11
May
2016
|
00:00 AM
America/New_York

9 Reasons You Need To Experience The New Chocolate Tour Ride

Whether it’s your first time or your 100th time in Hershey, Pennsylvania, the newly revamped Hershey’s Chocolate Tour Ride is a must see. This innovative, fun, free ride shows you how Hershey’s chocolate is made complete with new singing cows, Hershey’s product characters and a views of simulated factory equipment. And if you’re like me, the tour ride is a go-to when I need an inside activity for the kids! Luckily, it’s the folks at Chocolate World have refreshed it for 2016.

Fun starts before you get inside with a new photo opportunity

A fun new addition to the ride is the photo experience. Pose for a few pictures before you get on the ride.

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After the ride is complete, you have the opportunity to purchase your photo in a nice stand-up frame with a selection of superimposed backgrounds behind you. There is this cow, as well as an old version of the factory in black and white, a scene with the Hershey’s characters and one in a giant vat of Hershey’s chocolate.

Learn while you are waiting

DSC_1008The experience starts with the new and enhanced queue line. The new graphics, lighting and music make you feel like you are in the jungle where the cocoa plants are harvested immersing you in the chocolate making process immediately.

New catchy song that will be stuck in your head, guaranteed

This new tune plays throughout the ride and is as catchy as its predecessor.

 

Singing Cows

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Hershey's Chocolate World - Chocolate Factory Tour - Baby Cow

This is my kids’ favorite part- they LOVE the cows. The new ride features even more cows in the barnyard scene than in the previous version of the ride. And all six of these new cows have been named by fans of Chocolate World via the website.

In addition to the 7 main cows, there is also a baby cow (so cute!) a pig and a rooster.

Hershey’s Characters

New video of Hershey's Characters

New animatronic Hershey's Characters

New….Hershey, Reese and Kiss characters all make an appearance in the ride! There are dynamic video versions of the characters that help explain the process of chocolate making (above), as well as moving animatronic versions of the characters interspersed in the sets (below).

NEW video lets you see inside the machinery

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It was surprising to me how many steps there are in the chocolate making process. Screening, breaking, mixing, conching…the ride takes you through a total of 15 total steps. The addition of video projection over the factory machinery gives you a clear visual of what is going on inside each machine and brings the process to life in a new way.

It smells like chocolate.

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One of the last steps you go through is refining. This one is special because at this stage, you can SMELL the chocolate. Mmmmm!

Taste the love.

Hershey's Chocolate World - Chocolate Factory Tour - Taste The Love

Hershey's Chocolate World - Chocolate Factory Tour - Taste the Love Finale

The overall theme for the ride is Taste the Love, Share the Love. The words are included in the song that is played and showcased by the Hershey character himself, but the place this theme makes the largest impact is the ride’s final scene where user generated content (aggregated from Twitter and Instagram users using #chocolateworld) is flying around an immersive high definition screen until it is pulled into the top of a Hershey’s Kisses Chocolate. The experience overall is pretty sweet!

Free candy at the end of the ride.

Free candy at the end of the tour is not new, but most certainly worth mentioning! It’s a major draw of the ride for me and my kids. On your walk out of the ride area, everyone is given a free sample of a Hershey’s product. When I rode it was a fun sized Kit Kat Wafer Bar .

When to go

The grand opening of the new Hershey’s Chocolate Tour ride is this Saturday, May 14 starting at 8:30 a.m., so swing by Hershey’s Chocolate World in Hershey, PA this weekend or any day because they are open 364 days a year (closed on Christmas only). Enjoy the sweet new ride!

HCW ride plug