If you follow along with our little travel series, you might remember that in December we spent a magical weekend in Hershey PA, visiting Hershey Park for their Candy Cane Lane Christmas festival and shoving our faces with allll the chocolate (see the post here if you missed it). I love visiting Hershey so much and were so excited that we got to team up with Hershey Entertainment and Resorts again to visit Hershey Park a few weeks ago! For this trip we were so lucky to stay at the lovely Hershey Lodge, and try out the amazing new Hershey’s Water Works Indoor Water Park! It was a quintessential American summer weekend and we soaked it in like a chocolate milkshake (which we also ate multiple times. When in Hershey.)
This time when we got to the gorgeous Hershey Lodge to check in, I took out my DSLR and noticed that it wasn’t reading the SD card. After a lot of tears, it was clear that it was broken, so instead of lugging my huge camera around I decided to share this trip with you through a little iphone travel diary. Doing it this way was actually fun because it made everything feel more candid since I wasn’t shoving a huge lens in everyone’s face. Here’s what we ended up with:
Hershey Park really has something for everyone. Some of the scariest coasters I’ve ever seen or ridden are there and some of the cutest rides for the littles. Plus, there is chocolate around every corner, lots of shade in the summer, and an insane water park where you can get reeeeally wet.
Yes. All the ice cream.
My kids were in theme park heaven, running from place to place and wearing constant smiles. (Until, of course, we say we are taking a family picture. STINKERS.)
Aside from the park, I was so excited to learn that the Hershey Lodge had opened a brand new 30,000 square feet indoor water park called Hershey’s Water Works! This place was amazing! It features Twizzlers Twists water slides, a Reese’s Water Walk, a zero entry pool, sand castle spray zone, lighthouse tipping buckets, basketball hoops and so much more, all indoors! Plus, it has a darling Cocoa Cabana snack bar with more delish treats and snacks. You guys. This was mecca for a family with littles. They cheered every time we walked through the doors and sobbed when it was time to go. I can’t imagine a more perfect place to stay any time of the year then the Hershey Lodge. Our kids could not have been happier.
One last thing we did this time on our visit to Hershey that we weren’t able to do during our last visit in the winter was visit the Hershey Gardens! This amazing garden is 23 acres and filled with insane botanical beauty. It is immaculately groomed and even has a children’s garden where the kids had the best time.
As part of the Hershey Gardens there is the coolest year-round Butterfly Atrium with 600 butterfly species from around the world! This was a big highlight of the trip. I loved watching my kids faces when butterflies would land on them. It was the best.
Ohhhh, it was a good one. If you are planning a trip to the East Coast, or live out here and have been thinking about taking a trip to Hershey, DO IT. It is the epicenter of an iconic brand that has thought of everything they can to make visiting there so much fun. We have now visited the area in every season and there is always something magical going on. I couldn’t love it (or the chocolate) more.
Thanks, Hershey, for another wonderful stay! Now GO friends! GO!
ox. Liz
[…] Hershey, PA: (Find the posts here and here) Hershey, PA has such a special chocolate-covered place in my heart. Hershey is the […]