Parking Toll Plaza Nearing Completion

The construction that has been taking place in Dutch Wonderland's parking lot is starting to take some shape and illustrate what their plans are.

It appears when you enter the property at the existing traffic light on Rt. 30 you will make an immediate right and proceed along this new road that will take you all the way around to an area near the campground enterance.

This road will allow traffic to stack (off the highway) while people dig in their pockets to pay for parking for the first time in 53 years. The new road leads to a toll plaza, similar to what you would find at most major amusement parks.

The individual toll boths carry out the park's castle theme and hopefully when they are finished, there will be plenty of colorful and welcoming signage to build visitor's anticipation for a day at the park. There is a separate lane for busses and campground use. It's not clear if Preferred Parking in front of the castle will continue to use the toll booth already in place near the Fudge Shop.

It looks like there is still more work to be done.

Photo Update 6/10/15 - Parking Lot and more

Some pics from around the complex this week starting with the news that some activity is happening towards the reorganization of the parking lot and entrance experience. The parking lot access from the campground entrance has been blocked off with barricades and fencing in anticipation of denying access to the parking lot without paying the new parking fee. It also appears that the shoulder into the park is being widened and perhaps additional lanes of traffic. If there are going to be toll booths for the parking lot they need to anticipate traffic back-ups as people spend time digging through their pockets, asking questions and undoubtedly yelling at the poor 16 year old girl who will have to take the brunt of people's anger having to pay for parking for the first time in 53 years.

Large sections of the parking lot of fenced off as construction moves on. This is the area formally occupied by the Wonderland Cinema and Mini-Golf.

 

 

 

Also around the park...

Guests were told that parents are no longer allowed inside the Choo Choo Charlie kiddie train attraction. In the past, parents of very small kids could push their children's hand powered crank cars around the track with the aid of a big stick. Now, the employees have to push the kids if they can't pedal the cars themselves. Sometime in the last week, there was reportedly an accident/injury that resulted in the new policy.

 

Noticed this around 8:00pm, all the seating from the Celebration Theater had been removed.

My guess is they moved the benches to erect the tent which is usually over the theater.

Nobody can resist taking pictures of baby ducks, especially when they cut across a walkway following their mommy.

 

And last, a picture of an empty Monorail station. Something you would NEVER see at Disney World and quite frankly it's not a common site at Dutch Wonderland either.

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.