Hershey’s Chocolate World & Lancaster County

Another trip we take every time we go to DC is to Lancaster County and Hershey. I love Lancaster County. Donuts (cheese danish! Coconut Long John!) at the Central Market are a must for us! If you get a chance, go to Costco in Lancaster. They have Horse and Buggy Parking!! (no Joke!) And there is usually a horse and buggy or two there. So cool! My kids love Kitchen Kettle Village too – mainly to try all the free samples of Jam, salsa, and dips! Bird in a Hand Market has GREAT apple cider too! If you have the time, try one of the Smorgasboards – YUM!


Hershey is just a fun stop. The street lights are topped with Hershey Kisses. I’ve even taken a Chocolate Bath at the Spa at the Hershey Hotel. I’ve always wanted to bathe in chocolate, and now I can say I have! I didn’t do it this time, but we had lots of other plans instead.

Hershey’s Chocolate World has lots of shopping and food options. We LOVE The free ride/”factory tour” they offer. We have ridden it so many times. Seriously, one trip, I think we rode it 10 times…. They recently remodeled the ride and made some changes. Some of the improvements were good, some not as good. I miss the catchy jingle the cows used to sing “It’s a milk chocolate… Tasty Treat… It’s a milk chocolate..” We have the whole thing on video somewhere in our cloud. The new song is not nearly as catchy and entertaining. I can’t even remember it. However, some of the technical advances were a nice improvement though.

Plus, you get FREE Chocolate at the end of the ride!!! So worth it! Maybe that is why we did it 10 times in a row…

This will always be a must visit for us. We are suckers for chocolate and a free ride (that ends with FREE chocolate!)

You can easily do Lancaster County and Hershey Chocolate World in a day. If you want Donuts at the Central Market, be sure to get there EARLY, or they run out!  Also, bring CASH to the market – most places don’t take credit card. Stoltzfus Homestyle Bakery has the best donuts. We’ve tried others, and theirs are by far the BEST!