We braved the 4th!!! AND the rain...and the crowds??? 7/1-7/8 BOOKED NEXT TRIP!!!!

[Tracy161]

Has anyone ever been to Hershey Park??

We are sick of being stuck in this apartment and we know that as soon as Winter hits, we won't want to go ANYWHERE!! So since Tom is home and I have off of school tomorrow, we decided to take a trip to Hershey PA!!

I just booked a room for tomorrow night at the Hampton Inn. We're going to leave early tomorrow morning, spend the day at Chocolate World. Then go to the hotel. Saturday we will go to Hershey Park!

I've been to Chocolate World once in college during Christmas time but Hershey Park was closed so I've never been there before.

So any touring advice?? I think I've got a pretty good basic plan going. For Disney trips, I'm so used to planning every detail but since I know nothing about Hershey, I'm kind of in an "ignorance is bliss" state right now.

Hershey Park! That's a great solution to get you out of the Disney blues for a little while! Craig and I went to Hershey Park last summer in combination with a Phillies game and we really enjoyed it! It was the middle of July so we spent a lot of our time in the water park area, but they have some really great non-wet rides too! You'll have a great time, enjoy!!!

 

[onelilspark]

That Hampton Inn is nice I've stayed there for work a couple times.

If you get there at park opening, it's dead! So if there's one of the big coasters you want to do, that's the time to do it!

Oh, and check out Chocolate World...a few times!!

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

That Hampton Inn is nice I've stayed there for work a couple times.

If you get there at park opening, it's dead! So if there's one of the big coasters you want to do, that's the time to do it!

Oh, and check out Chocolate World...a few times!!

Well because it's now officially "off-season" Hershey Park isn't even open tomorrow!! Only on the weekends. So we're going to do Chocolate World tomorrow and find some place to eat and relax. Then go to Hershey Park on Saturday. It doesn't open until 10 so I'm sure we'll have no trouble getting there at "rope drop!"

Thanks for letting me know about the hotel! I always get worried when picking a hotel because you just never know. Had a reeeeeally bad experience with a hotel in NYC once.

 

[flipflopmom]

Nikki - we watched Camp Rock 2 (I think it's the girls' 3rd time!) on DVR last night. There were some songs on it that would work. See if you can preview any on itunes. It's a Brand new day was my favorite, then CAn't back down. My girls knew about half of the lyrics already, guessing a bunch of yours DVR'd it, too.

 

[dolfinjuls]

I hope you have a great time at Hershey Park! We went to Hershey World in March or April of this year and had a good time! We were in the area for something else, so really didn't have time to do Hershey Park. But I really want to go soon! I haven't been there for 13 years...my last time was a class trip!

And I think the songs from Camp Rock 2 would work well. I know they've been playing some of the songs on Disney for a little bit before the movie came on and my oldest already knew several songs before seeing the movie!

And another good one not Disney though...Dynamite by Taio Cruz. Very catchy and danceable! I'm trying to think...I'm pretty sure the lyrics would be okay. Especially the chorus!

 

[JenSop]

Wish I could help with Hershey Park stuff, since we only live an hour and a half away. But I haven't been there since high school. Since Dorney Park is just 20 minutes from us, that's where we end up going for non-Disney amusement park fun.

Have a great time!

 

[Tinkerbellie16]

Have fun at Hershey Park! I'm no help for you because the last time I was there, I was 4 or 5. I remember thinking I was in heaven because chocolate candy was 'pouring' down the walls or at least it was in big holes in the walls. Or maybe that is just a recurring heavenly dream I have - being stuck in a boat on a river of chocolate...yum...

 

[brookelizabeth]

What a great weekend getaway! That is on my list of things to do since we live out east now. Please report back with a mini-TR! ENJOY!

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

Nikki - we watched Camp Rock 2 (I think it's the girls' 3rd time!) on DVR last night. There were some songs on it that would work. See if you can preview any on itunes. It's a Brand new day was my favorite, then CAn't back down. My girls knew about half of the lyrics already, guessing a bunch of yours DVR'd it, too.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm going to look into Camp Rock songs....

I hope you have a great time at Hershey Park! We went to Hershey World in March or April of this year and had a good time! We were in the area for something else, so really didn't have time to do Hershey Park. But I really want to go soon! I haven't been there for 13 years...my last time was a class trip!

And I think the songs from Camp Rock 2 would work well. I know they've been playing some of the songs on Disney for a little bit before the movie came on and my oldest already knew several songs before seeing the movie!

And another good one not Disney though...Dynamite by Taio Cruz. Very catchy and danceable! I'm trying to think...I'm pretty sure the lyrics would be okay. Especially the chorus!

Thanks for the suggestions!

Wish I could help with Hershey Park stuff, since we only live an hour and a half away. But I haven't been there since high school. Since Dorney Park is just 20 minutes from us, that's where we end up going for non-Disney amusement park fun.

Have a great time!

I went to college very close to Dorney Park but for some reason, never made it there!

Have fun at Hershey Park! I'm no help for you because the last time I was there, I was 4 or 5. I remember thinking I was in heaven because chocolate candy was 'pouring' down the walls or at least it was in big holes in the walls. Or maybe that is just a recurring heavenly dream I have - being stuck in a boat on a river of chocolate...yum...

Chocolate candy was definitely NOT pouring down the walls! Funny how your create false memories of things! It looked like a place that would be really fun for kids that age!

What a great weekend getaway! That is on my list of things to do since we live out east now. Please report back with a mini-TR! ENJOY!

Mini-TR coming up!

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

Hey everyone! We are back from our short trip to Hershey Park!

We left around 9, maybe 9:30 by the time we really got going after a few stops. We passed the time playing a few rounds of categories and 20 questions.

The first category was, "People who died on LOST (not counting the finale where they all die!)"

That one kept us going for a while and after the obvious ones, we were onto people like, "Guy with red shoes!" Those of you who are hardcore LOST fans will know who that is!

We also had an exciting couple of minutes when we spotted the Oscar Meyer Weiner-mobile!

Believe it or not, this was NOT the first time we've seen it! But it was exciting, none-the-less!

We made it there just before 12 and headed straight to Chocolate World.

Chocolate World is basically a really big store. Kind of like the World of Disney but with food and bathrooms and a little ride.

Of course, as hard as we tried, we couldn't help making comparisons to Disney the WHOLE time!

We were both hungry, so we got some lunch first. After lunch we walked around the shops a little and got coffee and delicious cookies! The stores sold Hershey candy in a thousand different ways! In a mug, in a box, in a tin, in a variety pack.....I guess when you don't have too many products, you have to switch it up somehow! They also had some shirts and pillows shaped like different candies.

Here we are on the ride. It was ok. It basically took you through the "factory" even though it wasn't the real factory and the candy was clearly glued or velcro-ed on the conveyor belts. They take your through the process of making chocolate and we rode it twice and I still have no idea how they do it. Either they talked too fast or making chocolate is just really complicated!

Outside of Chocolate World, they have a smaller version of the Hershey smokestacks. We can see real ones driving around town...picture coming up!

(Notice my Epcot Food and Wine festival t-shirt! Gotta represent!!

We couldn't check into our hotel until 3 and since it was still too early, we went to the Hershey Outlets right next door. We killed some time in the Gap, Aeropostale, Sketchers and....

A Disney outlet! That was exciting! My sister is IN WDW right now and I still HAD to buy my niece some clothes! There were shirts on clearance for as low as $1.99!! I think I bought her about 5 or 6 shirts! We also went to Walmart and bought Scrabble Slam to play in our room.

OH btw, as we were leaving Chocolate World, my sister called me crying hysterically....SHE LOST HER CAMERA! She said she could have lost it anywhere between the Food Court at POFQ and DHS. So basically anywhere! She went back to the room to check and tell the front desk in case anyone found it, while DBIL stayed in the park to check with their lost and found. Not only did she lose the camera but ALL the pics from the last 4 days as well as, probably the last year on her mem card! She was devastated and I felt soooo bad for her! That is my biggest fear in WDW. Tom gets annoyed because anytime we move, I'm like, "Do you have the camera?" because I know how easy it is to forget. All those pictures of Emma with the princesses, Pooh characters and breakfast....GONE in an instant. Just heartbreaking.

But she sounded in better spirits today. She said they bought a disposable camera and were going to relive all the fun things they did with Emma! I'm still holding out hope that it will turn up. Need a little Disney Magic for that one....

After a little shopping, we made our way to our hotel and checked in. Look what was on the inside door of the elevator...

There was no escaping Disney!!

After we checked in, we decided to get go to the Beer Stop across the street to get a 6-pack. We go in and it's all cases of beer. So we ask the kid who works there and he says, you can't get a 6-pack at a beer store, you have to go to a bar or a pizza place! PA! So odd!

So he told us where the closest pizza place is and we got our beer. We hung out in our room playing Scrabble Slam and eventually left for dinner. We decided to go to a restaurant called the Forebay at the Herhsey Lodge.

On our way, we drove through town and saw the Hershey Kisses streetlamps! Sooo cute!

We also passed the Hershey Family Museum which looked, from the description, like it was a "One Man's Dream" type thing.....

We found the restaurant after a little unintentional detour and unnecessary loop around the entire resort...passing the pet grooming convention on the way. Finally we got to the restaurant! We made the mistake of sitting outside because as soon as the sun went down, it got really cold!

I got the Onion Soup as my app. OMG, it was the most flavorful Onion Soup I have ever had! It was sooo dark and rich. YUM!

Tom got Pork Belly Confit, he said it was really good.

For my meal, I got the shaved prime rib sandwich. It was absolutely delicious but I had stuffed myself on soup and bread and, unfortunately, couldn't even eat half of it!

Tom got a crab cake sandwich.

After dinner, we just went back to our room and we were asleep at like 10! We are so boring!

We also slept in a little this morning and made it to the park just after 10. (It opened at 10.) On our way, we passed the factory and saw the REAL smokestacks. (I really wish we could tour the ACTUAL factory! That would be something I would like to see!)

Look! They have photopass photographers!

And there's Walt! Uhh....that's not Walt!

And where's the castle?

I know, I know! We shouldn't compare...but we couldn't help it! Everything was just so reminiscent of Disney but just not good enough.

This is what they called a "monorail."

We went on a few rides but, believe it or not, we had the most fun at the arcade. Claw games are always fun and we were SOOOO excited to see a Wubsy claw! Wow Wow is my niece's favorite show and there is NOT a lot of Wow Wow merch available. So we were GETTING her Wubsy!

At first we couldn't get Wubsy, but we did his friend Walden. Then we got Wubsy. And once we had them, we HAD to get Widget!

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

C'mon! Seriously?!

For lunch, Tom got a turkey leg. I got a hamburger, which I didn't take a picture of.

The food was good but the bees were OUT OF CONTROL!!! Not just at lunch, all over the park! I don't know why. Maybe it's the time of year or something but I am terrified of bees so it was especially hard to sit and eat lunch because I freaked every time a bee came around. I ate really quickly and took my fries to GO!

MINE, MINE, MINE!

At one point, we saw a GIANT CLAW machine and Tom went to check it out while I went to the bathroom. I came out and the first thing out of his mouth was, "They have giant f-ing Wubsys!" There were only a few and if you know anything about the claw game, you have to isolate the thing you want or else there is no way you're getting it. We had to go to the ATM, break the $20 and eventually made our way back. There was ONE Wubsy that was in a good spot. You get 3 tries for $5 so I tried and loosened him up REALLY good! Well other people were waiting so instead of just putting more money in, I stepped aside and let someone else go. And wouldn't you know....SHE GOT MY WUBSY FIRST TRY!! I was so upset. We put the rest of the $20 in and had no luck at all with any other Wubsys. It was most disappointing.....

When we had had enough, we headed toward the exit. We were hoping we'd get to see some chocolate characters but there were none...so Tom posed with these guys in one of the stores!

After we left the park, we headed back to chocolate world to pick up the longest Twizzlers you've ever seen in your life, the world's largest Hershey Kiss (hollow with kisses in side!) for my sister and a few other things for our moms. We took one more spin on the "how chocolate is made" ride because we got a kick out of the song that they played and then we were on our way home!

All in all, it was a nice day away from home. It was a really nice park with lots of thrill rides and a LOT of rides for kids. I can see why a lot of families go there so often.

We've come to the conclusion that Disney has just ruined us. I can't look at anything without thinking how it's done in Disney or how Disney would've done it differently. I'm just spoiled I guess!



BTW, the NIGHT before we left, we discovered that our AWESOME Nikon camera that we only had for about a year, stopped working properly. It was very upsetting and we were in a pinch to get a new camera. We tried to do some research but it was just too frustrating. I had a $50 Target gift card, so we just decided to go look there. We ended up getting a cheap Fuji (JV100). It was just over $100. If it turns out it's no good, we can always get something else. Let me know what you think of the pics! Unlike our old camera, it does NOT have a food setting.

 

[PopArtGal]

Any chance you guys will take a WDW trip between July 19 and 26 this year?? please please please

 

[PopArtGal]

Oh can we see a pic of the huge Hershey's Kiss you got? I'm obsessed with the candy canes ones they put out for Christmas.

 

[onelilspark]

*Hershey's choc-o-late, Hershey's choc-o-late, Hershey's choc-o-late wooooorld...*

Or *Hershey park HAPPY, Hershey park glad...*

I spent wayyyy too much time at HP as a kid...I do love the ride at Chocolate World, if nothing else for the smell of chocolate and the free sample at the end!

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

Any chance you guys will take a WDW trip between July 19 and 26 this year?? please please please

Very unlikely.

Oh can we see a pic of the huge Hershey's Kiss you got? I'm obsessed with the candy canes ones they put out for Christmas.

Sure! I'll take a pic and post it later. Once I give it to my sister, I'll take a pic when she opens it.

 

[BippityBoo]

HAHA your post is to die for! I laughed out loud about 5 times!

The Wubzy/Claw stories are sooo funny. I know what you mean, you have to work those machines to get one out! Also, nice WDW touches you found. Did they have to pick light blue with a fanny pack for their photopass guys to wear? AND a monorail? What copycats!

 

[Tracy161]

Ugh, sorry about the giant Wubsy, what a disappointment! I'm glad that you guys were able to get away for a bit and do something fun! But you're right, we're all "ruined" from Disney! I thought that same thing when we went to Hershey last summer... it's great, but... it's NOT DISNEY!!!

 

[disneybarbie]

Looks like a fun few days!

Lol I am just the same when I go to non-Disney theme parks.. we've been spoiled by the fantastic-ness of the Disney parks!!

DF and I went to Alton Towers last year (UK's biggest theme park) - we had to get the 'monorail' from the car park to the entrance (hmmm.. where have I seen that idea before?! ) ... straight away I knew we weren't at Disney when we stopped off at some restrooms ... ewww! not WDW-cleanliness standard at all, hehe.

I think your photos look good! sorry to hear about the camera breaking, and that your sister's lost her camera in WDW
A 'food setting' ?! wow.. DF definitely needs to get a Nikon/proper camera before our next vacation!!


Emma x

 

[tinkerbell60]

What a fun get-away! I cannot believe all the "disney similarities" at Hershey!

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

*Hershey's choc-o-late, Hershey's choc-o-late, Hershey's choc-o-late wooooorld...*

Or *Hershey park HAPPY, Hershey park glad...*

I spent wayyyy too much time at HP as a kid...I do love the ride at Chocolate World, if nothing else for the smell of chocolate and the free sample at the end!

Haha! That's it!! And the one with the cows singing.."It's the milk chocolate!! Tasty Treeeeeets!"

HAHA your post is to die for! I laughed out loud about 5 times!

The Wubzy/Claw stories are sooo funny. I know what you mean, you have to work those machines to get one out! Also, nice WDW touches you found. Did they have to pick light blue with a fanny pack for their photopass guys to wear? AND a monorail? What copycats!

Hehe! I still am not over the Wubzy situation. I was ROBBED!

Ugh, sorry about the giant Wubsy, what a disappointment! I'm glad that you guys were able to get away for a bit and do something fun! But you're right, we're all "ruined" from Disney! I thought that same thing when we went to Hershey last summer... it's great, but... it's NOT DISNEY!!!

It was really nice to get away for a little...even if it wasn't at Disney. I just couldn't stop thinking about Disney the whole time. It's crazy! I just love Disney so much that if I'm ANYWHERE else, I'm sad about it! That's like a sickness!!

Looks like a fun few days!

Lol I am just the same when I go to non-Disney theme parks.. we've been spoiled by the fantastic-ness of the Disney parks!!

DF and I went to Alton Towers last year (UK's biggest theme park) - we had to get the 'monorail' from the car park to the entrance (hmmm.. where have I seen that idea before?! ) ... straight away I knew we weren't at Disney when we stopped off at some restrooms ... ewww! not WDW-cleanliness standard at all, hehe.

I think your photos look good! sorry to hear about the camera breaking, and that your sister's lost her camera in WDW
A 'food setting' ?! wow.. DF definitely needs to get a Nikon/proper camera before our next vacation!!


Emma x

Oh yeah, the bathrooms at Hershey were a little gross too! Most were ok but one in particular was nasty! NEVER in Disney! Glad you think the photos came out good. We're still trying to decide.

I wouldn't go Nikon. A lot of the reviews we read were not so good. Unless you're going for a super-duper, lens changing, actually-know-what-you're doing Nikon....

What a fun get-away! I cannot believe all the "disney similarities" at Hershey!

Too many similarities! The statue of Milton Hershey was the funniest! It was soooo small and he was standing IN the fountain!