I’m a Disney mom through and through, but tragically I am not a Disney World local! We manage 1 to 2 trips a year, which is never enough. We’re grateful to have the income to manage that. When we can’t regularly visit the parks, we like to look for a Disney magic a little closer to home. Enter here – Hershey Park! At just a 3-hour drive rather than a 3-hour flight, Hershey Park is MUCH cheaper to get to. Added bonus, the 3-hour mark is halfway between us and my parents. It made for a great choice to vacation together so they could spend time with their grandchild without one of needing to hike the 6 hours to the other.
So what’s it like to navigate the sweetest place on earth (really, that’s their tag) when you frequent the happiest place on earth? Read on to find out.
Hershey Park
Have you ever heard of Hershey Park? I feel like folks who live outside of the tri-state area might not have. Fun fact – the theme park originated as a fun picnic area for Hershey factory employees and their families. Wild, right?
Today, the park is actually three parks in one. There’s the main amusement park, a fully-fledged water park, AND a zoo. Like Disney World, you also have the option to stay on-property or off-property.
Disney World vs. Hershey Park
Vibe Check
Vibe wise, Hershey Park is VERY different from Disney World. While Disney World has a lot of immersive dark rides (think Peter Pan’s Flight and Pirates of the Caribbean), Hershey Park is primarily filled with roller coasters and outdoor rides. In this way, it often gave vibes closer to a Six Flags park than a Disney park.
The layout of Hershey Park is also unique from Disney. While the Disney parks were all intentionally designed to be as accessible as possible (i.e. for strollers and scooters), Hershey Park is VERY hilly. There were parts of the park where we were either holding on the stroller for dear life so it wouldn’t speed down a hill, or putting every ounce of our body weight into pushing up-hill. Your EPCOT calves will be put to the test!
That being said though, the park was very clean and all the staff (i.e. “cast members”) were super friendly.
Price Point
It shouldn’t be surprising to hear that there’s a huge difference in price between Hershey Park and Disney World. My mom snagged our park tickets during an off-season (also important to note – Hershey is only open daily through the summer with weekend-only seasonal events). She paid about $45 per adult ticket. As a Disney mom, this number is jarring. Disney World has much, much bigger parks, the cheapest you’ll ever find single-park day tickets is around $100. To this point, we’re also under the impression that Hershey Park regularly runs promotions on their park tickets. For example, for the 4th of July, they has a special where you could purchase a kids park ticket for $17.76. Hershey’s price point coupled with it being in driving distance for us made it a much, much more cost-effective family trip than Disney World.
Translating Disney Tech to Hershey Tech
If you’ve ever used the My Disney Experience app, the Hershey Park app is a piece of cake. It’s MUCH simpler than the My Disney Experience app and doesn’t have anywhere near the number of bells and whistles. The Hershey Park app will keep you posted on wait times – which is actually insanely important. Unlike Disney World, there are not posted wait times outside of any ride queues. This was weird for us! We has a moment where we considered getting in line for the Hershey Park monorail, but then we checked the app and saw it was a 40-minute wait. Excuse you, I can walk right onto the Disney World monorail as I please, with minimal wait.
HPGO vs. Lightning Lane
Hershey Park does have an equivalent to the Disney Lightning Lane system. This is the Fast Track add on. If you do a side-by-side comparison between the two, the Fast Track add on is actually more comparable to the Lightning Lane Premier Pass (LLPP). With the add on, you get to skip most of the lines of the major rides, including the roller coasters. This add on was posted at $45. Since we barely paid that price for the tickets, we didn’t want to literally double-down our money. Since we were primarily visiting Hershey for our toddler’s entertainment, we didn’t really see the need. Obviously if you’re visiting the park with older children and thrill seekers, this could well be worth. This can be especially true if you snag the park tickets for a bargain price!
Preview Plan
While we didn’t take advantage of Hershey’s Preview Plan, we can certainly see ourselves doing do so in the future. Whenever you buy a park ticket, you’re entitled to also visit Hershey Park the evening before your park day for free. Specifically, you can enter the park 2 hours before closing, and ride to your little heart’s content. Imagine if they did this at Disney World?? Instead of going to one of the water parks on your check-in day, you could pop over to Magic Kingdom for the fireworks? That would be amazing. Also worth noting that if you’re staying on property, your preview is bumped up to 3 hours before park closing.
Finding the Resort Bubble
Like Disney World, Hershey has official Hershey Resorts. Since Hershey Park doesn’t have anywhere near the scale as Disney World, there are only four options: The Hotel Hershey, Hershey Lodge, and Hershey Inn & Suites, and the Hershey Park Camping Resort. Staying at any of the options include complimentary shuttling to and from Hershey Park, as well as entry into Hershey Park 3 hours before park closing as part of the Preview Plan as opposed to the standard 2.
- The Hotel Hershey: This has vibes of the Grand Floridian. It’s very high-end with a spa and multiple indoor pools.
- Hershey Lodge: Playing the compare/contrast game, this would the equivalent to the Wilderness Lodge. It’s a little more family friendly with an indoor water park and also has some character meets. One limitation for the Lodge would be that their maximum occupancy of any room is 4 people. If you’re traveling with a bigger group, you’d need to book multiple rooms to account for more than that.
- Hershey Inn & Suites: This is the newest addition to the on-property options for Hershey Park. They’re the most budget friendly, and would be comparable to any of the value resort options at Disney World. An extra perk for this would be the option to book a family suite, which can host up to 6 people and has bunk beds.
- Hershey Park Camping Resort: This one’s for the Fort Wildnerness fans. This has never been my style, but I know many families who happily pack of the camper to adventure out!
The Ride Breakdown
Adorably, height requirements are designated as different candies at Hershey Park. Our toddler is only the smaller side, so they were still a Hershey’s Miniature and their ride options were the most limited. Maybe next year they’ll have grown enough to be a Hershey’s Kiss!
With that in mind, we had to be mindful of what rides they could actually do. Several times we found ourselves in a challenging spot. At ~21 months old, there were several rides Skippy could ride, but we were not permitted to ride with. These were “children only” rides. Skippy wasn’t quite where they needed to be to fly solo (i.e. we’re not 100% on listening to instructions, and not thrilled with being “abandoned” on theme park ride for 45 seconds). If you have even a semi-clingy toddler, this could be an issue.
For everyone else who are Reese’s and above (42″+), the coasters start to come into play. Some of the coasters with lower height restrictions like Comet would be great for fans of Space Mountain.
Food & Snacks – Beyond the Chocolate
Did we buy a gratuitous amount of chocolate in Hershey Park? Yes. Yes, we did. Getting candy at Hershey Park is kind of mandatory, and it’s also cost effective. We got several bulk-sized bags for bargain prices. That’s not so say there’s not a lot of fun park food to try as well though! As a self-proclaimed Disney foodies, I read up on the options. Grab king sized shakes and hand-rolled pretzels alongside your more standard theme park fare. One of our favorites, and was highly recommended were the famous crab fries at Chickie’s & Pete’s. They were awesome. If you love old bay seasoning, you’ll love these.
For folks navigating the park with food allergies, I don’t think Hershey Park holds up to quite the same gold standard. That’s not to say they don’t have good options though. They’re just not quite as inclusive with gluten-free or nut-free options are virtually every food stand. We can’t all be Disney World in this regard.
Top 3 Disney Mom Tips for Hershey Park
- Start at the back of the park. Folks will RUSH to Candymonium as this coaster is right through the front gate. We watched that line jump from 5 minutes to 180 in an instant. Like you might rope-drop Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, start at the back of the park.
- If you have multiple strollers at home, bring your lightest one. The hills are no joke!
- Pack a swimsuit and ziplock bags. The water park (the Boardwalk) is included in your park ticket and is located in the middle Hershey Park. This is distinct from Disney World where you’d be going to an entirely different park.
Conclusion
Can a Disney mom find magic at Hershey Park? Yep, and it tastes like chocolate. If a Disney trip just isn’t in your budget, consider checking out your regional options. Don’t be afraid to step outside the Disney bubble! Hershey Park really surprised us. What’s your favorite local(ish) park? Let us know in the comments!
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