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!

Mother Nature is Dumb

This weekend the weather was a real jerk. The kids were excited to use our Dutch Wonderland season pass and hit up the park again over the weekend. I was game but the weather forecast called for rain Friday afternoon all through the weekend and into this week. It looked like a sure bet and we pretty much put plans on the back burner. Friday I was working in the yard trying to get stuff done before the rain. The sky was dark and around 4:00 it got even darker. I cleaned up the yard quickly trying to beat the rain, but still nothing. After dinner we played outside a little bit, thinking we were getting some last minute fun in before the rain - but still no rain.

Cut to Saturday afternoon and there is still no rain. Finally around 1:30 I said to the kids, "Let's make a run up to Dutch Wonderland. The weather probably kept everybody away today. By the time we get there the park will be empty." We got to the park around 3:15 only to find it packed! We had to park further away than we did last weekend. It turns out there was a Brownie/Girl Scout Camp-O-Ree that weekend - so there were plenty of people there who had already planned on making a weekend out it. The crowd thwarted the kids plan to ride the Kingdom Coaster another dozen times. With the 15 - 20 minute wait we ended up only riding it twice. The kids still had a blast, it really is a good coaster!


One of the things I'm going to like about having the passes is access to a carousel and a train all summer. Sometimes in the heat of the summer, I'm just craving a spin on a merry-go-round or a ride on a miniature train. Now we don't have to settle for a mall carousel or find a public park with a train...

I wish DW had a antique Grand Carousel, but their model will do just fine.

The sun never did come out Saturday but that didn't stop the boys from enjoying one of their favorites, Sky Fighter. They love this ride simply because it has guns on it and they always sit facing each other so they can blast one another.

Elias and the Knight of Dutch Wonderland, Sir Brandon

We got in a good three hours at the park and capped the afternoon off by introducing my little guys to the wonderful world of Waffle House. As an added bouns, they both fell asleep on the way home so I got to enjoy the rare sounds on silence! Just as we pulled into the driveway at home it started to rain...for about 5 minutes. Sunday was sunny and near 80 and would have been a great day to go, but it was SUPPOSED to be rainy all day! A pretty much wasted weekend thanks to dumb ol' Mother Nature!

Dutch Wonderland on the News

The local Fox affeliate was live at Dutch Wonderland Thursday morning to show off the new rides.

Our First Trip As Royalty

Even though it's essentially a kiddie park, I'm gotta say that I'm pretty excited that we got season passes to Dutch Wonderland this year! As a huge amusement park fan, I've always wanted to be a season pass holder to anywhere. Growing up we didn't live close enough to a park to make it worth while and later on in life when I worked at Hersheypark and could go whenever I want - I was too fat to ride anything. The nice thing about Dutch Wonderland is most of the attractions are designed for families to enjoy together and as as a stay-at-home dad an amusement park full of rides for my kids is a great way to kill many long summer days of daddy duty! So this past weekend, the boys and I headed up to Lancaster, PA (about an hour drive for us) and spent the day at the park. It was nice to have the more relaxed approach to visiting and not worrying about getting everything done in one day. We took our time around the park and I pretty much let the kids dictate where we went and what we did. They had a blast!

Since there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of blogging about Dutch Wonderland out there, I thought I'd do some trip reports when we make it out to the park. This was the second weekend of the season and there was a good turn out at the park, but certainly far from crowded. The weather was absolutely beautiful and I simply enjoyed being outside and feeling the gentle warmth of the sun.

One of the things that I really like about Dutch Wonderland is that they can take a simple ride and elevate it slightly by it's presentation. Off-Road Rally is a pretty simple "off the shelf" kiddie truck ride, with a train of trucks that travel around a slightly off-oval track. I've seen this ride at other operations simply dumped on a gravel lot or grass. I've always liked the nice way DW has framed this ride with lush landscaping. (Elias and Tanner are in the green car.)

The highlight of the park for most older kids is the Kingdom Coaster. Opened in 1992, this family coaster delivers quite a ride for a park known for it's no-thrills. The ride is pretty much a full sized wooden roller coaster minus the first drop. There are alot of twists and turns in this 90 second ride as well as a decent amount of air-time.


This was the first year Tanner worked up the nerve to ride it and he was an instant fan! That's Elias hand (with the watch) going no-handed down the second, slightly bigger drop.

One of two new rides this year is Huck Finn's Leapin' Frogs. The kids dismissed this at first as just another round-and-round ride but then we noticed it was actually a variation of a dune buggy ride they LOVE at the beach. While traveling around-and-around the frogs hop up and down. This is achieved by a wheel traveling along a track inside the rides center mechanism. The track lifts the cars up and then drops them which creates a bouncing sensation. The kids swore this frog version was a bit more souped up than the dune buggies and perhaps they were right as the frog cars looked a bit heavier than the beach cars. Either way, Leapin' Frogs will be a must ride for Elias and Tanner on future visits.

Whenever we go to a park for the day, we always seem to miss the shows because we're too busy trying to squeeze so much else into our day. I made it a point to finally see some of Dutch Wonderland's entertainment offerings. We hit up a 4:00 performance of A Dragon's Tale, one of the two shows performed in the Aqua Stadium. High-Dive shows used to be a staple in most amusement parks so it's nice that Dutch Wonderland still has one since most have been retired at this point. A group of five divers act out a silly tale about a princess and an evil knight, to a prerecorded soundtrack. As you can imagine, I saw alot of theme park entertainment when I was younger and I've always marveled at the bottom-of-the-barrel low brow, corny humor these shows maintained. I'm happy to say that the Dutch Wonderland show is about as corny as they come. It has some really funny moments mixed with bad puns, slapstick and current pop culture references. It's not many kiddie parks that you'll find a group of medieval knights dancing to Beyonce's Put a Ring On It. High-Diving is a feat that seems to impress young and old and the show is incredibly entertaining for everyone. I'm looking forward to seeing the park's other high-dive show.

Along the back end of the park runs the Mill Stream which is home to several species of water foul. The ducks at the park are just as big of an attraction as all the rides and fancy other stuff. This little family of ducks we saw brought ooooh's and ahhh's from many families.

Did I mention my kids loved the Kingdom Coaster. I was going to keep track of how many times we rode it this summer, but I already lost count. I think we rode it 12 times and then the kids went an additional two more times. Three or four times around at once is about all I can handle. At the end of the day, the guy running the ride was just letting everybody stay on and didn't even stop the train in the station. The cars just whizzed by the empty platform and we rode again and again. Pretty cool.

Elias and Tanner in the second to last seat, riding without Daddy. This was the last ride of the day and ending to a great first visit as Season Pass holders at Dutch Wonderland.