Hershey - The Great American Chocolate Bar TR - Day 3, Hersheypark, update 7/28 About This Page:

[crystalloubear]

I swear that I am not the one in the corner making remarks [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

Great report so far! I love your writing style! You are a riot! So did you come across I78 to get to Hershey? You passed my exit - 2nd on in PA route 33N - we live like 3 miles from there. Hope you at least waved!!

Can't wait to hear more - you're killing me with this foreshadowing of map woes!

[Meggera]

Just found your TR and am loving it. I love Hershey Park. The last time we went was at Christmas time with millions of lights all over the park. It was a lot of fun.

More please!

Laura

[magic mickey]

Great trip report so far Jeff. Can't wait to read more. I love the smell of Hershey.

[RobDVC]

Sorry to hear about the GPS, but I'm glad you were able to find your way.

[HiddenMickey]

More please. I'm loving your writing style. I look forward to learning about a place I've never been before. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Colexis Mom]

Great update Jeff [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/zwavin.gif[/img] More please [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[stingray037]

Living a mere 8 miles from Hersheypark I don't get too excited about going there but I do enjoy reading other people's views/experiences of the area. I love your writing style and can't wait to read more.

[WEDway Guy]

[ QUOTE ]
So did you come across I78 to get to Hershey? You passed my exit - 2nd on in PA route 33N - we live like 3 miles from there.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yep, that's exactly how we got to Hershey. Sorry about not waving. I probably had a handful of Combos right then. Wouldn't want to drop those Combos. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/yuma.gif[/img]

[WEDway Guy]

Day 2- Part 1 CHOCOLATE WORLD


So, it’s finally time to get to the reason you all are here for this TR – cures for insomnia.

1 sheep…2 sheep…3 cows…4 sheep…5 sheep...

Are you sleepy yet?

“Excuse me Jeff, but why the cows in your insomnia program? Most everyone knows cows can’t jump over a fence”
Ahh, I see we have a wise and apparently wide awake participant in today’s update to the TR. For you sir, I’ll explain the whole thing. Listen carefully and watch with amazement. What every you do, don’t doze off. Get it? An insomniac dozing off, I kill my self!
“Very funny. You’re a barrel of laughs. Can we move along with the TR now? You know, the whole wonderful world of chocolate and all.”
You sir, are amazing. It’s like I told you what to say to set me up perfectly. Amazing!

So, on with the TR. We wake up Monday to a glorious morning. (We had good weather the whole trip.) The kids are up early because they want to take advantage of their opportunity to swim. How come they never move nearly this quick on “school” mornings? After a quick dip in the pool, showers and some breakfast (very good selection, hot and cold choices), we’re out the door for Hershey’s Chocolate World! Woo Hoo!

I forgot to mention that when we checked into the hotel and looked out the window at the end of our hallway, we noticed this piece of transportation genius…


We knew before we headed out this morning that we’d have to get some pictures with it, if it was still there. As luck would have it, well, I just let you look for yourself.

Grandpa Tom with the kids


WEDway’s family truckster


Terri’s Family

Okay, enough of that. If nothing else, you got to see all the trip participants. But how cool is it to be parked in the same lot as the Hershey’s Kissmobile? If it weren’t for the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile, it’d be tops on my list of most ridiculous things I want to drive. Think of the lines you could use to pick up prospective dates with it. No, I really mean it, you think of some. I can’t post mine on account of the content. Keep ‘em clean.

So after that great encounter we get in the vans and make the long journey to Chocolate World. The hotel is no more than a mile from the property. It's a really nice location. However, once on property, like Disney, it’s amazing how far you may need to drive to get to your destination. In less than 5 minutes, we’re trekking towards chocolate. Btw, free parking! It opens at 9:00am and we were definitely there before 9:30am.


Using Ricardo Montalban voice - "Welcome, to Chocolate World!"

For those of you who haven’t been there, let me explain a little what Chocolate World is all about. In a large building adjacent to Hersheypark, Hershey's Chocolate World houses numerous attractions, shopping experiences and a food court. The attractions include:

Attraction #1


Hershey’s Great American Chocolate Tour is an Epcot-like education ride that takes you through the entire chocolate making process from harvesting cocoa beans to wrapping Hershey bars. This was the first thing we did. You sit in cars that wind thru different steps in the process. The ride included many things to interest all your senses, which is always a nice touch. The first “stop” is where the 3 cows come into my story. Gabby, Harmony and Olympia are, they believe, the secret to Hershey’s chocolate.



The Ladies of Hershey

They sing a constantly looping ditty in the ride that goes something like this – “It’s the milk chocolate! Can’t be beat. Hershey’s milk chocolate, creamy and sweet.” I probably got that wrong, but the rhythm sticks in your head like IASM does. You see them again later in the ride just incase you blocked the song out of your mind.

“Sing it for us!”
Oh, so you’re still awake back there.
“Real funny Jeff.”
Well, instead of embarrassing myself, you can take a look at this video clip I found of the ride. It’s amazing what you can find on the internet. So glad Al Gore invented it for us!
“Okay, that really was funny!”
Thanks. I’m here all week.

Click here for a video link to the Hershey’s Great American Chocolate Tour ride. (Google video, about 9 minutes long)
Great American Chocolate Tour - video

Here’s a couple more pics from the ride.


How cute, the two old men in a car all by themselves – Not that there’s anything wrong with that.


That’s a lot of candy


Since I didn’t do too much research for this trip, it wasn’t until after we came home that I found out this attraction just re-opened in Spring 2006 from a complete make over. Now having never seen the old version I have no basis for comparison, but I think this is a really informative and fun ride. The queue area has lots of nice information on the walls as well as beautiful murals of the jungles where the cocoa seeds originate. Numerous flat panel displays located are throughout the queue showing videos of cocoa harvesting and other early stages of the cocoa beans life towards chocolatedom. So, even if you have to wait in line, there are tidbits of infotainment to keep you occupied. (Side note: the queue is geared to hold A LOT of people. I’m talking like a 30+ minute wait. We generally walked on each time. I’d hate to be there on a day the queue was full. We did this ride several times completely for the educational benefit. It had nothing to do with the free packet of Kissable’s at the end of the ride)

Continued in next post......

[WEDway Guy]

...Chocolate World continued

Attraction #2
Our next adventure at Chocolate World took us on the Hershey Trolley Works Tour.


This is a guided tour of the Hershey area via what else, a trolley. Okay, so they weren’t real trolleys, but converted bus/trolley thingies. Don’t make me get all technical on you. Everyone was set for a good ride.

Emma and Megan ready to go. Notice Megan’s shirt.

We had a great tour guide, Rich, who told us little tidbits about Milton Hershey’s long path towards making his famous chocolate. (It started with making caramels – which while good, aren’t like chocolate at all.) We also got to see the Milton S. Hershey School for Social Orphans. There’s not enough time to go into what he has set up for these kids, but it really makes you feel a little better about spending money on Hershey souvenirs and chocolates because part or all of the proceeds go to the school. One example of how well these kids are taken care of: upon graduation from high school, if a student remained of good moral character and maintain a C average or better, they would receive, among other things, a new set of luggage, a new laptop computer and $57,000 to use towards any university in the world to further their education. Not to shabby, huh.

Along the way, we got to see the famous Hershey lamp posts. Very neat. According to Rich, when they are lit, they are called white chocolate, when a bulb burns out – dark chocolate and when one is stolen – you guessed it, hot chocolate. If any of you remember a previous posting of mine about the Hershey smoke stacks, well here’s where they start to make their appearance(s). Until I went and looked back at all the pictures, I really didn’t think I had taken so many of the smoke stacks. If they bore you, just keep scrolling by. For some reason, I was drawn to them. They’re Hershey’s version of Cindy’s Castle. All in all, it’s a great tour and I really recommend it.

“What, no chocolate here?”

Thanks back there! I almost forgot. Throughout the tour, Rich was handing out various chocolates to coincide with the topic at hand. At the end, you receive a whole Hershey’s chocolate bar. He recommends all kids eat this right before bedtime. Emma of course took this to heart and wanted to eat hers just before bed. Thanks a lot Rich. Btw, I think the tour was about 45min – 1 hr. and cost $15/adult. It was cheaper for seniors and kids. Children under 3 were free.

Here’s a bunch of pictures from the tour.


The Hershey Plant – smoke stacks and cocoa bean silos


Unwrapped Kisses lamp


Wrapped Kisses lamp


Wouldn’t you like to live on this street?


Hershey Country Club – notice the detail in the landscaping behind the green


HCC – another angle plus the stacks and town


Beautiful grounds of Milton Hershy School


More shots of those smoke stacks


Good gardeners – living sign says HERSHEY COCOA


Sleep defeats sugar rush


Rich – Tour Guide and the one-liner man


Fred – Trolley Driver and the straight man of the act

Continued in next post...

[WEDway Guy]

...Chocolate World Continued, again

Attraction #3
The next stop was the Hershey’s Factory Works Experience.

Entrance

The first order of business is to get ID photos taken and then to don your standard issue hat. Very Nice! (You could purcahse the photo ID's at the end if you wanted.)


Group shot – love those hats!


The things grandpas do. Grandpa Tom – you're one in a million!

The jist of the attraction is that you become a line worker who has to package up a container of Hershey’s Kisses off a conveyor line. It’s really meant for the 10 and under set, but anyone can participate.


Filler up


Doing the chocolate dance

I guess I was hoping for more of an “I Love Lucy” on the chocolate line type attraction where one would have to eat themselves out of a chocolate catastrophe. Dare to dream. Although we got a funny picture or two out of this attraction, it was my least favorite. Maybe I’m just too old.


Attraction #4
Before heading off to Hershey’s REALLY BIG 3-D Show, we took a quick ride back on the Chocolate Tour for another packet of choclacation. (Yes, of course is a real word! Chocolate and education – heavy on the free chocolate. Of course I have been known to make up words under the influence of too much chocolate.)The 3-D show was pretty good, but not quite up to PhilharMagic or HISTA standards. I believe this show cost about $5 to see. For me it was kind of a “Well I’m here so I might as well see it.” sort of attitude. I don’t regret it at all, but others may find it a little pricey for a 15 minute show.


Obligatory 3-D glasses picture on Emma


Shopping Attraction #5
By this time it was getting way past lunch and the girls were getting to the tired and hungry and crabby stage. A quick meal in the food court was definitely needed. There was a lot to choose from: soups, salads, pizza, pasta and sandwiches. There were also places with ice cream, coffee and dessert. An even quicker place, the “Gimmie a Break” Kit Kat café had lots of pre-made sandwiches and salads. Don’t forget the bakery Shoppe too. All in all, a decent place to eat if you don’t want to leave the premises.

I forgot to mention the small grocery store sized area filled with every candy Hershey makes. It seemed you could buy the candies individually, in a pack, or even by the crate if necessary. The prices were definitely a little cheaper than normal stores. However, that just makes you buy more. There are also a couple of nice souvenir areas with items ranging from T-shirts, to purses to pencils – all with Hershey themes.


Kisses galore! (Makes a cool screen saver shot. PM if you want a hi-res version)

At the entrance to Chocolate world, there is a big mooo-saic (I just made that up) on the floor that was kind of cool. However, there was no good place to get a picture of it. Here’s the best I could get.





So that’s it for Chocolate World. Overall, I rate Chocolate World a 9 out of 10 and highly recommend it – even for little ones like mine. The more you love chocolate the high that number may go.

Speaking of leaving, although no longer hungry, the girls could still use a nap. So about 4.5 hours after we arrived, we headed back to the hotel for a little rest.

Are you all still with me here? Anyone? Heeeellllooooo?
(Snores heard from the darkened room)
Maybe I should bottle this TR and sell it on an infomercial as a sleep aid.

For those of you who propped their eyelids open with toothpicks, I’ll continue with part 2 of Day 2 as soon as I can.

Up Next – What in the world do classic cars have to do with Hersheypark?

[disneyfan2183]

"Hershey chocolate, Hershey chocolate, it's a Hershey chocolate world. Wherever you go, no matter how far, you'll always see a Herhey bar. Hershey chocolate, real milk chocolate. Hershey, the great American chocolate bar!" [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/roflmao.gif[/img] Great update, I LOVE Hershey Park!!!

[luvnwdwgal]

This is a delicious trip report! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/yuma.gif[/img] More chocolate please! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[WishIwasinDisney]

Excellent update, now I want to go there, haven't been since I was a little kid. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[RobDVC]

Love the review of Chocolate World!