As the world continues to weather the storm of a global pandemic – the situation, albeit better than it was a year ago at this time, is still quite serious out there. That said, our family that loves to travel the world has chosen to take smaller trips, via car, before venturing to fly the friendly skies again. One recent road trip we took was to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, for a stay at the fairly new Cartoon Network Hotel and a day out at Dutch Wonderland, the amusement park next door. We also added a bonus amusement park visit to our trip, as that is fairly easy to do in Pennsylvania, as the state offers a variety of amusement park options truly for all ages! 

Planning this trip started by me visiting the Dutch Wonderland website as I’ve continued to receive email from Dutch Wonderland following our first ever visit there in 2013, when our older son, AJ – and only son at the time – was 2 years old. Back then, we learned about Dutch Wonderland from a family friend who grew up in Lancaster, and she also had a 2-year-old at the time, so we took her recommendation to check out this park that is called a “Kingdom for Kids” because it primarily caters to small children… think toddlers and children 10 years old and under. So, in wanting our younger son, LJ, who is now 6 years old, and who hadn’t yet visited Dutch Wonderland, to have the great Dutch Wonderland experience as his brother did, I visited the park’s website to plan our trip. Lancaster, Pennsylvania, is about a 3 ½ hour drive from where we live in New York City, so this road-trip would be a sweet little adventure for our family!

Once on the Dutch Wonderland website, there is a “Plan A Visit” tab and a “Things To Do” tab, both of which presently highlight the Cartoon Network Hotel. This caught my eyes because, for our visit to Lancaster in 2013, we stayed at the Best Western Premier Eden Resort, which we loved! So, now, what’s this other hotel that Dutch Wonderland is promoting on its website? I had to check it out! From there, I went to the Cartoon Network Hotel website and of course, did my online research about the hotel as I do before any stay anywhere, and I liked what I saw enough to want to check it out in person. The two biggest selling points for me are (1) the proximity to Dutch Wonderland and (2) the newness of the hotel! The Cartoon Network Hotel is literally right next door to Dutch Wonderland, so once parked at the hotel, we simply walked to and from the park! Additionally, the Cartoon Network Hotel opened in 2020, so it is still quite new! Now that we’ve stayed there, we have additional selling points to add to that.

In addition to being a new facility that is conveniently located right next door to Dutch Wonderland, we also enjoyed the following perks at the hotel: 

·      The Cartoon Kitchen – we ate breakfast and dinner here each day of our stay, and it was delicious each time!

·      The Bearista Café – we grabbed a couple cappuccinos from there on our second morning. We were looking forward to trying the delicious-sounding adult drinks that are served there during the evenings; however, that bar service is available only on select evenings, and it wasn’t available at all during our 3-day/2-night stay there this summer. Hey, I guess that’s a reason to visit again!

·      Wonderfully Themed Clean Bedrooms With Multiple TVs – Both rooms in which we stayed were themed for fun, with bright Cartoon Network colors and characters everywhere – from the walls to the bedding! The bedrooms also appeared clean, but as we usually do, we used disinfectant wipes to wipe down surfaces at the beginning of our hotel stay. There’s also a TV for each bed, which is pretty nice if you have a TV-loving family! 

·      Character Meet & Greets – During our 3-day/2-night stay, there were many opportunities to meet and greet characters in the lobby area and while having a meal at the Cartoon Kitchen. Our sons were happy to exchange fist bumps with Jake the Dog and to take photos with Gumball! 

Things we didn’t do during this summer’s visit to the Cartoon Network Hotel that we hope to do next time include the following: 

·      Cartoon Network Hotel Scavenger Hunt – on the morning we were about to check out from the hotel, we realized as we were grabbing a few coloring pages from the Toon Room located right in front of the Ben10 Omnicade, sort of next to the lobby and the Cartoon Kitchen, that there’s also a scavenger hunt page there. We grabbed it along with the coloring pages, but didn’t actually look at it until we left, so maybe we’ll do that next time!

·      Water Fun Pool & The PowerPuff Girls Splash Pad - on the morning we were about to check out from the hotel, I walked over to the pool and splash pad area to at least film what it looks like there. We had thought about going out there the night before we checked out from the hotel, but that was also the same day that we spent an entire day at Dutch Wonderland and we were tired and hungry, so when we got back to the hotel, we decided to go to eat dinner first. However, it then started to thunderstorm, so we relaxed in our rooms after dinner, and we didn’t head out for water fun at the hotel’s pool and splash pad. That’s part of the reason that, after we checked out from the Cartoon Network Hotel, we added onto our trip with a visit to Hershey Park for the water attractions at the Boardwalk there. Hershey Park was about an hour’s drive from Lancaster on that rainy morning. 

·      Bar Service at the Bearista Café – The adult drinks sound delicious, and I personally want to try the Rock Pop Martini! Definitely check ahead with the hotel to find out the bar schedule if this is important to you. 

·      Dream Suites – Suites are limited, as there are only four of them at present – Ben10, Steven Universe, The PowerPuff Girls, and Adventure Time. Initially, we had booked our Cartoon Network Hotel stay for a weekend in August which had the Ben10 Suite available, and we booked the suite; however, we really wanted to check out the hotel early in the summer as we were easing into road-tripping and hotel stays again, so we moved the Cartoon Network Hotel reservation to June, but the suites were already all booked. In fact, the entire hotel was fully booked during the days of our stay this summer, so book early!

The one con, sort of, to note is the following: 

·      Motel, Not Hotel - The Cartoon Network Hotel is actually a motel. Nothing against a motel if it’s a good one, which this one is, but it’s just interesting that the name would be “hotel” when it in fact isn’t. Given that the Cartoon Network Hotel is fairly new, I don’t know if there are plans to actually renovate it further to create an actual hotel, but at present, in 2021, it’s a motel. What’s the difference, you ask? A hotel is usually a large, enclosed building containing hundreds of rooms across several floors, and guests generally access their rooms from corridors that are inside the building. A motel usually has less rooms across one or two floors, and motel rooms usually face the parking lot, so guests access their rooms from an external door directly from the parking lot. We already knew this to be the case prior to our stay because, as I said, I research options before booking a stay anywhere, so the distinction did not break our stay at the Cartoon Network “Hotel,” but it’s just not accurate to call it a hotel, and I do not want to set a false expectation to anyone reading this, so I’m making that distinction clear here. 

So now, with all that information on this great hotel/motel option for your Dutch Wonderland visit, here are my tips for Dutch Wonderland itself!

·      Arrive Early – This is Amusement Park 101… arriving early will allow you to pace yourself and get to your “must see” attractions without too much stress, and hopefully, without too long of a wait on line. 

·      Get A Park Map – The park is smaller than many amusement parks, but that said, it’s still a large area of ground to cover. The map will make it much easier to select and get to your “must see” attractions. 

·      Purchase A Photo Fun Pass – This saves time and money if you love capturing and purchasing your amusement park photos as it allows for unlimited downloads of the photos that are automatically taken on select rides and also photos that the individual photographers throughout the park. We purchased our photo pass online when we bought our Dutch Wonderland tickets, and then when we got to the park, we went to the Photo Fun Pass location to get the actual photo pass card along with instructions on how to use it, including what rides automatically upload photos to the account and what rides require us to manually select and add our photos to the account. Don’t be shy about getting into those photos with individual photographers throughout the park! 

·      Know That Many Rides Are For Little Ones Only – Dutch Wonderland rides are perfectly sized for toddlers and small children, and while parents can ride with children on some rides, there are some tiny rides just for the little ones, which we love! We encourage our little ones to try these rides on their own. There were some rides that AJ got on at age 2 that he was now too tall to ride at age 10, so that’s how tiny some of these rides are. It truly is a “Kingdom for Kids” as us parents get to stand on the sidelines and cheer them on! 

·      Get On The Rides When You Can – Given the point I just made about many rides being just for the children, definitely get on the rides that you can get on with your children. The memories are truly priceless! The Dutch Wonderland Special train, the Skyride, the Joust, Bumper Cars, Sunoco Turnpike, The Gondola Cruise, and The Double Splash Flume are some of our favorite family rides! Additionally, if you have multiple adults in your party who can stay with the children, then get on rides you want to try, even if the children don’t want to get on with you. There is one ride that may appear too scary for some little ones – Merlin’s Mayhem! Truth be told, I think our boys could handle it, but we won’t force them onto rides they don’t want to get on. Allan and I got on it, and while I screamed the entire 28 seconds of the ride, it was definitely a fun thrill ride! In our getting on and enjoying the ride, our boys saw that it was safe and may want to try it next time. 

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Check out the vlogs linked in this blog for real-time feedback on our Lancaster, Pennsylvania experience! Rather than these long blog posts, I am hoping to vlog more and share with you in real-time! Comment and let me know if this has been helpful to you and/or if you want more vlogs vs. blogs about our travels!