Here are several really special 2009 GROUP TOUR packages. Each offers more focused and detailed insight into the world of the Amish, often with "hands-on" participation and "gifts" for each visitor. Available to groups of 25 or more on their own motorcoach.  

NEW! Amish VIP (Visit-in-Person) Group Tour

"Home, Farm, and School"

Our acclaimed retail version of this tour was limited to 14 people, but we received many requests for a group version. Here is a variation, affording an entire bus of up to 55 guests with the opportunity to meet and talk one-on-one with three different members of the Amish community... a unique and very special group tour. The services of a step-on guide to board your motorcoach and conduct the tour are included. Tour is available in the afternoon to groups of 25 or more. Note: Reserve early! We must make sure our Amish neighbors are available for your date and time.

Stop#1: At home. `The exclusive presentation by one of our Amish friends, in his home, gives the group a unique opportunity to interact with a member of the local community. The Amish host will explain what it is like being Amish, and offer insight into the “running around” time known as rumspringa, and other questions the group may have about growing up Amish. 

Stop #2: On the Farm. The Amish dairy farmer’s presentation is also a highlight, with the group visiting an authentic, working Amish family farm for a tour with the farmer himself.  He will describe how an Amish farm operates without electricity – but he isn't milking by hand either!

Stop #3: School Days. Since we can't visit a real Amish school, we do the next best thing. We visit with an Amish schoolteacher. The group meets with her in the Amish Country Homestead. She will talk about what daily life is like for an Amish child at school, and what it’s like teaching 8 grades in one room! Everyone receives a real Amish report card and, in most cases, the teacher will be happy to join your group for dinner as well.

Stop #4: Family-Style Dinner. After meeting the Amish, it's time for a traditional all-you-can-eat Amish feast, including many local specialties. This authentic VIP experience provides an unprecedented opportunity for a your group to truly meet the Amish!

Optional Amish Experience Theater presentation can be added as an excellent introduction.

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NEW! Dinner with an Amish School Teacher   

A very special evening activity for groups

Visitors are always curious about Amish one-room schools, but most only get to see the outside of a real one, or a reproduction. But that hardly tells the story of what goes on inside! Now you have the unique opportunity to spend time with an Amish school teacher, and hear her stories of teaching eight grades in one room, how the school day unfolds, and much more. She may even play some one-room school games with you. She has taught school longer (30 years) than any other Amish teacher in Lancaster County! It’s a fascinating session you will long remember. And everyone will even receive an Amish report card! She will also join your group for supper, providing more time to talk informally.

An Amish Experience EXCLUSIVE (Based on teacher and restaurant availability.) Includes:

Special one-hour session with the teacher in the school orientation room at the Amish Country Homestead “Heritage Site.”

Delicious all-you-can-eat traditional family-style meal at Plain & Fancy Farm

Amish report card                             

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Amish Country Cookin' Tour

We cooked up an entire tour focused on our yummy delights….from chow chow to whoopie pies!  We’ll not only tell you how we make them, but give your group some cookin' practice of their own!

Cooking Demonstration - At Plain & Fancy Farm, we’ll pull the chef out of the kitchen for an exclusive, behind-the-scenes food demonstration at the place that made Penn Dutch family-style dining famous. The chef will pick one or two people from the group to help us prepare some local specialties….chicken pot pie and shoofly pie. It may get a little messy, but we’ll have everyone laughing during this true “hands-on” experience.

Food Tasting Tour - An Amish Country Tour guide will step on your bus for visits to three nearby stops. Each stop is interactive for everyone in the group. Enjoy a chance to sample local jams, jellies, and relishes. Tour a pretzel factory and try twisting your own pretzel. Finally, participate in an “olde worlde” wine-tasting before dinner.

Family-Style Dinner - At Plain & Fancy you can now enjoy your all-you-can-eat dinner served at long tables “right in the barn.” Here you will sample most of the foods you’ve learned about, and many more…. the fresh breads, pepper cabbage, and chow chow --- fried chicken, baked ham, meatloaf --- buttered noodles, corn, and chicken pot pie --- shoofly pie, apple dumplings, chocolate cake with peanut butter icing, ice cream, and more. 

A Special Gift - As a souvenir, everyone takes home a real Amish cookbook. We say "real" because it’s written, illustrated, and personally signed by an Amish friend of ours. So now you can try some Amish Country Cookin’ at home!

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NEW! Amish Experience Quest for Freedom Tour   

This special tour combines two popular themes, the Underground Railroad and the Amish, into a moving and entertaining experience...
    
Underground Railroad Encounter. Visitors are often unaware of the importance Lancaster County played in helping slaves escape from their “masters.” In a very unique experience, we will meet one of these slaves (played by a local re-enactor) and learn of his quest for freedom, including a visit to the graves of those who were “conductors” on the Underground Railroad in Lancaster 200 years ago.

The Amish Experience: Your step-on guide will take you on a quick drive thru the farmlands, and a tour of the 9-room Amish Country Homestead, followed by the dramatic Amish Experience Theater presentation of "Jacob's Choice."

Some visitor comments…  "Excellent and enlightening."   "This was a wonderful event which provided a learning activity that was different from the usual tourist shopping and eating."

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The New Old & MOO at Verdant View

Offer your group a brand MOO tour! We created a tour with two truly unique experiences. Discover how milk reaches your table from the source --- cows! You'll be amazed by what you see. It's an exclusive Amish Experience tour that is great for adults, educational for students, and fun for everyone, as you visit two family-owned operating dairy farms, contrasting Amish and non-Amish milk production.

Cow Stop #1: Amish Dairy Farm - We've made special arrangements with an Amish farmer to personally conduct a tour of his farm. See how the cows are milked mechanically and the milk kept cool with "Amish electricity." Visit some of the other farm buildings, see the animals, and get a chance to talk with an Amish farmer.

Cow Stop #2: Verdant View Farm - See what it is like to have a family farm and take a "Farmland Fun Wagon Tour" with farmer Don Ranck. Board his specially-built tractor-pulled wagon for a ride into the fields around this non-Amish farm and see the crops, cows, and animals. You'll learn lots of fascinating fun farm facts first-hand!

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Amish Wedding Celebration

Join us to participate in our original Amish Wedding Tour, designed to give you insights into the fascinating wedding traditions of the Amish, rarely experienced by the rest of us.

Countryside Tour – Our guide will step on your bus to travel the backroads and tell the group about the unique wedding customs observed by the Lancaster Amish, with a stop at a roadside stand, bake or crafts shop, or Amish farm. You will learn about courtship, the wedding preparations and church service, and the “honey-mooning” Amish-style that follows.

Jacob’s Choice - You will enjoy the Amish Experience Theater’s presentation of “Jacob’s Choice,” as we follow an Amish boy’s struggle with his family and his girlfriend during his courting years.

Wedding Ceremony - Everyone will participate as we re-enact the Amish wedding vows right in the Amish Country Homestead. Pick the “side-sitters” and the couple to be married. The “newlyweds” receive a wedding “certificate.” (We can even put their names on the wedding cake with advance notice!) And everyone receives a surprise “wedding gift” to take home!

Special Wedding Feast - Then, enjoy a specially prepared table setting and all-you-can-eat dinner at Plain & Fancy Farm, the original family style restaurant…..

The Wedding Feast Menu

♥ Tables decorated with Celery Flowered Centerpiece ♥ Baked Lancaster County Ham with Cider Sauce ♥ Homemade Meat Loaf ♥ Amish Wedding Chicken Filling ♥ Mashed Potatoes ♥ Dried Sweet Corn ♥    Traditional Creamed Celery ♥ Pepper Cabbage ♥ Applesauce ♥ Breads with Apple Butter ♥    Coffee, Hot Tea, Water, Lemonade ♥ Shoofly Pie, Apple Dumplings, Ice Cream ♥ Nuts & Candy  ♥ Decorated Wedding Cake ♥

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From One Room to Rumspringa

Explore the lives of Amish children and teens. After the infamous Amish reality TV series "Amish in the City," the word "rumspringa" entered the English language. This is the "running around" period when young Amish teens have some freedom, but soon need to make a decision on whether to join the church and be Amish, or choose life in the "outside world." Much misunderstood, this tour aims to set the record straight by interaction with a member of the Amish community. It's as real as it gets!

Amish Interaction - We will talk with a member of the local Amish community who will describe what it is like to grow up, what happens after the eighth grade, and what "rumspringa" is really like for Amish teenagers. There will also be time for questions and answers from the "horse's mouth," so to speak. This visit is usually on an actual Amish farm. Your guided tour of the farmlands will also normally include a stop at another local Amish business, since not all Amish young people now become farmers.

Learning at Home & at School - Enter the county's only "Heritage Site" Amish house for a look at growing up Amish from a child's point of view. Included will be some Amish schoolroom games for all to play, followed by a tour of the nine-room Amish Country Homestead to look at Plain clothing and living without electricity. (On your farmlands tour, you will also drive by several Amish one-room schools.)

"Jacob's Choice" - This Amish Experience Theater production explores both the history of the Amish and the life of a teenage Amish boy who is torn between his Amish family and the allure of the modern world. Dramatically told on five screens with special effects all around you, it is a unique blending of entertainment and education that takes you into the heart and soul of what it means to be Amish.

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An Amish Country Christmas

Here is a Christmas package that literally covers 1000’s of years of Christmas traditions.  We’ll take you from Bethlehem, where you’ll walk the streets with Joseph and Mary, to Victorian Christmas celebrations, and right up to modern times. Oh, and we’ll throw in our own special Pennsylvania Dutch and Amish Christmas traditions as well.  After all, Lancaster is the home of the first documented Christmas tree! The tour includes:

Guided Holiday Amish Farmlands Tour – Your guide steps on your bus for a countryside tour with a focus on Pennsylvania German Christmas traditions and shopping stops, including crafts at an Amish farm (Mon. – Sat.), and maybe a bake shop, too.

Olde World Wine-Tasting – Enjoy sampling some hot mulled holiday wine and cheeses at the Mt. Hope Wine Gallery. Our holiday gift to all is a souvenir wine goblet.

Special Tour of the Amish Country Homestead – This furnished nine-room Amish home is a Lancaster County Heritage Site. At the end of the guided tour, receive a yummy Christmas cookie from the oven and our unique recipe for “Scripture Cake.”

The National Christmas Center – Thrill to one of the world’s most extensive and amazing indoor Christmas displays. Experience the first Christmas, walk through Tudor Village with hundreds of animated figures, dioramas of local Christmas customs, plus Christmas trees, trains, and trivia. Even Uncle Scrooge will leave with a twinkle in his eye with memories of Christmases past!

Make your visit even more special by adding one or more of the following ----

“A Charles Dickens Christmas” celebration at Mount Hope Estate & Winery

Holiday show at American Music Theatre

“Miracle of Christmas” at Sight & Sound Millennium Theatre

An “all-you-can eat” family style dinner at Plain & Fancy Farm

A spectacular selection of foods and desserts at Miller’s Smorgasbord

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