Christmas at Fort Hunter - Harrisburg, PA

Website: Fort Hunter
Season: Thanksgiving to Christmas
Cost: Mostly free but see website for details
Expected Length of Visit: 1-3 hours
Recommended Ages: All ages

We finally visited Christmas at Fort Hunter in 2011.  We visited the day Mrs. Claus and one of Santa's reindeer were there, which is probably the best day to take kids to this event.

Their regular Christmas activities are the toy train exhibit, a Kid's Shop (where the kids can buy gifts alone), the Festival of Trees and there is a mansion tour. The mansion tour is open during the week but the rest of these activities are weekends only. There is only a fee for the mansion tour and of course, if your child is shopping in the kid's shop, they will need money.

There are other events scheduled throughout the season too - plant and craft sales, concerts, Victorian teas, cooking demonstrations that you'll need to check the website for dates and fees since they change every year.

Our outing was nice.  There was a bit of a crowd, not too crazy, and it took a while to get to the reindeer.  You have to bring your own camera.  They don't take any pictures - they just provide the photo ops.  There was a gentleman at the reindeer who offered to take pictures with your camera if you wanted everyone in the shot.

While we had to wait quite a while to see the reindeer, we practically walked right up to Mrs. Claus.  Then we waited again to view the toy train exhibit.  We decided to skip the Kids Only Holiday Shop.  My son already did that at school, with less expensive options but the sample prices outside didn't look so bad.  I believe everything is under $10 in there.


The train display impressed the boys.  It's not the Choo Choo Barn, but it had a similar wow factor.  It was hard to see the details in the middle of the wide display, but I'm sure taller folks could see a lot more.  I think the boys could have spent a lot more time looking at it but there was quite a line so we had to keep moving. It's probably not so busy on weekends when Mrs. Claus and the reindeer aren't there.

 

I completely forgot about the Festival of Trees this visit. The boys played at the playground for a while and we went home.  We spent  at total of $1(on a raffle ticket to win a train).  There are opportunities to make donations. They lost my donation when they were out of reindeer food.  We got there pretty early - the boys were disappointed.

They also sell chocolate bars, chocolate lollipops, hot cocoa, water and possibly other refreshments.

It was very enjoyable for a low-cost event.

Please add your comments regarding this activity or let me know if you have any questions about it that I might be able to answer.

Candylane at Hersheypark - Hershey, PA

Website: Candylane
Season: mid-November - December
Costs: see rates here. You can usually save $2 off each admission with coupons from Giant, CVS, McDonald's. Parking in not included. It was $8 in 2011.

Expected Length of Stay: depends on your stamina
Recommended Ages: Geared more towards younger kids but there is something for everyone
We've been going to Candylane since my older son's first Christmas, 8 years ago. It was free admission at that time. It became our tradition and that wasn't going to end even when they started charging admission a few years ago.

You would think the admission would have thinned out the crowds but it hasn't really. Heck, even we've gone twice some years since they started charging. We've had varying experiences at Candylane - cold, warm, crowded, not crowded, long line for Santa, no line for Santa. Generally speaking the earlier in the season and the earlier in the day you go, the less crowded it is. I suggest starting early. It will be less crowded, the ride lines will be shorter, you can visit the zoo and see Santa without waiting in a long line. It gets dark early in the evening that time of year so you'll still be able to enjoy the lights and the atmosphere but you'll have a better shot of getting your money's worth if you start early.

I can remember, the first year or two, waiting in line for what seemed like an eternity, in a hellishly hot room, to get my son's picture taken with Santa. The past few years, we've walked right up. I'm not sure why that is. Candylane always has a very nice looking Santa but the pictures aren't cheap. You get less for more than you did a few years ago. I got a package with a 5x7, 2 4x6s and I think 4 wallets, plus another package that just had an 8x10 (which used to be included with the other package, then they stopped the 8x10 all together before bringing it back as a separate purchase) and that ran me about $50. Yes, I know. It's tradition, what can I say? I think the first year, I paid in the upper $30s for about the same pictures.

Our first year, they were giving out nice little stuffed toys as favors to the children who saw Santa but the favors have become less impressive each year, usually just a small piece of candy now. Those better gifts were usually sponsored by an outside company so it's not really surprising that no one wanted to foot the bill for those anymore.

Most of the rides open for Candylane are for smaller children but there are several that the older kids will like. All of the kiddie rides are open, plus the Kissing Tower, the antique and race cars, the pirate ship, the Claw, the Monorail, the Skyride and few other things. (See complete list here.) None of the coasters are running. The lines can be long. My favorites are the small train and the monorail since you get the best view of the lights in the park.

Zoo America is open (and included with admission) until 4:30pm. There's a music show. Santa's reindeer are on display. There are plenty of shops and refreshments available. The game room and games are open, with many holiday themed prizes.

I have to admit that some years I've been happy to get out of there - it can be cold and crowded. Other years, we've had great weather and light crowds. I'm going to keep up the tradition until the boys outgrow it (and maybe even after that!)

Please add your comments regarding this activity or let me know if you have any questions about it that I might be able to answer.

Pioneer Tunnel - Ashland, PA

Website:Pioneer Tunnel Coal Mine and Steam Train
Season: April-October
Cost: Coal Mine Tour $9/adults, $6.50/ages 2-11, Steam Train $7/adults. $5.50/ages 2-1, Combo $14.50/adults, $10.50/ages 2-11
Approximate Length of Visit: A couple of hours at least, we somehow spent 3 hours there
Recommended ages: Interesting for all ages. There is a playground that even the youngest kids can enjoy.

I heard about the Pioneer Tunnel Coal Mine and Steam Train through word of mouth. It turned out to be very interesting and enjoyable. Both my husband and I had ancestors who worked in coal mines around the time period this mine operated so it was particularly interesting to us.

It took us a little over an hour to get there from our home north of Harrisburg. It's not that far from Knoebel's Amusement Park, maybe about 20 minutes away. Take 81 to 901W, to 54E and you find yourself in the town of Ashland which reminded me a lot of the area I grew up in, in Northeast PA. You turn onto Twentieth Street, which is more like an alley, up past a cemetery and there it is.

There are two tours. The mine tour takes you 1800 feet into the side of the mountain and lasts about 30 minutes. I have to warn you the ride is ROUGH! If you are pregnant or have a serious case of hemorrhoids, this might not be the best choice for you. You don't spend the entire tour in the cars - the tour is mostly a walking tour within the mine. Wow! The conditions the old coal miners endured will make you appreciate your desk job a lot more.


It is 52 degrees in the mine and drippy (even on a dry day). Bring a coat. They have a rack of coats there that you can borrow but, well, trust me, bring your own coat. The person that borrowed a coat last may have had cooties.

The train ride is also a very rough ride (the roughest train ride that I ever experienced) but I this wasn't originally a passenger train. The coal-fired 'lokie' was rescued from a scrap yard when the mine tour started in the 60s. It was built in 1917.

It's not a very long ride (and your butt will be grateful) but there are stops so the entire train tour takes about 30 minutes.

The first stop, no one leaves the train. You can stand and take pictures and the guide talks about the town below (Ashland, PA) and the town just over the ridge (Centralia, PA) which has basically been dismantled due to an underground mine fire.

The second stop, the passengers can leave the train. There's an example of a bootleg mine (a mock-up, I believe but I'm not positive).

There's a strip mine in that area too.


My older son enjoyed both tours and the baby did very well also (except when he pooped on me the first time we tried to board the train tour - NOTE: There are no baby changing facilities in the restroom!) There's a great playground right there. One area is the old-style that I remember from my childhood, with a large merry-go-round (NOT a carousel!), teeter-totters, and larger swings.

The other side has some of the newer play structures they put in parks nowadays.

There are baby swings which the baby LOVED so this activity truly had something for everyone.

There's a home-style food concession stand. The Bar-B-Q sandwiches(sloppy joes) were very good. An 18.5 ounce bottle of lime-flavored Dasani was only $1.25. Some attractions soak you on the water but they don't which I appreciate.

There's a small gift shop. We had to buy the baby a new shirt since he pooped on the outfit he was wearing. I brought extra shorts along but I forgot his extra shirt. The infant shirt was around $6. They had great pieces of carved coal but I didn't price them.

Even though the tours only took up a bit more than an hour, we somehow managed to spend three hours there. There was about a 30-minute unexplained delay before the train tour. The guys ate something, we played on the playground, and we basically just weren't in a rush that day. We had a good time.

Please add your comments regarding this activity or let me know if you have any questions about it that I might be able to answer.