Dutch Wonderland

Time for another surprise park as on the way to Hersheypark we stopped off at Dutch Wonderland. This was going to be a brief stop off as they only had a couple of rides, as this was very much a children's park not one for adults, and definitely not one for two coaches worth.

The park was opened in the 60s as a children's kingdom. In 2001 it was bought by the same company that owns Hersheypark, so today would turn out to be Hershey day as we'd be heading off there next!
The Sky Princess is the park's wooden coaster and was the first to be built by CCI (this was the reason for coming here). CCI had become really good at building wooden coasters such as The Raven (which I had yet to ride) and Tonnerre de Zeus (which I don't like) . This ride was actually not too bad but what it lacked in thrills it made up in purple paint.

Joust was the park's other coaster, a little steel kiddy ride. I don't think the ride operators could really believe what they were seeing with so many adults going nuts on their rides.

The ERS became one that took place on both rides and we had a good time, it was a nice way to start the day and set us up nicely for the main park later in the day.

Following the ERS the park staff gave us a quick tour of the rest of the park. This park had more of those hand cranked trains that Knoebel's had, so they weren't as rare as I'd thought.

New for this year was a little splash area for the kids to play in.

The park was quite nice and we spent the right amount of time here, i.e. very little time at all. The tour ended up at the souvenir shop and exit so taking the hint we left a little earlier than originally planned. Admittedly the rest of the park wasn't open yet so there was nothing for us to do. Anyway, it was time to go to Hershey Park.

North-west to Hersheypark we go!