The Turkey Hill Experience

This weekend marks the Grand Opening of the Turkey Hill Experience located in Columbia, PA. I was fortunate enough to pass by there this past Saturday and saw they were having a soft opening and allowing visitors to explore their new attraction. The site for the Experience is the former Ashely & Bailey Silk Mill, which has been a vacant building for over 25 years now. Turkey Hill wanted to build this attraction to be able to share how their delicious ice teas and ice cream was made with the general public. Being the amazing company it is, they didn't want to destroy farm land to build a new site and with renovating this building they are beautifying a neighborhood. Plans have been in the works 3 years now  for a destination not only to promote their wonderful product but to also stimulate the town of Columbia. Playing a big role in Turkey Hill Dairy history, Columbia was the first stop for the original "milk man" from this dairy back in 1931. To add to the list Turkey Hill Dairy Plant is not too far from the site. In fact when you cross the Susquehanna River you can see the wind power windmills in the distance, that is their factory that is using new ways to power their facilities. It is easy to see why they would pick this location which is easy to find from Route 30.

The attraction is made of two levels. The first level starts with a information area where you can buy your tickets for the interactive experience on the second level. I found that on this day not too many people were aware of what to say and they didn't even have a brochure to hand out. I would expect the information booth to know...well information. They did tell us ticket price though and it blew my socks off. For a adult ticket the price is $14, a child ages 5-13 is $11, and a Senior ages 62 and older is $13. Children under 5 are free. I figured for a family of four you are spending $50. I must say I liked the experience but I am unsure if it is worth that price. After talking to the employees here someone did mention that the price is being discussed so I am hoping they decide to bring down that cost a bit. Thankfully for the soft opening the cost was $9.50 for everyone and kids under 6 were free. My mom sat this one out because of the cost and lack of seating within the whole experience.

Also on the first level is the creamery and gift shop. The creamery was packed with all sorts of flavored ice creams and ice teas from Turkey Hill of course. There was also lots of food items for your choosing. Be cautioned though, it gets expensive here. I am adding a photo of the kids menu to give you all a example of the prices. The gift shop had lots of Turkey Hill souvenirs and prices were about the same as a amusement park gift shop. Not too steep but steep enough that we didn't buy anything there.

After exploring the first level we ascended to the second level where the free exhibits were located. The company described their free area as if it was something to see. If you don't plan on buying a ticket to the experience then it's not much to do here. They have a awesome video screen with different options on what to view, all about the company and the area of Turkey Hill. Bridget, although a very tall 6 year old, was not tall enough to see the whole screen the way it was angled. She lost interest very fast in all the reading required too.
                   



As you approach The Experience you are hit with lots to take in. Of course the first thing you see is a row of cows waiting to be milked but that is the last thing on the tour. Bridget wanted to do that first but we followed the correct way of viewing the exhibits. The first stop was the Ice Tea Room. Here there wasn't a lot to do but it was very neat. We love the Turkey Hill Ice Tea so it was interesting to see the different kinds of tea leaves they use and smell each one. You can also take a Tea Personality Test on their touch screen computers. After going through a list of questions Bridget was told her tea personality was Sweet Tea and mine was Green Tea, each time it explained what that meant as well. There is a chance to walk into a giant ice tea bottle as well. There is nothing inside but graphics about tea and was a let down to my daughter that expected something very cool from it. In the far corner is The Chill Zone. Here you laid down on a circle bench and watched a video about tea from a projector that was directed towards a giant white cloud. Bridget thought it was awesome to lay down and watch a movie above you one a cloud but the information was boring and it lost her attention almost immediately. The sound wasn't so great either and I can't help but to wonder what it will be like with lots of people talking and kids screaming in the background when it gets busy.

        

              

After the tea room is the main attraction, Ice Cream! First you walk into a giant carton of ice cream to watch a video about the process you are about to enter. This video was cute but with everything going on outside our ice cream container we only spent a little time watching before heading into the attraction.

Before donning the Turkey Hill Ice Cream hat you had to find out about what makes up milk. There are two huge microscopes where you look in and find clues to what is good and what is not good for milk. You will need to read all the information on the graphics before answering the questions since it is really difficult, even for me. Then it was another game about what is in milk, I don't know a lot about this game since it was broken already. Not a good sign. After these two games you get your hat and move on to the smelling area.

The scents area is where you can take a card and "stamp" a scent onto it. It teaches you how some scents are great together but some are not at all. If your ice cream doesn't have good scent then the flavor won't be as great either. Bridget had a good time smelling the different scents she stamped but warning parents try to throw these cards away there. The mixture of all the scents in a hot car later that day can make you sick. I let Bridget keep one card as a souvenir and threw away the rest when she wasn't looking.

Next it was off to the "Create Your Own Ice Cream" computers. There are four touch screen computers available that ask for your ideas to create a ice cream. Please parents stress to your children that they will not be MAKING the ice cream, just designing it on the computer. I thought Bridget had this idea but I found out at the end she was expecting to taste the finished product. After punching in the number from you entry ticket the computers asked what ice cream base, flavors, and candies or nuts you want to use to make your own ice cream. This was a fun process and Bridget and I made our own flavors in which we also named here. At the end of the process they tell you to put in your information and what you made will be available online at their website for you to see when you get home using the number from your entry ticket. There was also a option to post your new ice cream on Facebook or Twitter, which I thought was awesome.This kept Bridget's attention the whole time. She also thought it was awesome that after you make you ice cream it goes on a list of titles in their archive so others can see your creation.  The down side was that two of the computers faced a giant window and the sun made it difficult to see anything. Try to get onto the computers facing the exhibit to see clearly.

Next was a ball pit. Yes ladies and gentlemen they decided to use a ball pit to explain the homogenizing that goes on to make your ice cream smooth and creamy. Of course Bridget did not understand the logic at all and just had a blast with the balls. I think it was neat but not really a great way to get the point across. The pit is actually quite small and you must take off your shoes to get in. I don't see how this is going to work with a crowd of kids all itching to get in there. It is a step away from the ice cream making computers too so if your kid isn't into the whole creating thing your sunk.

After you dive into the ball pit and pull your children out you walk through a tunnel like entry into a small room with a disco cow on the wall. Again with my 6 year old, I wasn't able to read a lot about what the exhibit was about but it sure was fun. In the middle is a wheel that you spin. When it starts spinning a disco ball makes glittery effects on the walls and music plays about milk and ice cream making. Then there are two slides, kid sized only parents, in which the kids can slide down. The slides are identical but my child wanted to hang here for a while and slide down both of them a number of times. It ate up a lot of time and she really didn't get the educational purpose out of this experience.

When you pull your kids away from the slides the next stop is a area with two games ,which are completely too hard for children, and security camera screen of the factory. Ice Cream is made 24/7 at Turkey Hill. If they aren't making ice cream they are cleaning down everything, which happens once a day and takes about 2 hours. There are three shifts of employees to constantly make ice cream and here you get to see what it's like for the employees who work at Turkey Hill. This is interactive touch screens too so you can zoom in to see the ice cream filling each container. Bridget actually stopped here and I believe she got something out of seeing the plant in action.

Probably the most exciting part for Bridget was next, the flavor station. This was a big bin like attraction with a LCD screen on the inside bottom. They had many canisters of "flavor". These were labeled but empty, or so you think. When you "dumped" the cans into the bin the LCD screen lit up with the color of the flavor. So if you dumped in mint, you saw mint leaves leave the can and the whole bottom of the bin turned green. They had 6 different kinds to try and Bridget tried them all. She walked back and forth lugging these giant containers that were light for kids to use. We stayed in this area for a long time.
                  

Then it was off to design our package for the ice cream we invented earlier. Again you entered you ticket number and all your information popped up on the screen with your ice cream. You get to pick out the font for you ice cream name, the picture of your ice cream, background color, and stamps to place onto the carton. This was another big favorite with us. Bridget had fun picking the colors and stamps and thought it was great to see the finished product on the screen. There was another hard game to play that Bridget couldn't see at all in this area. She was too short and the screen looked too dark for her to make anything out. We skipped it and moved on to the freezer.

They were very througho in making this exhibit point out the many steps to ice cream making. There is a button to push and a door flies up to show you a walk in freezer that you go in. It is very chilly and it's one of the exhibits that you won't stay in too long.

After you created your ice cream and designed your packaging it is now time to promote the product with a commercial. There are two set ups with green screens, cameras, and sound booms. You use the touch screen computers to put in your ticket number and pick out the commercial you would like to do. There is a television screen on the other side of the camera to see how you look while making your commercial. They count you down and you can either read the cue card screen or make up your own words for the commercial. Bridget's biggest problem was not knowing when to finish and she kept getting cut off. Forutantly you can delete the commercial if you didn't like it and do it over again. Another problem was the boom was too far away and you needed to speak very loudly for it to pick up your voice. The farther away you were from it the worse it was too so Bridget wasn't coming in too clearly. I can't help but imagine what it would be like to do this commercial with lots of crowds in the exhibit. The sound won't be able to work at all.  She had a blast doing this though. Anyone that knows Bridget can tell you her dream is to perform so the was right up her alley. Once again you can post these commercials along with all activites on your Facebook or Twitter page.

Now it's time to bring out the cameras. This is something I loved about the experience. There is a lot of picture oppunities here for the family. There are face cut outs of Eagles, Steelers, and Philly players since Turkey Hill makes ice cream with all the PA athletic teams in mind. Bridget was too short for most of them since they were so high up. She had to stand on tipy toes and stretch her neck which I thought was a crazy since she is very tall for a 6 year old. Also there is a giant container of ice cream that you can crawl into and pose. This was very cool and Bridget loved that she not only made ice cream, she was in ice cream.

Another highlight was the tasting table. Here you got to taste a sample of Turkey Hill teas. I asked the employee if they would ever do ice cream as a taste table product but he told me that they tired that already and the ice cream melted too fast in their little cooler. The good thing is that you can sample any ice cream in the creamery before purchasing your cone. The tea was great too. I tried the Cherry Pomogrante Black Tea for the first time and loved it. Don't get hooked on these teas though. Turkey Hill retires the flavors after being on shelves for months if not years to make new flavors. They discontinued the last tea I loved, Mojoto.

After the ice cream experience is completed you walk back into the main area where you can sit on their storefront porch rocking chairs or post where your from on their road signs. Bridget's favorite thing was the old fashioned milk truck. I am not old enough to remember the days of milk deliveries but remember my mother and grandmother telling me about the milk man. Kids can climb into the truck and "drive" to their next delivery. The horn honks and the pedals make noises as well, a favorite of Bridget's. A little farther down the aisle are phones you can pick up and listen to stories from real milk men that worked for Turkey Hill Dairy. I was sure Bridget would pass on this but when she started listening to the tales of the milk man she thought it was awesome.
                    

Finally you are able to milk your cow. There are four cows lined up with milk benches for you to sit on. They are suppose to teach you how to milk a cow but Bridget was too fast for the employee and took control of her cow in no time. There is also lots of information on the walls to look at but with the cows there who wants to read?  This was a nice way to end the tour.

All in all we had a great time. If you asked me how they make ice cream I wouldn't be able to tell you though. The employees, who went on a tour of the actual dairy as part of their training, was very infomative and helpful. There is a lot of information that is all piled on the walls surrounding the interactive parts but it's diffulcult to get it all in. We were there for two hours! Fortuantly we were all alone in each part of the exhibit and it was easy to take our times. Now you couldn't pay me to go on a crowded day. Although the building from the outside looks to be three floors it's only two and the exhibit is all on one level not giving it much room. It would have done better on more then one level to spread the information out a bit and give room for crowds during the tourist season. Just be aware of this when you visit. Also don't pass the building. There is talk of a sign gracing the top of the water tower next to the building to see the attraction from Route 30. So far there is no sign. It's the first exit when you get over the bridge coming into Lancaster County. The building looks nothing like the image that they designed when introducing the idea of the attracion yet to be. In fact the building looks rather plan and there is lots of construction stuff in the parking lot still. If there are no cars there you wouldn't know that's it's open. Maybe this will change as things start coming together more but I'm surprised they opened when there was workmen with ladders still working on some of the exhibits. Outside the building they are opeing a Turkey Hill gas station and Minit Store.This wasn't opened yet for us to explore but it seems to be a regular gas station and conveince store which is helpful in this area of Route 30.

I am curious to see what comes next for this unique sight. I am sure they will get the 250,000 visitors a year they are expecting the first year. The second year? Unless they have reduce rates I don't see people returning for a second visit. I would love to take Bridget back in the future when she can read a bit better and get the whole educational experience out of the attraction. Until then we will eat our Turkey Hill Ice Cream and drink our Turkey Hill Ice Tea and remember our visit to The Turkey Hill Experience.


The hours for The Turkey Hill Experience for the summer are from 9:30am to 8:00pm. They are located at 301 Linden Street in Columbia, PA. For more information you can call 1-888-9TOUR-TH or visit them online at turkeyhillexperience.com