Visiting Hershey - November 2015

Friday, December 11, 2015 9:16 AM
DisneyDan

Hershey Hersheypark PA Christmas November Trip Report

Hello everyone,

Last month we made a visit to Hershey, PA, to check out the Christmas offerings at Hershey's Chocolate World and Hersheypark.

We quite like Hershey, and try to visit at least a couple of times per year. We especially like their Christmas offerings; we were there for Christmas last year, too. You can read my report for that by clicking here.

We started the day by driving up through Pennsylvania to Hershey, arriving around lunchtime.

We started at Hershey's Chocolate World, which is the large store/factory/restaurant that they have there. You can actually park and visit Chocolate World for free. They have a huge retail and dining space, as well as a free boat ride tour through the inner workings of Chocolate World.

They also have Hershey product character greetings. We managed to meet Hershey himself, Kisses and Twizzler. Hershey and Kisses had Christmas additions for the festive season.

We checked out the Hershey's Holiday House, which is made entirely from Hershey products. It's really neat!

A couple more shots before we headed into Hersheypark:

So, next was Hersheypark, which is on the same site as Hershey's Chocolate World. Unfortunately, if you want to stay longer than the free parking limit for Chocolate World, you need to pay.

We picked up a guide map, and headed in. Anyone who is a good Disney fan will surely think that this statue is reminiscent of something...

They had reindeer for the festive season. While I don't really like to see animals in small pens, they were cute to see. We also walked through Zoo America at some point in the afternoon, which is a part of Hersheypark. I have to say, if it wasn't for my love of Hersheypark proper, I would never touch Zoo America. I would never go just to visit that place, and I almost begrudge the fact that it's included in my admission to Hersheypark, because, quite simply, it's awful. The animal enclosures are tiny, and very sad looking. The animals look depressed and over all it's a pretty depressing environment. I refused to take any photos there. I only walked through as so that I could send my healing thoughts to the poor animals there, not for any entertainment purposes, because it really wasn't entertaining.

Back in Hersheypark, Jon played one of the boardwalk style games and won us a cute Hersheypark winter penguin!

Like Hershey's Chocolate World, Hersheypark has characters, too, and we managed to meet Hershey and Kisses (again). Last year there were a lot more characters out. Maybe we were just always in the wrong place at the wrong time on this visit.

One thing that Hersheypark does very well is their seasonal entertainment. Both last year and this year they had/have a Christmas show in the park. Last year the show was about a brother and sister who were waiting for Santa to come. This year it was about a young man who worked on a Christmas tree farm. I must say, the cast and production crew really put so much into it, this year and last. I definitely got my money's worth for my $15 entry to the park with this half hour show. If only Disney would put half as much effort in for the comparative resources they have at their disposal. If Hersheypark can do it for $15 entry, Disney can certainly make a comparative match on their equivalent scale for their $100+ per head entry.

I didn't take any photos of the show, just one of the inside of the theatre before it started.

During the day we also stopped by the storytelling that was held inside one of the dining facilities in the park, and afterwards met Jingles the Moose, who was the "special guest" for that particular story.

This sign always makes me laugh. Anyone who knows our other sites, will be aware of Character Central.

As night fell on Hersheypark, their Christmas light display, "Noel", came alive. I really like this display a lot. The lights are set to Christmas music, and change colours accordingly (Disney fans should think "Osborne Lights"). Again, they put a lot of effort in, with my photos not giving them any where near as much credit as they deserve.