Are you looking to plan a trip to Hershey with kids? We just spent a family weekend in Hershey and I highly recommend you go!
When the weather starts to get a bit warmer, I start itching to get out of town. My 5-year-old had a Kindergarten welcome event on the Thursday before Memorial Day, and I took this as a sign. We needed to extend the long weekend and take a mini vacation.
When we sat down to talk about our long weekend options, one destination rose to the top. We were celebrating the beginning of a new adventure for my 5-year-old, so we leaned into his interests. They happen to include roller coasters. Hersheypark is within reasonable driving distance, so off we went for a family weekend in Hershey!
Things to Know
We live about a four-hour drive from Hershey, Pennsylvania, so it’s a perfect weekend destination for us. Close enough to be manageable, but far enough away that it’s hard to do as a day trip.
My kids are 5 and 3. As I mentioned, my 5-year-old loves roller coasters and any opportunity to go faster and higher. My 3-year-old hadn’t been to an amusement park, but she’s typically game for anything.
Our family weekend in Hershey coincided with the front half of the Memorial Day long weekend. We arrived on Thursday and left on Saturday and visited Hersheypark on Friday. This plan worked best with our family’s schedule but, in hindsight, I would probably pick another time. The Friday before Memorial Day in Hersheypark was exceptionally crowded with school groups going on end of the year trips. We still had fun, of course, but we didn’t think about this when we planned our trip. I wanted to note this as you plan your family weekend in Hershey.
Now that you have the background, let’s get into what we did on our family weekend in Hershey.
Family Weekend in Hershey
Day 1 – Arrive in Hershey
From my house, Hershey is about a 4-hour drive. We packed lots of screen-free travel activities and their tablets to make the ride go by quickly for the kids. As I mentioned, we had a welcome to Kindergarten event in the morning on the day we left, so we left at about noon. This was perfect because the house we rented in Hershey had a check-in time of 4:00 pm.
Rental house
Speaking of the house we rented, I highly recommend this house if you’re planning a family weekend in Hershey. The house is located in nearby Palmyra, and was about a 7-minute drive to Hersheypark. It was a nicely appointed 3-bedroom, 1-bathroom house, but where it truly shone was in the basement. Oh my gosh, the basement! It had a comfy couch and a huge TV, but also a ping pong table, an arcade basketball game, skee-ball, foosball, and a bean bag toss. My kids spent every waking moment that we were in the house down in this fantastic basement.
The only negative we saw about this house was the water pressure in the shower. But if you can get over that, you won’t be disappointed renting this house for your family weekend in Hershey.
Dinner at Troegs
After we unloaded at the rental house, we were hungry and went in search of food. Directly adjacent to Hersheypark is another mecca – Troegs Independent Brewing. This location houses not only their manufacturing facility, but also a retail shop and a tasting room that also includes a snack bar. My husband and I both like to try different local beers when we travel, so we threw the kids in the car and headed to Troegs.
If you’re looking for fine dining, Troegs is not the place for you. But, if you are looking for a fun, kid-friendly atmosphere with good beer and tasty food, Troegs is a great option! We were met at the entrance by a super friendly host who gave us the run-down of how things worked. He also handed the kids a pack of Wiki Sticks each to keep them busy and happy during dinner. After we picked a seat, a roaming bartender came by to take our drink order. We both opted to make our own flights. Then we headed to the snack bar to order our food. The beer was delicious (my favorite was the Field Study) and the food was tasty too! We got a pretzel, sausage roll bites, the chicken sandwich, and a grilled cheese and tomato soup and there wasn’t a dud in the bunch!
On our way out, we stopped at the retail store to pick up a 12-pack of Field Study and a magnet (our traditional souvenir when we travel as a family). Our roaming bartender had given us a coupon for the retail store (excluding alcohol), so take this as a reminder to be kind to your service staff!
Day 2 – Hersheypark
Hersheypark was the real reason for our family weekend in Hershey, so Day 2 was the main event. The park was open from 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on the day of our visit. This seems to vary depending on the day, so check the park hours before you go!
Parking
I highly recommend that you purchase your tickets and parking pass prior to your arrival on Hersheypark’s website. We scored a buy one-get one free promotion on our park tickets and got a $9 discount on the daily parking rate. If you’re planning a family weekend in Hershey, go online and check out the deals!
Measure your kids
Before you enter the park, there is a very important wall. This wall shows the height categories for riding certain rides. The littlest kids (under 36” tall) are Miniatures. Up next are the Kisses (36”-42”). Then come the Reese’s (42”-54”), the Hershey’s (48”-54”), the Twizzler (54”-60”), and the Jolly Rancher (60” and taller). You can easily read the signs at the front of each attraction to determine which rides your kids are eligible to ride based on their corresponding candy. My 5-year-old was a Reese’s and my 3-year-old was a Kiss.
Patience
You really need to pack your patient pants when you head to Hersheypark during your family weekend in Hershey. The lines at the roller coasters are very long, and the day we went, even the lines at the kiddie rides were 30+ minutes. If you don’t bring your patient pants, you’re destined to have a bad day at Hersheypark.
Hersheypark does provide an add-on service called Fast Track that will shorten your wait time in the lines for the most popular rides. The day we went to Hersheypark, this add-on service cost $150 per ticket, so it wasn’t worth it to us. I would check the price for the day you’re planning to go to Hersheypark so you can determine whether the extra price will be worth it for your family.
Stroller
If you have a child in your party who is 4 or younger, I implore you to bring a stroller. Even if this child doesn’t typically ride in a stroller, you will definitely want a stroller for your day at Hersheypark. You will be doing a ton of walking at Hersheypark and the hills are no joke. My 3-year-old usually resists a ride in the stroller, but she was willing to jump in at Hersheypark, especially as the day wore on.
A stroller also comes in handy to hold your stuff. The day we went to Hersheypark was rainy and chilly, so we stashed our rain jackets and sweatshirts in the basket under the stroller. We also had plenty of space for our water bottles (Hersheypark allows you to bring in one sealed, filled water bottle per person or one empty reusable water bottle per person). Hydration is always important!
Off-site dinner
We had a very pleasant day at Hersheypark, but right around 5:00 or 5:30 p.m., we were all getting tired and hungry. We didn’t really want to stand in long lines for another fast food meal at the park, so we decided to call it a day and find an off-site restaurant for dinner. After some Googling and calling around to surmise wait times for a table, we landed on Rubber Soul, a craft brewery and restaurant in nearby Hummelstown, PA.
We lucked into another gem for dinner with Rubber Soul. We were seated immediately on a Friday night at prime dinner hour, and coloring pages and crayons were offered to the kids with their kids’ menus. My husband and I started off with a beer (he got J1M and I got the Fresh Dew) that was just what the doctor ordered. The food was good too! We ordered the brussels sprouts appetizer, the brisket French dip, a special Cuban sandwich, and pretzel bites and a cheese pizza for the kids. I would order it all again!
Day 3 – Chocolate World and Leave
You can’t have a family weekend in Hershey without a stop at Chocolate World. It’s a must-do, at least once!
Factory Tour
So, the factory tour is a little bit deceptive. It’s not an actual tour of the chocolate factory, but a ride that takes you through a mocked-up factory and explains the chocolate-making process. It was more entertainment than education, but it was fun, especially for the kids. You get a little Hershey bar at the end, so that was worth riding the ride for to us!
Store
Chocolate World has add-on cost experiences, but we decided to stick to the free factory tour and then a browse around the shop, which constitutes most of Chocolate World. You can buy basically any Hershey product, edible and not, at Chocolate World. One notable exception is that they do not sell logo golf balls, which was a bummer for us because my husband collects them everywhere we go.
We opted to have the kids make their own sampler of chocolate. You can choose any size sampler from a small bag to a big bucket and fill it with whatever you want in the make-your-own area. They had favorites like Reese’s cups and Hershey bars and also new products like Jolly Rancher chews and Cotton Candy Hershey bars. The kids loved choosing the candy to add to their bags – it was an experience and a souvenir that didn’t break or get lost as soon as we got home!
Leave
After about an hour at Chocolate World (you can stay up to 3 hours with free parking), it was time for us to hit the road. We had to pick up our pup and tell her all about our fun weekend in Hershey.
And with that, our family weekend in Hershey came to an end. It was such a nice break from our routine, filled with family fun and chocolate. We will be back to Hershey!
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So, are you ready to plan your family weekend in Hershey? If you have any questions or suggestions for things to do in Hershey, please leave them below or over on Instagram @sarainseason.