We hadn’t even parked the car yet and I was already salivating.
Last week, you may remember that in my post about Boston Cream Pie, I mentioned that Saturday was my birthday. This year for my birthday, I got an extra-special treat: we spent the day before my birthday in Hershey, PA.
That’s right. I was in the Chocolate Capital of the World this past Friday.
I know, I’m a lucky, lucky girl.
I must give all the credit for this amazing treat to my mother-in-law, Marylou, who treated both my family and my sister-in-law’s family to a long weekend vacation in Pennsylvania with all the activities and everything that went with them, this past weekend. It was such a fun weekend and I loved being able to spend my birthday with this side of my family, something I don’t always get to do. We hated to see it end.
All of my favorite things, all in one delicious place!
I had been to Hershey a long time ago, back when we lived in New Jersey, but it was so long ago that I had almost no memory of the trip. It was like being there for the first time, all over again.
The streets smell of chocolate as you drive through the town. It’s heavenly.
The street lamps are shaped like Hershey Kisses.
It was truly a dream-come-true for a chocolate lover.
There are several parts to the Hershey experience, and I can share a little bit with you about the parts that we got to see on Friday. There’s so many family-friendly things to do there, you definitely have to pick and choose what you’d like to do on your visit. We were lucky too, it was a rainy day and at first I thought we would not be able to go. However, there were tons of indoor activities so we were able to keep to our plan for the day.
On our first ride we learned all about how chocolate is made, how all our favorite candies come to be.
We first chose to take a moving ride tour through the chocolate-making experience. It was about 10-15 minutes long and you learn all about how chocolate is made and it was a fun ride while being very informative at the same time. It was during this tour that I realized just how many different kinds of chocolate candies are actually made by Hershey’s.
After that, since it was lunchtime, we ate in the food court, which I thought seemed very affordable. There were ten of us total: five kids and five adults, so eating out is not an easy thing to do, especially when you’re trying to stick to a budget.
Caroline got a great shot of the trolley after we finished our ride.
Following the food court, we took an hour-long trolley ride which led us all through the town of Hershey. Here we not only saw the entire area, but also heard an animated history of the town and of Mr. Hershey himself. There was lots of laughing and singing (yes, we sang) on this ride and it was just as fun to watch our kids reacting to the antics of the tour guides while they were learning about the town and seeing all the local landmarks.
The kids got such a kick out of the antics on the trolley and we got such a kick out of watching the kids.
After the trolley ride ended, we went on to what was the most highly anticipated event of the day: The Gift Shop. The kids had all saved their money for the entire summer to take on this trip and they were anxiously awaiting the first time to spend some of it. I was proud though, both couples are on tight budgets and it’s rubbed off on our kids in what I think is a good way. They all took great care in buying their items and they really seemed to weigh the pros and cons of what to get and why. No one over-spent, as we still had other places with gift shops that we’d be visiting. All of my kids came home with extra money ultimately, and I believe my nieces did as well.
Ready to leave the hotel, wearing our Hershey’s t-shirts, purchased here in RI especially for this trip.
One tip I will pass along: this summer I found brown Hershey’s t-shirts at our local Walmart store. Total cost for three shirts: $22.50. I called my sister-in-law and she went to her store and found two for her daughters. Our five girls wore their matching Hershey’s shirts to Hershey Park on Friday and they looked so awesome. None of them had to spend their money on a $21.50 Hershey shirt from the gift shop. I thought that was a great treat for them and a great lesson as well.
There were some things that we didn’t do at Hershey Park that you might enjoy if you visit as well. They included a 3D show, a tour of the production facilities and an outdoor water park. If we took another trip there, those are things we might consider doing.
Overall, this was a fabulous way to spend the day before my birthday, or any day, and I’m so thankful I got the chance to visit Hershey Park again. Here are a few last photos from the 200 or so that the girls and I took that day.
Enjoy!
The kids got a kick out of the singing cows.
Lamp posts on the streets of Hershey.
Trolley ride antics
So Much Candy
The biggest and for $29.95 it could be yours.
The Whole bag of Chips 
Great pictures Jen! We went there last summer and it really is a great trip. If you ever do get to go back I highly recommend the waterpark. We spent a half a day there-it was fun.Love your idea to buy the t-shirts at Walmart before going.
We’d like to go back again. We didn’t get to see much of the Amish Country either, and that was something so intriguing for the kids. We also did not have time to do the water park at Dutch Wonderland, so we could return for a whole other long weekend and have plenty to do.