Hershey Park Vacation - Part 2

So after we got settled into the room and hopped in the van and headed over to Hershey's Chocolate World.

We didn't really know exactly what they had there or how much everything cost, but we did know that you could make your own chocolate bars.  We took the free riding tour of the "factory" and how chocolate is made.  The kids really enjoyed it.  They had singing cows and the smell of chocolate was in the air everywhere, so how could they not?

After the tour, we went to the "Create your own chocolate bar" counter to get tickets for the kids.  But there was a problem.  They wouldn't allow kids under 8 to go in by themselves.  The tickets were a little pricey, so we were scrambling to decide whether to just let Elias go in by himself and the other three of us just hang around outside and wait, or to pay for either Josh and I to go in with the kids and the other just sit outside and wait, or just forget the whole thing.  Elias really didn't want to go in alone, even though Bella was surprisingly okay with not doing it at all.  But after just a couple minutes' deliberation, we decided that it was a family vacation and that we all really wanted to do it together.  So we all had to get in our beautiful protective wear to go in.

It was pretty neat.  You first had to go to a computer screen to make your selections of how you wanted your bar made. I didn't get a picture of this set of computers, because there were people waiting behind us, so we had to hurry - especially since the kids changed what they wanted to do to their bars about 2 or 3 times each!  You first had to select white, milk or dark chocolate as your base. Then you were allowed to put 2 fillings in them and then decide if you wanted sprinkles on top. Josh got the most adventurous with a white chocolate base, butterscotch and chocolate chips and then sprinkles on top. I was a little disappointed that they didn't have more filling choices, but it was still a lot of fun.
After you made your selection, you then went and watched the chocolate bar get made.

 After the bar got all its fillings, it then ran under a milk chocolate bath.  The end result was a candy bar that was about 3 times the width of a regular hershey's bar and VERY chocolatey! After the candy bars go through this final step, they have to dry.  As they dry, we were told to go design our packaging at another set of computer screens.

The last picture is the bars getting put in boxes by the machine before they exited and were then packaged in our designed packages in tin collectible containers. I neglected to get a picture of our final products.  But you could choose from designs and colors schemes they had and just add your name or you could get as crazy as you wanted to be and completely design your own. Josh again, got the most creative with his packaging. I was overwhelmed by the choices and felt a little rushed by the people milling around waiting to use the computers and was busy helping the kids too, so mine was pretty basic.

After we finished making our candy bars, we headed up to a Hershey Kiss packaging station that is part of the free exhibits.

The kids are waiting patiently for their turn in their "Factory Worker" hats.

First they had to fill their containers by using a machine that dropped them into the container.  Bella is still wearing the apron from the chocolate bar making.

Then they had to shake the candy down, which was quite a production.

Then they were told to kiss them goodbye as they ran through the packaging machine.

You could pay to have Factory Worker ID badges made and also have their picture put on the Hershey Kiss container, but since we had just paid for the chocolate bars, we had them leave their Hershey Kiss Containers goodbye after we took this picture.  The pictures that they took were really cute and the kids wanted the Hershey Kisses and the containers, but a few minutes after we left, none of us thought of them again!

We went outside and sat on benches and let the kids eat a bite of their candy bars.  It was pretty messy because they were already still a little warm from being made and it was hot outside, but they were really good.  We had a really good time at Chocolate World and it was a good start to our trip. 

We were all getting pretty hungry and we had to go on the search for food in the town nearby.  Since we wanted to go back to our hotel anyway to drop off stuff and get a breather, we just grabbed a pizza from Pizza Hut and took it back to our hotel.  This was definitely a really cheap option for eating too.  Since we already had drinks and chips, it only cost us $10. The kids got to watch t.v. while they ate and Josh and I got to rest a little before we prepared for the next part of the day - a preview evening in Hershey Park!