Beyond The Map: Coloring Corner

Beyond The Map takes a look at a few things around Dutch Wonderland that might go unnoticed on a busy visit to the park. These are items that aren't necessarily attractions on their own, but little diversions that are worth pointing out. First up is a neat recent addition to the park, Coloring Corner.

Coloring Corner could easily go undetected. It's a bit off the beaten path, it's tucked away behind a ride and it's not on the park guide map. A few years ago, DW decided to swap the locations of Huck Finn's Leaping Frogs down by the Mill Stream and the Wiggle Racers which was located directly next door to the Storytime Corner theater. I assume the reason for the flip-flop had to do with the often rising waters of the stream which can cause flooding in the back area of the park. Better to move the expensive mechanical frog ride away from the water and up into the park and relocate Wiggle Racers, which is essentially a concrete slab and some kids ride on vehicles.

So while Leapin' Frogs took up residence in the former Wiggle Racers space, the footprint of the new attraction was much smaller than the space allotted for the Racers. The area was split in half and eventually Coloring Corner was born.
 

While in no ways is Coloring Corner a major attraction of Dutch Wonderland, it is one of the few spots in a park geared towards little kids where kids can run around and blow off some steam. By entering through a small path just in front of the Kingdom Coaster entrance, you can enter the back half of the former Wiggle Racers space and kids can let loose in the maze structure that was once for maneuvering little Wiggle Racers through. There's no dead ends or confusing paths to navigate, it's a pretty simple maze that will have kids screaming and laughing as they race around it.

 

The back wall of the Coloring Corner space features a huge dinosaur mural in black and white that kids are encouraged to add color to. There are two buckets full of Crayola Washable Markers and plenty of space for little ones to get their artist on!  I had first seen one of these huge coloring murals at nearby Cherry Crest Adventure Farm and thought it was pretty cool, so it's nice to see DW add a similar activity.

Coloring Corner is also perfectly situated in the park to offer an alternative attention grabber while big brother and sister are on the Kingdom Coaster, the wildest ride in the park.

To find Coloring Corner, walk directly behind Leapin' Frogs and look for a small mulch path on your right and under a tree to lead you to the gated spot.

Photo Update - 5/24/15

We got to the park around 3:00 on Sunday afternoon, the weekend of Memorial Day, and the park was packed - not unmanageable, but packed. We even had a hard time finding a parking spot in the Prefered lot, but we did and headed on inside. As always, here's a few photos I snapped...

I'm not sure if any of my findings are new, or they are just things I didn't notice opening weekend but either way...they painted over the name of the park on the giant iconic pretzel! It's been a great photo op because the pretzel told you where the photo was taken! Now it's just a pretzel!? You can see where they just painted right over the Dutch Wonderland lettering, not necessarily in this picture but in person you can. I hope they replace the letters soon.

The Wonderers were out this weekend, making their debut for the 2015 season. They sounded great and noting beats some live music in the park.

This was the insane line for Double Splash Flume around 4:00. The line filled the queue, crossed the bridge and was quite lengthy out into the little plaza behind the Aqua Stadium. Bon Voyage Balloon Chase was also hosting a full queue as well.

Was this Rita's here before? Because I'm sure it wasn't. This is on the side of the Aqua Stadium near it's entrance. There used to be a little arts and crafts stand here which is now over by the Celebration Theater. So excited to have another food option for my kids to bug me for.

I think the themeing in Exploration Island is great. The music they have playing back here really gives the park a "major theme park" feel. The beginning of May was my first time experiencing the new island but since then they've added a permanent structure for the dinosaur gift shop, called Artifacts, and they've added a second Gem Mining location. The gift shop building is cute with a cartoony dig site illustration up and down the sides.  My 2 year old daughter requested the dinosaurs repeatedly and the Dino Dig site (or sandbox as she calls it) is her favorite attraction in the park.

Photo Update - Grand Opening Weekend

We were at Dutch Wonderland just about every week for the 2011 & 2012 season, then we took two years off while we welcomed another addition to our family. Our last visit was Happy Hauntings last year, so I'm not sure how much of what looked new to me is totally new or I just missed it last October but he're some pics I snapped at yesterday's Grand Opening for the 52nd Season:

At 10:00 they made an announcement and shot confetti cannons off! I missed it by 45 seconds while I was stuck buying a guest ticket on my season pass.

Here's the park's new ride, Bon Voyage Balloon Chase:

The announcements over the speaker while waiting in the queue had a girl with a French accent and said bonjour and mercy. I thought that was a nice touch. There are other themed announcements at other rides that I don't recall being there before, like a mission control announcement at the space simulator rides and a wizard at the Dragon's Lair.

They moved Bosie the Cow across the railroad tracks and closer to the barn. A bench and some flowers fills the space where Bosie stood for a long time!

Sad to see the wobbly bridge across the pond in the front of the park has been removed. It was always tradition for us to cross the bride after taking the train around the park. Not only has the bridge and any indication of the bridge been removed...

...foot traffic has been rerouted to the railroad crossing and fencing prevents you from crossing the railroad tracks at any point other than the crossing. The changes do make for some nice seating space in the front by the food stands.

The Nathan's stand in the front of the park where the PA Kosher Mart used to be was not ready for opening weekend. (Neither was the Subway)

In the background you can spot a duck who has decided to make it's nest near this dinosaur neat of eggs.

The Gondola Cruise (nor the Tugboat) were operating on opening day.

I like this little secluded seating area on Exploration Island that has been created near the site of the old Windmill Ferris Wheel.

Busy afternoon on the island. This might be one of my new favorite spots in the park.

We caught a performance of Really Royal at the Storytime Corner. The show had my 2 year old princess completely captivated!

New structure on the path heading over to Duke's Lagoon. Based on it's neighbors, I would assume this will be used for a game.

There was nothing in bloom in the flower bed at the old Turnpike site.

The birthday party room inside the park is now a third Breyer's Ice Cream location. There is seating inside however, there are not names on the ice cream. There were maybe 8 tubs of ice cream in the cooler but none of them identified. Most of the flavors were in the chocolate family, so it wad basically several different shades of brown. My wife had a Cookies and Cream as that was the only identifiable  flavor.

While we are on be subject of odd things, there was also Christmas Music playing from the Sky Ride station and we had some disagreement on my daughter being allowed on the Silo Slide because of her height...or lack of. 

But all in all we had another Dutch Wonderful day and I'll leave you with a shot of DW's very own Backside of Water: