After our excursion to Indian Echo Caverns, we decided to stop in at nearby Hershey and do the Hershey World tour. I am not sure why this was considered to be a good idea. We had, after all, been before, not long after we emigrated to America. There was, therefore, no new experience to engage everyone in. It also did not serve a logistical function of breaking a journey up since it was such a short distance from the Caverns. I also have this general trepidation about returning to things relatively soon after a previous visit. Somehow the second visit is always mired in disengagement, moodiness, challenging behaviour, and discontent.
The boys enjoyed doing the silly “tour” again. So much so that they insisted on doing it twice. This experience involves sitting in carriages as we are moved past mock-ups of the various stages and processes of Hershey’s chocolate production. It does qualify as being educational, so there’s that, but what my kids actually like about it are the animatronic cows and their incessantly earwormish Motown singing.
They then wanted to do the chocolate creating activity but that would cost $16 each. Especially since three of them had done it before, that was not going to happen. The same was true of the other paid for activities. We, therefore, compromised and gave them a small amount of money each and told them they could spend it in the on site shop. They thought that was a lush sweet treat, of course, but in actuality it was an opportunity to have them put their mathematical skills into practical action since they had to budget and make value for money judgments. Instead of begging for more money, they got me to take photos of them with tempting items that were outside of their budget. Everyone came away happy and we could head home with smiling faces.
For someone who does’t love American chocolate, this sounds like hell.
My father, for reasons I can’t possibly explain, went to Hershey Pennsylvania when he gave up smoking. Well, I can partly explain it. He figured he’d be horrible to be around, so he went somewhere no one knew him. And he could get there on the train. (The war was still on, so where you could and couldn’t get to was an issue.) Beyond that, it’s anyone’s guess. The whole town smelled of chocolate. Predictably enough, he hated the place forever after.
Thanks for sharing that snippet of family history. Did it put your father off chocolate I wonder? I did not partake of the chocolate. I left that to the kids. I do love the smell though. The whole town reeks of chocolate. I imagine one might tire of that if resident there but it definitely beats a lot of other odours a town could stink of.
I don’t remember my father being a big fan of chocolate, but he didn’t run out of the room screaming when we ate it.
The thing about the smell–at least if you work in it, as opposed to living in it–is that it gets into everything. When I worked at a candy factory, a guy I went out with once told me my hair smelled like chocolate. I’m sure it did, but I can’t say I went weak at the knees.
Second visits are always dodgy, we’ve loved places and gone back again only to be totally disappointed. I would love to go here though, taking pictures of stuff outside the budget is a great idea, I might use that one!!
The photo idea came to me because I use that to get the kids to part with all sort of things, like favourite clothes. “We have umpteen photos of you wearing that hoodie so you don’t need to keep it”. Yes, I really need to learn the repeat visit thing. Return visits are a success when we allow enough time to lapse between visits that it is almost like visiting for the first time but not enough time had passed and it fell a bit flat for that reason. Still, it was free (other than the spending money) and was a detour rather than a specific destination so it was not a problem.
OMG! There should be laws agains selling chocolate bars that big! That’s insane! I’m happy to know that it stayed in the store. LOL
Did you spot the price of it? There was not a chance it was coming home with us.
I actually thought it was a decent price for the amount of chocolate. Haha. It just seems soooooo wrong to make them that big.
Chocolates galore!!!! Your kids and I could have a grand time in there. If only I could kick diabetes away for more chocolates.
It was definitely full of tempting things.