DW

Loved Dutch Wonderland when we went. Kids were around 4 and 6, the rides are small, and there were no lines, so they could do favorite rides as many times as they wanted.

Love DW and highly recommend for your kids’ ages OP.

My now 10yo still loves DW. Look online for price deals, don’t pay full price. Walk around to the right when you first walk in, then end at the water park/splash pad.

Anonymous wrote:There are a lot of riff raff at Hershey if you are ok with this

This is not true.

Definitely go to DW at that age before they age out. The huge difference is that DW is smaller and way shorter lines. DW is lovely.

My oldest is 13 so we have done a decade’s worth of theme parks. I think Hershey is my least favorite. The lines seem so slow and I saw this as someone who had been to Disney many times. Hershey has some of the slowest most painful lines.

I vote DW.

We live in the Philly burbs and have done both. I would vote for Dutch Wonderland...easier, smaller, 3.5 year old can do a lot but I know my kids would vote for Hershey. Its bigger, they love making their own candy bars, love the characters, my oldest likes the big rides, and they just seem to really enjoy the bigness of it.

Anonymous wrote:You should check the websites. Last week both Dutch Wonderland and Hershey Park were having huge deals on tickets for between now and Labor Day weekend. Hershey was buy two get one free and Dutch Wonderland was BOGO. Since they're only about 40 mins apart, I ended up getting tix to both for my six year old. We'll do Dutch Wonderland first and then hit Hershey.

sorry, DW was BOGO 1/2 off

You should check the websites. Last week both Dutch Wonderland and Hershey Park were having huge deals on tickets for between now and Labor Day weekend. Hershey was buy two get one free and Dutch Wonderland was BOGO. Since they're only about 40 mins apart, I ended up getting tix to both for my six year old. We'll do Dutch Wonderland first and then hit Hershey.

DW is so good for that age!!! -- Hershey park is great too -- but unnecessary for that age/ prob too much, and to your point something you can do for many years to come.

I suggest making it an overnight and hitting up these two as well:
https://www.cherrycrestfarm.com/
https://www.strasburgrailroad.com/

I’ll be the lone voice of support for Hersheypark. We’ve taken our now 3, 5, and 7 year olds there for the past few years. My then 4 year old was able to ride 3 different roller coasters, so they definitely have some coasters with the younger set in mind. Plus there’s the zoo, little truck rides, teacups, mini swings, etc. And that’s not to mention arcade games for all ages. To be fair, I’ve never been to Dutch Wonderland. But it’s something special to be able to go on your kid’s first roller coaster ride, and it sounds like DW doesn’t really offer that kind of thing from your responses.

DW has almost no lines for anything. It was so much better than other options for us for the littles. The rides are a little tame in comparison to other parks. If your kids are used to Six Flags or Disney or something, I wouldn’t do it. But we really enjoyed it