If you are headed to Hershey, Pennsylvania any time soon, check out everything there is to do that I couldn’t on my quick trip!
HERSHEYPARK
Highest on my list is Hersheypark (one word, no spaces.) This award-winning theme park started in 1907 as a leisure park provided by Milton Hershey to his chocolate factory employees. It has grown over the years to offer 73 rides to the paying public, including a water park and a zoo, all included in the ticket price.
RIDES
Hersheypark has 13 roller coasters, five of which are steel full-circuit coasters, one boomerang, three wooden coasters of varying thrill levels, three mine train/family coasters, and one indoor fun-house type spinning coaster.
They also offer a full complement of kiddie rides and other things you’d normally find in a theme park--Ferris wheel, log flume, train, antique carousel, bumper cars, teacups, etc, etc. Some unique rides include an old-fashioned whip, which you don’t see much anymore and an open-air monorail that will take you on a narrated ride around the park, the zoo, past the factory, and presumably, downtown Hershey, though I confess didn’t see it when I was driving around.
WATERPARK
The waterpark section has a water coaster, six tube slides, a new mat racer ride, a lazy river, and several play areas. Another fun thing about this park is that they have kiddie versions of many rides. For instance, there is a kiddie-version wave pool in addition to the bigger wave pool. And there’s a mini pirate ship, scrambler, and himalaya! It’s all just terribly, terribly cute.
HOURS
Hersheypark opens on the weekends in late March, opens full time in late May, and closes for the season at the end of September. They are open on select evenings in October & November for Halloween-themed fun, and a limited number of rides are open in November & December weekends and evenings for Christmas lights and activities. The waterpark is open from late May to early September. High summer hours are 10-10 for the park and 10-8 for the waterpark with shorter hours earlier and later in the season.
ADMISSION
A one-day admission to the entire park plus the zoo (see below) is $66.95 ($52.95 if bought online ahead of time), $44.95 for age 3-9 and 55-69, $28.95 for 70 and over. Two-day tickets are $85 for adults and $66 for kids. Three-day passes are $125 and $97.75, and season passes are $170 and $155. A “sunset” ticket is available if you enter the park after 4 or 5 pm (depending on when the park closes) for $31.95 or $27.95 for kids, $19.95 for seniors over 70. I wonder if that’s how much it costs for the Halloween and Christmas evenings.
A word about parking–like most theme parks, it costs $15 to park at Hersheypark. Don’t be tempted to veer left to park at Chocolate World instead–it’s free for less than three hours, but they will end up charging you $40 for a full day.
ZOOAMERICA
ZooAmerica (again, one word) features 200 animals from North America arranged in five regions representing the animals’ natural habitat. Along with tons of snakes and birds of prey (including a bald eagle), you’ll find grey wolves, black bears, mountain lions, otters, ocelots, and alligators. The zoo area is located in the back of Hersheypark, so you can enter through the park or from a separate parking and entrance adjacent to the zoo.
You can visit the zoo as part of your Hersheypark ticket, or pay $11.50 per adult or $9.50 per kid ages 3-8 to tour just the zoo alone. Or pay $51 for a special behind-the-scenes tour either before or after regular park hours, or a special photography tour for up-close shots of your favorite animals. Price includes park admission. Parking is free.
HERSHEY’S CHOCOLATE WORLD
Adjacent to Hersheypark’s entrance, is the huge Hershey’s chocolate shop, Hershey’s Chocolate World. Here you can purchase all the Hershey’s candy you could ever want, plus participate in a few attractions. These are all indoors, so Chocolate World works well for a rainy day or as an introduction to your Hershey trip, or maybe a wrap-up to make sure you nab all the souvenirs you may have missed on your visit.
ATTRACTIONS
Attractions inside the store include a FREE Chocolate Tour. Ostensibly, it’s a “factory tour” but it’s not the real factory which is down the road, just a representation of the process. You can Create Your Own Candy Bar for $19.95. You can see a 30-minute 4D Chocolate Mystery movie for $7.95 and under. And there is a Chocolate Tasting Experience for $10.95 and under.
And most interesting to me, there is a Hershey Trolly Works tour that departs from Chocolate World. Year-round they offer a 75-minute Chocolate & History tour, covering the town of Hershey and the history and sites of Milton Hershey himself. During the summer, a shorter tour is also offered with actors and sing-alongs. Variations of that tour also happen around Halloween and Christmas. Prices for all tours are $15.95 for adults and $12.95 for kids age 3-12.
TICKETS
You can buy various bundles of all these attractions to save money. To bundle all of the attractions would cost you $38, saving you $17. Plan on about half a day or so to get them all done.
Parking is free for under three hours, $15 for 3-5 hours, and $40 for over 5 hours. Your parking is FREE if you pay for the all-attractions bundle.
Chocolate World opens at 9 every morning and closes between 5 and 11 pm, depending on the time of year.
THE HERSHEY STORY
To go in-depth into the life of Milton Hershey and his rise to premier American chocolate maker and builder of eventual tourist towns, visit The Hershey Story. This museum has a lot of interactive exhibits for kids, plus opportunities to make your own chocolate in the Chocolate Lab and drink up to 6 different warm drinking chocolates in the Tasting experience.
Cost is $12.50 for the museum, $12.50 for the Chocolate Lab, and $6-$10 for the chocolate tastings. The museum and the lab can be bundled for $20, and the museum and the Hershey Gardens (see below) can be bundled for $20. All prices go down from there, with seniors getting a $1 discount across the board and children 3-9 at $9.50. Active military can get in for FREE and get all extras at about half price. Teachers, veterans, and families of active military get a $3 discount.
The Hershey Story is open 9-7 during the summer and 9-5 during most of the rest of the year. Parking is free and located in the garage directly behind the museum.
HERSHEY GARDENS
The 23 acres of the Hershey Gardens includes a butterfly atrium, the historic Hershey Rose Garden, a children’s garden, and various areas of perennials, herbs, grasses, a nut grove, and even a Japanese garden. The original rose garden alone contains 275 varieties of roses.
Admission is $12.50 and under, FREE for active military and a $3 discount for family members. $20 if bundled with The Hershey Story. Hours are 9-6 during the summer, generally 9-3 during the rest of the year.
AACA MUSEUM
Situated just a little bit away from downtown and having NOTHING whatsoever to do with chocolate or Hershey, is the AACA Museum. This collection from the Antique Automobile Club of America is housed indoors, making it perfect for a rainy day. And most people seem to really love it! Visit 100 years worth of cars, including Ferris Bueller’s red convertible, the making of the DeLorean, and an exhibit on Route 66.
Admission is $12.50 for adults, $11.50 for 61+, $9.50 for ages 4-12, and children three and under get in FREE, as well as any club members. Open from 9-5 daily.
HERSHEY LODGE / THE HOTEL HERSHEY
There are three official resorts of Hersheypark–a lodge with an indoor pool complex, a refined resort hotel, and a campground.
The Hershey Lodge actually sits on the other side of town from Hersheypark but comes with a free shuttle to the park, and a large indoor water play area. Other benefits include early entry into the park, free entry into Hershey Gardens and The Hershey Story, and preferred pricing for a few experiences.
For more refined tastes, try The Hotel Hershey, built in the 1930’s. Here, you’ll get all the same benefits as the lodge in a ritzier setting. The hotel also hosts an exciting falconry experience costing $65 for resort guests, and $75 for the general public. There is also a Wine & Food Festival September 14-16 with several events, each one requiring a hefty price tag.
For a more rustic approach, rent a cabin or bring your camper or RV to the Hershey Camping Resort. The benefits here include extra time in the park, but only discounted rates at the gardens and The Hershey Story.
I doubt I’d stay in any of these (I’d probably Airbnb again) but it might be nice to look around The Hotel Hershey, especially the historic bits. And I love a nice hotel to walk around.
HERSHEY THEATER / HERSHEYPARK STADIUM / GIANT CENTER
While you’re in town, check out what events might be happening at the local venues. While there are special events at the hotel and the gardens, major musical performances happen at the indoor Hershey Theater and the outdoor Hersheypark Stadium. Huge arena shows and sporting events take place at the Giant Center.
For example, coming up in Hershey is a Cirque du Soliel ice skating show at the Giant Center; a Broadway musical series, Celtic Thunder, Disney Junior dance party, and John Cusack hosting a live screening of Say Anything at the Hershey Theater; and Lynyrd Skynyrd, Fall Out Boy, and Pentatonix are coming up in Hersheypark Stadium.
SUGGESTED TOURING
It seems like Hershey, PA would be fairly easy to do well on a long weekend–a half day at Chocolate World, an evening and a day in Hersheypark, and another day to visit the Hershey Gardens and The Hershey Story, and maybe visit and have dinner in The Hotel Hershey, followed by a show at the Hershey Theater.
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