and up the slight hill to the hotel.  We got our room and no sooner were we cooled down then Julie tried talking the rest of us into driving off into Amish country.  "Squeeze the day!" as she says.  We understood that she wanted to get as much out of the day as possible, but we were all drained at that point, and that the Amish stores in places like Intercourse and Bird-in-Hand will be closed tomorrow, since it is Sunday.  Emma went to take a nap, and the rest of us went to explore the immediate area for food.  There are a lot of chains right on the street near us (and cornfields aplenty, just beyond them).  Abby had finally gone to sleep, and rather than wait for a table at Cracker Barrel, we tried to find a Burger King to bring food back to the room.   Poor little Abby was conked out from the excitement today.  Instead of squeezing anymore out of the day, we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening chilling in the hotel room.

Post script: After she woke up from her four or five hour nap, Abby was able to go swimming again.  It was 9:30 and she had been asleep since around 4:00 or so.  Luckily, the pool was open until 10:30.