Hershey Park December 2023

We made a quick, two-day trip up to Hershey. We stayed at the Hershey Lodge (which will get its own post) and went for a short day (noon to about 6 p.m.; it was open from noon to 9 p.m.) at the park. Amazingly, lots of rides were open over the Christmas holiday period, though obviously not the water rides. Pennsylvania gets chilly in the winter! A free shuttle from the Lodge took us to the park just as it was opening.

First view of the park

Our first ride, for the more adventurous members of the family, was Candymonium, the newest rollercoaster at the park. I was very excited and not at all disappointed. It's a steel rollercoaster completed in 2020 with a top speed of 76 mph. One ten-year old behind us was crying when he got off the ride. I am glad we didn't make our nine-year old ride (he went with Mom to gentler rides like the carousel and tilt-a-whirl).

The sign and myself

The end and the beginning of the ride

I was delighted to see a Nativity scene in the park. Yay Christmas!

The reason for the season

One of the pavilions was set up as a "Visit Santa" station but since we went on December 30th, jolly old Saint Nick was nowhere to be found. All the decorated trees was fun to look around.

My kids don't believe in Santa anyway

On our way from Candymonium, we spotted Mom and the youngest on the Tilt-a-Whirl.

Enjoying the ride

Our next experience was Reese's Cupfusion, which had a long line (we waited about an hour). Each car in the ride has four chairs, each with a "power gun" either for powering up the Reese's factory through which we rode or for stunning (not killing) the bad guys in the factory who were trying to cause mayhem. The bad guys had their own story: They are reject candies (they didn't pass Quality Control) and want to wipe out the good candies so they'd have a chance on the market.

The good and the bad (who is also ugly)

The ride records scores at the end, which was interesting. None of us made it into the Hall of Fame.

Mom had to ride with others

Next, we went to the Hershey Triple Tower which takes riders high up into the air and then drops them. The trip has some smaller surprises but is fun and gives a good view from the top. I did not take pictures from the top because I did not want to lose my phone!

At the base

The Three Towers

The oldest kids and I went on the highest, leaving Mom and the youngest to ride the middle tower. The lowest tower wasn't running (not enough customers). Mom eventually bailed out on our youngest, who rode bravely alone.

Strapping in

About to ascend

After that intense experience, we walked over to the Twin Turnpike Speedway for some calmer action.

A decorous route

Driving the speedway

Dad and youngest

Eldest driving on his own

Another Christmas decoration in the park

Looking for a nine-year-old appropriate coaster, we rode the Cocoa Cruiser, which is not very death-defying but still enjoyable. A lot of families were riding it thanks to the lower height requirements.

We saw this as we got on

Cocoa Cruisin'!

It started to get dark so we went on one last ride, Pirate. It's one of those ships that swings back and forth, giving you the feeling of zero-gravity and maybe a queasy stomach. It was another fun ride.

The boat in dock

The poor saps in front of us in line!

By this point we were a bit exhausted and the Hershey Park App was saying the other rides we thought of riding had hour-long waits. We decided to go back to the Lodge for dinner.

More Christmas decor on the way out

Where we started is where we ended