Colossal Fun at the Turkey Hill Experience
The Turkey Hill Experience is an excellent way to spend half the day in Southeast Pennsylvania’s Dutch Country region! Kids and adults alike will love the interactive and educational exhibits at this indoor attraction. Plus, who doesn’t love tasting ice cream?! There is a lot to do at this fun attraction located just 20 minutes from Lancaster.
About the Turkey Hill Experience
When you visit, you can choose the Turkey Hill Experience ticket option or you can include the Taste Lab and/or Tea Discovery. If you choose all three options, it is called “the triple scoop”. The “experience” is a hands-on museum. The Turkey Hill Experience website suggests 60 to 90 minutes to tour this area, but we spent two hours there because our kids loved playing so much!
The Taste Lab was my favorite part because it involved eating a HUGE bowl of ice cream! You’ll need about 45 minutes if you choose to add this to your ticket. The Tea Discovery is basically a tea tasting. My kids tried the teas, but this option appeals more to adults. If you choose this add-on, allocate 30 minutes for it. Below we will go into more detail on each area.
The Turkey Hill Experience Building
The Turkey Hill Experience opened in 2011. It is a 17,000 square foot attraction. When you enter the building, the ticket desk is immediately on your right. That is where you can buy tickets or check-in for your tours. The main floor has a gift shop where you can buy Turkey Hill branded merchandise, cuddly stuffed cows and other kids’ toys, and clothing. The bathrooms are also on the main floor as well as the ice cream Taste Lab. The second floor is where all the interactive areas are located.
The Turkey Hill Experience Attractions
When you enter the second floor, there is a brief introduction about the Frey family that founded the Turkey Hill Dairy. Next, there is an educational display about the history of Pennsylvania’s Lancaster and York counties and very informative information all about dairy cows and their farms!
Inside the ticketed area, there is a lot to do! You can milk a cow and read up on the old days of milk delivery, sample complimentary drinks and ice cream, and watch a movie.
Another thing you can do is walk through seven interactive steps of ice cream production. This part is great for kids and adults too! Play a video game about bacteria, create your own ice cream flavor, play in a pretend ice cream shop, design a custom ice cream carton, and make your own Turkey Hill commercial!
You can also peak inside the factory rooms in real-time through video feeds to see what is happening from the receiving room to the production line and warehouse!
The Turkey Hill Taste Lab
When you get into the Taste Lab, you have lots of choices! You can choose a vanilla or chocolate base by turning your napkin to your favorite flavor. I’m a chocolate girl all the way! Each person gets almost a whole pint of ice cream!
You have a choice of 16 extracts. There is no food coloring in them, so it will not change the color of your ice cream. Then, there are about 10 exciting “variegates” or syrups such as peanut butter and cake icing. They recommend no more than two choices for this stage. Yum! More sugar!
Lastly, you get to head to the Inclusion Wall. This was our favorite part! You can choose from over 20 different toppings! It is tempting to try a lot, but they mention to limit it to 3 so choose wisely!
Listen carefully for instructions. The lab tech will walk you through how to develop your custom ice cream creations.
Find out how many ice cream flavors Turkey Hill makes, how they make their ice cream, how many cows are needed to produce their ice cream, how it gets from farm to factory, and much more! You’ll even find out which countries import Turkey Hill Ice Cream….it’s not the countries you’d think!
Turkey Hill Tea Discovery
In the Turkey Hill Tea Discovery, you get to taste several types of tea plus a fruit drink mapped out strategically on a tray. Between each drink, your tea guide will explain facts about the tea such as the history of tea, where the tea is grown, and what the health benefits of tea are. Did you know hibiscus tea can help speed up your metabolism?!
The Turkey Hill Brand
Aside from delicious ice cream and drinks, there is another reason to support the Turkey Hill brand! They give back to the community in several ways! They participate in dairy events to educate schools and the community. They also raise money for farmland preservation. In fact, all proceeds from their “All-Natural Recipe” ice cream line go to the Lancaster Farmland Trust.
Special Events & Activities
Throughout the year, the Turkey Hill Experience has special events such as Ice Cream with Santa. When we visited, the entire facility was decorated for the holidays. You can also throw a Turkey Hill birthday party! There are several fun packages to choose from.
Turkey Hill Experience Coupons
Sometimes, you can find Turkey Hill Experience coupons in travel guides at rest stops and welcome centers or get discount vouchers on Certifikid. Turkey Hill also offers free admission for military and veterans with valid ID as well as for children under 3 years old. An additional fee is required to enter the Taste Lab, Tea Discovery, and special events.
Know Before You Go
Tickets are non-refundable.
While the labs are super fun, if you are short on time, you still get to sample ice cream and drink flavors.
Allow one to two hours to enjoy the Turkey Hill Experience exhibits. If you have kids, two hours is best, so they have plenty of time to play.
Plan to arrive at the facility 30-45 minutes before your first lab reservation to ensure time for check-in.
It is cold in the labs, so bring a light jacket or sweater.
Strollers must be parked outside the labs.
The labs are NOT allergen-free and contain tree and ground nuts.
No videotaping or audio recording is allowed in the labs.
For locals, it may be more cost-effective to buy an annual pass. It includes unlimited visits to the Turkey Hill Experience exhibits and labs (pending availability).
I see this as a wonderful vacation with children. Thanks for the idea! I am inspired!
Well you had me at free ice cream 🙂 Looks like a super fun family getaway
This sounds like such a fun place to visit! I’ve always wanted to go to Pennsylvania Dutch Country – I can only imagine what the ice cream tastes like (yum!!).
It is SO good…esp when you get it right from where it is produced!
This looks like such a cool experience and your kids are super cute. I would love to do that Taste Lab! YUM!!
Aw thanks! It is really fun….with or without kids.
What a cool experience! I’ve never heard of Turkey Hill, but it sounds so much fun. I would love the tea experience. I love tea and jump at any opportunity to taste out some new flavours. I never would have guessed that this would have been the place to taste some tea. 🙂
Yeah, it is a really unique venue!
It looks like your kids enjoyed their day so much! What a great way to spend time together as a family.
Turkey Hill sounds like a great day out for families! I’m a big tea lover and a big ice cream lover so seems perfect for me too!
Turkey Hill seems like a great choice for a day out for families. I love tea so most probably my favourite would be the Tea Discovery part. So nice that there’s learning for both young and adult!
Turkey Hill does look like a fun day out. I like the sound of all three experiences, the main one, the taste lab and the tea discovery! I love tea so I’d appreciate that but the ice cream bit looks like a highlight.
I’m not really a fan of tea (unless it’s sweet and cold), but that Taste Lab sounds amazing! I’ve never heard of Turkey Hill before, but you definitely have me wanting to go there to make my own ice cream!
It’s so good! And you can get more samples outside of the Taste Lab. So, it is pretty much unlimited ice cream if you want.