My DH and I will be going to Hershey, PA next month and would like to know about the gardens, museum, HersheyPark and Chocolate World. We'll be there on a Friday and Saturday and would like to make the most of our limited time. What is worth taking the time to see? What should be avoided?

The AAA guide book also lists Indian Echo Caverns as being in Hershey. Has anyone been there? Is it worth going to?

Are there any discounts available and how would we go about getting them?

Thanks in advance for any ideas & advice you could give us on this!

Don't have any information for you, but just a request to post your experiences when you return. Hershey was my vacation destination many years ago, but I ended up getting sidetracked and going to New York instead. We've talked about going recently, but circumstances probably aren't going to work out.

Darn, Cindy, I thought when I got my email notice that somebody was writing to give me some info on this!! Oh well, I guess I'll keep waiting. Not sure I can write a trip report as well as you do tho! :D

We're also going to NYC as well. Flying out for my DH's cousin's adopted daughter's wedding and then some days afterwards for sight-seeing. I'm hoping to finally get that carriage ride thru Central Park (during the daytime hours of course!) that I've always dreamed of. Last time we were there was back in 1996, when I sang in a concert at Carnegie Hall and we celebrated by having a VERY nice lunch (at a VERY nice price, obviously!) at Tavern on the Green! Not sure what all we'll be doing this trip.

Still looking for answers to my Hershey, PA questions!

Hey Karen, you checked out their website? Looks like a fun place. =) I would make sure they are open thugh, they close in the winter.

Sorry to tease you again, Karen W2.

I have never been to Hershey, but am going on an impromptu trip with my husband next weekend. I promise a full report when I return.

If you are back before the 23rd (heck, even after), can you pretty please post a trip report?

I checked out www.hersheypark.com and it looks like the roller coasters will be closed. :( However, the midway, the museums and other attractions will be open.

Have fun!

carolyn

Getting caught up with boards & email since our trip, so here's my two cents on what we did in Hershey, PA.

First of all, "Hershey, PA" is a mis-nomer! The actual name of the town is "Derry Township". Many refer to it as Hershey, because of all the philantropical contributions Mr. Hershey made to the area, but he never wanted anything named after him. It was up for a vote in the election this month, to change the name to Hershey, but it was voted down by a large majority! The gardens were closed on 10-31 and will open again on March 30, 2003.

Hersheypark - only open Fridays 5-10, Sats. 12-10 & Suns. 12-9 til 11-20, when it's open 11-20/24, then 11-27-12-1, then 12-4/8, 12-11/24., then 12-26/1-1-2003. Not very many rides are open unfortunately, mostly just little "kiddie" stuff, so that was a real disappointment. The Laser show wasn't working the night we were there, so that was out.

We were very disappointed in the park as a whole, especially compared to Disney parks, because it was mostly just shops and carnival rides, with very little theming. It was a good thing that it's set-up currently for the season as a "pay as you go" situation, with FREE admission, you just pay for the rides you ride on or shows you see, which for us was nothing. My DH was very disappointed that none of the coasters were working, so our visit to the park was very brief, a little while at night to look at the lights & take pictures, then a little the next day, to take some pictures.

Chocolate World - free "simulated tour" of the making of chocolate, riding in a continually moving vehicle, much like the HM doom buggies, without any safety bar. They won't stop the track for anything, so when I wrenched my knee trying to jump out quickly and couldn't walk, they literally YANKED me out of the vehicle, then made me sit in a wheel chair and wheeled me out, before I could even stand up! They took me out a back way, so I missed out on getting the small chocolate bar they give out, after you have to walk several stairs up and then down to get out the regular way. Kinda lousy treatment, especially since they weren't even busy! Oh, almost forgot, there is a "photo opportunity" in the ride, where they take your picture without your knowing it and sell it at the end of the ride, just like Splash, Space, etc.! We passed on buying our photograph.

The building is literally a tourist trap, with multiple gift shops, a food court, a very limited menu restaurant, and a 3-D movie, using many of the same effects as the Muppet movie at DCA & WDW, for no apparent reason. This is extra and cost around $6-$8 each. Here and at Hersheypark, they have walk-around "characters", like at Disney parks & others, but they're Hershey products! Don't understand the attraction of getting your picture taken with a walking food item!

This is also where you buy tokens for the trolley tour, extra cost of about $9 each (DH paid for all these while I was otherwise engaged, so that's why I'm not sure of prices). We enjoyed this quite a bit. You board what looks like a trolley from the outside, but is really just a bus with outside decoration. There is a bus driver and a "conductor", who tells you about the town, the company and all the things Mr. Hershey did in his lifetime, and what still happens today. Warning! They're called "singing conductors" and you will be expected to sing! Ours wanted the chorus of "You Are My Sunshine", but that was all, so we were relieved. Also, at various parts of the tour, you're given a piece of Hershey's chocolate (a kiss, a hug, a tiny Reese's cup, a caramel and a regular Hershey bar), so that makes the tour more interesting! You don't get out of the bus at any time, you just look at the various places thru the window.

Hershey Museum - we were happy to find we had FREE tickets given to us, when we checked into the Hershey Lodge, as this is also an extra charge, $6 each. This has some displays of different things belonging to the Hershey's, past things used in the plant, an amazing "Apostolic Clock" (check schedule for opening times during the hour), and yet another gift shop!

Check their schedule for any "Candy Making" demonstrations. I had found it listed on their website, but after asking both the info lady at Chocolate World AND the girl who took our tickets at the Museum, they didn't know anything about it!! Since there's not that much to look at there, go on a day when they do the demo, to make it more worth your while. If they go by the same "scheule", it's only on Sats. at 11 & 3:30, maybe Sunday too.

When we were there, they were doing a "Clear Toy Candy" demo. The woman showed how they made clear candy syrup, poured it into molds and turned out shapes like animals and toys. You don't get to taste what they actually make there, but you do get a piece of something made by a commercial company that's very similar. They will also give you a copy of the recipe on a business card, if you ask for it.

Something NOT Hershey-related that we did while there and thought was totally worth it, was the tour of the Indian Echo Caverns!! It's only about 5 mins from Hersheypark and was $9 each I think. You walk down 71 steps to get into the caverns, then more walking around inside. It's an AWESOME place!! They have a website that I'm sure has pictures like in the brochure, www.indianechocaverns.com . Amazing stalactites, stalagmites, crystal lake, etc. Much better than the old Mine Train Ride!!

Anything else you'd like to know about? Our dinner at the Circular Dining Room at the Hotel Hershey or anything else? Just ask. I thought this was pretty long already.

Thanks for the great info. It's too bad all the coasters weren't working. That's the main reason my husband wants to go.

Please do tell more about the Hershey Hotel. I've got a brochure of the hotel, and the pictures make the place look gorgeous.

Oh, and are the tops of the lampposts in town still in the shape of Hershey kisses? A former boss had told me about a trip he'd taken ages ago, and that was the one detail that caught my attention the most.

That's funny--the place is marked as Hershey on the map!

Thanks for the information. It sounds like summer would be more fun. My husband has to be there for business anyway, so no loss.

Thanks for the tip on the Caverns. I'll check that out!

Do you recommend anywhere in particular to eat? (By the way, we're doing this trip on the cheap because our real vacation is coming up soon!)

Thanks,

carolyn

Hi Cindy,
The Hotel Hershey is quite a place! Most of the detail and interest is on the outside tho. We were kinda surprised at the low profile lobby, but the Circular Dining Room was beautiful and the area outside that with Mr. Hershey's fountain (it's in his will that it's never to be changed or done away with, also that all fabrics used there have to be original or in keeping with that time period!) was like something from WDW's Mexico Pavillion. It was a Spanish-style open courtyard sort of thing, with a ceiling that was a blue sky with painted clouds on it. We didn't take time to see the rest of the hotel as we were very hungry. The restaurant was very nicely appointed with tables at the windows for some. We had to tip the girl $10, to get a better window table than the one they gave us. It was near the window, but it was totally against a pillar, so there was no view to be had, but the wall!!

The street lights do still have Kiss-style lamp covers on them. Some are "naked" Kisses (look like chocolate, without the silver wrapper) and the others have the silver wrapper with little "Hershey's" flags coming out of them. Some of the flags rotate, but we have no idea why. DH thinks they might be like wind socks or something.

Since we couldn't get accomodations for all the nights we needed at the Hotel Hershey, but could at the lodge, we decided to stay there instead. My idea of vacation does NOT involve lots of packing & unpacking, changing hotels every day or so!!

The Hershey Lodge & Convention Center is basically like a motel, with convention facilities, and the rooms have doors on two sides. One on the parking lot side, where, if you're lucky, you can get a parking space close to your room, and the other door is on the hallway side, leading to the lobby, after quite a walk. Rooms are grouped in buildings with food product names, like "Hershey's Milk Chocolate Bar", "Reese's Peanut Butter Cup", Hershey's Cocoa", "5th Avenue", "Peppermint Patty.

The public areas of the lodge are very well taken care of, but the private areas (the rooms) are not so much. Lots of cracking & peeling paint around our outside door, creepy mold & mildew in the old bathroom of the room. Our room was just basically big enough to fit the king-sized bed, with about one or two feet on either side to walk around it. Sink area is outside the toilet and combo shower/bath area. Not very sound-proof either, as we had lots of noisy kids, running up and down the halls at all hours, unfortunately.

Yes, Carolyn, I would definitely say the spring or summer would be better to visit during, if you want to spend time on the coasters and all at the park. As far as food goes, we weren't real excited about the food around there, mostly just coffee shop or fast food-type stuff, except for our dinner at the Circular Dining Room, which does not qualify as "on the cheap", by ANY stretch of the imagination!!

The Lodge has a buffet restaurant that we tried one evening, since their other steak restaurant didn't open til much later than we wanted to eat. The food was OK, but pricey, considering it was just basic buffet food. There is also the Hershey Grill, where we had lunch, but weren't real excited about it, since it was basically just coffee shop food.

But Cindy, I know you're a "foodie", so you'd appreciate the dinner we had at the Hotel!! When they brought out bread, we were given a choice of standard (boring) white French bread, pecan raisin bread OR, the most interesting to me, chocolate cherry bread! When they put the butter roses on the table, you had a choice of regular butter or, most interesting, CHOCOLATE butter!!

Very light tasting, but very yummy, especially on the chocolate cherry bread! My appetizer was "Cocoa Seared Scallops" and my DH had their fois gras, set on a chocolate brioche crouton. It was melt in your mouth heaven. Dinners did not include chocolate, alas, so I had their very wonderful Maine Lobster and DH had shrimp crusted salmon, which he enjoyed as well.

For dessert, I ordered their "chocolate cream pie, in a unique presentation" and DH ordered their chocolate creme brulee. My pie presentation was a small triangle of pie, standing on one end, with some unsweetened whipped cream around it. (yawn) DH's turned out to be WHITE chocolate brulee, tho it didn't say that.

Before they brought the desserts out, our waiter brought us a "pre-dessert" - a teeny, tiny tart with some sort of filling that we couldn't figure out, since there wasn't enough of it to actually taste it. When he brought us the check, he also brought a chocolate truffle for each of us.

Anything else you'd like to know about? I'll be happy to answer.

Originally posted by KarenW2
But Cindy, I know you're a "foodie", so you'd appreciate the dinner we had at the Hotel!! When they brought out bread, we were given a choice of standard (boring) white French bread, pecan raisin bread OR, the most interesting to me, chocolate cherry bread! When they put the butter roses on the table, you had a choice of regular butter or, most interesting, CHOCOLATE butter!!

Very light tasting, but very yummy, especially on the chocolate cherry bread! My appetizer was "Cocoa Seared Scallops" and my DH had their fois gras, set on a chocolate brioche crouton. It was melt in your mouth heaven. Dinners did not include chocolate, alas, so I had their very wonderful Maine Lobster and DH had shrimp crusted salmon, which he enjoyed as well.

For dessert, I ordered their "chocolate cream pie, in a unique presentation" and DH ordered their chocolate creme brulee. My pie presentation was a small triangle of pie, standing on one end, with some unsweetened whipped cream around it. (yawn) DH's turned out to be WHITE chocolate brulee, tho it didn't say that.

Before they brought the desserts out, our waiter brought us a "pre-dessert" - a teeny, tiny tart with some sort of filling that we couldn't figure out, since there wasn't enough of it to actually taste it. When he brought us the check, he also brought a chocolate truffle for each of us.

Anything else you'd like to know about? I'll be happy to answer.

Thanks for all the great descriptions. I'd kinda decided that we probably wouldn't be going to Hershey after all, and then I read everything you wrote.

From the brochure, it did seem that the Hotel was much nicer than the Lodge, but I agree about the whole packing and unpacking thing if it's for a few days or more. When we were in Vegas this past April, we stayed for two nights, one night in two different places, but that wasn't so bad because it was only a short period of time.

Your dinner sounded absolutely wonderful. I think the chocolate bread and chocolate butter are very interesting. That's one of those that looks a little weird on paper (or on screen, as it were) but under the right circumstances would be intriguing. (I never thought I'd actually try garlic ice cream, but on my visit to the Garlic Festival in Gilroy a number of years ago, I did. After having all kinds of garlic food throughout the day, pretty much everything tasted like garlic, so the ice cream wasn't a big deal. Not what I'd prefer but it wasn't as yucky at it might sound, at least after a garlic-filled day.)

The appetizers and entrees sound great. Ignorant question here: I've heard of fois gras but don't actually know what it is. Would you mind describing?

Dessert sounded like the least spectactular course. I would have been very disappointed in white chocolate creme brulee as I don't like white chocolate. I agree that they should have differentiated.

I think I do remember reading that Spring is the best time to go for coasters. I can't do the coasters they have there though, so I'd have to find something else in the park to do while my husband rode those himself. We won't be able to go next year, but Hershey goes back on the list of vacation destinations.

Thanks again!

Hi Cindy,
Ah, Gilroy, home of the Garlic Festival! Did you try the garlic wine they had there? It was HORRIBLE!!! And we both enjoy garlic.

As to the Hotel Hershey vs. the Hershey Lodge, they're both run by the same people and the hotel is about half again the price of the lodge. But I'm sure the accomodations are nicer as well. We could only get one night's stay there, as there were several large groups in town for various things. So we went to the lodge for the whole time.

Foie gras is actually a liver - duck, goose or whatever, like what they make pate out of. It literally melted in your mouth and the chocolate brioche crouton it was placed on was wonderful!

Yeah, we both were less than impressed with the desserts, sad to say. Lots of ads for the hotel talk about how elaborate and creative the desserts are, but they were very basic, run of the mill choices, unfortunately. My DH's creme brulee was very disappointing, as he didn't expect "white chocolate", which we all know isn't really REAL chocolate, since it has none of the chocolate "liquor" in it. It was just placed on the plate, with no brulee dish, so that was kind of odd. Just kind of a gelatinous blob, dusted with unsweetened chocolate. I don't remember what the other choices were, but ours were the only "chocolate" ones, so it was quite disappointing, as we were definitely expecting something spectacular. Especially after a long, hard day of climbing up and down all those steps at the caverns!

One of the brochures we had for the hotel mentioned that they do a "Chef's Table", so we called to inquire about that. Unfortunately, they only have them during certain times of the year, and this wasn't one of them!

I would not be found on any of their coasters either, from how they're described, especially the one that has you hanging, not seated, from UNDERNEATH the track!! And then there's the one called the "Roller Soaker". People on the ground are given huge water guns to soak coaster riders with, but then the riders are also given a large amount of water to soak the others with! That one's definitely a SUMMER thing to do I'm sure!

Here is the promised trip report for 11/23-24/02.

We arrived around noon at the Harrisburg airport, which is about 15 min from Hershey and very easy to get in and out of (I love small airports). On KarenW2's advice we visited the Indian Echo Caverns on our way into town. Mind you, we had no idea where anything was (not much planning put into this jaunt), but fortunately there was a big sign on the highway, so we followed it. Saturday was cold (in the thirties) to be tromping around outside, but fortunately the caverns themselves, as previously noted, are a constant 52 degrees. It was very interesting and worth the $9, although the tour guide's patter was kind of cheesy, and I would have preferred more time to linger and marvel at some of the rock formations. There's also a lot of artificial lighting, which kind of makes it hard to appreciate how the caverns would be in their natural state.

Oh yeah, and the cheesiest touch--when you enter the caverns, the guide checks your ticket and directs you to go down and wait by the white sign where she will meet you. Guess what the sign says? TIPS APPRECIATED. Very subtle.

Next we hit Chocolate World, the visitor center. Most of the stuff here is a glorified ad for the Hershey Corporation, their products, and chocolate itself. The free chocolate making tour was worth what we paid for it, so we rode it twice :) The 3-D show had some neat effects, but was blatant advertising, and we had to shell out actual money to watch it. Not cool.

Since it was too cold to walk around outside, we retreated to our hotel. The actual purpose of the visit was my husband's residency interview at Hershey Medical Center that Monday, and the hospital put him up at the Comfort Inn. I'd recommend this place as very decent accomodations for people on a budget. It's pretty basic, although there is an indoor pool. The rooms were comfy and nice, though.

Sunday we lounged around in our room watching movies for most of the day, and then since it was warmer out, we went down to Hersheypark to see the sights and possibly ride some rides. The only really exciting ride was the Pirate Ship (one of my favorites), but there is no admission fee at this time of year, and it was nice to walk around and look at the decorations, especially after dark.

Didn't find anything special for meals (since the Hotel Hershey was out of our budget). We ate at the Chocolate Town Cafe at the visitor center, and the food was good but nothing to write home about--mostly cafe fare, as noted before.

One place that was sort of neat was diner called Isaac's near the medical center. Again, the food was mostly sandwiches, but was really good, and our server did a good job.

Something that I liked about the town--all the tourist trap stuff is concentrated in one area of Hershey, and the rest of the surrounding area is just a normal Pennsylvania town. Especially nice from the perspective of people considering it as a potential place to live!

Overall, I don't think there is enough in Hershey to hold visitors' attention for more than a weekend, especially in the colder months. I really felt we saw everything we wanted to, and mind you, we spent Saturday evening and most of Sunday in our room! I probably wouldn't go out of my way to visit there, but as a side trip, if you're already in the neighborhood, it's worth the effort.

carolyn