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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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