The Sweetest Place on Earth

Today, we took a day trip to Hershey, Pennsylvania, home of Hershey's Chocolate World. This complex, close to Hershey Park and the Hershey Chocolate Factory, is home to the chocolate factory tour ride and several other attractions. It was raining and cold, and we got a late start, so we didn't even attempt Hershey Park, but just Chocolate World provided us with hours of entertainment.

First, we rode on "The Great American Chocolate Tour", which took us on a trip through the chocolate making process. We've ridden it several times before, but Nicky didn't remember and it's been updated for 2006, so it was a new experience for all of us. Nicky LOVED the roasting chamber where we were "roasted" along with the cacao beans. The whole ride was (brace for pun) udderly adorable, especially now that they've added three cheesy singing cows, waxing poetic about how the milk from area farms is what makes Hershey's chocolate so special.

Still, we all loved the ride, and the free sample of Hershey's chocolate Take Five bars was a yummy ending. We later went back to ride the (free) ride twice more, because, hey, why not? The extra candy bars ended up in my bag though - after smelling all the chocolate during the ride, we were kind of over-chocolated without even eating any!

Next, we headed over to the 3-D movie. This does cost money, and Kairi STILL remembers being traumatized by it 4 years ago at age 5. So we tried really hard to reassure both kids that it was just like the 3-D movies we had enjoyed at Disney World earlier in the summer.


The movie started out pretty well, and the kids were starting to enjoy themselves, but then we realized why Kai remembers this show so negatively. At one point, a huge spider comes out of the screen, they touch the back of your legs and your shoulder, and make a skittering sound. Our entire family is freaked by bugs. So it took a bit of finangling to settle Kai down, and Nick looked a bit anxious for a minute. Fortunately, there was enough confetti and rain and bubbles and chocolate smells that WEREN'T scary to relax them both, and they were smiling when we left.

We headed over to the Hershey Factory Experience, and the kids tried their hand at factory "work." They helped box up some kisses, got cool hats, and had their pictures taken for their employee ID's. Afterward, Nicky got a special hard hat and got to spin a big wheel to fill a toolbox with candy as one of his souvenirs. He also got a Hershey Kiss plush for his bookbag. (Kai opted not to spend her allowance on candy, though she did eventually get some candy shaped erasers.)

We ate some dinner, the kids getting sandwiches and chips in souvenir lunchboxes and Scott and I eating chili in bread bowls. Everyone was cheerful and goofy, and I was glad we had decided to visit. Then we went up to see the "characters". The York Peppermint Patty was especially cool, sitting down at the table to "talk" to the kids and "share" their food.
Oh, and of course..... We had enough chocolate to put this look on Nicky's face! All and all, a great day.