Turkey Hill Creamery Cafe - Columbia

We have been here a few years back, but this was our first time with the Ice Cream Taste Lab. Unfortunately they overbooked for the time slot we picked, so we had to wait awhile while everything was sorted out. During the taste lab everyone is given a pint of either chocolate or vanilla ice cream. Then we were told how to mix the flavoring in. Next we added the mix-ins then the topping. We ate our ice cream during the presentation. It was a fun experience. Place is clean bright with samples of ice cream, ice tea lemonade.

Took my 7 year old and 4 year old here we all loved it! There are three different experiences the main exhibit area is the “base” and you can add on a make your own ice cream experience and/or a tea experience. We did the make your own ice cream, was just under $20 per person. It was very worth it!!! The main exhibit area, in my opinion, is a steal pricing wise. There are little sundae cups to snack on right when you come in, flavored tea and lemonade samples, and 8 9 different choices of ice cream samples. We only had one but you could keep going back again for multiple samples if you so chose. The exhibit itself is a walk through of how ice cream is made, with the option to “make your own flavor” (all virtual) and then design packaging, star in a commercial, and have it all available online after you leave. My kids got a huge kick out of this. All of this and the samples are included in the admission price, just under $10 a person. I would say to go at opening by the time we finished around 11:30 the place was mobbed, but when we arrived at 10 am it was almost empty. The make your own ice cream “class” is very fun and DELICIOUS. This is an additional $10 per person. Each person chooses from vanilla and chocolate, and then you have the option to add different flavors, mix ins, and swirl in caramel, pb, etc. It takes about half an hour and again, the kids loved it. I did too I ate every bite! Bring along a sweatshirt as they keep the “classrooms” cold so that the ice cream doesn’t melt. There is also a pretty good shopping area with reasonably priced stuff great little tchotchkes that won’t break the bank and that make your kids feel like they got something special. This is a hit we will be back!

The 4 hours spent at Turkey Hill Ice Cream Factory was worth the visit. The open hours are 9:30am to 4pm during our August visit. We arrived before the doors opened because we had reservations for Taste Lab. There was a big cow statue for photo opportunity next to entrance. Inside were exhibits including milking a fake cow. Complimentary drinks and large ice cream samples were available. I liked the mango drink. Our taste lab was in Classroom B downstairs. Entry in classroom is showing the ticket which also has the number to enter for your on line commercial. Every person is required to wash hands before seating in the large room. The faucet water was turned on by foot pedal. (We looked silly waving our hands trying to initiate the water flow. If there was verbal or written instruction to use foot pedal, we didn 't know. After being seated in front of flavored containers, a presenter provided brief instructions to class on what to expect. Most of our group chose the one pint vanilla instead of chocolate as the base. Then we added flavored drops before adding toppings. It was about a 50 minute session. We were surprised we ate the entire pint of ice cream before leaving the room. Afterwards, some of us still had room for two big ice cream samples back upstairs. I had the Peanut Butter and Strawberry Cheesecake flavors. Nine ice cream flavors were available. Ask for half a scoop of two flavors. I was informed mixing flavors was permitted. Then we made a commercial video which was available later on line. The parking lot was full when we left at 12:30pm. We didn 't need the ice chest since the one pint ice cream we created was eaten.

Loved it! Will be coming back. My family of 5 went here when we visited Hershey and Dutch Wonderland really enjoyed the unlimited ice cream Create Your Own ice cream experiences. If you love ice cream like we do, you have to visit.

So this was a big let down. Kids loved milking the mechanical cows, and playing in the delivery truck, the rest was kind of boring. Virtual ice cream flavor, and packaging wanted email addresses to be able to send. Of course you will get junk mail from them. The sample room had six flavors all pretty generic, chocolate, vanilla, coffe, orange, cotton candy, and peanut butter swirl. That's less flavors than the campground we stayed at. Would have expected more. We didn't do the tasting lab, so can't comment on that. Assume it's similar to a cold stone. Suggest you go find a putt putt golf course that sells ice cream and get golf and ice cream for the same price. Not worth the $43 for a family of four in my opinion.