This Is The Place Heritage Park Review
Baby Animal Days: Summer Season Kick Off |This is the Place Heritage Park

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Our boys were pretty excited to very gently hold a baby chick. The chicks? Not so excited...

We always enjoy visiting This is the Place Heritage Park. We visited This is the Place Heritage Park during the Winter Season last year. We have also attended the Candlelight Christmas event. This year we were able to visit during the kick off weekend for Baby Animal Days. There were a lot of fun activities going on, but most of them are always happening at this amazing state park. So get ready for Summer Season at This is the Place Heritage Park.   The fun part of Baby Animal Days is obviously going to see the baby animals. The park says that this time of year usually lasts through the end of May. We saw baby goats, pigs, bunnies, ducks, and even a puppy. Our boys favorite part was the chance to pet and hold little chicks. We had to hold one of every color. There were also pony rides going on in the animal section of the park (we didn't wait in line for one, but you definitely should).

We were actually a little nervous about hurting the chicks, but they are pretty resilient. As a boy, Dad remembers receiving chicks in the mail! Those are ducklings, and no, that one is NOT ugly, it's just yellow.

Baby goats are so adorable. I think it's the big floppy ears.

We spent a lot of the day visiting the village. We love wandering through the different buildings and listening to the artisans teaching us about pioneer life. When we visited during the Winter Season, there were not nearly as many buildings and activities going on as when we went during the Summer Season. Most of the buildings were open with fun activities for the children. We loved going to school for a short lesson. Another favorite was learning how to do pioneer chores. Our boys even got to create patterns in the leather, but they didn't want to live in the shop as apprentices and learn the trade.
Time for school! Our lesson was on science. They had a different lesson every half hour, which lasted about 10 minutes.

Our master leatherworkers hardly even hit Dad's fingers.

The boys were a little leery about getting a shave with a straight razor, but they enjoyed looking at the leeches.

Our middle child wants us to clarify that he volunteered to be the class dunce.

The blacksmith shop is always one of our favorite spots. The blacksmith had been working on a knife for around 5 hours. It looked... unfinished.

There is a new section at This is the Place Heritage Park since we last visited. There is a model of the ship Brooklyn. Kids (and adults) can climb on the ship and enjoy the beautiful view. They can also climb in the ship and check out the sleeping conditions. There is even a small stream where you can pan for gold. Make sure to hold on to the gold you find because you can take it back to the bank and have it weighed! This new area is next to a large house called the Treasure House. It has a little bit of information about mining and you can climb the spiral staircase to overlook the Salt Lake Valley.  You can also purchase a few different rock activities such as breaking a geode open, or an activity to search for gems. The final activity here is a mini train ride. There is a small pond that the train circles that was filled with geese. We even saw a goose nesting, and a nest with an egg! We had a blast at this new part of the park.

This is the new section of the park. The ship Brooklyn carried Mormon Pioneers from New York to San Francisco. There is a fun replica to play on.

The boys didn't think it would be much fun to be below deck of the Brooklyn. Panning for gold was pretty easy. One of the boys earned $1.26 and the other earned 78 cents.

Make sure to take your gold back to the bank. After the banker weighs the gold, he give the children a little certificate stating how much money they would have earned.

The mini train ride is part of your admission to Heritage Park.

This is the goose egg we spotted on our mini train ride! We were very excited.

The train ride isn't very long, but there is a fun tunnel.

Across the way from the ship and treasure house is a new Native American Village that is currently under construction. We can't wait to visit and see the fun activities that they include in this area.

This section of the park is scheduled to be done in Summer 2016.

We love that you can hop on the train that circles the park at anytime and ride it back to a different part of the park. So make sure to ride the train when those little legs get tired. The train has stops by the Treasure House, near the entrance, and at the top of Heritage Village by the hotel.   We tried something new this trip. We were given a coupon for a dozen mini-donuts at Brigham's shop with our tickets, and they definitely did not disappoint. I think we might have to stop and get a few dozen every time we visit now (I do have a donut problem, though).

The donuts were THAT good!

This is the Place Heritage Park is a fun, hands-on adventure that helps families get a small glimpse into the life of a pioneer. We love visiting so we can teach our boys about their heritage. And any time of year is a great time to visit!

Our children enjoyed the Pioneer chores much more than their modern day chores.

Dad actually used one of these when he was a kid to help plant his garden.

Our seven year-old liked doing laundry the best.

If you'd like to check out the baby animals, or go to This is the Place Heritage Park any time this year, you can use the discount code below. It's good through Dec. 31, 2016. You can get $2 off each Admission!!! http://usfamilycoupons.com/coupon.php?regionid=75&bid=11961&dealid=1911 Not Valid with any other coupon or offer excludes Witches' Ball or Haunted Village.