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Sounds like everyone is having a great time. I love Lancaster and have been there many times. We took the kids to the pretzel factory when they were young and they enjoyed it. Can't wait to read more.
A pretzel factory tour is on my list of things to do next time. Since Evan is bugging me daily to go back on Thomas and the Choo Choo Barn I think we will be heading back out later this year.
I was hoping to have another update this week but it just didn't happen. I'll try this weekend to get the next installment finished. It it written I just need to update the photos. Thanks for hanging in there with me. Besides I'm now catching up on all of your reports. Plus I was talking to my sisiter about planning our WDW adventure for 2011. We are trying to decide on some dates but I'm already excited and started watching the promotional DVD's this week.
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Shh I had a slow afternoon at work and was able to post this before the weekend - yay for me.
Post date July 16, 2010
Day 3 Part 1, Monday June 14, 2010
I slept really poorly last night. Besides the fact that I didn’t fall asleep until 1am and the alarm went off at 6:45 I had “the incredible shrinking bed”. Evan kept creeping over and over towards my side of the bed. It was only a full size bed so there wasn’t a ton of room to start. He likes to use my face and shoulder as a pillow. Every timed I tried to gently push him away, he’d come right back over. And because his head was practically on my face I could hear him grinding his teeth. It kept giving me chills. Sometimes you can nudge him (like a snorer) and he would stop, but not tonight. I would roll on my side and then he would move closer. I thought about moving to the other side of the bed but the alarm clock was right next to me and I didn’t want to have to be fumbling over him in the morning and waking him up (he can sleep thru the alarm buzzer). I said to my mom when we got up in the morning. “I think that is one of the worst night’s sleep I’ve gotten in a long time”
Our ride on Thomas was at 10:15am and we needed to be there 1 hour early. So we figured we needed to leave the hotel about 8:45 to give us enough time to drive over to the station and park. We headed out for breakfast and it was much less crowded this morning than yesterday. Half of the room wasn’t even being used and all the food/beverages were fully stocked. I said to my mom I was going to make a waffle and did anyone want any and the woman working there got the batter and waffle iron all prepped for me. I her and she said she didn’t mind doing it on days like this but yesterday was too crazy.
The boys had cereal again and mom some yogurt and a bagel. I had to laugh because in the dining area where all these families with little boys all going to Thomas. I jokingly said to Mom, “I’m going to give $10.00 to the first little girl I see”. I had bought Eric an Evan matching Thomas shirts at Wal-mart before we left home and they were wearing them today and we got several comments about them at breakfast.
After breakfast Mom wanted to pay the hotel bill. I had guaranteed the room on my credit card but she wanted to pay for it on hers so she went to take care of that. The game room was right off the lobby so the boys “played” a few games while waiting. Thank God they are still young enough to just ride on the car/motorcycle and think they are actually playing the game. There was a man waiting there with his two little kids and E&E wanted to play pool. So I put in the $1.00 and all 4 kids played pool. Or as we call it, roll the ball in the holes. It was cute they each took a turn and tried to roll there ball into a hole. When we realized this was going to take about 20 minute we sped things up and they just rolled the balls all at the same time. Then it was back to the room to finishing packing up and loading the car.
We left right on time and drove the 15 minutes or so from the hotel to the Strasburg Railroad station. We easily found a parking spot in the lot. I had done this train ride years ago when my nephew was about 4 and we had to park in some industrial complex and be shuttled bused over. I did not want that to happen. I made sure we booked the first train of the day which was at 10:15. We did the same thing last year and it worked out very nicely.
We had about an hour to kill; we wandered around and saw Thomas on the track.
They were prepping him I guess because he was not in the station yet. We watched for a while. The workers were moving engines and cars around and there was a front end loader loading coal and all sorts of activity. We waited until Thomas actually went “peep, peep” and pulled past us before we moved onto the station.
We explored the store and I told Evan I would buy him some big boy underpants but that all other purchases would be made as we were leaving. I bought the undies and 2 lollipops for the boys to have on the train ride. They explored the store a little more and as we stepped out the line was just about to form to meet Sir Topham Hat. We were second in line and we got our photo with him.
Then we went down and got our photo in front of Thomas.
Don't let this cool facade fool you because the very next photo I took was...
Now halfway home I realized we never in looked at the photo kiosk to see the official photos so what you see are the ones they took with my camera. After our photo sessions we were able to board Thomas.
I have no idea what Evan is doing here. He probably is showing me what is in his mouth (or not in his mouth) as that IS his look, besides that, the next photo on my camera is him eating his lollipop
The ride on Thomas is just perfect in length; it is about 20 minutes or so. Thomas actually pushes you out about 10 minutes and then pulls you back to the station. Along the route you see lots of little farms and countryside and people waving and some Amish farms too.
This is all the black steam from the engine. I thought about all the people who had thier laundry drying on the clothes lines and now they have billows of black smoke blowing across their clean clothes.
The boys ate there lollipops and were, I think, having more fun shooing away flies than anything else. Of course it had nothing to do with Mom and I being silly about shooing flies. We would “smack” each other’s butts and say “you had a fly on you”
As we exited the train the station was just a sea of humanity. It was very crowded. The station has extra activities you can do, all for free, but the lines were too long. We did let them ride one time on the little trains that you can pedal with your arms (like they had at Dutch Wonderland) but that was really it. Eric needed a potty break so we had to wait for a port-a-potty. (This is the times I’m glad Evan is still in diapers) and then it was time to leave. We had come early and did what we wanted and now that it was reaching the “this is nuts” level, we were headed to the car.
On the way out we did stop for about 15 minutes in the fun-tent and the boys got coloring sheets, tattoos and played with the several Thomas displays that were out. Next it was a stop in the souvenir tent for them to make their purchases.
This carrying case opened up to the play mat
Lastly we headed to the car.
Coming up next: Another visit to our beloved Choo Choo Barn
Holly, another great update. How much Fun te Thomas Train looked. I think my brother went years ago to ride Thomas the Train(was a big Thomas fan when he was younger). Glad the boys loved their visit with Thomas and their ride too. The Thomas carry bag looks like a lot of fun. You just brought back many memories of Thomas from my brother was this age. Thank you. Looking foward to more please. The boys' shirts look adorible. Skyler's face jammies are Thomas(which he has on tonight).
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Post date July 22, 2010
Day 3 Part 2, Monday June 14, 2010
We had a very short drive to the Choo Choo Barn (literal a block away) and had no problem parking in their lot. There were lots of signs indicating this was NOT Thomas event parking so there must be a big problem with people parking wherever they want. Fortunately we had no problems finding a spot.
The Choo Choo Barn is a fairly large miniature train display. There are, I believe, 17 trains and over 100 animated scenes. It is really very cute. They have a miniature Dutch Wonderland and many local scenes.
The owner even has a model of his own home in the display. Every time we go I pick up new details. This was our 3rd visit here and the boys it. (as a matter of fact Evan is already asking me when we can go back)
Upon entering we had to have the standard talk to them about not running in there or yelling. The boy’s favorite part is the fire truck scene. A house catches fire and then the fire alarm goes off and the fire truck pulls out of the station and down the street. The fire fighters come out and put out the fire. This scene is towards the end of the display so E&E would (if we let them) run to the end of the display just to watch that over and over again.
There are so many details I can’t even begin to describe them all. Here is the website check it out http://www.choochoobarn.com/. If you have a train enthusiasts in your family I highly recommend this place. Some of the animated scenes are fairly elaborate like the Amish barn raising, ski lodge, quarry and circus
but there are also tons of little tiny scenes like a boy flying a kite or a stubborn donkey.
Two of my favorites are the fox chase – because I love beagles - and the 3 headed troll under a bridge (the heads are actually Moe, Larry and Shemp).
We moseyed around at the Choo Choo Barn for awhile checking out all the animations. Evan needed a diaper change so I had to leave to get him changed and when we came back we did another “lap” around the display.
In total we were there about 45 minutes. We stopped in the small gift shop on the way out.
Evan's Purchase
Eric was pitching a fit because he was out of money and when my mom said she’d buy him something he wanted something too expensive. He was all whiney and jumping in place and saying how it wasn’t fair that Evan got something and he didn’t – blah, blah, blah. He managed to calm himself down and decided on a toy and all was right with the world again.
We headed to lunch at the Burger King and then headed towards home. We got slightly turned around as we approached route 30 but nothing major. Both boys fell asleep quickly and as they were sleeping Mom and I decided we would stop to visit her mother on the way home and I would stay in the car while the boys slept and she could go in to check on everything.
We got to Grandmom’s about 3pm and the two boys were still asleep, but not for long. I think once we parked the car and they no longer had the hum of the road, they woke up. All three of us went in to visit my Grandmother and after a quick hello and the obligatory ride on her walker (she has the kind with wheels and a seat) it was time to go.
Next we came back and I went to pick up my very happy four-legged child Wrigley. Once home Mom left to get my sister’s older children from school and then we all went to the local pizza place for dinner.
And that end our adventures with Thomas and Dutch Wonderland.
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So here are my final thoughts and general ramblings about our weekend.
Dutch Wonderland
Dutch Wonderland was very hot the 2 days we were there. Most of the queue lines were out in the open providing no protection from sun or rain. They generally did not have overhead fans or AC.
We found the park a little confusing and we got turned around a few times. We would be next to a ride but not be able to find the entrance to it. There are no “lands” there so no change in theming as you move about the park.
Some reason for the confusion was also because I don’t know all the names of all the rides. We were looking for “Monster Trucks” and they are called “Off-Road Rally”.
The park is not level there is a fairly steep grade to it. I’m sure this is to help with drainage but it can make it more difficult to walk around.
Almost all the walking surfaced are black top so it can get hot. I also it made it harder to walk around because near a ride the ground would have a little rain gully but since it was all blacktop so you would step in it and it would be an inch or two lower. I stumbled a few times myself.
We saw no one in a wheelchair at the park. The park is smaller and could easily be done without a stroller for toddler (having a few breaks) or older kids.
I saw no sit down restaurants , only counter service.
Dutch Wonderland does have a rain policy that if it for more than 1 hour and you choose to leave you can come back the next day for free.
About 1 hour before closing the park was like a ghost town.
We saw many families that were Grandparents with young children.
Although the age range for the park is up to about 10, we saw very few kids over the age of about 6. They only have one big roller coaster – which we did not do, so unless your 10 year old doesn’t like thrill rides, this park is probably too young for them.
Lancaster in General
We have been to the Lancaster area many times and there are always tons of things to do. On my list for next time is a pretzel factory tour and the caverns.
The entire area is pure W.A.S.P, not too much ethnic diversity and no synagogues or catholic churches anywhere, many Amish and Mennonite.
Everyone we encountered everywhere was very nice.
Thomas
Thomas is fun and the boys enjoy it. It is a tad bit pricy, $20.00 for a 20 minute ride. We went to the same railroad last November for the regular train ride which was 45minutes and I think $11.00 per person.
Thomas gets VERY crowded. If you ever do it, get on the first train of the morning and leave once it gets crazy . I would imagine that holds true regardless of where Thomas travels. He tours the country and goes to Strasburg RR in June and September for a full week and then returns in either November or December for a weekend.
Choo Choo Barn
I can not recommend the Choo Choo Barn enough . It is $6.00 for entrance (good all day) and the boys love it. My grandfather had a toy train collection in his basement so I always think of him when we go. It is really unique. If you like the train village in Epcot’s Germany pavilion, you’d love the Choo Choo barn .
Next Trip(s)
My next trip is a week’s long vacation at the South Jersey shore in September 2010 . The 4 of us (Mom, me, Evan and eric) will be going to my sister’s home in North Wildwood where we hope to spend a relaxing week enjoying the sun, sand and surf. And we will be sure to “watch the tram car”
I don’t know if I’ll be doing a trip report because most days are the same – get up –go to beach – come back – go to boardwalk. We do throw in a few things here and there so I’ll have to see.
The best news of all is I am going to Disney World.!!!
I’ve been talking about it since my son was born and he is now almost 4. We have decided on dates, November 2011 and although it is still over a year away I am excited. We are on the grid. I can actually have a count down and it is all much more tangible.
Thank You
Thanks for following along with me. I enjoyed telling you about our travels and hope you enjoyed reading them.
Great story, Holly! Thanks for the recap and tips. The Choo Choo Barn looks very interesting, indeed!. I really enjoyed your TR and will try to look for the next one.
Congrats on the countdown to WDW! Exciting!!
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Evan kept creeping over and over towards my side of the bed. It was only a full size bed so there wasn’t a ton of room to start. He likes to use my face and shoulder as a pillow. Every timed I tried to gently push him away, he’d come right back over. And because his head was practically on my face I could hear him grinding his teeth. It kept giving me chills. 
Sometimes you can nudge him (like a snorer) and he would stop, but not tonight. I would roll on my side and then he would move closer. I thought about moving to the other side of the bed but the alarm clock was right next to me and I didn’t want to have to be fumbling over him in the morning and waking him up (he can sleep thru the alarm buzzer). I said to my mom when we got up in the morning. “I think that is one of the worst night’s sleep I’ve gotten in a long time”
Half of the room wasn’t even being used and all the food/beverages were fully stocked. I said to my mom I was going to make a waffle and did anyone want any and the woman working there got the batter and waffle iron all prepped for me. I 
her and she said she didn’t mind doing it on days like this but yesterday was too crazy.
I had done this train ride years ago when my nephew was about 4 and we had to park in some industrial complex and be shuttled bused over. I did not want that to happen. I made sure we booked the first train of the day which was at 10:15. We did the same thing last year and it worked out very nicely. 
for the boys to have on the train ride. They explored the store a little more and as we stepped out the line was just about to form to meet Sir Topham Hat. We were second in line and we got our photo with him.
It was very crowded. The station has extra activities you can do, all for free, but the lines were too long. We did let them ride one time on the little trains that you can pedal with your arms (like they had at Dutch Wonderland) but that was really it. Eric needed a potty break so we had to wait for a port-a-potty. (This is the times I’m glad Evan is still in diapers) and then it was time to leave. We had come early and did what we wanted and now that it was reaching the “this is nuts”
level, we were headed to the car. 
PassPorter Guide Author
it. (as a matter of fact Evan is already asking me when we can go back)
to them about not running in there or yelling. The boy’s favorite part is the fire truck scene. A house catches fire and then the fire alarm goes off and the fire truck pulls out of the station and down the street. The fire fighters come out and put out the fire. This scene is towards the end of the display so E&E would (if we let them) run to the end of the display just to watch that over and over again. 
Some of the animated scenes are fairly elaborate like the Amish barn raising, ski lodge, quarry and circus 
He was all whiney and jumping in place and saying how it wasn’t fair that Evan got something and he didn’t – blah, blah, blah. He managed to calm himself down and decided on a toy and all was right with the world again.
We would be next to a ride but not be able to find the entrance to it. There are no “lands” there so no change in theming as you move about the park.
.
, only counter service.
for more than 1 hour and you choose to leave you can come back the next day for free.
pretzel factory tour and the caverns.
Linear Mode
