This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of TurkeyHill Dairy. All opinions are my own.
My husband loves ice cream, and so does our three-year-old. And not just any ice cream, either. It has to be Turkey Hill Dairy, and it has to be the Double Dunker flavor (which our daughter calls “Chocolate Cookie Ice Cream”).
So you can imagine their excitement when I announced that we’d be visiting the Turkey Hill Experience. And when I told them that the Experience has unlimited FREE ice cream samples AND we’d making our very own REAL ice cream flavor, you would have thought that I’d just announced that tomorrow was Christmas.
Most people know about Turkey Hill Dairy. They’ve been making ice cream and iced tea since 1931, but the Turkey Hill Experience is relatively new. Opened in 2011, the Experience is a 20,000-square-foot attraction in Lancaster County (Conestoga, PA) that highlights Turkey Hill’s rich history and how the Dairy makes its ice cream and iced tea.
One thing that was nice about the Experience was how they offer something for everyone – not just kids, and not just adults. It truly was a fun-for-the-whole-family experience. They even had mechanical cows that you could milk!
What I liked most about the Experience – and an example of how they even offer something for parents – was the lessons in how ice cream is made or, in the photo below, “What makes milk milk?” Other fun stuff included touch screens where you can make your own virtual ice cream flavor, and another area that allows you to star in your very own Turkey Hill commercial.
And then there was the ball pit. It was massive, it was colorful, and I wasn’t sure that we’d ever convince our little one to climb out of it! (SIDENOTE: Why don’t they make ball pits for adults? A glass of wine and a ball pit at the end of the day sounds like heaven.) We were finally able to tempt her out of the ball pit with the lure of a slide, and all sorts of other fun attractions. Oh, and ice cream. That works every time. So we headed to the ice cream sampling station, with 10 flavors to choose from, for a quick break.
About an hour after arriving at the Experience, it was time for us to enter the main attraction: a 45-minute lesson in ice cream-making known as the Taste Lab.
You start with a pint of vanilla ice cream, and then a Taste Lab ice cream expert leads the group through the ice cream making process of flavoring your ice cream (our little one chose cotton candy), adding any of 15 different types of mix-ins (she chose marshmallows, sprinkles, and gummy bears), and then a swirl (marshmallow). Can you tell she has a sweet tooth?
After a few minutes in the freezer – during which, we received a lesson in Turkey Hill’s history – it was time to eat!
As you can see, our little one LOVED her Cotton Candy Marshmallow Gummy Bear creation!
If you love ice cream (and who doesn’t?), you should definitely stop by the Turkey Hill Experience. Start to finish – including the Taste Lab – it’s a fantastic way to spend two or three hours for a great price.
Check out the Experience website for hours, ticket prices (kids under four are free!), and special events. You can also follow Turkey Hill on Twitter and the Experience on Facebook for all sorts of news and fun announcements!
Looks like a super fun experience!
What fun & I have to say that it looks way better than the Ben & Jerry’s tour that I went on up in Vermont!
This looks like a great experience…and a tasty one, too.
That looks like so much fun and a day filled with deliciousness. My kids would love to visit.
I love everything about this. It is basically my dream Saturday afternoon. Or any afternoon, really.
Ice cream is my favorite.
This looks like so much fun and delicious! Would love to go there!
Any trip that ends in (unlimited) ice cream is awesome! Glad you had a great time.
Looks like a lot of fun! I would spend a lot of time in that ice cream lab.
Aww!
That looks like so much fun!
We took the kids to the milk plant here so they could see how they make chocolate milk and yogurt.
But it’s not nearly as fun as ice cream!
How fun she was able to make her own ice cream. I love factories that are kid friendly. I still remember the potato chip factory I visitied as a kid.
Wow, I had no idea that you could add virtually any flavor too! Very cool!!
Looks like an awesome time, my kids would really enjoy this!
I want to go to Turkey Hill now!!
Oh wow my son would love to go there, it looks like so much fun! and I would def love to eat some ice cream
THis looks like you had such a fun time. I want to go!!!!! I want to go to TURKEY HILL
Such a fun place to visit and learn. I know the kids would love going to Turkey Hill!
That would be completely fascinating to me. What an awesome inside peek!
If we are ever in the area, I would love to check this out.
I would love to do this! Looks like so much fun and, oh, the sampling!
What a fun experience. You made me laugh, your so right a wine and a ball pit sounds fun lol! Your daughter is so cute and what a great learning trip for her. Thanks for sharing, Kuddo’s Turkey Hill for a great place of learning and fun.
OH my goodness – totally awesome for the whole family! I’ve been to Ben and Jerry’s, but this looks so good too! JEALOUS of your trip!
This is such good experience and playtime for little ones. I love that they could milk the cows! That’s awesome!
What a fun place to visit! My kids would love this 🙂