by Linda (minnemom) of Travels with Children

Hershey, Pennsylvania, is a town built around chocolate.  Site of the Hershey chocolate company, its downtown street lights are in the shape of Hershey kisses, and I’ve heard that chocolate shavings are sometimes put outside so that the whole town smells like chocolate.

Tourism is another big part of Hershey, however.  It boasts an amusement park (Hersheypark), a zoo (ZooAmerica), sports stadiums, chocolate spas, and chocolate-themed hotels.

On our short visit to Hershey, we stopped at Hershey’s Chocolate World.

Hershey’s Chocolate World is a kind of visitor center with several different areas in it.  It’s free to get in and take the “tour,” but other parts cost money.  There’s a gift shop with every type of Hershey’s product emblazoned on shirts, hats, and mugs; an outlet store with various chocolate products; a make-your-own-Hershey-Kisses area; and a bakery/food court area.

The tour itself is free, although it’s not really a tour.  Visitors board amusement-park-like cars that move them along a path to see different vignettes of the chocolate-making process.  The actual factory is a few miles away but isn’t open for tours to the general public.

Also in the building is the Really Big 3D Show, a production that takes place in a nice theater with the requisite 3D glasses.  After hearing a short history of the company, the show begins, where Hershey characters jump and dance and sing on the screen.   There is an admission fee for the show.

Samples of Hershey confections are handed out at the end of the tour and 3D show.

A new Hershey museum has recently opened; I was disappointed that we missed it by just a few weeks.

Hershey, Pennsylvania, is a town that loves its chocolate.

Photos by minnemom.