Dutch Wonderland in Lancaster, Pennsylvania is the self-proclaimed Kingdom for Kids.
This 48 acre children’s park won the award as the world’s best family park in the most
recent Amusement Today Golden Ticket Awards poll.
But is this park worthy of that title, especially with so many other children’s parks in the
Pennsylvania area?
Find out in this review of Dutch Wonderland.
The park was founded by Earl Clark in 1963.
The park opened with just 4 rides and a gorgeous castle main entrance that was built by Clark
himself.
Over the next 4 decades, Dutch Wonderland continued adding rides and slowly grew into
one of the best family destinations in Amish Country.
The park was gorgeous and had a cheery atmosphere.
In 2001, the Clark family sold the park to Hershey Entertainment.
Hershey owned the park for the next decade and maintained the park’s charm.
Hershey also relocated some of Hersheypark’s former attractions to Dutch Wonderland to
give them new life.
And since the parks were roughly 45 minutes away, there was an affordable combo ticket
valid for both parks.
It seemed like an ideal fit having both a major thrill park like Hersheypark and a small
family park like Dutch Wonderland since they complimented each other rather than competed
with each other.
Late in 2010, Palace Entertainment, the American division of Parques Reunidos, purchased Dutch
Wonderland.
This would be Palace’s fourth park in Pennsylvania.
The overall atmosphere of the park is similar to the Hershey days, but the park feels a
tad more corporate in spots and the prices increased quite a bit.
Without any discounts, Dutch Wonderland now costs $55 at the gate for daily admission,
which seems sort of steep for a park like this.
But thankfully you can get discounts if you buy your tickets online.
Dutch Wonderland’s parking lot is mostly paved, but I prefer to park in the grassy
section by Kingdom Coaster since that will be your best vantage point for the attraction
as it runs along the outer perimeter of the park.
You also may notice that the Monorail travels around the parking lot and passes through
what appears to be a station in the parking lot.
While the Monorail now passes through this building without stopping, it was once an
active station for the ride back when the attraction used to be an additional upcharge.
Now it’s included with admission and gives a full tour of the park.
To enter the park, you pass through the castle, which also doubles as the park’s gift shop.
Once inside, you are greeted by a beautiful park.
Dutch Wonderland is an extremely well-shaded park with the abundance of trees.
The back of the park runs alongside Mill Creek, which gives this section of the park a relaxing
atmosphere.
The park used to have a boat that traveled along this creek, but that stopped over the
past decade.
And if you look across the creek, you can sometimes see some locals working in their
fields.
But beyond the natural beauty, Dutch Wonderland also seems very well taken care of.
The park is always immaculate and rides always seem to have fresh coats of paint.
Complimenting this appearance are the smiles of the park staff.
And as you’d hope from any children’s park, Dutch Wonderland’s staff in general
is quite friendly.
They sometimes aren’t the most efficient though, which is most evident in the dispatches
of their two main roller coasters.
It’s relatively common to see both Kingdom Coaster and Merlin’s Mayhem take 4-5 minutes
to dispatch a train.
In general, lines aren’t too bad at Dutch Wonderland.
The park always seems to have a healthy crowd, but most rides are no more than a 5-10 minute
wait.
There are four I would prioritize early in the day though.
First is Merlin’s Mayhem.
If you’re one of the first ones at the park, I would make this coaster your first stop
since its proximity to the main entrance and slow dispatches causes it to build up a queue
the fastest.
Second, is the Double Splash Flume on a hot day.
Third and fourth are the two rides that circle around Exploration Island in the Turnpike
and Gondola Cruise.
The latter two lines absolutely crawl if there aren’t many vehicles on the course.
The ride lineup at Dutch Wonderland is perfect for the family crowd.
Nothing is overly extreme and a majority of the park’s rides can comfortably fit both
kids and adults.
I think that’s one of the most important things for a children’s park since kids
love experiencing rides with their parents.
The park currently has three coasters.
The newest of the three is also the headliner in Merlin’s Mayhem.
This S&S family inverted coaster is a smooth coaster that’s all about the visuals.
The extremely open ride vehicles and swooping movements give guests the feeling they’re
flying.
And I love how the coaster passes over and under the Sky Ride while also whizzing past
midways.
Plus the ride has some nice theming too both in the queue line and station.
I have a separate review that goes into more detail on Merlin’s Mayhem, but this is a
good family coaster and it’s super low 39” height requirement means most 4 year olds
are tall enough to ride it.
The other major coaster is Kingdom Coaster, the original Custom Coasters International
wood coaster.
This blue wood coaster is a really smooth wood coaster with some surprising laterals
on the mostly unbanked turns and a few tiny pops of airtime.
I also have a separate review for this coaster, but the only downside is that the height limit
was raised from 42” to 46” for the 2017 season, which means this coaster has a higher
height restriction than more extreme wood coasters in the area like Phoenix and Twister
at Knoebels, Oscar’s Wacky Taxi at Sesame Place, or Comet at Hersheypark.
The final coaster is Joust, a Chance kiddie coaster located across from the Kingdom Coaster
that can serve as a warm up for younger guests.
Beyond the coasters, you have a solid collection of water rides.
The Double Splash Log Flume is a smaller flume, but it features- as the name suggests- two
drops, a leisurely course, and the perfect amount of wetness.
If you want to get wetter, you have the Duke’s Lagoon water park which includes several water
playgrounds for kids and the Pipeline Plunge water slide tower, which is one of those wet/dry
water slides where you ride in a dinghy boat.
It’s not super fast, but you do slide up a few of the walls.
Dutch Wonderland doesn’t have many flat rides, but they suit the park well.
You have some older adult flats from Chance Rides such as the Flying Trapeze swing ride,
Space Shuttle swinging ship, and the Twister Trabant ride.
You also have a strong mix of modern and classic kids rides scattered throughout the park.
But there are two flats that standout.
The first are the Bumper Cars.
You wouldn’t expect this kids park in Pennsylvania to have a set of Lusse Skooters, but that’s
exactly what Dutch Wonderland has.
These cars are toned way down from the set at Knoebels, but they definitely have more
power than your average cars and they can deliver some shockingly strong collisions.
The second is the Wonder House, which is a classic madhouse.
This ride can get quite hot and stuffy on a hot day, but I’ve never ridden a ride
like this that’s so compact.
This one really has a homemade feel that the others lack.
The park also used to have two simulator rides, but they were missing in my most recent visit.
Both the Astroliner and VR Voyager felt dated, so I suspect they may be gone for good.
And then you have more transportation rides than one can count.
I already mentioned the Monorail, but you also have a super slow Sky Ride that passes
through Merlin’s Mayhem, the Wonderland Special train that circles a large chunk of
the park, the Gondola Cruise boat ride, and the Turnpike antique cars.
The latter two are part of Exploration Island, which is a the very back section of the park.
Originally, this was a massive garden, but it was renovated into an exploration-based
land for the 2014 season.
I preferred the prior aesthetic as it was stunningly beautiful, but I can’t deny the
new area is more popular amongst the park’s most important demographic, kids.
The area includes a dinosaur walkthrough or you can see the land via boat or car instead.
Beyond the rides, you also have a few shows.
The best of which is the high dive show.
And then kids also have the opportunity to meet the park’s beloved mascot in Duke the
Dragon.
I can’t speak to Dutch Wonderland’s food since I always stuff my face at one of the
nearby smorgasbords when I’m in Lancaster, but the food lines seemed shockingly short
compared to most parks whenever I sought out a cup of water.
So do I recommend Dutch Wonderland?
If you have young kids, absolutely!
I think this is the best family park in Pennsylvania.
Dutch Wonderland has the charm of Idlewild, but the signature rides are way more efficient
and the park seems better maintained.
And Dutch Wonderland may not have the Sesame Street IP like Sesame Place, but it has way
more rides and is a better overall value.
There aren’t many family parks better than Dutch Wonderland in my opinion.
If you’re a thrill-seeker, I would prioritize the major thrill parks nearby like Hersheypark
and Dorney Park, but once you’ve experienced all those, it’s well-worth popping into
Dutch Wonderland for a few hours since the two major coasters are unique layouts and
the park is stunningly beautiful.
So those are my thoughts on Dutch Wonderland, one of the best family amusement parks in
the United States.
What are your thoughts on this park?
Have you been to Dutch Wonderland?
I would love to hear your thoughts about this charming park down in the comments.
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Thanks for watching!
And I’ll leave you with a montage to the park’s
catchy theme song.
I always have this song stuck in my head whenever I think of Dutch Wonderland.