Turkey Hill Experience

Living where I do, there is all sorts of interesting things to do.  We live quite close to Hershey, Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Harrisburg, and the Pocono Mountains.  It's interesting to see what's happening each weekend and what we can fit into the schedule.  Sometimes there are too many things to do, sometimes the really fun stuff is cost prohibitive.  But, we try our best to try new things as often as possible.

This summer, Turkey Hill (yes the ice cream/iced tea people) opened the Turkey Hill Experience in Lancaster, just over the Susquehanna River from York.  We'd been talking about checking it out, but wasn't sure we wanted to spend the $11.50 per person to go.  Eventually it was decided to go and check it out.  So, yesterday, we headed over the river to check it out.

I will admit upfront that the price did not thrill me.  It's $11.50 per person, which I thought was a bit steep.  Hence why we debated whether we would do it.  There is an area that is free where you can learn about the Frey family (the founders of Turkey Hill), Lancaster County, and farming in the area (mostly about cows).  Within the free area, there is a nice interactive piece where you can pick various themes to learn about.  Sure, it's not as fun as the area you pay to get into, but it is free and it is educational.

We chose to pay the $11.50 each to go through the whole thing.  We entered that area, where a very friendly staff person explained how the whole place worked.  She told us the best way of doing the exhibits (around the outside first, then through the big Turkey Hill ice cream box).  I will say, we probably lucked out a bit because it didn't seem too crowded while we were there.  We headed right to the room that talked about Turkey Hill Iced Tea and learned about "cold fashioned" (which I always wondered about...), got to smell various teas, learned about the various tea flavors, then sampled some Turkey Hill tea.  I tried the light Blueberry (25 calories a serving, limited-edition) and hubby tried the Orange tea.  I very much enjoyed the Blueberry tea.  I was disappointed though that when I went downstairs I couldn't find the flavor.  I really would have liked to take a bottle with me.

From there, we checked out the history of the Frey family and Turkey Hill.  We read through all the information on the walls, filled with lots of photographs.  Hubby milked the cows, which was pretty funny.  There are three of them for milking and as I said, with so few people there on Saturday, I think it was easy to get to the cows. 

From the cows it was off to the Turkey Hill ice cream container.  We watched the little video about making ice cream, then followed the white path into the exhibit.  You first learn all about microbes - the good and the bad.  There are a couple interactive games here to help you figure out what they are talking about (it's not anything I remember from bio or chem in HS!).  From there, you get in line to make your own ice cream flavor.  While you wait, they have an exhibit where you can emboss scents onto paper to smell various mix-ins they use.  This was eh to me.  Though the kid behind me was having fun with it.  I will say, I think this is where the Experience falls apart.  The line to use the four computers to make your own flavor was just a bit too long to wait in for something you don't actually get to eat.  I knew ahead of time that making my own ice cream flavor on the computer did not equal me actually tasting it (unlike other reviewers of the THE have said).  I just thought it would be fun to do.  And when we got up there, it was.  I was disappointed in the limited selections to chose from to make your ice cream, but what can you do?  When you get to the computer, you enter your ticket code and now you can access your ice cream to share with friends and family (and blog readers!).

This is the ice cream I made and I would totally would have eaten it if available.  ;-)  Once my ice cream was designed, I was told I would receive an email with it.  And I did!  That's how you see the above graphic, I received it from Turkey Hill.

From there, we headed off to see the rest of the exhibit.  There were several other interactives to play with. We had a good time trying to make sure the right amount of ingredients went into the vats (which we totally could NOT do!).  We then designed the ice cream box to put our ice cream in.  This didn't take long, but was kinda fun.

I know you would totally eat my ice cream flavor!  Who wouldn't?  ;-)  The only thing you didn't control was the size of the container.  You decided which ice cream design to use (I chose the bowl), the background, how the name appeared, and if you wanted any clip art.  I chose those blueberries since they were in my ice cream, had they not been, I wouldn't have put any clip art on since the others were kinda childish.

Once we did this, we moved into the next area and hubby made a video for his ice cream.  I declined the offer, but his was pretty funny actually.  Then we got his photo as a Philadelphia Eagle (since Turkey Hill has relationships with the Eagles, Phillies, and Steelers).  And then, the best part of all - FREE SAMPLE!  Hubby's favorite flavor from Turkey Hill is Touchdown Sunday Crunch (Eagles ice cream) and they had it, so that was his choice.  I chose Chocolate Marshmallow, which was yummy.  There were a limited number of samples (three flavors), that after hubby and one other gentleman, they ran out of Touchdown Sunday Crunch.  I was surprised.  It wasn't that late in the day and they just took that option off the black board.  Sorry people who came after us!

But, free ice cream is free ice cream.  And I haven't had chocolate marshmallow in ages, so it was nice.  Again, I've seen reviews where people complained about the options, but even for $11.50, I can't see how Turkey Hill could put all their flavors out.  I wasn't that upset over the select options, I was just happy to get free ice cream.

At this point, we had seen everything to see.  I would guess we were up there for a bit over an hour, but I forgot to pay attention.  We headed downstairs to see the cafe and store.  We had no intention of picking up anything, but since we were there, we wanted to see it all.  The cafe had tons of ice cream flavors.  I was impressed with the options.  The food options were less impressive, just not a lot of choices, though there were salads. I was surprised by that.  Then we checked out the gift shop. Lots of choices, but I just couldn't see buying anything they had.  No offense Turkey Hill, but I don't need a t-shirt or bag or coffee mug.  Now, if I were from out of state, it's possible I might have grabbed something, but since I live about 40 minutes away, I didn't really feel any pull to pick something up.

Overall, I liked the Turkey Hill Experience more than I anticipated.  I still stand by my opinion that $11.50 was a tad bit more than it should be.  Maybe $9.00 would be a better price, even $8.50.  The tea portion of the exhibit was cool and maybe more interesting that the ice cream part, mostly because it's not the biggest thing Turkey Hill is known for.  The making of ice cream is kinda fun, but the wait was a tad bit too long to be worth it honestly. And if you have kids, you may have a tough time keeping them interested while you wait to get to the machines.  There is a ball pit in the area, maybe their concession to the long line?  But, if you're looking for something to do on a rainy day or have friends/family in from out of state, I would say it's worth checking out.