With summer in full swing, we are making day trips and little weekend trips with our family to make this a fun-filled summer for the kids.
My kiddos are 6 and almost 2 years old, so they are starting to enjoy amusement parks and rides.
This week, we are taking the them to Knoebels in Elysburg, Pa.
This is the perfect little starter amusement park, in my opinion. It is free admission and you pay for ride tickets like you would at a carnival. It has a great little kid section, big kid/adult rides, and even a pool with water slides and a splash pad.
I love that there’s a little bit of everything but it is a smaller park, so it’s easier to navigate with small kids. My favorite ride is the old-fashioned cars the kids can “drive” on the track!
For families that want to stay a few days, there is a campground and also cabins. We always stayed in a cabin growing up, but I understand the campground is very nice.
To save some money and our stomachs — my family doesn’t like to eat a lot of the junk food that is typically in parks — so we are packing food to take. We are renting a cabin for the night where we are staying, so we packed food to make breakfast, lunch and dinner. That way, we know the kids will eat a good meal and we don’t have to spend a ton of money on food in the park.
Even if you don’t have a cabin, you are allowed to take your own snacks into the park.
Another reason I love Knoebels for this age is because they have free entertainment throughout the day. There’s usually a band playing at different times, a kid’s theater show and a magician. So, when the kids get tired of the rides or we need a break, we can go check out one of those.
This park is really nostalgic for me since I went there a ton growing up. That makes it even more fun to now be able to take my kids there and experience it all over again through their eyes.
If you haven’t been there with your family, I highly recommend trying it out.
Ann Burns is a Morgantown native, raising two young children with her husband, Drake. She writes weekly columns for The Dominion Post. Contact her at Columns@DominionPost.com.
