By: Andy Gao

During the past spring break, my family and I went on a trip to Washington DC and a few surrounding cities, including Philadelphia. We had a blast in Philadelphia, checking out the UPenn Museum, Independence Hall, and the Liberty Bell.

Leaving Philadelphia and heading back towards DC, we made a 2-hour detour to Hershey, Pennsylvania, home of Hersheyland and Hershey’s Chocolate World. Unfortunately, Hersheyland, a Hershey-themed theme park, was closed during our visit, but the visit to Hershey’s Chocolate World was truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

We started off our Hershey’s Chocolate World adventure with the Unwrapped show. At the beginning of the show, the workers handed us a box of five different snack-size chocolates. During the show, the cast explained the characteristics of chocolate and how chocolate relates to your five senses. For example, they had us break off a piece of the chocolate bar to listen for the satisfying noise. They also pointed out different notes in the chocolate, while we got to try them for ourselves.

After an awesome interactive show, my family and I made our way over to the Create Your Own Candy Bar area. This experience made me appreciate the chocolate-making process. I never realized how many different machines have to work together to create a candy bar. We started by selecting the ingredients for our custom chocolate bar. Next, we got to watch all the different machines come together to create our bars. Last, we got to design the packaging. I was fascinated by the process, from chocolate pouring onto the base of our bar to the laser-engraved packaging.

Lastly, we headed to the Hershey Factory Tour. Originally, I thought it was going to be a real factory tour, but it turned out to be something different. It was like a Disney ride, with cool-themed lines and individual ride vehicles. We jumped aboard and the Hershey magic began.

The ride was captivating, with different animatronics singing and dancing. They excitedly explained each step of creating a Hershey’s chocolate bar. There were screens on our car, and projectors along the ride to give us more information about the Hershey factories.

After an eye-opening ride and a free piece of chocolate, we arrived at the gift shop. This gift shop was like chocolate heaven. The gift shop was divided into two zones. The first zone we explored was the merch area. The gift shop contained an overwhelming amount of Hershey-themed t-shirts, beach towels, shorts, magnets, and keychains.

Right next to the merch area was the candy area, the second zone. In the middle of the candy area was a section dedicated to the world’s largest candies. My family was amazed at the five-pound Hershey Chocolate bars and two feet long Twizzlers.

There was also a section dedicated to flavors exclusive to Hershey’s Chocolate World. These flavors included Cookies and Mint, Strawberry Creme, Salted Caramel, Cotton Candy, Birthday Cake, and Chocolate Hazelnut.

What we couldn’t ignore were the walls lined with different sub-brands of Hershey. There were walls filled with Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Hershey Kisses, Hershey Nuggets, and so much more. My mom was shocked at the variety of options offered.

One wall in particular was special. It was a colorful wall lined with gigantic machines that would shoot out individually wrapped candies. You could buy buckets and fill them to the brim with all the possible candies and chocolates. It was like Candyland but in real life!

We checked out with $250 worth of chocolate, filling half of our shopping cart. Before leaving, I grabbed one of the best milkshakes I’ve ever had from the cafe, and we exited Hershey’s Chocolate World.

While driving to our next destination, I still could not get over the last few hours of my life. The amount of knowledge about chocolate I learned, the overwhelming gift shop, and the delicious chocolate really make Hershey Pennsylvania a dream destination for chocolate lovers.