Zaycon Fresh: What to know before you buy!

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if you have ordered recently and have not had your order fulfilled please contact them for a refund or follow their page for updates.

I recently discovered Zaycon Fresh and really wondered could this be as good as it sounds? At first the pricing didn't look that fantastic to me. It seemed pretty on par with what I pay for the bulk packs about $1.99 per pound for boneless skinless chicken breasts) at Wegmans. Until I realized that they offer a ton of amazing promo codes on a regular basis and it is a fresher, higher quality product that they offer. Click here for the latest promo codes! My first order included 40 pounds of boneless skinless chicken breasts at just 99 cents a pound with their promo code! 

After reading more about the company and how they do business buying through Zaycon began looking better and better. They do a WAY better job than I can explaining it here. Take a look! 

        


It makes a lot of sense when you think about it! Prices better or comparable to the grocery store AND higher quality. Plus buying a lot at once will reduce your trips to the grocery store, saving time, gas and energy spent each week making sure your family has what it needs.



But what will I do with all of that meat and chicken? My best suggestion is to look up some great freezer meals. Prepare full meals with your fresh chicken and meats before your freeze it and now you are saving time in two ways! Here are a few links to some of my favorite freezer meal lists.

20 Freezer Meals in 4 Hours - Stockpilingmoms.com

17 Freezer Meals Free printable Freezer Meal Plan - New Leaf Wellness

Another great tip is to whip up or purchase some of your favorite marinades and throw them in the bag with your chicken as your portion it out - you will be ready for easy grilling just by pulling your bag from the freezer.

Adventures in Legoland: Legoland Discovery Center Philadelphia

We recently look a little trip down to Plymouth Meeting to check out the Legoland Discovery Center at the Plymouth Meeting Mall!

It has been ages since I visited Plymouth Meeting. My family used to go to the Ikea that used to be located on the same property on a regular basis when I was a kid and occasionally we would stop over at the mall before taking the Northeast Extension home.

All I remembered about the place is that it felt HUGE and it had a carousel inside.  All those things are still true, its still pretty big, theres still a carousel inside AND now it also has a major family attraction attached, the Legoland Discovery Center.

The Legoland Discovery Center is literally located inside the mall, which seemed odd to me initially - I had a hard time picturing how something so large could be fully enclosed in another building but it totally works and makes the attraction especially attractive for a cold, super hot, or otherwise ugly day, because not only is the attraction inside but its also attached to a giant mall that has restaurants, indoor play areas, a carousel and shopping that you can all access without going outside once you've entered the building.

                                   

                 

You must access the  Legoland Discovery Center from inside the mall, and because of the mall's size parking in a lot that is close by helps make getting there a bit quicker.  Its is super easy to get there from the Lehigh Valley. Take the NE extension of the Turnpike (476) South to Plymouth Road in Plymouth Meeting. Take Exit 333 from I-276 W and make a right into the mall parking lot.

When you pull in stay to the south (right) side of the mall and follow the road past Whole Foods and aim to part in the area that is circled. This will put you at the closest entrance to the center. The map above suggests parking in a different lot (which you can do but it involves walking into a building and then out again and into a different door - its confusing, but we did it and survived).  For directions from other locations besides the Lehigh Valley click here. Once you enter the mall just follow the signs.

The entrance is easy to find and sorts visitors into two lines, those who pre-purchase and those who want to buy their tickets on the spot.

 I highly suggest buying your tickets in advance (they are cheaper! ) plus it speeds up your arrival, because people who are already ticketed get to go through a different line.  This isn't a cheap family outing especially if you pay full price so plan to spend the day here. My best advice would be to arrive for their opening and enjoy the attraction until lunch, then grab some lunch in the mall or utilize the Legoland Discovery Center Cafe.  Once the kids have had a break just back in to do some of their favorite things again. 

Note: if you exit with the intention of coming back that day, you must confirm re-entry will be available with an employee, restrictions due to capacity limits may apply. 

  Discount Tickets that will save about $5 per person. These are available directly on their website here or by clicking the photo above. 

You can also look into some even deeper discounts on sites such as Groupon.

Groupon has had tickets for 1/2 off admission at Legoland Philadelphia in the past, the most recent offer is now sold out. We will update if additional offers are found!  

Annual passes are also available for families who'd like to visit many times!

When you enter Legoland Discovery Center They have a short themed ride that the whole family can hop on. Everyone gets to hold a magical wand that you can use to point at targets while on the ride to earn points. This was cute and a nice surprise! 

The Legoland Discovery Center is divided into a few different areas.  For the young ones there is a toddler area that features a small slide (pictured below), Large scale legos (pictured below) that are appropriate for preschoolers and toddlers to build with. This area also has a cool bubble feature (Pictured below) that my kids really loved. 

The space also features a number of different building stations that provide models for building, platforms and more. The one featured below was demonstrating how to build a sturdy structure.  The lego building mats were all mounted on earthquake simulators that shook your building are varying rates to put it to the test. 

They have a 4-D movie theater that shows a short lego themed film (similar in style to the LEGO movies) on a regular schedule. See the schedule when you arrive to fit this in to your visit. This may be a little bit too intense for little ones. 5+ are ideal and it might work well for some brave 3 or 4 year olds too.  Its not exactly scary per se but it was loud and there are "4-D" elements that appear like sprays of water, bubbles and puffs of air which startled my littlest one.

One of the neatest parts of the attraction, that my kids were really focused on was the indoor lego city. This this is a massive mini city filled with buildings that mimic famous scenes in Philadelphia

. You can find Gino's Steaks, the Reading Terminal Market, Lincoln Financial Field,  trains, taxis and a lot more. Children can interact with this exhibit by touching buttons that activate various features. 

Another hugely popular attraction was their indoor playground/climbing structure. This is basically a huge pirate ship playground that kids can play inside. It features climbing obstacles, tunnels and more. Children must be over 36 inches to enter.

You'll find tons of themed building stations, a create your own LEGO car and track equipped with a big slide that kids can ride down and race their cars to the bottom! 

There are a few life sized lego people which my kids thought were really funny. Most specifically this one because my name is Stephanie! 

There is a small cafe inside that has fast bites and a space for eating as well. We didn't eat here so I can't attest to the food or its quality but generally it appeared to be mostly kid friendly foods (soft pretzels, pizza etc.). I believe there were also some premade sandwiches in the cooler, but overall I'd probably opt to eat elsewhere if I had a choice, but its certainly a convenient option to get a quick bite in. 

We really did have a great time visiting Legoland Discovery Center Philadelphia! Our visit lasted about 2.5 hours from start to finish and we only ended up leaving out of a need to get home for naps that afternoon.  For my kids the 2.5 hours wasn't long enough, they really did want to stay longer  and it was a struggle to get them to leave. 


The drive from the Lehigh Valley really was super easy and I would certainly go back again, my kids refer to it often and they enjoyed themselves. I would like to make plans to stay longer next time, especially since the admission prices are a bit steep.  If you have a lego obsessed kid you can do memberships to the facility which give unlimited admission for the year.  

I've heard feedback from people that they thought it would be larger or have more to offer, I didn't feel this way.  I thought the attraction had about what I would expect to see.  There was a lot to do even if your child isn't really into Legos (mine aren't).


If you visit please let us know by leaving a comment! 

Sponsorship/Affiliate Disclaimer: 

lehighvalley.findandgoseek.net only exists because of hours upon hours of work that comes directly from the heart of a mom who wants to make the Lehigh Valley a better place to raise your family. Because of our effort we publish a resource that makes your life as a parent easier, makes the Lehigh Valley more welcoming to a family new to the area and helps make the Lehigh Valley a more vibrant and engaging place for families to grow and live. In order to make it possible to continue doing this we must find ways to generate income from our work. At times you will see posts from sponsors who pay us a fee to help them spread the word about their business or event. This article contains affiliate links. We have received tickets for free  to visit this attraction in exchange for our honest review. Barters and fees that we receive from our sponsors and affiliates help make the website the best it can possibly be, they put food on our family's table and allow us to keep doing what we do! By patronizing the businesses who support us and by choosing to opt in to offers we share with you you keep lehighvalley.findandgoseek.net running - making it possible for us to continue to provide information and engaging content for years to come. Without you and without our valued sponsors the website could not continue to operate. We love all of our LVFGS Families and thank you for your support.

Knoebels : Ten things to Know

Recently we took a trip to Knoebels! This Pennsylvania Amusement Park has been in existence for over 90 years and is really a tradition all its own. If you've never visited before (or even if you have) we have some great information to share with you from our visit! These , tips, and tricks on visiting, how to save money on your tickets and what the BEST perks of visiting this park are!

1. Visit During the week

In most cases amusement parks operate pretty much the same no matter when you visit. Knoebels is an exception and thus you should plan your visit accordingly if possible.

On weekdays Knoebels offers daily "handstamps" or wristbands which allow for unlimited riding from park open to park close (with a few attractions excluded). These are available for both adults and children Monday through Friday. We have visited on a weekday before and our experience is as follows kids who ride a lot and will ride all day will get a huge bang for your buck on an all day ride pass. I actually calculated when we bought these the value based on how many rides they did and it far surpassed what we paid for the passes. So if you have kids who LOVE to ride and have the time to be there for most of the day a handstamp is definitely the way to go.  Tickets are also available for weekdays for light or occasional riders who don't feel they would get value from the cost of a ride pass. 

Can't go during the week? No worries!

On the weekends the park operates with a ticket system, patrons purchase tickets and pay for each ride they do with different amounts of tickets based on the ride (values vary and can all be seen here Kiddie rides  and Family rides).

2. Plan ahead! 

Buy your tickets before you get there or pack your coupon book!

 Discounts and coupons for Knoebels all day ride passes are available a few different places, Including KidsStuff Books, Pepsi cans and more see the full list here.

You can also plan ahead to buy your tickets in advance and you can save up and over 20%! Local grocery stores stores (Weis and Wegmans) sell tickets at their customer service booths, jut remember to pick them up before you head out of town (see purchasing details here).




3. Your tickets NEVER expire

If you purchase their ticket booklets and end up with leftovers, you can keep them for the next time you go back! Unlike those pesky Muskiest tickets that leave you fired up after finding $10 worth left in your pocket in September. 

4. Eat all the Food.

Seriously, Its really really good! and you can actually afford to do it!  Knoebels is world renowned for the the variety of food they offer in their park and the quality - they're actually rank above Disney World Accoring to  XXXXX . There is something for everyone! Different food stands around the park offer all kinds of different food choices which really is unique if you think about it, many times in similar attractions the will offer the same food in 15 different places.

My two personal favorites from our visit this month are the Boom Shaka Laka Burger (pictured above) and the Tiger Tail both available at the Phoenix Junction stand.

A close second is just about everything available at the Mexican station in the International Food Court.

This is a shot of a meal (above) I bought to split between my 3 kids it cost $5. Feeding kids on the go can be a challenge and super expensive especially when you are in a amusement park or attraction. This is a feature of Knoebels that really makes the place stand above the rest. If you haven't purchased a meal at Dorney Park recently you may not truly appreciate the value here... It would cost you nearly three times as much for the same amount of food.

Additionally the variety of food choices really makes it easy to find something everyone well like. 

5. It is always cooler there

Yup! this place is absolutely loaded with super tall beautiful trees and shade is everywhere. Still bring your sunscreen of course, but really comparing directly to the local park we visited last week in the same weather Knoebels is hands down way more comfortable to be in on a hot day.

6. You can stay! 

Knoebels offers a number of great lodging options including a huge campground for campers, motor homes and tents.  They have cabins also available for rent - reserve these far in advance they get snatched up fast.  It is easy to spend multiple days here exploring, snacking and riding.

7. Admission and Parking is FREE 

Yes really! You only pay if you ride! This park is perfect for a group with a bunch of people who only lightly ride or want to watch the kids enjoy the experience. It won't cost you anything to bring grandma and grandpa along for an extra set of hands!

Paying for parking is the one thing I hate more than paying for shipping.  A little piece of my soul dies each time I have to hand over a $20 bill to park my car. You won't pay anything to park at Knoebels.

8. Bring in your own food and snacks!

If you are looking to stay close to a tight budget, have allergies to work around or just want to make sure you have food your kids will eat Knoebels welcomes families bringing their items into the park. Pack a picnic, bring your meals, snacks and drinks and use their free picnic facilities to enjoy your visit! 

9. Don't miss the Pool!

We sadly didn't get to visit Crystal Pool when we were there due to some badly timed thunderstorms and rain! But this pool is gasp worthy. It is huge first of all and offers 3 different levels of diving boards, not to mention all of the other awesome features of the water area.

Swim, splash and slide! Knoebels Crystal Pool is filled with refreshing spring fed water and they offer water slides, a kiddie splash area, rope climbing course and more with pool admission.

Pool admission is separate from the daily handstamp pass and requires payment of an additional fee but is part of the reason you can easily spend more than one day at Knoebels! 

10. Get a Map!

The size of Knoebels is surprising for many and its can be difficult to navigate if you aren't familiar with it. In order to make sure you can easily find everything you are looking for a map will come in handy. 

With a number of amusement parks in our local proximity people often ask if Knoebels really worth the drive. After laying out all of the tips and tricks we've discovered the conclusion is pretty simple. It absolutely is worth the drive, and honestly I'd properly drive further if I had to.  Knoebels is simply a gem the history and tradition that Knoebels comes along with this park is like no other.  Their attention to detail is impeccable the rides are clean and well maintained,  the park is blooming with flowers all over the place. My hope this that some new families will considering checking this park out  and we're really excited to offer a giveaway to allow a family to enjoy the park for a day for free this summer!

We owe a HUGE thank you to the staff at Knoebels and thank them for hosting us to help gather all of the information we needed to complete this article. Here are a few of our favorite shots of our family from our visit to the park!