Thank you to Dutch Wonderland for hosting us and sponsoring this post, so I could tell you about the cool Dutch Wonderland attractions for older kids! All opinions are 100% my own.
Over the years, I’ve shared our love for Dutch Wonderland, a super-fun Kingdom for Kids in Lancaster County. Whether visiting Happy Hauntings at Halloween time or enjoying the water park as a summer highlight, my family always delights in a day at this special spot!
As my kids have aged, however, our days at Dutch Wonderland look very different than they used to (look at these sweet photos of my littles from years ago!) Gone are the days of giggling with glee over Duke’s Dozers (fun fact: this ride was moved from Hersheypark, where it was called the Earthmovers, and operating it was my first-ever job!) and Choo Choo Charlie. As my children have grown, so has their appetite for rides with a bit more of a thrill factor.
While Dutch Wonderland is a park geared towards younger kids, there is still plenty of fun and excitement for the older ones in your crew. Read on for the must-dos to keep the Kingdom magic flowing for them!
And make sure to grab your tickets through THIS LINK, using promo code summerblog19 to save $5 off tickets!
10 Cool Dutch Wonderland Attractions for Older Kids
- Merlin’s Mayhem. Hands-down, this is our favorite ride! A new coaster as of last year, all the kids and adults in our party LOVE it, and we can never leave without riding it at least times 😉 (Make sure to read these tips on how to organize your day at Dutch Wonderland so this is possible).
- Kingdom Coaster. This is a big-kid/adult ride for sure! So much so, that my eight-year-old was only big enough to ride this wooden coaster this year for the first time.
- The Bumper Cars. These two-seater cars never get old. Plus, this was the first year our older kids could take our younger ones along as their side-kick, and they all had too much fun!
- Speaking of cars, all the kids begged to be the drivers on Turnpike Cars. Driving an antique car around is always a special treat!
- While much of Duke’s Lagoon, the water-park, is geared towards the younger set, our older kids were delighted to go down Pipeline Plunge on repeat, and some were still a bit spooky about giving the black (total darkness) side a go!)
- Another splashing thrill is the ageless-fun of the diving show! Our kiddos sat in the front row, got soaked and laughed the entire time.
- The Flying Trapeze giant swings is actually the largest, highest swing ride I’ve been on! I love the swings, so this is a treat for me, but we actually had some kids in our party too nervous of its height to give this ride a go.
- My space-obsessed son loves VR Voyager (I remember riding this as a kid!), and…
- He also loves the Astroliner, right beside it! Stopping in this area for these rides is his favorite part (after Merlin’s Mayhem, of course!)
- Finally, go for a family spin on the Turtle Whirl! My kids think it’s hysterical, because I now get terribly dizzy everytime we go on this and need their help getting up when the ride ends 😉 (Apologies, Dad, because I now know how you felt when I made you go on this with me!)
Make sure to read up on other Dutch Wonderland must-dos before you go, and if you have a child on The Spectrum, READ THIS POST—Dutch Wonderland has an awesome Disability Accessibility Program.
Now you’re all set, friends! Get ready for a fun day for ALL of your kiddos, whatever their ages!
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Janine Huldie says
Definitely going to keep your Dutch Wonderland older kids advice in mind this summer for my older kids here. So thanks for sharing!! 🙂