Top 3 things to do in Lancaster, PA
Visiting Lancaster, PA? Top 3 things to do in the area
The top two tourist attractions in Lancaster are the Sight and Sound Theater followed by the Shady Maple.
In my last blog, I wrote about how in between vacations I still want to get away so I started doing local travel. For me, I want to be able to experience life to the fullest of my capability. I am hoping to inspire you to do the same.
One of these adventures was in Lancaster PA. The drive to Lancaster was filled with beautiful mountains and pretty scenery. Which made the four-hour trek seem to go faster. For us this is one trip where you get on the toll road and stay on it until you get there so there were not a lot of stops along the way. If you are a person who needs to stop every hour or so make sure you look at the route first and plan your stops accordingly and don’t forget to pack snacks for the trip.
Sight and Sound Theater, Lancaster PA
Site and Sound Theater Moses Play
One of the main attractions in Lancaster is the sight and sound theater. Make sure you plan this well in advance if you care about seating. These shows sell out quickly. We wanted to be in a specific spot so we bought our tickets months in advance. (Which gave us a lot of time to plan what to do while we were there.) At the theater, the parking attendants made it easy to get in and after the show even though there were a lot of people we did not have to wait very long before we got out onto the road.
The play goes on in all directions of the theater and actors do use the aisles during the show. The special effects were amazing. We saw the play, Moses. The red sea was parted in the theater. Along with baby Moses being transported down the Nile River in the aisle. There were other fantastic special effects but I want you to enjoy the show and be amazed when they happen. I have also been to a lot of on and off-Broadway production shows in different theaters throughout the country in my travels and the props and special effects used in this play were unparalleled.
They normally do one show for the year and in November they do a Christmas show. I highly recommend making the trip to go see a show.
In conversation with a few friends, it came up that we were planning a trip to Lancaster.
Best Place to eat in Lancaster, PA?
One of the places recommended to us by different people was to go to the Shady Maple Smorgasbord restaurant and gift shop. It was not until after I researched it that I found it to be the second most popular spot in Lancaster. If you want to know the best places to go ask around. Your friends and family have a lot of advice if you ask.
We thought we planned enough time to go to the Shady Maple before our show. We did not. What we did not realize is how vast the Shady Maple Smorgasbord is. There was a line out the door of people waiting to get a seat and inside that line was broken down into four different lines. Even though the line was long it took less than a half hour to get seated. This place can also accommodate multiple buses of people at the same time. Shady Maple Smorgasbord has over 200 feet of buffet tables with authentic Dutch cooking. This is a great place to feed a large crowd or picky eaters.
The top floor is for dining and the bottom is a gift shop. The gift shop has everything from Amish gifts, jewelry, collectibles, to home decor, and even tasty treats to take home.
The Shady Maple sits behind the farmer’s market. This is a grocery store with local farmers market specialty shops in it. There are a lot of specialty departments to check out.
If you have any room left after eating at America's largest buffet according to the dailymeal.com you can take a 40 min drive to Turkey Hill.
Best family experience around Lancaster, PA- Turkey Hill tea!
Located in Turkey Hill is the Turkey Hill experience where you can visit the interactive Turkey Hill experience and see how the ice cream is made. In front of the entry is a bigger-than-life cow where you can take a commemorative photo.
Inside you go up the stairs and you can milk a pretend cow and learn about how the ice cream is made. There is an interactive planner where you can make your own ice cream flavors, design the package, and create a commercial.
Don't lose your ticket because you can come home and share your commercial, and ice cream brand you made virtually but you need the code.
I would recommend taking a picture of the code as soon as you get it so that if you accidentally lose the ticket you can still access everything.
For the adults and kids too, you can taste test Turkey Hill teas, lemonades, and ice cream while you are there. The interaction experiences are geared more toward the younger kids. We went as a group of adults and still had a great experience.
This is a great experience if you are going as a family or a big extended family event. As these places can accommodate a large number of people at once. This would be a good church group experience as well. If you would like more information on group pricing and rates schedule an appointment with me. I can book the whole trip for all of you. You just need to let me know when you would like to go and how many people will be attending to get started and we can go from there.
Bob Porter- Personalized travel made easy