Busch Gardens: Tampa Bay, FL

Park Description:

Get your comfortable walking shoes on and lather on the sunscreen if you want to conquer all of Busch Gardens Tampa Bay in one day. We definitely recommend stretching out your experience to two or more days because there are so many options for rides and entertainment at this park.  The Tampa Busch Gardens’ theme  is an African adventure which translates into thrilling rides, thousands of animals and fascinating shows!

Last year, Busch Gardens Africa introduced visitors to Jungala, a four-acre family attraction which the feel of a jungle village. Located next to “the Congo,” this new area features exotic endangered tigers and orangutans as well as zip lines, a 35-foot volcano ride and multi-story family play area with cool water features.

This park has something for everyone, although it may be tough to reach a consensus on what to see first. The preschool set loved seeing all of the animals whiles the older kids spent hours on the roller coasters and in Jungala.

Green Scene
The SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund extends their conservation committee around the world. The nonprofit organization allows visitors to help protect wildlife and animal habitats. Donations made to the Fund supplement the Worlds of Discovery parks’ existing support for conservation groups, research and animal rescue efforts. For more information on the SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund, visit swbgconservationfund.org.

Busch Entertainment Corporation’s 10 theme parks, including Busch Gardens in Tampa, greens their park experience by using restaurant plates made from sugar cane. Seafood served to guests in restaurants and fed to Shamu at Sea World is purchased from sustainably-managed fisheries. You will also find plates, forks, knives and spoons that look and feel like plastic and are made from renewable resources such as vegetable starch and sugarcane. All parks combined, this green effort will replace 12.5 million pieces of dinnerware disposed of each year.
Busch Gardens offers a roundtrip shuttle from locations in Orlando to the park which runs once in the morning and once in the evening. The shuttle costs about $10 roundtrip (a bargain when you calculate gas, parking and environmental impact) and can be reserved by calling 800-221-1339.  The only drawback to this shuttle option is that you are committed to the shuttle’s schedule, which may be problematic if traveling with young children.

Recycling
The park recycles a significant portion of their waste which includes cardboard, landscaping material, plastic, aluminum, glass and office paper. Busch Gardens recycles manure by composting it on site. The process keeps waste out of landfills and creates a useful soil conditioner and fertilizer. Most of Busch Gardens’ is sent to a recycling center and all of the recyclables are removed which saves close to a ton and a half of trash from entering the local landfill.

Healthy Food
Fruit and salad are available throughout the park and reusable water bottles (no glass, please) are easily refilled. The park makes accommodations for those with special dietary needs and posts menus online to view prior to your visit, though the park recommends that those with food allergies speak directly to the chef. The park also allows a small lunch-box sized cooler if you prefer to bring your own healthy snacks.

Trip Notes:

• We were completely mesmerized by the white tigers near the Jungala area. And one of the tigers was equally mesmerized by us. Fascinating, if not a little frightening! Even though many of the other parks have animal exhibits, this park uses glass enclosures which enable visitors to get very close to the animals.
• Jungala is a very welcome addition to Busch Gardens. Kids are able to roam free while climbing rope ladders and running across bridges. The water play section is fabulous on a hot day and has the added bonus of an adjoining restaurant where parents can grab a snack whiling watching their kids play.
• Renting strollers is a good option. Not only are parents able to use it as a place to stow gear but also provides a welcome refuge where kids are able to retreat from the sun.
• Researching the animals found at the park before you arrived is a great idea. Visit seaworld.org/just-for-teachers/index.htm for help with creating your own educational guide.

First and Lasting Impressions:
Busch Gardens is the perfect spot for the whole family. Animal lovers will be just as thrilled as those with a need for speed. The urge to see the whole park in one day was our major stumbling block and, when we finally adjusted our itinerary to include a second day, we were able to enjoy the park much more and gave us the opportunity to revisit our favorite sections.
Crowds were thick at the park, but the flow of the crowd was manageable.  Maneuvering the somewhat uncooperative stroller made for slower going, but the rides lines moved quickly and we were quickly seated at most restaurants.

Busch Gardens - Tampa Bay
10001 N. McKinley Drive  |  Tampa Bay, FL  33612
888-800-5447
2009 Peak Prices:
Adult (ages 9 and older)    $70
Child (ages 3-9)        $60
Children (ages 2 and under)    FREE
AAA Discount Available

Military Discount:
Throughout 2009, members of the military and as many as three direct dependents may enter any one of Anheuser-Busch’s SeaWorld, Busch Gardens or Sesame Place parks with a single-day complimentary admission. Find more information at herosalute.com.

– Mary Talalay

Contest: Last Child in the Woods Books

Enter to win one of ten copies of Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv. Hurry, contest ends July 31st, 2009

Interview with Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods

Richard Louv, co-founder and chairman of the Children & Nature Network and recipient of the 2008 Audobon Medal, discusses the need for children to make connections with the natural world in his new book, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder (Algonquin Books: Chapel Hill, NC).  After checking the book out for ourselves, we spoke with Louv to learn a little bit more.

Introduction

One evening when my boys were younger, Matthew, then ten, looked at me from across a restaurant table and said quite seriously, “Dad, how come it was more fun when you were a kid?”

I asked what he meant.

“Well, you’re always talking about your woods and tree houses, and how you used to ride that horse down near the swamp.”

At first, I thought he was irritated with me. I had, in fact, been telling him what it was like to use string and pieces of liver to catch crawdads in a creek, something I’d be hard-pressed to find a child doing these days. Like many parents, I do tend to romanticize my own childhood—and, I fear, too readily discount my children’s experiences of play and adventure. But my son was serious; he felt he had missed out on something important.

He was right. Americans around my age, baby boomers or older, enjoyed a kind of free, natural play that seems, in the era of kid pagers, instant messaging, and Nintendo, like a quaint artifact.

Within the space of a few decades, the way children understand and experience nature has changed radically. The polarity of the relationship has reversed. Today, kids are aware of the global threats to the environment—but their physical contact, their intimacy with nature, is fading. That’s exactly the opposite of how it was when I was a child.

As a boy, I was unaware that my woods were ecologically connected with any other forests. Nobody in the 1950s talked about acid rain or holes in the ozone layer or global warming. But I knew my woods and my fields; I knew every bend in the creek and dip in the beaten dirt paths. I wandered those woods even in my dreams. A kid today can likely tell you about the Amazon rain forest—but not about the last time he or she explored the woods in solitude, or lay in a field listening to the wind and watching the clouds move.

This book explores the increasing divide between the young and the natural world, and the environmental, social, psychological, and spiritual implications of that change. It also describes the accumulating research that reveals the necessity of contact with nature for healthy child—and adult—development.

While I pay particular attention to children, my focus is also on those people born during the past two to three decades. The shift in our relationship to the natural world is startling, even in settings that one would assume are devoted to nature. Not that long ago, summer camp was a place where you camped, hiked in the woods, learned about plants and animals, or told firelight stories about ghosts or mountain lions. As likely as not today, “summer camp” is a weight-loss camp, or a computer camp. For a new generation, nature is more abstraction than reality. Increasingly, nature is something to watch, to consume, to wear
—to ignore. A recent television ad depicts a four-wheel-drive SUV racing along a breathtakingly beautiful mountain stream—while in the backseat two children watch a movie on a flip-down video screen, oblivious to the landscape and water beyond the windows.

A century ago, the historian Frederick Jackson Turner announced that the American frontier had ended. His thesis has been discussed and debated ever since. Today, a similar and more important line is being crossed.

Our society is teaching young people to avoid direct experience in nature. That lesson is delivered in schools, families, even organizations devoted to the outdoors, and codified into the legal and regulatory structures of many of our communities. Our institutions, urban/suburban design, and cultural attitudes unconsciously associate nature with doom—while disassociating the outdoors from joy and solitude. Well-meaning public-school systems, media, and parents are effectively scaring children straight out of the woods and fields. In the patent-or-perish environment of higher education, we see the death of natural history as the more hands-on disciplines, such as zoology, give way to more theoretical and remunerative microbiology and genetic engineering. Rapidly advancing technologies are blurring the lines between humans, other animals, and machines. The postmodern notion that reality is only a construct—that we are what we program—suggests limitless human possibilities; but as the young spend less and less of their lives in natural surroundings, their senses narrow, physiologically and psychologically, and this reduces the richness of human experience.

Yet, at the very moment that the bond is breaking between the young and the natural world, a growing body of research links our mental, physical, and spiritual health directly to our association with nature—in positive ways. Several of these studies suggest that thoughtful exposure of youngsters to nature can even be a powerful form of therapy for attention-deficit disorders and other maladies. As one scientist puts it, we can now assume that just as children need good nutrition and adequate sleep, they may very well need contact with nature.
Reducing that deficit—healing the broken bond between our young and nature—is in our self-interest, not only because aesthetics or justice demands it, but also because our mental, physical, and spiritual health depends upon it. The health of the earth is at stake as well. How the young respond to nature, and how they raise their own children, will shape the configurations and conditions of our cities, homes—our daily lives. The following pages explore an alternative path to the future, including some of the most innovative environment-based school programs; a reimagining and redesign of the urban environment—what one theorist calls the coming “zoopolis”; ways of addressing the challenges besetting environmental groups; and ways that faith-based organizations can help reclaim nature as part of the spiritual development of children. Parents, children, grandparents, teachers, scientists, religious leaders, environmentalists, and researchers from across the nation speak in these pages. They recognize the transformation that is occurring. Some of them paint another future, in which children and nature are reunited—and the natural world is more deeply valued and protected.

During the research for this book, I was encouraged to find that many people now of college age—those who belong to the first generation to grow up in a largely de-natured environment—have tasted just enough nature to intuitively understand what they have missed. This yearning is a source of power. These young people resist the rapid slide from the real to the virtual, from the mountains to the Matrix. They do not intend to be the last children in the woods.

My sons may yet experience what author Bill McKibben has called “the end of nature,” the final sadness of a world where there is no escaping man. But there is another possibility: not the end of nature, but the rebirth of wonder and even joy. Jackson’s obituary for the American frontier was only partly accurate: one frontier did disappear, but a second one followed, in which Americans romanticized, exploited, protected, and destroyed nature. Now that frontier—which existed in the family farm, the woods at the end of the road, the national parks, and in our hearts—is itself disappearing or changing beyond recognition.

But, as before, one relationship with nature can evolve into another. This book is about the end of that earlier time, but it is also about a new frontier—a better way to live with nature.

Interview

You point out that today’s children are in the unique situation of having more knowledge than ever about the environment, but hardly any physical connection to it.  How can we use this knowledge more positively to get children to interact with the natural world?
Without direct physical contact with the natural world, children’s knowledge about the environment is abstract, for the most part, and they tend to see a world with problems that are overwhelming. I often say that children know a lot about climate change and the cutting of the Amazon rain forest, but can’t tell you about what lives in the vacant lots or lakes or parks in their own area. Not that they don’t want to know. There’s a world of difference in seeing a butterfly on TV and following one as it moves from flower to flower, and kids realize this immediately when they have a chance to enjoy the outdoors on their own terms. Fortunately, there are lots of organizations out there that offer nature outings for little or no cost, many led by naturalists or enthusiasts who have become experts on the local flora and fauna. I urge parents or guardians to seek out these opportunities for learning and steer the kids in that direction. The great worth of outdoor programs generally is their focus on the elements that have always united humankind: rain, wind, warm sun, forests deep and dark, stone — and the awe and amazement that our Earth inspires, especially during a child’s formative years. Contact with nature allows children to see they are part of a larger world that includes them. If children are given the opportunity to experience nature, even in simple ways, interaction and engagement follow quite naturally.

Could you speak further on your assertion that many organizations and institutions—even the well-meaning ones—are scaring our children from nature?
The fear is real. There are benefits to appropriate fear. It’s a good thing to be cautious in unsafe surroundings, and to learn how to deal with risks in nature, as well. But let’s put this in perspective: By 2005, the rates of violent crimes against young people had fallen to well below 1975 levels, according to the 2007 Duke University Child and Well-Being Index. The authors of the report state: “The most disturbing finding” of the Index is not violence or abductions, but “that children’s health has sunk to its lowest point in the 30-year history of the Index, driven largely by an alarming rise in the number of children who are obese and a smaller decline in child mortality rates than achieved in recent years.So yes, the fear is real, certainly, but it’s important to face the fear and put it in context – to think in terms of comparative risk. The truth is that there is a cost to exaggerated fear and we need to be aware of that. Yes, there are risks outdoors, but there are huge psychological, physical and spiritual risks in raising future generations under protective house arrest. Child obesity is just one of them. Here’s one piece of advice from family psychologist John Rosemond to consider: Teach your child to watch for behaviors, not necessarily for strangers. According to Rosemond, “Telling a child to stay away from strangers is relatively ineffective.‘Stranger’ is not a concept young children understand easily. Instead, children ought to be taught to be on the lookout for specific threatening behaviors and situations.” This view is supported by the U.S. Department of Justice. Here are some other suggestions: Get to know your neighbors. Invest yourself in the life of the block and the surrounding community. Create a play-watch group and ask fellow parents to sit on front stoops or porches or lawns several hours a week; that way, they are available at a distance as children play. It’s important to point out that I’m not saying there is no risk out there. Risk is a reality, but multiple-family outings can help reduce that risk and raise the comfort level. Responsible family nature clubs, along with nature centers and other organized programs, can help parents and kids reduce their anxiety about venturing into the outdoors. I’m delighted that the idea of Nature Clubs for Families is beginning to catch on across the country. They do fun things and everyone has a good time – parents and children. For more on Nature Clubs for Families, including a free downloadable guide that will tell you everything you’ll need to know to start your own, take a look at Childrenandnature.org.

You mention that people of college age have “tasted just enough nature to intuitively understand what they have missed.”  What can these people do to fully re-connect with nature, and make sure that younger generations have the opportunity to do the same?
College students might consider a career in a nature-oriented job. Conservation organizations are experiencing a brain drain as baby boomers retire; this presents career opportunities they may not have considered. Younger people can help organize regional campaigns, or volunteer to mentor youngsters at nature centers or with programs such as the Sierra Club’s Building Bridges to the Outdoors and Inner City Outings, the Student Conservation Association, Outward Bound, or the Service and Conservation Corps. Other organizations with good youth programs are the National Wildlife Federation, Audubon Society, and Nature Conservancy. Faith-based summer camps also offer opportunities to serve. The Sierra Club and the Children & Nature Network are fostering a natural leaders network. Young people can reconnect, learn and perhaps build a career at the same time. An easy way to reconnect with nature is to go bird watching — urban or suburban, rural or wilderness. Check to see if there is an Audubon Society chapter nearby, or a park naturalist who leads walks. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a good source for other information. Audubon field trips are inexpensive – usually participants share gasoline costs – and this is a good way to meet people who know a great deal about the local terrain. Amateur birders are welcome. Try digital wildlife photography. Digital cameras are portable, relatively inexpensive, and save money on film. True, wildlife photography can become costly, but in the beginning it needn’t be, and the nature can be a close-up shot of plants in sidewalk cracks. Young adults can reconnect by planting a garden. Gardeners can grow unusual vegetables and share excess produce with neighbors or a food bank. A landing, deck, terrace, or flat roof typically can accommodate several large pots if this is an inner-city garden. Just figure out the drainage and sun exposure. All of us can help restore butterfly migration routes by planting seeds of indigenous plants that provide nectar, roosting, and food for caterpillars. See Audubon’s guide, and the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign. Volunteer at a wildlife rehabilitation center or other wildlife care facility. Help restore habitat and monitor rare and endangered species through natural history museums, state and national parks, and wildlife protection groups. Stop in at your public library to ask about local opportunities. Start a nature club and get together with like-minded students or former students.

In a society where instant gratification, flashy electronics, and over-stimulation are the norm for many children, how can we teach them to appreciate the outdoors?
Most children don’t know what they’re missing. As parents, grandparents, aunts or uncles, we can spend more time with children in nature and give them a chance to find out what a great time they’ll have. Beach play, fishing, walking and gardening. Sailing and beachcombing. Or, a family can go birding together; there are endless possibilities and many outdoor groups anxious for children to join in field trips. And there should be unscheduled time for free play in nature. Earlier, I mentioned Nature Clubs for Families. I encourage everyone who might be interested to take a look at the Children & Nature Network. More ideas about things to do can be found in the latest edition of “Last Child in the Woods,” where a new section called “Field Notes” includes 100 actions that families and communities can take to connect kids to nature. I often tell teenagers that they have hidden powers, and that they can trump the iPod with the nPod, by learning to use all of the senses at the same time: to sit under a tree and consciously listen to every bird song and bug call, to watch, to be aware of what the body is touching, what the nose is smelling, what nature is broadcasting. In 2005, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, put college students in a grassy field wearing blindfolds and sound-muffling headphones; surprisingly, most students could follow the twists and turns of a thirty-foot-long trail of scent.

Some children stay inside because that’s where it’s the most safe.  How can young people living in poor neighborhoods and inner cities experience the outdoors?
That can be a challenge. Mentors, young or old, can be extremely important for these youngsters. There are opportunities through Boys Clubs and Girls Clubs. In New York State, the Camps Diversity Program sponsors minority urban youth in outdoors activities – including week-long camping trips — and they have been very successful. The Sierra Club’s Inner City Outings program has volunteers in nearly 50 cities who introduce youth to nature’s wonders through outings and service projects. One of Children & Nature Network’s initiatives is what we call Natural Leaders. We hope this program grows into a national campaign of young people getting other young people outdoors.

Describe your own personal vision of the ideal scenario:  How can we get the best of what the modern and natural worlds have to offer?  Can they co-exist?
We may be entering one of the most creative periods in human history – or at least I hope we are. I envision a time, not far off, when connection to nature is an everyday occurrence. We will design our cities to work in harmony with nature and biodiversity will be a commonplace pattern. One exciting development right now is the increasing popularity of nature preschools, where children learn about wildlife even as they learn to read. In coming decades, environmental challenges will require fundamental changes in our lives and institutions. We’ll need leaders who understand how the natural world works and how humans are a part of nature.

Aquatica: Orlando, FL

Overall Park Description:
Sea World’s new water park is getting off on the green foot with some innovative conservation programs.  Designed to provide a South Seas atmosphere, the park features animal encounters, wild and mild water rides and beaches galore.
Visitors can also see some amazing creatures such as black-and-white Commerson’s Dolphins, colorful exotic fish and talkative birds throughout the park.  The day we visited, we were able to meet animal ambassadors such as an inquisitive anteater, a shy chameleon and a dancing kookaburra.  One waterslide actually goes through the dolphin area, but visitors are speeding so fast that they may not notice them!
The water park was packed the day we visited, but the staff keeps safety in mind by limiting the number of visitors.  Words to the travel wise: make Aquatica your first stop to ensure you get in.

Green Scene
The “Worlds of Discovery” parks in Orlando (Aquatica, Sea World and Discovery Cove) use hydrogen-fueled buses. According to the park’s administration, these Ford E-450 shuttles are powered by internal combustion V-10 engines that are modified to run on hydrogen, rather than gasoline which deliver up to 99.7 percent reduction in C02 emissions.

Recycling
The park recycles more than 50 percent of its waste including animal and construction waste, as well as typical materials such as paper and plastic.  Ample recycling containers are available throughout the park for plastic bottles, but bringing or buying your own refillable non-glass drink bottle is recommended.
Kitchen waste and used cooking oil are removed and recycled one of the park’s vendors.  And, shredded office paper is reused in the park’s rehabilitation pen for birds.

Healthy Food
Aquatica and its sister parks, SeaWorld Orlando and Discovery Cove, now use biodegradable plates, cups, and utensils in their restaurants. The parks also purchases seafood for its marine animals and restaurants from sustainably managed fisheries.

Food Allergies and Other Dietary Restrictions
If you have food allergies, the park will allow you to bring in your own food if it is stored in resealable plastic bags or containers (do not bring food in its original packaging).

KIWI Trip Notes:

• You can rent your own covered cabana to protect your family from the sun and ensure you have a place to lounge all day. The cabana, although a bit pricey, is suitable for four people and has a locker, ceiling fan, non-alcoholic beverages, lounge chair and sunscreen.
• Whole fruit, water and other healthy snacks are available. The park doesn’t not allow you to bring your own food in unless the visitors have special dietary needs. Non-glass water bottles are acceptable.
• This water park is quite large, so it is important to review the map prior to entering the park. Not all rides are suited for all ages and they’re not all clustered by height requirement or ‘adventure” level.
• It is difficult to keep ample sun protection on everyone because you spend a large portion of your day riding waves, running through sprinklers and racing down fast-moving slides. We highly recommend wearing UPF-rated swim clothing to ensure maximum sun protection because, unlike creams and sprays, high-quality UPF clothing retains excellent protection when wet.
• Within an hour of arriving at a very crowded Aquatica, we encountered three children who were looking for their moms. Be safe and use an ID on your child and try to keep the adult to child ratio one-to-one if possible. Lifeguards are stationed throughout the park and we escorted a lost child to one of them; even on opening day, the lifeguard clearly knew the right protocol and reunited the child with his mom within minutes.

First and lasting impressions:
It was really exciting to see this new park that combines the best of a water park with the animal life of Sea World.  We found that our younger reviewers preferred to hunker down in one place and dig in the sand, ride the waves and try to spy animal ambassadors.  Older kids preferred to wander around the park and try out all of the rides.  If at all possible, carry only what you need into the park, stowing dry clothing in a locker.  It was cumbersome to pack up the towels, water bottles and sand toys every time we went on a new adventure, so bringing a large tote is also a great idea.
Because it is a water park, keeping track of kids seems even more challenging.  Being safe in the sun, in the water and around crowds was a bit nerve wracking, so parents might be warned that this may not be a relaxing place for them.  But, we can almost guarantee that the kids will go to sleep early so you can catch up on your me time in the evening.

Aquatica
5800 Water Play Way  |  Orlando, FL 32821
1-888-800-5447 or 407-363-2559   |   VacationReservation@SeaWorld.com
2009 Peak Prices
Adult      $44.95
Child (3-9)      $38.95
Children 0-2    FREE

– Mary Talalay

Dutch Wonderland: Lancaster, PA

Park Description:
If you’ve been to Lancaster, you’ve most likely seen the castle walls of Dutch Wonderland along the major thoroughfare. This 44-acre park is tailor-made for younger children and has a large water-play area, live shows and rides. The ever-popular Thomas & Friends Live at Dutch Wonderland show enables kids get to be part of the action.

The park is open from May through October but they also have an extended season of special event weekends including Happy Hauntings in mid-October and Winter Wonderland from late November through the end of December.

Green Scene
New this year is the Greenway where young visitors can take a walk and learn how to reduce their carbon footprint by recycling, home energy savings and alternate sources of energy.

Recycling
Dutch Wonderland has a comprehensive recycling program and promotes green habits through strolling entertainers called the “Knights of the Recyclables” who sing songs, play games and engage kids to pitch in the recycling bin at the park and at home.

Healthy Food
Dutch Wonderland declared its kingdom to be the land of healthy choices through its Healthy Fare Proclamation. As part of the proclamation, this park now offers healthier items in the park including poultry dogs, fresh fruit and salads, whole-wheat snacks, Lean Cuisine entrees, Crystal Lite beverages and baked potatoes. Park guests can easily locate healthier items at each food location with the Healthy Fare Proclamation stickers on the menu boards.

Food Allergies/Special Dietary Concerns
Any guest can bring their own food, but coolers are not allowed in the park. The park has a picnic area with tables located just outside our gates, where guests can enjoy their bagged lunches.

Menus are posted and the park tries to provide allergen information for each stand. The park recommends that families with food allergies get a copy of our food guide at Guest Services, and also ask the staff about food ingredients while they are at the park. The park plans to offer gluten-free menu items including cookies, brownies and hamburger rolls. Guests may also call in advance and talk to our Food and Beverage department at 717-606-5350.
Kiwi Magazine Trip Notes:

• Check out the Nursing Mothers Station that includes air-conditioning, comfortable chairs, a changing table and even books and activities to occupy older children while mothers are nursing their infants.
• Dutch Wonderland has lots of shady spots where visitors can get a break from the sun.
• Dutch Wonderland has more than 30 family-friendly rides including the Joust Family Coaster, perfect coaster for young children. We brought children ages 3, 4 and 5 on our trip and there was something for everyone.
• Daily entertainment including the Adventures of the Frog Prince dive show and Storytelling with the Princess of Dutch Wonderland.
• Duke’s Lagoon Water Play Area-this water play area includes slides, geysers, a large tipping bucket and water cannons which was a very welcome place to play on a hot, sunny day. As with all water features, it seems that once you get the kids in their swimsuits, there’s no turning back. Try to see the rest of the park first.
• The water play area had different levels of play for ages up to 12. We found that the bigger kids were overtaking the areas meant for toddlers, which created a safety hazard. Parents should prepare to get wet in this area to monitor their kids close by.

First and lasting impressions:
Overall, it’s a very manageable park targeted to younger children (toddler to grade school) in the heart of Amish country. It was easy to find shady places to sit and healthy food to eat.  Despite the huge crowd, the lines were manageable and you could move easily around the park.
We were thrilled to learn that parents can go to the information desk and obtain a waterproof wristband and write their cell phone number on it for their children in case the family is separated. We think this would be a great idea for all of the parks to incorporate.
Most of the visitors to this park live within two to three hours of the park, making it a popular weekend destination.  Hotels, shopping outlets and the Amish farms nearby make it an appearing place for a long weekend.

Dutch Wonderland
2249 Lincoln Highway East  |  Lancaster, PA 17602
1-866-FUNatDW (386-2839)  |  infodw@DutchWonderland.com
2009 Peak Prices:
Royalty (ages 3-59):     $30.95
Senior Royalty (ages 60-69):     $25.95
Senior Plus Royalty (ages 70+):     $17.95
Royalty in Training (ages 2 and under):     Free
FREE parking
Military discount is available with ID - $3 off up to 4 admissions

– Mary Talalay