Looking to visit Hersheypark this summer? We’ve pooled together some of our favorite advice and highlights after spending last weekend at Hersheypark including 2 nights at the Hershey Lodge and visits to both Chocolate World and the Chocolate Story Museum. Our family had a fantastic trip and loved our mini getaway.
We loved the Hershey Lodge! It is conveniently located just a 5 minute drive to Hersheypark and it has lots of fun activities for the kids including a special Kid’s Check In, Character Meet and Greets in the Lobby, and even a Falcon demonstration in the lobby too! Fun! The hotel includes a complimentary shuttle to the park as well so you don’t have to pay for parking, however, we found driving to be more convenient as we wanted to totally come and go as we please.
Hersheypark Highlights
The park is GORGEOUS. Totally clean and seriously awesome entertainment on par with the national amusement parks we’ve visited like Disney or Universal Orlando. With young kids we didn’t tackle the giant thrill rides, but Hersheypark has SERIOUS hard core thrill ride coasters. We did ride the Sooper Dooper Looper, Coal Crackle (great log flume) and all the really fun Boardwalk type dizzy style rides the kids adore too.
Kyle loved the Hershey Speedway. With no lines we were able to ride again and again on this one too!
We saw a Seal and Sea Lion show as well that was impressive as we’ve never done a water show with animals before. Kids loved it and so did we.
The “Boardwalk” waterpark is outstanding too. It was chilly during our visit so we didn’t get to tackle the waterslides but we were very impressed with the facility.And the kids are begging to go back for a water day at Hersheypark.
Stay Overnight at a Hershey Official Resort
Our top tip is to definitely stay overnight at a Hershey official resort to make it feel like a real getaway vacation for the family. As a bonus, by staying overnight at Hershey, you’ll end up scoring some sweet benefits for your visit. Our favorite was the Early Access to the park which meant we could get into the park 1 hour early and skipped lines big time. It was awesome! Seriously we rode the Sooper Dooper Looper again and again in a row with ZERO wait. Brilliant!
This set us up with no lines for the first few hours of our day as well since we were “ahead” of the crowds.
Hershey Resorts Advantage Details
Here is a link to all the details about the perks that are included when you stay overnight at an official Hershey Resorts property. This would include either the fancier Hershey Hotel, moderate priced Hershey Lodge where we stayed, or the Hershey campground.
A few of our favorite reasons we recommend an overnight stay:
Hersheypark Sweet Start: Begin your day before the gates officially open with exclusive early admittance to more than 10 rides, including Skyrush.
We rode the Sooper Dooper Looper like 5 x in a row. AMAZING! And then Mike tackled Skyrush on his own while we watched in Terror!
Free Admission to The Hershey Story
This museum is GORGEOUS. Brand new and totally beautiful. Next time we visit we will also do the Chocolate Lab activity but this time we enjoyed the special exhibit we were learned just what it was like if we had worked in an original Factory with Hershey.
Kyle making some news at Hershey — nice!
Kenzie weighing Kisses just like a real factory would have done way back in the day.
Free Admission to the Hershey Gardens
Best Price on Park Tickets
Free Shuttle to the Park
Kids Check In Upon Arrival (and if you get there after the kids hours for check in – just ask for a laynard – that’s what we did and they totally accommodated us!)
Character Greetings at the Hotel – We loved seeing Reese in the lobby!
Note: My family is participating in the Sweetest Ambassador program with Hersheypark. They provided complimentary hotel and park tickets for our visit to facilitate our feature story. As always, all thoughts and opinions are our own.
Hershey Park is definitely on my list of Must See places for our family. I went as a child and absolutely loved it as a simple day trip. I am so excited to plan a longer stay for my family within the next few years and I am sure these tips will come in handy. Thanks so much for sharing!
Great review Col. This makes me want to go back ASAP:)
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