Visiting Lancaster with the Kids: Cherry Crest Farm

As we mentioned yesterday in this post, my children and I recently took an overnight trip to nearby Lancaster to experience some of their MANY family-friendly destinations. In that post, we covered our visit to the Strasburg Railroad. Today, we want to fill you in on the fun we had at Cherry Crest Farm!

Just to recap, our itinerary for the 2 days looked like this:

Day1:
AM: Strasburg Railroad

PM: Cherry Crest Farm

Overnight Accommodations at the Lancaster Marriott at Penn Square

Day 2:

AM: Choo Choo Barn

PM: Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania

After a fun morning at the Strasburg Railroad, my kids were really excited to head over to Cherry Crest Farm (only 5 minutes away) and run around! I had checked out Cherry Crest Farm’s extensive site before we left, and had already heard of their renown Corn Maze attraction but I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect when we got there.

As we walked through the entrance of the farm, I was immediately struck by it’s massiveness. There are so many things to see and do there!

Since I knew already about their amazing 5 acre Corn Maze (it’s the world’s largest interactive game!), we headed in that direction to see what exactly it entails. As we approached and learned that it can take a while to make it through (or not… there are secret exits), my kids and I decided to make the most of our time there and see all of the other attractions. We were SO IMPRESSED with that corn maze, we will ABSOLUTELY be taking Daddy back there with us this fall so we can all check it out together!

At this point, my older daughter turned and saw the animals and she never looked back. After my youngest and I ran to catch up with her, we spent lots of time watching, feeding and talking to the animals that are on display there. They had goats and bunnies and pigs, and my girls adored them all. But, the best part was when we walked into the barn and my oldest saw the baby chicks. We could have stayed there petting those chicks all afternoon and been perfectly content. Their love of babies and animals all wrapped into one cute, furry package!

These are my 2 beauties loving the chicks!

Finally, the kids agreed to explore more of the farm. We took a tractor ride, we checked out go-carts, and we also rode burlap sacks down 2 huge slides that they have there. We explored most of the 50 + attractions that they have there, but I have to say the one that delighted my kids the most was the Barnyard Jump, a giant jumping pillow that they have there … think moonbounce floors only 5 times the size. I loved that they had 2 of them, one for the little kids and one for the big kids. Both of my girls just jumped and jumped and jumped with their new friend “G”, Tara from Feels Like Home‘s daughter. Here is a shot Tara got of my oldest that I love. Notice the Strasburg Railroad track beyond the bouncing kids. It was so fun to sit and watch the trains roll by.

After the girls bounced their little hearts outs, they were tired and hungry. As we wandered towards the exit, we stopped in at one of the gift shops on the property. We found some adorable country crafts and unique gifts. It was a great place to pick up a souvenir for Daddy since he couldn’t join us.

Each and every one of our stops on this trip was really entertaining for the kids, but I would have to say that Cherry Crest Farm was a HUGE hit with my kids. The beauty of this attraction is that you can spend only a few hours or the entire day there depending on your needs, and you would be having fun the entire time. We will absolutely be back this fall to see the Maize Maze (and play at all the other attractions) with my husband in tow! At only about 45 – 60 minutes from our house, I see us making visits to Cherry Crest Farm frequently.

If you want to learn more about Cherry Crest Farm, please visit their website and connect with them on both Facebook and Twitter.

And come back tomorrow when I tell you all about our next stop on our overnight trip…. the Lancaster Marriott at Penn Station! Three words sum it up for you…. Comfiest Beds Ever!

There is so much for families to see and do in the Lancaster area. We can’t wait to schedule our next trip!

*Disclosure: My family was provided free admission to the above attractions as well as overnight accommodations in order to facilitate this review. No other compensation was received and, as always, I’ll tell you the real deal about what my impressions and experiences are. All opinions are expressly my own.