Family Fun Day Trips Near/Around Philly (1 Viewer)

[TheIronSheik]

So a lot of people seem to be from around this area, so I thought I'd ask this question. My girlfriend and our daughter love to take day trips on the weekends to fun places. It's nice because the little one is still at the age where she enjoys doing things with us. I imagine those days are slipping away pretty quickly. We've done a bunch of things, like going down to the historical district in Philly, the aquarium in Camden, gone to Gettysburg, up to Hawk Mountain just to name a few.

Really, anything is an option. We still have a couple places on our list of places to go, but I was wondering if any other FFA fathers (or mothers) have had a fun experience at a place in the area. The ideal place would be someplace where we could drive in the morning, enjoy during the day and come home that night. Any suggestions?

TIA

TIS

 

[TheIronSheik]

Seriously? Nothing? I guess I should have known better than to try and start a non political thread on a big political news day.

 

[Jaysus]

New Hope and Peddler's village?

Linvilla?

Camden Aquarium?

Longwood Gardens?

Lancaster?

 

[Jaysus]

How about Gettysburg or Hawk Mountain.

DERP

Camden Aquarium?

 

[collective]

LOL @ waiting 28 minutes before a panic bump.

 

[TheIronSheik]

How about Gettysburg or Hawk Mountain.

DERP

Camden Aquarium?

We've done Lancaster a bunch. Our daughter loves Amish Mafia so we always say we're going looking for Lebanon Levi. Longwood Gardens is on our list and we've done Hawk Mountain.

We still need to go to Hershey. I think that would be fun. And maybe to the Crayola factory. Not sure if anyone has been to that or if it's worth going.

 

[TheIronSheik]

LOL @ waiting 28 minutes before a panic bump.

Wasn't a panic bump.

I just saw that after a half hour it only had 3 views. One of them mine.

 

[collective]

LOL @ waiting 28 minutes before a panic bump.

Wasn't a panic bump. I just saw that after a half hour it only had 3 views. One of them mine.

I don't think the views numbers get updated that frequently.

 

[Jaysus]

We still need to go to Hershey. I think that would be fun. And maybe to the Crayola factory. Not sure if anyone has been to that or if it's worth going.

The Girl is 9 or 10, right? I'm thinking that may be too old for Crayola. I took my daughter when she was 4 or 5.

Hershey would probably be more fun when the park is open. Troegs will, however, be open

Renaissance Faire?

 

[spOOfy]

how old is the daughter?

 

[Jaysus]

Inner Harbor?

 

[TheIronSheik]

how old is the daughter?

9

Ohh. Forgot about the Inner Harbor. That would be fun.

OK. So "no" on the Crayola. Makes sense. And wait for HersheyPark to be open to do Hershey. Check. :thumbsup:

 

[Dan Lambskin]

Took my kids to Sesame Place last summer...we enjoyed it

 

[E-Z Glider]

Hersheypark in the dark is getting ready to start

Jim Thorpe was voted Top 10 Coolest small towns - lots of outdoor recreation opportunities

Ricketts Glen to see the waterfalls

Centralia to see a real deserted ghost town

 

[spOOfy]

well, i'll just lay out a whole bunch of stuff. you decide what suits you. i have a 10 & 6 year old.

camden aquarium

cheap sports - riversharks baseball, phightin' phils baseball, trenton thunder baseball - all within 1 hour (of course, season coming to close)

herrs factory tour

please touch museum

art museum

free walking tours of philly (historic area, ghost tours, etc.)

longwood gardens

philly zoo

elmwood zoo

morris abortoreum

natural history museum

constitution center

over the summer i took my kids to a different playground each week. some of the bigger ones: smith memorial, kids castle

walk around peddler's village - lots of shops and they have different stuff going on. right now scarecrow contest. coming up soon is apple festival. next year strawberry festival.

soon will be pumpkin picking and hayride season. find a farm that runs it (shadybrook farm is a good one).

hershey park is great (can do overnight and get into park at night and then next day for same cost)

overnight trips (or longer) imo: Niagara falls, baltimore aquarium, washington dc, nyc

 

[spOOfy]

she's probably at the edge of what crayola factory would do for her. my daughter enjoyed it (went when she was 9, so was 5), but she loves art, etc.

hershey park is still open as far as i know. i remember going around halloween before.

 

[spOOfy]

the list i posted is all stuff i did with my kids the last 2 summers, except the natural history musuem, ran out of time.

also, visit your local library. they have free passes to some of the stuff i listed.

 

[spOOfy]

contact me if you need more info on anything or other suggestions. those were just off the top of my head.

 

[belljr]

hershey is great...

franklin institute

there is a small zoo in jersey that rescues injured animals my daughter loves. will get nmae when i get home

 

[spOOfy]

once snow hits, head to the poconos for some skiing/snowboarding/tubing

 

[spOOfy]

other day trip i did this summer was tubing on the Delaware River. pretty sure that ends at Labor Day though.

 

[Don Quixote]

PA...

Valley Forge

Strasburg Railroad

Crystal Cave

NJ..

Thomas Edison site

Washington Crossing site

Old Barracks in Trenton (Revolutionary war)

Great Adventure

MD...

Inner Harbor Baltimore

Antietam Battlefield

 

[koby925]

Agree with Jaysus and spoofy. Fall in that New Hope/Doylestown area is great. All the Peddler's Village festivals are about the same. And very enjoyable for kids. Things they mentioned already, plus Washington Crossing and Lambertville are right there.

 

[TheIronSheik]

Hersheypark in the dark is getting ready to start

Jim Thorpe was voted Top 10 Coolest small towns - lots of outdoor recreation opportunities

Ricketts Glen to see the waterfalls

Centralia to see a real deserted ghost town

Awesome. That waterfall place looks pretty awesome. And I've read books on Centralia. Creepy. Is it an actual place you can go see? Seems like it would be shut down for safety reasons.

 

[TheIronSheik]

well, i'll just lay out a whole bunch of stuff. you decide what suits you. i have a 10 & 6 year old.

camden aquarium

cheap sports - riversharks baseball, phightin' phils baseball, trenton thunder baseball - all within 1 hour (of course, season coming to close)

herrs factory tour

please touch museum

art museum

free walking tours of philly (historic area, ghost tours, etc.)

longwood gardens

philly zoo

elmwood zoo

morris abortoreum

natural history museum

constitution center

over the summer i took my kids to a different playground each week. some of the bigger ones: smith memorial, kids castle

walk around peddler's village - lots of shops and they have different stuff going on. right now scarecrow contest. coming up soon is apple festival. next year strawberry festival.

soon will be pumpkin picking and hayride season. find a farm that runs it (shadybrook farm is a good one).

hershey park is great (can do overnight and get into park at night and then next day for same cost)

overnight trips (or longer) imo: Niagara falls, baltimore aquarium, washington dc, nyc

This is an awesome list. I appreciate the time you put into that. :thumbsup:

I will definitely be adding most of these to our list!

 

[TheIronSheik]

PA...

Valley Forge

Strasburg Railroad

Crystal Cave

NJ..

Thomas Edison site

Washington Crossing site

Old Barracks in Trenton (Revolutionary war)

Great Adventure

MD...

Inner Harbor Baltimore

Antietam Battlefield

We live right next to VF, so that is almost an every week thing. Other than that we've done a lot of these. But the Antietam Battlefield sounds awesome. And the Washington Crossing site.

 

[belljr]

bit of a drive but PopcornPark Zoo

 

[Drifter]

Saw Jim Thorpe mentioned. Their are some autumn color type train tours out of Jim Thorpe that can be nice.

Celtic fest up in Bethlehem was just last weekend but if you're still looking in December, a visit to the Christmas city can be nice.

 

[bostonfred]

Fogo de Chao

 

[babydemon90]

DaVinci Center in Allentown is good, 9 year old will love it.

Dorney Park as well does the Halloween park thing.

 

[TheIronSheik]

When is the best time to head to Hawk Mountain? I believe we used to go in the Fall to see the most birds. But I can't remember if it was early fall or late fall. I imagine the changing leaves alone are with the trip now. If the weather holds up, thinking about heading up there this weekend.

Was going to do Steven F. Udvar-Hazy, but NOOOOOOOOO. Thanks a lot, Obama.

 

[JetMaxx]

October is the best month for migrating birds at Hawk Mountain. Don't forget Shady Maple for a great meal when out looking for the Amish Mafia.

 

[TheIronSheik]

October is the best month for migrating birds at Hawk Mountain. Don't forget Shady Maple for a great meal when out looking for the Amish Mafia.

That's what I thought. Of course they're calling for rain this weekend. And while I don't mind doing things in the rain, apparently females aren't as excited about it.

What is Shady Maple?

 

[TheIronSheik]

Also, I forgot to mention, we did Roadside America last year. That place is CRAZY! In every sense of the word. My favorite part is at the end where they dim the lights so it turns the model into nighttime. Then God Bless America gets played with pictures of Jesus flashing on the walls with an American Flag behind him. It.... was.... SPECTACULAR!!!

 

[Koya]

If everything is n the table you are a short train ride from NYC, Baltimore and DC which each host a ton of day trip options in addition to what's drivable.

 

[TheIronSheik]

If everything is n the table you are a short train ride from NYC, Baltimore and DC which each host a ton of day trip options in addition to what's drivable.

Yup. This is definitely an option. My best friend lives across from the NYSE and we plan to go up and have him take us on a touristy type tour. I think we're going to do DC in the spring when the cherry blossoms bloom.

 

[spOOfy]

never heard of Roadside America before. now added to the list of places to visit next summer. thanks!

 

[TheIronSheik]

never heard of Roadside America before. now added to the list of places to visit next summer. thanks!

I must warn you, it is very cheesy. But I think in a kind of cool way. I think it was made back in the 60's and it feels like it hasn't changed since. All that aside, including the Jesus/America thing, which I still found fun in a corny way, what makes it awesome is the detail. It's like a train set that you wished you could have made when you were a kid.

Because it is cheesy, I apologize if you go and it's not your cup of tee. I'm sure it's not for everyone. But we had a fun time there and it doesn't take much time. We did that and Crystal Cave in the same day.

Roadside America

 

[Jaysus]

never heard of Roadside America before. now added to the list of places to visit next summer. thanks!

I must warn you, it is very cheesy. But I think in a kind of cool way. I think it was made back in the 60's and it feels like it hasn't changed since. All that aside, including the Jesus/America thing, which I still found fun in a corny way, what makes it awesome is the detail. It's like a train set that you wished you could have made when you were a kid.

Because it is cheesy, I apologize if you go and it's not your cup of tee. I'm sure it's not for everyone. But we had a fun time there and it doesn't take much time. We did that and Crystal Cave in the same day.

Roadside America

I drive past that on the trip to visit my parents and it never even crossed my mind to consider stopping... until now!

 

[Koya]

If everything is n the table you are a short train ride from NYC, Baltimore and DC which each host a ton of day trip options in addition to what's drivable.

Yup. This is definitely an option. My best friend lives across from the NYSE and we plan to go up and have him take us on a touristy type tour. I think we're going to do DC in the spring when the cherry blossoms bloom.

The Baltimore waterfront is also a good day trip, especially for kids. Science Museum, there's a Children's Museum in Federal Hill, the Aquarium, some good food options, some shopping nearby, little Italy, Fells Point - in the fall they should have some good festivals in Fells Point as well. All of that is within reasonable walking distance.

 

[TheIronSheik]

If everything is n the table you are a short train ride from NYC, Baltimore and DC which each host a ton of day trip options in addition to what's drivable.

Yup. This is definitely an option. My best friend lives across from the NYSE and we plan to go up and have him take us on a touristy type tour. I think we're going to do DC in the spring when the cherry blossoms bloom.

The Baltimore waterfront is also a good day trip, especially for kids. Science Museum, there's a Children's Museum in Federal Hill, the Aquarium, some good food options, some shopping nearby, little Italy, Fells Point - in the fall they should have some good festivals in Fells Point as well. All of that is within reasonable walking distance.

This is The Inner Harbor, right? If so, this is high on our list to do. We'll probably wait for Spring on this one, as well.

 

[Koya]

If everything is n the table you are a short train ride from NYC, Baltimore and DC which each host a ton of day trip options in addition to what's drivable.

Yup. This is definitely an option. My best friend lives across from the NYSE and we plan to go up and have him take us on a touristy type tour. I think we're going to do DC in the spring when the cherry blossoms bloom.

The Baltimore waterfront is also a good day trip, especially for kids. Science Museum, there's a Children's Museum in Federal Hill, the Aquarium, some good food options, some shopping nearby, little Italy, Fells Point - in the fall they should have some good festivals in Fells Point as well. All of that is within reasonable walking distance.

This is The Inner Harbor, right? If so, this is high on our list to do. We'll probably wait for Spring on this one, as well.

Yes, the inner harbor. All the attractions listed above (plus things that the lady's might not like so much, Camden Yards, Babe Ruth's home and museum, Railroad Museum) are in close proximity. It's take the train, one cab ride to the Harbor and pretty much walk all day, then head home. Could always drive too, not sure if that's easier, would depend upon where you are.

 

[TheIronSheik]

If everything is n the table you are a short train ride from NYC, Baltimore and DC which each host a ton of day trip options in addition to what's drivable.

Yup. This is definitely an option. My best friend lives across from the NYSE and we plan to go up and have him take us on a touristy type tour. I think we're going to do DC in the spring when the cherry blossoms bloom.

The Baltimore waterfront is also a good day trip, especially for kids. Science Museum, there's a Children's Museum in Federal Hill, the Aquarium, some good food options, some shopping nearby, little Italy, Fells Point - in the fall they should have some good festivals in Fells Point as well. All of that is within reasonable walking distance.

This is The Inner Harbor, right? If so, this is high on our list to do. We'll probably wait for Spring on this one, as well.

Yes, the inner harbor. All the attractions listed above (plus things that the lady's might not like so much, Camden Yards, Babe Ruth's home and museum, Railroad Museum) are in close proximity. It's take the train, one cab ride to the Harbor and pretty much walk all day, then head home. Could always drive too, not sure if that's easier, would depend upon where you are.

Yeah. This is high on our list. I've never been but my GF has and she speaks very highly of it. I'm hoping to do it in Spring because I'd like to mix an Orioles game into the trip.

 

[lombardi]

I grew up in Philly and still have a house in NJ. I read through this thread and many of the suggestions above would have been in my list. Here are a few more...

Comedy Sportz, this is SUPER fun with the kids. Every Saturday night at 7:30, early shows are kid/family friendly. http://www.comedysportzphilly.com/

We've done this a bunch of times with the kids and it's always fun and not too expensive.

Reading Terminal Market - Great place for lunch on Saturday afternoon. Everyone can pick their favorites, just about every kind of food you could want. Everyone stands in the super long line to go to DiNic's for the roast pork because it was on food network, but skip this. Good sandwich but better can be had at Nick's on Jackson St (and a few other places now). Some great choices are the Amish lunch counter and baker and Nonna's Indian. However, the BEST sandwich in the market is at the Cajun place. Trainwreck Po'Boy. Half philly cheesteak and half cajun po'boy. Cheesesteak meat, andoulie sausage, peppers and onions, cajun mayo. It's ridiculous, it will be love at first bite.

Dim Sum of Pho down in or near China town. Great, cheap food. There is also a great "hand drawn" noodle shop down there, I think it's called Nan Zou or something.

Cowtown - right across the bridge is a fun flea market on the weekends. Not so much in the winter months, but lots of fun spring/summer.

Delaware Water Gap - great hiking up at the gap. There is a little farmer's stand in the town up there that does a great $2.50 hot dog and pie combo. Hot dog is just a hotdog but the pie is outstanding. They also do artisan grilled cheeses and sandwiches that are really good. Worth it for the pie.

Jenny Jump - if you have little ones and want a short hike with beautiful views Jenny Jump state park is on the Jersey side. Probalby an hour and a half hike, very minimal elevation gain but a really beautiful walk. You can drive 15m from there into Hackettstown for some of the best Thai I've ever had at the Pandan room. Then head out to Alstede Farms in Chester, NJ. Giant hay mountain for kids to climb on, hayrides, fruit/berry picking, etc..

I don't know how old your daughter is but if she's a teen or close and you're like the macabre, check out the Mutter medical oddities museum.

You're also only 2 hours to NYC. TKTS booth for cheap shows, statue of liberty, central park, high line park. All fun.

 

[TheIronSheik]

I was searching "Wolf PA" to see something about the election and the first thing that popped up was a Wolf Sanctuary. The Wolf Sanctuary of PA in Lititz. Anyone ever been? Seems like it could be pretty fun. Only an hour away from me.

 

[Jaysus]

I had no idea there was a Wolf Sanctuary there... but Litiz is a fun little town (with one of my all time favorite bars)

 

[TheIronSheik]

I had no idea there was a Wolf Sanctuary there... but Litiz is a fun little town (with one of my all time favorite bars)

Just out of curiosity, why is it a fun little town? Is there other stuff to do?

 

[Jaysus]

I had no idea there was a Wolf Sanctuary there... but Litiz is a fun little town (with one of my all time favorite bars)

Just out of curiosity, why is it a fun little town? Is there other stuff to do?

Yes.

It has a walkable main street with an old towne charm that I am a fan of. Two or 3 breweries, and awesome (and proper) English Pub... there is a chocolate factory next to a small park, and I think there is even a pretzel factory. It is a little less than an hour away from me, and a fun way to fill a fall Saturday with the family.

 

[TheIronSheik]

I had no idea there was a Wolf Sanctuary there... but Litiz is a fun little town (with one of my all time favorite bars)

Just out of curiosity, why is it a fun little town? Is there other stuff to do?

Yes.

It has a walkable main street with an old towne charm that I am a fan of. Two or 3 breweries, and awesome (and proper) English Pub... there is a chocolate factory next to a small park, and I think there is even a pretzel factory. It is a little less than an hour away from me, and a fun way to fill a fall Saturday with the family.

Awesome! This sounds like a good time.

 

[TheIronSheik]

Went to the Wolf Sanctuary on Saturday. It was pretty cool. I think if you like wolves, it's a neat place to see. You pretty much just look at wolves that are in some caged off areas and the whole thing lasts about 45 minutes to an hour. But we thought it was pretty cool.

We looked around Lititz a little, but nothing caught our eye. So we decided to head to the outlets. Boy, that was a mistake. Traffic was crazy! I guess holiday shopping has kicked in, but after we got out of the traffic jam, we hit a little place for lunch then headed home.

Again, if you're into wolves, it's a fun little trip. They are some beautiful creatures.