I have been to Hershey Park multiple times in the past but this was my first time visiting Hershey Park Christmas Candylane. Me and my family were fortunate enough to be able to make it this year. As many of you know going to a theme park comes with packed parking lots and long lines. Well at this time of year it is a much more pleasurable experience. Not all the larger rides are open but we were visiting with small children so that was not an issue. We tricked our children into thinking we were just going to chocolate world, which is free and we have done multiple times and they did not figure out we were going to the actual park until we were already inside. The kids immediately started getting on rides over and over, once again because of the less volume of people there were barely any lines if a line at all. We made our way through the park while it was still daylight out and got pretty much all the rides done by nightfall. That is when this time of year really shines. Lights are everywhere and we managed to find ourselves by a creek with all the lit up trees right at the beginning of a light and sound show. All the trees changed colors and turned on and off to various songs and it was truly a great experience. We went and saw Santa and got the kids pictures taken, also barely a line. We also visited the reindeer barn and the employees answered all the kids questions about Santa’s magic reindeer. The kids had an absolute blast. One thing about this park that never changes no matter what time of year is the food prices. EAT BEFORE YOU COME. the food is astronomically expensive. Not even just a little over priced, ridiculously over priced. I think a cheese burger was almost $9 and chicken and fries was Almost $13. Don’t quote me on the prices but that’s not an exaggeration. One little gem I found was the kettle corn popcorn guy. I have a picture that shows massive bags of delicious kettle corn that is actually very reasonably priced. The top bags in the picture were only $6 I believe and held the entire family off until we left to get regular priced food. If you have the opportunity to visit during the Christmas season I would absolutely recommend it.

We visited here during April Break. They have a reservation system in order to keep the crowds manageable for covid. I have NO IDEA what their typical capacity is but It can’t really be anymore than what we saw because the crowds and waits were ridiculous. I don’t think the point is to have less rides open with less crowds as that just makes the lines just as long for the rides that ARE open, but that’s what happened. Several rides weren’t open so the ones that were had waits of 1-3 hours. Part of this was due to the crowds, part was due to their fast pass system (which means they go on every ride before the people standing in line), and part was due to the complete inefficiency of the staff for some of the rides. It took 10 minutes between each bumper car group due to the slowness of the man running the ride, and this wasn’t the only one that had the issue. Pros are: large variety of food and drink. The majority of people were wearing masks Cost of park Provisions was a cool upscale shop Cons: waits were WAY too long No social distancing Inefficiency of workers I would recommend the fast past if you can swing the cost but I think HP needs to revisit their fast past system or you’ll lose customers.

We come to Hershey Park for the Christmas season. We go with a group of family members in age range now from 14 to 75 and we all have fun! The park opened for Christmas has nice rides open (although they could probably have more rides open and would be used but maybe not profitable for them to run). There are food shops open ( again could open more but may not be profitable). The zoo is open, shows are running, characters are there and have a building that you could go in and take photos(free with your camera and they don’t mind) with them, and yes Santa!!! The light show is great, the seal show was nice but could be a little longer( but I am sure the handlers get cold), The park is big enough of what is open that we spend the full day from opining to closing there, yet small and safe enough that at the ages everyone are we can split up and go do what our interests are yet pass each other and talk. We love Hershey this time of year and is well worth the entrance fee! It has been our family tradition for the past 10 years and ever year the park gets better and better. We can’t wait till next year!