tour Archives - Jersey Kids

December 11, 2025December 11, 2025

Tour the AriZona Iced Tea factory with kids

In September 2024, I went to the AriZonaLand grand opening and media tour of its new factory in Keasby, NJ. And then I waited for them to open for public tours. I waited. And waited. And finally in November 2025, they opened. So now I can publish my post on touring the AriZona Iced Tea factory with kids.

AriZonaLand iced tea factory. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan

Since my tour was more than a year ago, it’s possible some things have changed. I plan to go back. But in the meantime, here’s what you’ll see at the AriZona Iced Tea factory with kids.

January 19, 2025January 19, 2025

Tucson Exotic Petting Zoo – With Kids

A capybara at Ghost Ranch Exotics. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan

Have you ever pet a capybara? I’m guessing you have not. We hadn’t either, until we visited the Ghost Ranch Exotics and Funny Foot Farm outside of Tucson. You get to pet more than capybaras – you can pet warthogs, bulls, emus, porcupines and even hold baby goats. This Tucson exotic petting zoo is a lot of fun.

January 19, 2025January 19, 2025

Visit a Worm Farm in Arizona With Kids

The shipping containers have racks with worm bins. It’s where the worms grow. The open container in the front also has mature worms and you can put your hands in and find them. It’s a holding tank. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan

Here’s something you don’t usually do on vacation in Phoenix – visit a worm farm in Arizona. But that’s what we did in December, and we loved it. These worms are grown for composting and fertilizer. The Arizona Worm Farm sells worms, castings and black soldier fly larvae direct-to-consumers (gardeners and farmers). This is a 10-acre urban farm (though the area itself does not feel urban).

August 31, 2024August 31, 2024

Review: Lucy the Elephant With Kids

If you’ve been in the Atlantic City area, you probably have heard about or seen Lucy the Elephant. Touted as the top roadside attraction in America, Lucy has been around in various forms since 1881, in Margate – just south of Atlantic City.

Lucy the Elephant in Margate. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan

November 21, 2023November 29, 2023

Weekend in New York Without Kids

If you’re in need of a vacation away from the kids, and don’t want to go far, go to New York City. Spend the weekend in New York without kids. It won’t be cheap, but if you live within train or bus distance, you save on plane fare. Here’s a sample itinerary for a weekend in New York without kids.

The Spyglass Rooftop Bar at the Archer Hotel. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan

We’ve stayed at a number of hotels in New York City, from StayPineapple, to Hotel Elysee, to The Muse, to Hotel Giraffe, to Yotel. And that doesn’t include all the more corporate hotels I’ve stayed in for conferences, since I didn’t want to head home late at night. This time we stayed at the Archer Hotel in midtown. It was a few blocks from Bryant Park, a good place in the summer to go for outdoor drinks.

September 26, 2021September 27, 2021

Scott’s Pizza Tours with Kids

We took a Scott’s Pizza Tour with kids in 2013 and loved it. We learned so much and we constantly refer to things we learned when taking that tour. We decided to take another Scott’s pizza tour with kids this summer, and we were glad to see Scott’s business survived the pandemic.

Scott’s Pizza Tour with the notebook. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan

October 20, 2019October 20, 2019

Amazon Tour with Kids

I write about supply chain management (logistics, operations, transportation etc.) so touring an Amazon fulfillment center (FC) seems like more than a fun thing to do – it seemed necessary for work! There are currently 23 warehouses/fulfillment centers in the U.S. that give tours, including 3 in New Jersey. You can take an Amazon tour with kids, but most tours are on the weekday, which can make it difficult unless you’re home schooling. Here’s what I learned on my Amazon tour.

The Amazon storage area, with robots moving the storage pods. Screenshot from an Amazon virtual tour.

By the way, you can’t take photos inside the warehouse, so these photos are screenshots from a virtual tour last week, run by Amazon for FIRST Robotics – an international STEM robotics program I’m involved with. You can watch the virtual Amazon tour here which was meant as an Amazon tour with kids, or at least for kids.

June 4, 2018December 7, 2021

Review: Radio City Music Hall Tour

It’s okay. You can be a local and still take the Radio City Music Hall tour. In fact, you should. Your kids would like it too. There are details for those who care greatly about architecture, art and design. And it’s fun to wander around back stage and see Rockettes’ costumes up close (and meet a Rockette in person). And if you’re lucky like us, you’ll show up on one of the 40 or so days a year when there’s not a performance and they aren’t setting up for one. And you’ll be able to on STAGE. Yeah, we got lucky.

Radio City Music Hall. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan

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May 8, 2018

Review: the QVC Tour

I have to admit, I’m not a home shopping on TV kind of gal, (or even home shopping on the internet person). Certainly I buy things online, but I rarely browse sites just to see what they’re selling, and if I’m going to watch TV, it’s not going to be a shopping show. While I’m not alone in that, I am in QVC’s demographic, of women 35-64, who are educated homeowners. BUT, I can’t resist a factory tour, and the QVC tour of the studio sounded like too much fun to pass up.