Monday, November 15, 2010

Aerial Antics: Dutch Wonderland


The announcement of the sale of Dutch Wonderland by Hershey to Palace Entertainment made me realized I've never featured this family park in Aerial Antics.  So here we are!  Above is the park's main entrance, complete with castle theming.  There's a lagoon to the left of it with a small mountain that I think has a dragon in it these days.

The park's main roller coaster ride is the Kingdom Coaster, previously known as Sky Princess.  It was Custom Coasters International's first ride, and opened in 1992.  The ride used to be painted white, but nowadays it sports a striking blue and purple scheme.

Intertwined with the Kingdom Coaster is the park's log ride, named the Double Splash Flume - and guess what - it features two splashdown sections!

Dutch Wonderland has a small water area which features the Pipline Plunge wet/dry slides and Duke's Lagoon, a water play and spray area complete with a massive tipping bucket.  The park has had some success with this area in recent years - I wouldn't be one bit surprised to see Palace Entertainment continue that growth in the future.

The mid-section of the park features many rides, shows, and attractions, but they're hard to pick out because of all the mature trees on property.  Bumper Cars, Flying Trapeze, even a Monorail - there's a wide variety.  A special attraction is the Wonder House, a small haunted swing style attraction that only seats a handful of guests at a time.  The intimate size of the ride make the effect even more disorienting.

There's also the Botanical Gardens that provide a diversion from the rides.  Here you can take a self-guided Gondola Cruise around the area and take in the sights, or take a stroll along the shady paths.

To see Bing's aerials of the park, click here.


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