help me plan our Lancaster weekend

[Anonymous]

All this talk about Lancaster and Dutch Wonderland (which I had never heard of before a couple weeks ago!), etc. got me thinking that this would be a great weekend trip for our family (2 and 3 year olds). So I've booked a weekend at Willow Valley that includes two tickets to DW (which I think we will do on Sunday before heading back home). We will be driving up on a Friday morning, so I'm trying to think of what we can do the rest of Friday and all day Saturday (taking into account a break for afternoon naps). Initially I was thinking of doing the Strasburg RR on Saturday, but I'm wondering if my kids just won't find that so interesting. They get antsy just taking the Metro downtown, so I'm not sure how they will be on a 40-minute train ride, especially if it's really just farms to look at. I was thinking on Friday we could drive all the way through to Hershey and spend some time there, have lunch, etc. before checking into our hotel. Any other ideas for Saturday? Has anyone been to the childrens museum or natural history museum? What about the Choo Choo Barn? The corn maze? My kids really like animals more than anything else, so maybe a farm or some sort and a horse and buggy ride?

[Anonymous]

I would do DW on Saturday and Strasburg on Sunday. DW will take all day and Strasburg will take 2 hours max. Then you can do the corn maze (if it's open...it may be closed Sunday) and the Choo Choo Barn. You can also hit the train museum across the street from Strasburg.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All this talk about Lancaster and Dutch Wonderland (which I had never heard of before a couple weeks ago!), etc. got me thinking that this would be a great weekend trip for our family (2 and 3 year olds). So I've booked a weekend at Willow Valley that includes two tickets to DW (which I think we will do on Sunday before heading back home). We will be driving up on a Friday morning, so I'm trying to think of what we can do the rest of Friday and all day Saturday (taking into account a break for afternoon naps). Initially I was thinking of doing the Strasburg RR on Saturday, but I'm wondering if my kids just won't find that so interesting. They get antsy just taking the Metro downtown, so I'm not sure how they will be on a 40-minute train ride, especially if it's really just farms to look at. I was thinking on Friday we could drive all the way through to Hershey and spend some time there, have lunch, etc. before checking into our hotel. Any other ideas for Saturday? Has anyone been to the childrens museum or natural history museum? What about the Choo Choo Barn? The corn maze? My kids really like animals more than anything else, so maybe a farm or some sort and a horse and buggy ride?

This is exactly what happened with my kids, but there is an option to get off the train during the ride and then reboard another train to go back to the station. At the stop they have picnic tables and a small playground and I think you could walk to the corn maze if you wanted to. The train goes right by the corn maze so of course my kids wanted to stop. We didn't, but it looked like fun. Anyway, I would recommend getting off and just hanging out for a bit with a snack if you think your kids will get antsy. If your kids like animals you may want to go to the Amish Farm and House which is shows how the Amish live. There are lots of animals there (cows, donkeys, goats, chickens, sheep, etc) and a playground - my kids (4 and 2) LOVED it. It is a little random because it is right next to a Target, but once you get onto the farm, it is pretty tranquil. I would recommend it.

http://www.amishfarmandhouse.com/

[Anonymous]

There's Cherry Crest Farm which I've heard really good things about. http://www.cherrycrestfarm.com/

There's also a children's museum - http://www.handsonhouse.org/

Just other suggestions besides DW/train related stuff.

Personally, I would do one of the activities I mentioned above Friday instead of driving into Hershey. But that's just me

[Anonymous]

We did the Strasburg train with a 2.5 year old. I don't think she found it that interesting, and would probably rather have done DW again. Given your schedule, I would do DW on Saturday, that way you have all day and could go in the morning, leave for naps, then come back and do more (maybe the splash park in the afternoon).