Why We Loved Dutch Wonderland in Lancaster, PA

When we went on our first big trip of the summer, we hit up 4 different amusement parks. We had fun at each & every one of them, but Dutch Wonderland in Lancaster, PA was definitely (and easily) our favorite of the tour!

We really didn’t have many preconceived notions about Dutch Wonderland. Other than knowing that it is owned by Palace Entertainment (and thus a sister-park to Kennywood) & that there were two roller coasters there, we truly didn’t know what to expect.

My family has been to Lancaster a number of times, so I definitely have memories of passing Dutch Wonderland & wondering what in the world “that” was. Not much about the “Castle” that acts as the main gate reveals what is behind its’ gates. You can see the monorail & some of the wooden coaster – eluding to the fact that Dutch Wonderland is an amusement park – but other than that, it was a big mystery in my mind.

What Is Dutch Wonderland?

Dutch Wonderland is a small, family-focused amusement park. I say “small”, because in comparison to a Six Flags or Cedar Fair park, Dutch Wonderland would probably fit entirely inside their parking lots. Okay, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but it isn’t a large park.

Don’t hold it’s size against it though, because even though it’s not large (acreage wise), Dutch Wonderland is extremely efficient with the space it has. They make very creative use of almost every square inch of their property – no wasted space here! There are over 35 rides within Dutch Wonderland – 7 of which we could all ride together (more on that in a minute). There is a small “waterpark” area called Duke’s Lagoon & they have several shows to entertain their guests throughout the day in their outdoor theater areas.

Park Atmosphere

The only other park I’ve ever been to that I could compare it to is Idlewild (another sister-park as they’re both owned by the same company) but the two parks definitely have some big differences. The main (most blaring) difference being: that while Idlewild seems to be slowly (and so sadly) falling into disrepair, Dutch Wonderland was pristine.

The park is absolutely beautiful – it’s clean, the rides seemed to be maintained well, there are flowers planted everywhere – whoever is in charge of maintenance for this park deserves a raise. They obviously take a lot of pride in their job & their park & it truly shows.

Besides being beautifully maintained, Dutch Wonderland’s staff seemed (for the most part) fairly happy. The employees smiled & interacted with us, they’d wave at us as we walked by, they’d talk to our kids – overall, they simply seemed happy. Which, if you haven’t been to a lot of amusement parks, you might think is a kind of dumb statement to make. But let me assure you: every park is not Disney World. Most of the parks we visited this summer were staffed by (what Derrick & I so lovingly call) “zombie” employees. But, for the most part, Dutch Wonderland’s employee morale seemed high – which made our day even more enjoyable.

Family-Friendly Attractions

We went to Dutch Wonderland as a family of 4. Braelynn is our 4-year-old daughter and she was about 41″ tall during our visit. Leander is our baby boy – 6-months-old at the time – and he was obviously too small to ride anything independently. While a lot of the other parks we’ve visited this year have had one or two attractions that all 4 of us could enjoy together, Dutch Wonderland had a whole slew of them. Ultimately, I think that’s what made our experience at Dutch Wonderland so much better than we were expecting. We were able to ride Dragon’s Lair, the Gondola Cruise, the Merry-Go-Round, the Monorail, the Tugboat, and the Wonderland Special all together as a family. We’re “parent-swap” pros, but let me tell you, it was delightful to be able to enjoy so many attractions together.

Duke’s Lagoon

Along with all of the family-friendly attractions, there was also Duke’s Lagoon – Dutch Wonderland’s waterpark! But, let’s be honest: it wasn’t much of a waterpark – more like a glorified splash pad. Duke’s Lagoon is a fairly large area, but has mostly fountains & sprinklers & places to get your feet wet. It was the perfect size for our family. The few waterslides that Duke’s Lagoon had, were the perfect size for Braelynn to enjoy independently, and Leander loved getting his toes wet. It was definitely fun to take a break from the park & cool off in this small water area.

Exploration Island

Dutch Wonderland just seemed to surprise & delight us at every turn. Toward the end of our day, we “discovered” Exploration Island. I’ll just say: we aren’t really “map” people – we’ve been to enough amusement parks that we are pretty good at finding our way around – which would explain why it took us until the end of the day to “find” Exploration Island. But boy, was it a delightful discovery!

Exploration Island is where the Gondola Cruise & the Turnpike Car rides are located, as well as this awesome dinosaur walk-thru! Most of the dinos moved & made sounds as you walked by – the animatronics were actually really good (I won’t lie: the T-Rex scared me a little bit – he was a bit too real). Braelynn isn’t really into dinosaurs & Leander was too young, but I expect, if we return to Dutch Wonderland in a few years – Exploration Island might be a certain little dude’s favorite section of the park – we’ll see!

Nursing Mother’s Area

With a 6-month old little dude, one of the challenges of our trip was finding places in each of the parks to breastfeed. Leander is my second child, so I’m much more relaxed about breastfeeding in public, but being in an amusement park brings other challenges like, finding shade & finding quiet. Thankfully, Dutch Wonderland has a room reserved just for nursing Moms & their babies. It was large, clean, and (best yet) air-conditioned. I won’t lie: I kind of loved sneaking away from Derrick & Braelynn and taking a few moments to cool down, chill out, and feed my little guy. I wish every amusement park had such a nice area for breastfeeding Moms!

Overall, Dutch Wonderland is a small park that packs a big punch. We were there all day long on a fairly slow day (meaning, the most we ever waited for a ride was one cycle) & we didn’t get to enjoy every single ride. Dutch Wonderland also has several outdoor theaters with shows that occur during the day, and we didn’t even get to see a show! There is just so much packed into such a small footprint here!

I won’t lie: we were completely shocked by how much we loved Dutch Wonderland. But considering how much care is put into the grounds & maintenance of this park, how many rides we were all able to enjoy together – and thus how much fun we were all able to have together – we absolutely loved our time at Dutch Wonderland.