Photo TR: Electerik Hershey Oddventure

[Electerik]

Electerik Hershey Oddventure

September 25 - 29, 2025

Part 1 of 2: Cookies 'n' Cream

 

[*record scratch*] 

Yep, that’s me. I bet you’re wondering how I got here….

 

I hadn’t been to an amusement park in over 2 years (see Erik & Smisty & TPR do Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland) and Hershey is probably the most “important” US park that I hadn’t yet been to. So, I picked a late-season weekend and struck out on a solo trip.

But, if you know me, you know it was never going to just be about Hersheypark, but about the town of Hershey and all the things in it.

Such as Chocolate World. Which is a totally separate thing. Well, a partially separate thing, anyway.

I spent 5 full days in Hershey, and Hersheypark was only open for 2-and-a-half of them. But Chocolate World was open all 5. So that’s where we’re starting!

So, yes, that first photo was me making my own chocolate bar. Kind of. You don’t really do much. You just select the ingredients and watch machines put it together. In fact, you don’t actually get anywhere near foodstuffs. It’s all behind glass. But they still made me wear the hairnets and apron. I assume so I wouldn’t distract all the other guests with my handsomeness.

But they made the other folks wear that stuff too. So, I don’t know. I’m out of ideas.

 

The Great Candy Expedition is an “immersive theater” experience in which your seat vibrates a bit and you mash buttons to vote on which 3 (out of 6) candy lands to visit.

It was cute and inoffensive. Though the train you’re supposed to be on is constantly turning into a boat or a hot air balloon or whatever, so I’m not really sure how “immersive” it is. And also, the fact that you visit 3 out of 6 possible destinations means that it should theoretically be pretty reridable. However, it’s expensive for what it is, and since the destinations are determined by popular vote, I sincerely doubt that you’ll ever get to see Almond Joy Junction or whatever, 'cause b!tch we goin’ ta Reese’s Ridge again!

 

Does “Hershey’s largest candy store” mean that it’s the largest candy store in Hershey, Pennsylvania? Or the largest candy store in the world that’s run by Hershey? Or that sells Hershey products? Or…? Asking for a friend who overanalyzes things.

 

Speaking of pricing…I was on vacation, so whatever. But it’s hard not to notice just how all-over-the-place Chocolate World’s pricing is. Maybe it’s genius. I don’t know. But Hershey products (packaged candy bars and such) are very reasonable. (Maybe that makes sense, since all the factories are in town.) Food and beverage is just slightly below theme park normal. Merchandise is at theme park level. And experiences are quite expensive in a way that mostly doesn’t make them seem worthwhile--except for the obviously best one, which is completely free.

 

Shake flight. I am not disappointed.

 

Chocolate World has real cocoa trees in it! I don’t know if they’re actually used for anything. Or even how they’re doing. Hopefully they’re enjoying their lives on display indoors in Pennsylvania.

 

Hershey’s Chocolate Tour is of course the main attraction here, and the ride I was second-most looking forward to on this trip. The queue is quite long, though the line never was. (Apologies to my UK friends for that sentence. Just swap the words ‘queue’ and ‘line’ and it will all make sense.) Lots to read in the queue, as well. Stuff about making chocolate, mostly. But the “extended queue” is all about the history of Chocolate World and the Chocolate Tour itself. So, I liked that. What I liked less was that there weren’t many opportunities to bypass queue sections, which tended to make it awkward when others were trying to read but didn’t seem to want to invite you to pass them, even though the ride itself was a walk-on. 

Probably not everyone rode this 6 times over 5 days, though. 

 

It’s an omnimover. That looks to me like it maybe had half its cars removed at some point? Maybe it’s just not as popular as it once was? Or maybe it never was? But I loved it!

 

“It’s the milk we make that’s at the heart / Sweet inspiration from the very start / And you can taste the love all over the world! / Got that feel good feeling every day / Where they can shovel in the Hershey way / And you can taste the love all over the world!”

Wait...shovel?

 

Remember how confused I was about “Hershey’s largest candy store”? Well, according to this ride’s narration, “Hershey is one of the only companies in the world that uses fresh milk in its chocolate.”

I have questions.

 

Free chocolate at the end of the free ride. So, theoretically, you come out financially ahead on this deal.

And, yes, this employee was kind enough to pose for this photo for me.

 

One last thing on my list for Chocolate World: Ride around town on a trolley.

 

But this trolley is a lie! I lived in Pigeon Forge for a while, and they do the same thing. Paint a bus green and call it a trolley. But nobody out-lies me, Hershey. Have at thee! (This will make more sense soon. Actually, it won’t make any sense, but at least you’ll see why I’m saying this now. Um…maybe.)

 

The trolley takes you around to look at notable sites throughout the town, while a narrator tells you all about how great Milton Hershey was. Which, you know, he kind of was. He created a company town but went way out of his way to make it actually good. He built housing for his workers and sold them those houses at cost so they could own their own homes. By all accounts he paid fair wages, and he built up the town to make it pleasant to live in. (And many of those things you are about to see.) He helped win WWII, and started a school for orphans. But…he was also a segregationist, which is hardcore advanced-level racism. And the school was not only for just for white kids, but only white males. So…yeah. Pretty progressive in regards to poor white men. But that’s about as far as he went.

All of which is a heck of a caption for a B&M hypercoaster called Candymonium.

 

Late in life, and not having any children of his own, Milton quietly transferred all of his stakes in Hershey to the trust that runs this school, currently valued at about $15 billion. So the school is doing alright. And it's no longer racist or sexist!

(I mean, as far as I know.)

 

“High Point,” the mansion Hershey had built for himself. Tours are available. Some Saturdays. And they sell out weeks or months in advance. So only "available" in the strictest technical sense. Not sure I would've done it anyway. I probably would've. But I'm not too bummed about missing it. I've been in houses before.

 

“Parkview Manor,” the mansion Hershey had built for me.

Rather nice of him.

 

A better view of my backyard.

Tours are available for a small fee.

 

The trolley then drives right into the Hershey Story Museum and up those stairs to the second floor. (See? I can lie, too.)

 

I also own a top hat. And caramel brass knuckles. Plus, I’m not dead. (As of this writing.)

 

From there, the trolley takes you to Duck Donuts. Where you can get a donut breakfast sandwich and a donut sundae.

Still not dead. But trying.

 

It should be noted that Hershey, Pennsylvania, does not actually exist, legally. 

This is a bit of a semantic argument, of course. It has a zip code. It’s just not incorporated as “Hershey,” and is instead a part of Derry Township.

Also, they water the grass with milk.

 

The trolley then sucks you off to another dimension where chocolate does not come from plants. But where plants can nevertheless be used to make a mocking approximation of something almost, but not entirely, unlike chocolate.

 

Back in our home dimension, where chocolate is good, the trolley squeezes through this pedestrian tunnel to cross under the road to ZooAmerica. So named not because it is America’s Grandest Zoo, but rather because it only has American Animals. (/Salutes in Bald Eagle)

 

A lot of ZooAmerica feels old, but in a way that’s almost good? Like, maybe instead of “old” I should’ve said “classic”? It’s small zoo with some quaint old buildings and a wooded setting, but the animals don’t seem cramped or poorly cared for. I kind of got the impression that over the years they repurposed old buildings to hold different, smaller animals? But that might just be my own personal head-canon.

 

The exotic ocelot. (“You hear that? He called you 'exotic'. Which is just people talk for awesome, which is what you are.”)

 

I’m trying to come up with a caption worthy of this photo.

Bear with me.

 

Most zoos have some sort of specialty. ZooAmerica’s is skeptical owls.

 

Next we motor through Hershey Gardens and get stuck in this lake. 

 

Allegedly, Milton Hershey was asked (by whom is apparently not important) to build a garden in Washington, DC. His response was to build one in Hershey instead.

Baller.

(Still racist, though.)

 

New “Hot Steam” Kisses!

 

Did you know that chocolate is actually ground-up butterflies? In that other dimension where they have to make the weird fake version out of plants?

Everything we eat is gross if you think about it.

 

A view of Hersheypark’s Hershey Triple Tower from Hershey Gardens across Hersheypark Drive in Hershey, Pennsylvania, via the Hershey Trolley Works.

 

A view of Hersheypark and Hersheypark Arena from the Hotel Hershey across Hersheypark Drive in Hershey, Pennsylvania, via the Hershey Trolley Works.

 

This is what the Trolley sees when it looks in the mirror.

 

We end our amazing journey back at Hershey’s Chocolate World, wiser yet acutely aware that ten years have passed in our absence due to time dilation, and while the chocolate tour dark ride is still free, all of our other tickets have expired and we forgot little Joey and he’s in a Christian punk band now and dating a chatbot named TwizzLiar869.

Also, Reese’s Oreo is back by popular demand!

 

Directly next to Chocolate World is Chocolate Town. And what exactly is “Chocolate Town”? Well, it’s kind of strange, in that it encapsulates Hersheypark’s entrance plaza, exit gift shop, and first themed area. So some of it is open and accessible even at times when the park is not, sort of hand-in-hand with Chocolate World, while other parts are inside the park gates and off limits when the park is closed.

Did that explain it? No?

 

Hersheypark does not serve Hershey’s Ice Cream, because Hershey’s Ice Cream has nothing to do with Hershey’s Chocolate. Both companies started in the same area at around the same and were both founded by unrelated folks named Hershey. As you might imagine, there have been quite a few trademark battles over the years, that have mostly just resulted in bad blood. So, while Hershey’s Ice Cream is very popular in Hershey, Pennsylvania, Hersheypark mostly serves Turkey Hill Ice Cream.

 

Milton’s is inside the park’s main (exit) gift shop, which is open year-round(-ish). Or, at least more often than the park itself is.

As you are no doubt aware, by law, all amusement parks’ main gift shops must contain the word “emporium” or the phrase “supply company” in their name, and Hershey is in compliance.

 

Above the Hershey Supply Company is the full-service Chocolatier Restaurant. I was well aware of this place going in and planned to eat there at least once.

 

As it happens, I ate there four times in five days.

I like a full-service restaurant at a park. Gives me a chance to sit relatively comfortably and take a little break in the middle of my day. Plus, the food tends to better.

It was, admittedly, a bit overpriced for what it was. But I did enjoy everything I ordered and I kept going back, so I guess it wasn’t…?

This Ferris wheel of appetizers is clearly meant for more than one person, but I couldn’t resist…especially once I realized that one of the items on it was Cuban (as in sandwich) spring rolls, which paired quite nicely with Twizzlers hot sauce.

And yes, I did pimp my server into taking this photo. Which makes it the only photo of the trip not taken by me, and isn’t in any way pathetic.

 

A view of the park. And of Heath bar encrusted salmon with chocolate dusted carrots and embarrassingly non-candy accented potatoes.

Note the train on the roller coaster. I’m very proud.

 

Thus endeth part one of this report. 

Oh, you wanted to actually see inside Hersheypark? Sorry, that's part 2.

I am wildly inconsistent with my use of number formatting.