Let’s see, here is a ballpark rundown of what you can do and how long it will take:

The safari ride is a good hour from loading to unloading.

The petting zoo takes a long as you want it too and it is something my kids always want to do twice. Since it is free to get in (you pay for animal treats) going back in is no big deal.

To walk around the park itself and see all the animal exhibits will take the better part of an hour since they are pretty spread out. Perhaps more if you run into some of the animal handlers walking the park with ponies or alpacas who teach the kids about the animals and let them get up close and personal.

The reptile show (which only runs in the summer) is at least 30 min.

Getting a snack/lunch will take up 30 min or so. The time is to eat mostly, the lines are usually not long unless you have school groups come and they usually picnic.

There is a smallish gift shop which could take 30 min if your 5 year old is like my kids and has to pick every single thing up off the shelf.

Plus there are playground sets in several locations in the park that the kids can play on for some unstructured time.

Lake Tobias is very laid-back. Not the rush-rush of an amusement park or arcade or anything like that.

If your child likes animals I would say the drive is worth it. The safari ride is amazing – buy popcorn at the snack stand to take with you. All the animals come right up to the bus and the elk comes ON the bus (sit on the front right if you want to get up close and personal!) I’ve never experienced anything like it and if my teenager wants to go several times a year (you know, “she who hates everything”) and this was her requested birthday trip, well, you know it has to be pretty special.

If your child is just so-so with animals, then you might want to try to piggyback this with a larger trip to do something else in the area like the state museum in Harrisburg or one of the cave trips near State College.

Hope that helps with your decision Sue. Lake Tobias has fall activities if you check their website http://www.laketobias.com and the safari tour is beautiful that time of year. Crowds will be a little heavier, but the place is so big you won’t notice them except in the gift shop and the bathrooms.

I know there was one at the University Place Mall in Carbondale, Illinois in 1989 and I went to it till 1995. Then I left the area for a while.
Then in 1998 I drove 14 miles there and the place was gone and its space taken up by someone selling Velvet Elvis lawn flamingos crap.

I just went on-line and see that Boardwalk has hardly any presence at all these days– like maybe a piddly 17 outlets in America. And none near Marion, Illinois where I am, so I’m understandably distraught at the moment.

I just hearkened to my Boardwalk days because of buzz on-line about some obscure new #1 hamburger of a thinly scattered chain named in a poll. I shan’t name that overpriced burger chain.

No. I’m only here to attest to the splendor and majesty of the Boardwalk Fry.

Why it seems like just yesterday that I came upon the smells wafting from that Boardwalk Fries outlet in the Mall there in the hippie college town of Carbondale, IL. I bought a small and engulfed it while walking out of the building and leaning on my car in the lot. All the whiles making primal grunting noises like a lion tearing apart a wildebeest.
I cursed that I’d just bought an overpriced science fiction magazine and hadn’t the money to go back for another small.

But go back I did, probably 75 times from that mid August day till February of ‘95.

I can count on one hand the times I got a fresh batch that was thoroughly done. But they were always plenty hot.
And one time the chick on duty gave me and a buddy a gratuity Small of old soggy ones that were about to be thrown out to munch on as we waited for a new batch. The new batch having been delayed because the chick had been in the stockroom banging her bf.
We asked for a sample fry to see if the vixen had got it just right when the new batch came out. They were perfect and we each ordered a Bucket.

True they are only a shadow of themselves as leftovers. But it refrigerated and then sprayed with Pam before a mild microwaving they are okay, kinda– WAY better than the cardboard chemical that McD fries degenerate towards.

Thank-you dear Squire or Lady for allowing me to vicariously enjoy Boardwalk Fries again through you.

–Chauncey “Sonney” Earlington, III

You have touched my heart with that blogpost – Snoopy is my all time favorite since I was little. I love the pawprints on the sidewalk and the stuffed Pig-Pens. I can honestly say I’d be very disappointed to hear Hannah Montana instead of Linus and Lucy – that is just wrong!

My littles ones will be old enough for Dutch Wonderland next year so there will be plenty more on that in 2011 (perhaps even this fall since we’re getting the gold season passes to both in September.)

Thanks for commenting!

Just discovered your website a few weeks ago and really enjoying it! I stumbled across it while looking for other bloggers with stuff about Dutch Wonderland.

I do alot of Day Trip reports on my blog as well. Right now, I’m running some stuff about the new Planet Snoopy at Kings Dominion.

http://wonderfulworldofblog.blogspot.com/2010/07/snoopy-comes-to-kings-dominion.html