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2.21.2016

Hershey's Chocolate World, Hershey, PA, Dauphin County

Today we take a look at Hershey's Chocolate World Visitors Center. It is located at the entrance to Hersheypark and it is free of charge and offers free parking. 
Some of the things that Chocolate World has to offer include a ride demonstrating the chocolate making process, a candy and souvenirs store, some Eateries, a 4-D movie theater experience, and other novelty things such as making your own chocolate bar. This tourist attraction is a great place to stop as a road stop when traveling in the area and it also is a great place to visit to cap off a day at Hersheypark. Today we will take a look at some of the renovations going on at Chocolate World. In the spring there will be a relaunch of the chocolate ride with new scenes and new ride vehicles.

Chocolate World was founded in 1973 due to the popularity of the original factory tours outgrowing the capacity of the old factory. Chocolate World was built in the vision of an old World's Fair Pavilion and included much of what it includes today, the Chocolate Ride, a foods area, and retai area.
The Hershey product characters. 
As a kid, my family took us to Chocolate World to ride the Chocolate Ride multiple times a year. As an adult now, visiting Chocolate World brings back fond family memories. Also looking back, I can think of many generations of decorations at the center. The ride is in the currently being overhauled.  Seeing Chocolate World, and the rest of Hershey, continually bloom and boom into a major tourist center has truly been exciting to see.
The most recent renovation project has greatly opened up space within the visitor center to maximize the retail space in the store areas, and add additional queue line room for the Chocolate Tour. On the left in this picture, you can see the entrance for the Hershey's Chocolate Tour. If you visited Chocolate World prior to the spring of 2014, you will notice how much further back the entrance is compared to before. 
While I miss some of the older elements of the queue line that showed more information about the history of the Hershey's vision for his creation, I do like how they added some of the architectural elements of the old chocolate factory. The murals depicting retro advertisements for the Hershey products are pretty neat as well.
One of my favorite aspects of the Chocolate Ride is that it has always been reminiscent of the informative dark rides at Disney's EPCOT Park in Orlando. 
Chocolate Ride time! These ride vehicles are in the midst of replacement in a rehabilitation project.  The refurbishment should be completed by May
Now I will not give away what happens in the ride, you have to go see it for yourselves! I will just say that this ride is very informative about Hershey's production processes and that it is very fun. 

The original setup for the center included a tropical jungle area, to demonstrate the type of environment that the cocoa beans come from. This has always been one of my favorite parts of the tour.


Hershey's famous Hershey Kiss streetlights
The rides of Hersheypark sitting dormant in the fog, awaiting spring riders.

Hershey, PA is a fun town to spend some time in. Hershey's Chocolate World is also a place that you should definitely check out. The nearby Troegs Brewery is a cool place that you should check out as well. 

For more information about the attraction, visit their website.


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