Pre-Season Photo Update

My kids and I are pretty excited to be Season Pass holders again for the 2015 season. We went dozens of times in both 2011 & 2012 as pass holders, but we welcomed our third child in 2013 and decided to take a couple years off of spending half the summer at an amusement park. Now, with my daughter 2 years old and walking and just about talking - we figured the passes would be a good investment at least one last time before the boys completely outgrow the park. 

We went up to the park today to visit the Season Pass office and take care of business before opening day May 2, so we could maximize our fun once the park is open. I was happy that my older boys were excited to be back at the park and can't wait to get back inside in a few weeks. My daughter was very excited too. You could hear the music from the carousel and the sound of the train running as we were in the courtyard catching a peek into the park. She wanted to go in and "go rides!"

Here's some pictures I snapped because I'm an amusement park nerd and this is my park...

Here's boxes of Christmas decorations sitting by the main gate awaiting a visit to storage. It looked like many of the winter decorations were just being removed. The kids spotted a giant candy cane in the park.

The castle gift shop not exactly roped off to visitors passing through to the season pass office, but in the process of stocking up for all the guests.

The castle moat must have just been cleaned out. We were the very first visitors of the season to toss a coin and make a wish! (My daughter wasn't too sure about the crocodiles in the moat.)

The boats from the Gondola Cruise in dry dock behind the human resources office.

We also spotted the knight from the Joust Coaster hanging out in pieces nearby.

I always see this truck with old artwork from the park in a backstage area while on the monorail. I can never get a good picture of it from up above, and I'm not sure I got a great picture of it from my car either.

So, they demolished the old Wonderland Cinema building, which was more recently used for mini-golf and storage. They are making way for much needed additional parking. They are supposedly also creating a new entrance to the Dutch Wonderland property. These new changes are the reasoning behind the park charging for vehicle parking in the first time in 52 years. However at only 5.00 it seems like a bargain compared to Six Flags' $20.00 parking fee. (Knoebels might be the only park in Pennsylvania to be able to claim Free Parking now!)

One last photo, taken from the Mill Stream Campground, you can see on this beautiful preseason day they were running empty cars on the Kingdom Coaster. Just the sound of the chain lift was enough to take us all right back to those wonderful hot summer days at the park.

See ya at Dutch Wonderland for opening day, May 2, 2015.