Hersheypark
Hersheypark is a very big theme park with a large collection of rides. As the name suggested, Hersheypark is entirely about the chocolate. It is located in the town of Hershey in Pennsylvania, home of the famous chocolate company. Most of the park is themed on their chocolate or sweets in some way. Even the ride height restriction categories are named after Hershey sweets.
There is a lot to do. As well as the theme park there is also an excellent water park, a (fairly small) zoo, a nice bar/restaurant and a separate attraction called Hershey's Chocolate World which features a massive shop, 4D fim and other experiences. The range of attractions across the whole site means there is something for everyone, and you need at least two days to experience it all.
Last visited June 2022
INVESTMENT
8
THRILL FACTOR
8
FUN &
LAUGHTER
7
STAFF &
FACILITIES
8
UNIQUNESS
6
VALUE
6
THEMEING &
IMMERSION
5
THOMPSONS'
RATING
7
BEST BITS
-
The best ride by far is Candymonium.
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There is an excellent range of rides from thrilling to family. That means there is something for everyone to enjoy.
-
The water park is excellent and, as it's within the theme park, it is included in the same entry price. That means it is possible to do both theme park and water park attractions on the same day.
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The Hershey World of Chocolate is at the entrance to the park and offers free tours, with free chocolate!
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The Chocolatier Restaurant offers lots of great food options, and a really nice outside bar with views of the park entrance.
DOWN-SIDES
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It's such a big park it is quite tiring to walk around it all!
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There are no printed park maps, although there are maps on boards within the park. It might be a bit unfair to hold this against Hershey Park because most parks seem to operate like this post-Covid.
TOP TIPS
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Laff Trak is a good ride to start with as it is very far from the entrance, meaning there are no queues at the beginning of the day.
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Candymonium is best to leave until after lunch, as the queues are much shorter at this time.
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Most rides have the option to leave your bags in the station. Candymonium has free lockers to use at the entrance.
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We suggest getting to the park early to avoid queues, as people seem to arrive later.
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If you are planing to ride Tidal Force, we highly recommend doing this in your swimwear as part of the waterpark experience. You will get soaked!
Candymonium
Thompsons' overall rating 9
Thrill
Fun
Themeing
Immersion
Smoothness
9
9
5
7
10
Fahrenheit
Thompsons' overall rating 8
Thrill
Fun
Themeing
Immersion
Smoothness
8
6
3
7
8
Storm Runner
Thompsons' overall rating 7
Thrill
Fun
Themeing
Immersion
Smoothness
8
6
2
7
7
Laff Trakk
Thompsons' overall rating 6
Thrill
Fun
Themeing
Immersion
Smoothness
4
9
8
7
8
Lightening Racer
Thompsons' overall rating 4
Thrill
Fun
Themeing
Immersion
Smoothness
5
4
4
2
4
Reeses Tower
Thompsons' overall rating 6
Thrill
Fun
Themeing
Immersion
Smoothness
4
6
7
5
N/A
Great Bear
Thompsons' overall rating 6
Thrill
Fun
Themeing
Immersion
Smoothness
7
6
6
5
7
Supa Doopa Loopa
Thompsons' overall rating 5
Thrill
Fun
Themeing
Immersion
Smoothness
4
5
2
3
5
Jolly Rancher Remix
Thompsons' overall rating 4
Thrill
Fun
Themeing
Immersion
Smoothness
6
5
4
4
4
Jolly Rancher Mix'd
Thompsons' overall rating 4
Thrill
Fun
Themeing
Immersion
Smoothness
3
6
4
2
N/A
Reece's Cupfusion
Thompsons' overall rating 5
Thrill
Fun
Themeing
Immersion
Smoothness
1
7
8
7
N/A
Tidal Force
Thompsons' overall rating 4
Thrill
Fun
Themeing
Immersion
Smoothness
5
6
2
3
N/A
Sky Rush
Thompsons' overall rating 3
Thrill
Fun
Themeing
Immersion
Smoothness
8
1
1
3
2
The clear theme of Hersheypark, and a good view of Candymonium's lift hill in the background
The beyond vertical drop on Fahrenheit
The three tower rides. We only went on the middle one (Reese's) which is a launched tower.
The truly awesome Candymonium
The two Jolly Rancher rides - a boomerang coaster and an interesting flat ride
One of the loops on sooperdooperLooper
Storm Runner
Our view on the rides
We really enjoyed Hersheypark. Candymonium is an exceptional B&M hypercoaster. It has a perfect mix of huge airtime along with some more thrilling high-speed turns, which makes it one of our favourite coasters in the world. It makes no difference where you sit; the ride is fantastic front and back. However, as the ride is at the front of the park we recommend you ignore it at first (that's hard!) and come to it later in the day. You will be rewarded with much shorter queue times.
Although Candymonium is the star of the park, there are a range of other really enjoyable coasters. Fahrenheit has a vertical lift, a beyond vertical drop and multiple inversions. It is also very smooth which makes it both thrilling and fun. The only downside is the low capacity which means longer queues. Laff Trak is an indoor spinning coaster which is good fun whilst also being gentle enough for most people to enjoy. It is at the back of the park so a good one to start with. Storm Runner is a launched coaster which provides good thrills over a course of both hills and inversions.
As well as coasters, there are plenty of other rides. The park has three different types of tower ride. We only went on Reese's because that is a launched tower. But there is also a more traditional drop tower, and a smaller tower for families. Reese's Cupfusion is a gentle indoor dark ride where riders shoot various badies trying to steal chocolate goodness!
The biggest disappointment is SkyRush. In the coaster community this ride is known as 'theighcrush' and we can see why. The harnesses dig painfully into the rider's upper theighs. As the ride is fast and intense, it means pretty much every second is painful. We went on it once and immediately added it to our list of worst coasters.
Great Bear
Lightening Racer
Tidal Force - this ride is VERY wet; we recommend doing it in swimwear as part of a visit to the water park.