Willow Valley Resort in Lancaster, PA - opinions?

[justintime]

We are thinking of staying here in a few weeks. Can someone tell me what it is like? It will be myself, DH, DS7 and DD5. What is the water play area like? Is there a certain room category that is better than others as far as location? Are the hotel restaurants OK, or would it be better to eat somewhere else. We aren't completely sure we are staying here or not, so I wanted to hear some opinions first. TIA.

 

[micheleq]

I haven't been there, but a good friend stayed there last summer with her DS who was then 3 and her brother and his family -- they had 2 year old triplets. They liked the place, said it was clean and the kids liked the water area. They went to Hershey and Dutch Wonderland on that trip.

www.tripadvisor.com has great reviews of hotels so you might want to check that out as well.

 

[wheelcap]

I used to go there for seminars. The place is really nice - clean, quiet, and comfortable. The water area is small but very fun. Make sure you visit the Smorgasboard; the food is wonderful! And, visit the chapel out back, go to the bakery in the basement, feed the ducks by the pond. While you're visiting, be sure to visit at least one of the amish farms in the area!!

 

[Ladysunflr]

my fiance and I stayed here in october.. we LOVED IT, and would stay there again... the room was HUGE and CLEANNNNN!!! We asked to be away from kids, water, etc, and had just a standard room but were VERY impressed. We ate at the hotel buffet for breakfast and it was yummy. It was close to everything we wanted to see ( hershey and amish country ) and I give it FIVE stars!! Go for it!

 

[imjoyful2]

I live about 15 min from here so I've never stayed there personally. The ground and smorg are really nice though. If I can help with anything else, just PM me.

 

[shelly3girls]

We go here with our church every year. We really enjoy it. The breakfast buffet is quite nice. We have never tried the smorgasboard but hear it is wonderful. I personally am not a fan of the dinner buffet. I felt it was more quantity over quality and prefer to eat somewhere else. I highly recommend staying there.

The one thing to consider is that you are not in the same area of Lancaster as Dutch Wonderland or the outlets. I think it is about a 20 minute drive to the outlets. If that is not a concern then I would definitely recommend it.

 

[ChrisinNJ]

We have stayed there twice. The first time in the center building. I can't remember the room #, but the room was ground floor & opened directly outside. It was an older, but bigger room than our second visit, where we stayed in an atrium room.

They were renovating the center building when I was there last (mothers day 2008). Personally, I am not sure I would want to stay in a room that opens to the center section indoor pool area. It seemed like it would be noisy if you wanted to go to bed early, not just because of the pool but also the games (foozeball or pool or something of that nature) that were in the pool area.

The Atrium building pool & water play are are OK. 1 larger slide, the frog slide & a few sprayers. Zero entry area means a lot of kids younger than yours will be there. But my kids were 7,7 & 4 & they really liked it.

I definately recomend the breakfast buffet. Good selection & convenient. The dinner was OK. Book the buffet in advance as it is cheaper that way (about half price). Some of the kids activities in the activity area were fun.

They will give you directions to the outlet & dutch wonderland area, they are about 15-20 minutes away.

If you choose to go, be sure to have a boston cream donut either at breakfast or in the bakery while you are there!

 

[Jack&Ryan'smom]

We went for New year's...my boys LOVED IT!!! In fact my little one keeps asking when can we go back to the froggie slide place. The place is huge. The pools are awesome for the kids. We loved the breakfasts too!!! We stayed in the part that opens directly to the outside...I liked that. The inside by the pools could be a bit loud for me.
When we were taking about where to go on vacation this year my litttle one just wants to go there for a week. I told him Mommy would rather go to Disney for a week. He told me he thinks the froggie slide place is much better.

 

[SeeDisney]

I'd recommend it definately. We were there for their New Year Eve's hoorah and it was a blast!!!!!!! We're definately going there again this NYE. So, so much to do and it was hard to leave the resort and take in the Lancaster area attractions.

Two thumbs up!!!