Spend the Day at Hershey's Chocolate World

Hershey's Chocolate World is located in downtown Hershey, Pennsylvania. It's within walking distance of Hersheypark, ZooAmerica and other Hershey area attractions. Chocolate World is open year-round (hours depend on the season) and offers FREE admission to visitors. You'll find free parking on-site if you plan on staying less than 3 hours during your visit. If you're planning to stay longer, you'll have to pay a parking fee.

You'll find various attractions at Hershey's Chocolate World for you and the family to enjoy. There's the Chocolate Tasting Experience, the Tour Ride, Create Your Own Candy Bar, 4D Chocolate Mystery, Hershey's Photo Studio, gift shopping, the food court, etc. If you want to take a guided tour around Hershey, you'll find Hershey Trolley Works located here too!

When visiting you'll want to plan on spending some money. Admission to get in is FREE, the tour ride is FREE, but everything else has an admission fee or cost. You can find all of that information listed on the company's website.

We took our grandchildren down shortly after the Christmas holiday for an afternoon of family fun. During the month of January you typically won't find long lines or big crowds which is a great time to visit. You'll went to enter through the main doors and you can stop at the counter to get more information on all of the activities that are offered.

On the day that we were there Highmark had a booth set up where children could go up and select from several different type's of candies and snacks that they wanted. The employee filled up a bag with their selections and all of that was free courtesy of Highmark. Both of my grandchildren really enjoyed getting a free bag of candy & snacks to enjoy while we were there.

The next thing on our to-do list was to take the FREE tour and headed upstairs to stand in line. We waited approximately 15 minutes to board our car. Each car will hold 5 people which was the exact number that we had in our party. The attendants will help you board the car and you'll want to immediately sit down. These cars run automatically, so you need to be quick.

The tour will last approximately 10-12 minutes (doesn't take long at all) and along the way you'll learn about the history of Hershey's chocolate. Where the cocoa beans come from, how they're harvested, roasted, cooked down and turned into delicious chocolate confections. Its a very interesting process and they do a great job at educating you about it.

Along the way you and the kids will be entertained by animated singing cows, working factory equipment, videos that play on a screen in your car and along the walls as the tour proceeds. You'll want to look around in all directions so that you don't miss anything! If you're a lover of the Hershey's characters you'll see several of them along the way too!

My grandchildren have 3 highlights that they love during the tour. 1. The singing cows at the beginning. 2. Passing through the roasting oven just like a cocoa bean. 3. Going through the flashing lighted tunnel towards the end of the tour. Yes, that's what they kept talking about as being their favorite parts!

After the ride and tour has been completed you'll be offered the chance to purchase a family photo that they take of you during the tour process. We always decline as we find it to be expensive and we take our own photos while we're there. You'll also be handed a FREE Hershey's miniature chocolate bar once you exit the area.

You'll head back downstairs where you can do some souvenir and gift shopping, and visiting their food court. If you're a lover of milkshakes, I would recommend getting a Hershey's Chocolate Milkshake ($7.00 each) while you're there. There are several different places where you can purchase hot and cold foods, along with snacks and beverages.

We save our gift and souvenir shopping for last as we don't like carrying around a lot of bags. When I'm down there I like to stock-up on some of favorite Hershey's candy. This time around I stocked up on a variety of their Hershey's Kisses which were on sale for 5 bags for $20.00. My grandchildren got their beloved Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and a few other trinkets. Like I said, when visiting...be prepared to spend some money!

Overall we always have a great time when we visit Hershey's Chocolate World and thankfully its only a 20 minute drive away. We try to take the grandchildren down a few times every year and it makes for a great family-friendly weekend activity.