Hershey Park About This Page:

[stingray037]

Another good time to go is the end of May into the First week of June since schools don't let out until about the 2nd week. We live about 8 miles from the park and this is usually when we go. Other than the occasional school group the park is not very crowded and there is almost no wait for most of the rides. The park can be done in less than a day. As far as hotels go there is everything from the mom & pop to the national chain. If you fly into Philadelphia it is about a 2-2 1/2 hr drive. Other places of interest might be the Civil War Museum, PA Fire Museum, Indian Echo Caverns, Knoebels Grove Amusement Park (free admission, pay as you ride), Pennsylvania Grand Canyon, Boyd's Bear Country, Baltimore's Inner harbor is about 90 mins away. Depending on time of year there is Hershey Bears hockey (affiliate of the Colorado Avalanche) and Harrisburg Senators baseball (affiliate of the new Washington DC team).

[Tara O'Hara]

Me too, Tina!! I Hershey Park!! That's a day trip for me and if you fly into PHL, I'll be happy to pick you up!!

[Laughaholic]

Thanks for that Melissa. I didn't know Lancaster was different than the Philadelphia area.

Also, thanks for the show price clarification. I have no idea where I got 12$ from, but now that I think about it, it was 5$. Thanks again I appreciate it, sorry guys!

[elbug10]

When I was in college, my parents and I drove down to the Lancaster/York area from Upstate NY and stayed in York and Lancaster for about 4 days (I think in a Super 8 Motel). We went in April, so a lot of things, like Gettysburg battlefields and Hershey Park weren't open, but I do remember the Hershey Visitor's Center and the factory tour (you get free kisses at the end-yum!). We also toured the Eisenhower farm, visited some Amish towns, ate an Amish dinner and toured the Andersen pretzel factory. Lots of neat stuff to do in the area, and I'm sure it would be even better "in season" when more is open. Happy planning!

[BarryH]

There's some nice parks in the Hersheypark area. In Lancaster about 30 minutes away, you can visit Dutch Wonderland. It's more for kids, but the wooden roller coaster the Sky Princess is a lot of fun. Drive about 3 hours north and go to Knoebel's in Elysburg, PA. It's like a country fair mixed with a campground. It has a great wooden coaster with lots of airtime called the Phoenix. The park also has the fastest and best bumper cars in the world.

If you're going to Hersheypark, hit Storm Runner first if you want to ride it. Lines get very long on this awesome ride. Also remember to ride the best wooden coaster there -- Lightning Racer. Wildcat is good if you like sitting in a jackhammer!

[graygables]

We were just in Hershey this past summer and have never done Hershey Park, but enjoy the "free" portion, visitor center, buy lots of chocolate area. They have a thing now where the kids can actually become a "worker" and fill a gear box thingy with kisses. Then you can buy it! It really was fun. I thought the 3-D movie wasn't worth it, but I have trouble with 3-D anyway. There is also a zoo right there that was very nice.

A few years ago, we did the same trip, but also went to the Crayola "factory" which was a *blast* for all ages! We really enjoyed that trip.

Then, flashback to my childhood, there is Roadside America which sounds and looks like one of those campy 50s tourist attractions from the highway, but it is a *WONDERFUL*, huge model railroad setup that is sooo COOL! So much so that I remember it clearly from when I was about 4 yo. We took DDs and it hadn't changed much at all. You can walk around and see a whole town/community and there are several places where you can push buttons to activate portions of the trains/set. They have a patriotic presentation (I think every hour) that is not to be missed...take Kleenex! There is a clock museum in the area, too, that is a wee bit "high-brow", but we enjoyed it, too. My dad's hobby is clock repair, so we took some time there. The Wilton Armetale factory store is in the area, too, so if you like that, take some $$$ with you!

We stayed at a suite hotel right out of Hershey (marriott, maybe?) at an excellent rate, very nice place, and convenient to Hershey and the highway (for all the other places we went). Between all that and the Amish areas, there is plenty to keep you busy for a week or so!!!

[BabieeMelly]

about the Storm Runner - that was an awesome roller coaster! The tallest and fastest in the world, but it's going to be bea this spring by Kingda Ka, the new roller coaster at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jersey. The one year we don't get season passes they add an awesome ride, lmao! Anyway, another great thing about going at the time of year that we did (last week of August - first week of September) was that there was absolutely NO line on the Storm Runner at 2:00 in the afternoon! We walked right on!

We also went to Roadside America on our first two trips. It's really cute and a lot of fun! It's a HUGE train set which is set up around a miniature village. As you walk around the track you can push buttons to activate different trains and different parts of the village - you can make street lights come on and off, move cars, etc. It's really cute!