"Springtime" in the Park
After visiting the opening day of Springtime in the Park at Hersheypark, I went over to Hershey’s Chocolate World to try the Create Your Own Candy Bar attraction again. Yes, again. I have done this before but did not take my camera the last time (I honestly didn’t think you were allowed to take them in – you are) so I had to have a do-over to get some pictures.
And just so you know, I’m snacking on my bar as I write this.
The last time I did the Create Your Own Candy Bar was on a Friday in March. It was a fairly busy day because the weather was good, but it was nothing compared to the summer season or even this very busy spring Saturday.
Chocolate World was full of bus tours and there must have been a cheerleading event at the Giant Center because every place you looked were young girls in heavy makeup carrying cell phones and sporting hair bows, sequins and way-too-short-for-40F weather skirts.
Before I get into the details of this trip report, I want to mention some very key points if you want to make your own candy bar. Most of this is described in their FAQ but few people read it. There are some unusual rules and situations surrounding this attraction and they are stuck to without any exceptions by the staff so don’t expect to get around them.
- You will get a ticket for a specific time and you can begin lining up 15 minutes ahead of time. If you do not make your time they will not allow you in for another one.
- 45 tickets are available for each time slot and the time slots are 15 minutes apart.
- Every person over the age of 2 must have their own $14.95 ticket even if you just want to watch and not make a candy bar. This includes parents of small children. You must BOTH have a ticket to enter, even if you just want to help your child. What I’ve been told when I asked is that you are paying for the factory experience, not the candy bar. You WILL be turned away at the door if you do not have a ticket and if there are no more tickets for that time slot available to purchase you will not be able to join your party – this could be a problem for the parent of a child who is too small to go on their own. (There is an observation area on the second floor where you can watch, but that won’t help parents with small children who may need your help.)
- Strollers are NOT allowed in the attraction. You must park your strollers OUTSIDE Chocolate World in the designated area. Infants in infant carriers ARE permitted but will be required to wear hair nets if they have hair. Please keep this rule in mind if you are family group that has more children than adults. I saw one poor family who had already purchased their tickets try to handle an infant, a non-walking toddler and a 3 year old through this attraction. They didn’t have an infant carrier so one parent each carried a child through the attraction while trying to keep the 3 year old focused. They did not enjoy their visit.
- Everyone will be REQUIRED to wear a hair net and an apron. If you have a beard or stubble you will have to wear a beard net. Children are included in these rules. I have seen two toddlers completely melt down over this so be warned. If you run into this, the best solution is to have someone stay outside with the toddler and have the other person run through the attraction with the other people’s tickets. You will at least get your candy bars out of the deal.
- If you have any jewelry or nail polish on your fingers or wrists you will be REQUIRED to wear gloves. Yes, nail polish.
- If you have exposed jewelry you will need to remove it or cover it up with clothing.
- Your ticket with the bar code is the key to EVERYTHING. Do NOT lose it.
- This is a shared line and all bars move through the same locations so people with allergies or sensitivities to peanuts, tree nuts, milk, soy and wheat are advised they should not eat the candy bar.
- You will be standing the entire time you are in this attraction and there are no places to sit down inside. It can take more than an hour to get through this attraction if the line goes down (which it has EVERY time I’ve been there.)
So, all that fine print aside, let me tell you about my trip. One note of warning: if you want to do this attraction and not know in DETAIL what happens, do not read this section. It will spoil it for you.
I purchased a ticket for the 1:00pm candy bar making session at 9:30am in the morning and it was good I did. By 12:15pm they were sold out until after 3:00pm. If you have a specific time frame in mind to make your candy bar, buy your tickets as soon as you arrive to ensure you get the time slot you’d like. Once 45 are sold that time slot is closed.
When you purchase your ticket they will ask you for a name. That is the name that shows on all screens and signs throughout the whole attraction – everyone can see it when the candy bar is being made – so don’t pick something you’d be embarrassed to see in public. It will also be the default value for your candy bar wrapper but you can change that in your design.
When I visited in March, my time slot was also at 1:00pm and I was surprised when I got there at 12:50pm that there was already a very long line. I was about fifth from the end. So this time I wanted to get there to be nearer the front so I arrived at 12:35. Well, there were already 10 people ahead of me for the 1:00pm time slot.
The queue for Create Your Own Candy Bar is awful. The actual designated area is very small, only about 8 feet, so the line snakes in between all the sales displays and it is hard to know exactly where it is. Frankly this is horrible planning on Chocolate World’s part. They know 45 people can’t line up in 8 feet of space and with people coming so early it is more like 100 people. Be ready to wait.
So I got into what I thought was the line. It was. At 12:50 they finally started letting the 12:45 group in. By the time the beginning of the 1:00pm group got to the front it was 1:02pm. There was one late comer for 12:45 and they did let him in ahead of us so if you are a little late you’ll probably be OK.
Behind me was a family of five who only had 4 tickets. They were hoping to get Dad in free since he was there to help the youngest child, not make a candy bar. I advised them I’d seen people turned away on my last trip for not having a ticket but thought since the child was 3 they might let him in. They didn’t. Dad had to wait in the observation area while Mom led the 3 kids – 12, 7 and 3 – through the attraction. She had her hands full but they did still seem to have fun.
On my April trip, we got fitted for our hairnets and aprons while in line which did save some time. You must tuck ALL your hair under the hair net. And if men have beards or even stubble you will be given a beard net to wear on your face. Here is something to think about for family’s with young children.
Kids don’t always like being told what to do. I was behind a family of four who had a young toddler with them, I’d guess 2 ½ – 3. She was screaming her head off about the apron which she did not want to wear. We passed them by as we went into the attraction while they continued to fight with her about the apron. (I did see the family in line behind me to make their bars about a half hour later and the girl was still crying but the apron was on.)
After the hairnets and aprons you go inside in small groups. On my March trip everyone was asked to check their belongings in a locker and only purses and cameras were allowed inside. On my April trip they let you carry in whatever you wanted.
The attendant here will inspect your hands. If you have any jewelry or nail polish on you will be asked to wear gloves. Both times I slipped my wedding ring off into my pocket because I don’t like gloves. One woman would not remove her bracelet and was asked to wear gloves because of this.
Orientation Area
You will watch a short video on how you will make your candy bar and then you go into a room with several touch terminals to select the base and inclusions for your candy bar. You scan your ticket and your information pops up. The name you gave when you bought your ticket is the one you will see on everything from now on.
Inclusions
On both my trips we had a base choice of milk chocolate, white chocolate or dark chocolate. My understanding is that sometimes you do not have a choice and only milk chocolate is used. Be aware that every candy bar is enrobed in milk chocolate anyway so the dark or white base doesn’t show at all, just milk chocolate.
Once you select the base (if you have a choice) you will get to choose what goes inside the bar – the inclusions. I think this probably varies but my choices were: milk chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, pretzel bits, chocolate cookie crumbs, almonds and butter toffee crunch. You can pick as many or as few as you like. If you just want a darn big chocolate bar, choose the milk chocolate base and no inclusions. As your bar goes through the enrobing machine the base will fill with chocolate.
Then it will ask if you want sprinkles on the bar. The color of the sprinkles from my March to April trips changed but you don’t get to pick a color.
After you’ve selected your bar details the next step is to go into the Factory Line where the candy bar is made. You may need to wait here if there is a backup. I did not have to wait in March but did have to wait about 5 minutes in April. Once you are allowed in, you will go through a set of double doors and then you will wait in another line to start your candy bar rolling. The order that people scan their bars in at this point is the order they will be throughout the rest of the attraction.
In March I waited for about 5 minutes to scan my ticket and get my candy bar rolling once through the double doors. In April my wait was 25 minutes since the line stopped three times because packing boxes were getting stuck. Again there isn’t room for all the people that will be dumped into this room when it’s busy.
Waiting in Line
We were lined up back and forth (without dividing ropes or anything) in three rows while waiting our turn. There is no place to sit or move at this point. You just wait. If you are claustrophobic or if you don’t like crowded conditions, this may bother you. Luckily the room has a high ceiling which kept me from feeling trapped. Hopefully you have games on your cell phone.
When it is your turn the attendant will check your hands again to make sure you are wearing gloves if you are supposed to be and give you some if you need them. They may also ask you to cover or remove jewelry. The woman in front of me had to zip up her hoodie to cover her necklace.
Finally it's my turn - 25 minutes later.
Then you will scan your ticket and your information will pop up on the screen. When the attendant says its time, you pull down a lever to start your candy bar rolling. You turn to your left to see the candy bar base dropped onto the line and then follow the bar through the process.
My name in lights under my bar
Your bar travels the length of the bar making process from the inclusions to the chocolate enrobing section and the sprinkle application. As it passes each inclusion the name on your ticket will show in lights on a sign under the addition. You can watch the measured amount being dropped in.
Sign on window missing letters
There are white signs on the glass that explain what each process is, but unfortunately many of them are now incomplete since they can be scratched off. (Click on the picture above to enlarge it to see the details.) It would be nice if Hershey would maintain these signs so people can learn from the experience.
Mmmm... butter toffee crunch
On my March trip we passed through this area without incident but on my April trip the line stopped twice due to problems with the packaging boxes. You are crammed into this section with nothing to do but wait until the line starts again.
A Milk Chocolate Shower
Once all your inclusions have been put in, the chocolate bar is sent through the shower of chocolate that enrobes the bar with milk chocolate. This is really neat to watch and you can track the pipes the carry the chocolate from this section to the vat of chocolate on your left where it is sent back again.
If you requested sprinkles this is where you will see them put on.
Packaging Design Terminal
At this point you will go to another room with touch screens to design your packaging while your candy bar goes through a long cooling tunnel. Once again you scan your ticket and your information comes up on the screen.
Love these walls - 4 color printing explained here
The design room was my favorite part of this experience because of the information about product packaging on the walls (believe me, you may have a long time to look at these walls.) The touch screens give you some ready-made label options or you can do a custom design. You can change images, colors and all of that. The label you are designing is the one that goes on the outside tin your bar is packaged in. The actual candy bar wrapper -its really a box, this is a thick bar - is the same for everyone with the exception of a laser tag with your ID on it.
Arrival times of bars
Once you are happy with your design you approve it and then you wait for your bar to be ready. There is a screen with the names of people who have finished the design on it and how long the wait will be until your bar is received at the packaging area.
Keep in mind that no matter how fast you design your label, the chocolate bars will always be in the same order. Because of this your name may actually drop in the list as people in front of you finish their designs and have their names added, but your wait time will remain the same since this is the time it will exit the cooling tunnel.
Be ready if you want pictures of your bar being packaged because people do not understand how this process works – they think as soon as they finish their label their bar will show up. This means that often there is a mob of people in the packaging area waiting when their bars are far away and it can keep you from seeing your bar come through.
What I did to know when to go over to the arrival area was figure out what person’s bar was in front of mine and then when I saw their name displayed on the arrival screen in the packaging area I went over to see my own bar come in next. While I waited I checked out the info on the design room walls.
Not my bar...
Once your bar arrives it goes down a belt to be put into its wrapper box. Then the wrapper is laser tagged with your information. You can see this happening – pretty neat. (One word of caution, your zip code will be displayed on your bar if that kind of things bothers you.) From there it goes to the attendants at the end of the line who box it up, put on your label and slide your ticket underneath the label.
That’s it!
In March this whole process took about 35 minutes not counting time waiting in line (I waited in line 15 minutes.) In April it took over an hour not counting time waiting in line (I waited in line 35 minutes.) I was assured by several attendants that the line doesn’t often go down but I experienced it on both my trips so I’m not sure I believe that.
So, what did my candy bar look like? Here is the outside tin label.
My Masterpiece!!!
And here is the tin.
And here it is in its tin.
And here is the candy bar itself.
There is a warning message on the box about allergens and there is also an ingredients list included with your bar. Very helpful after you’ve spent $14.95 and find out you can’t eat the thing.
And how did it taste? Eh, not too bad, but a plain old big block Hershey Bar is better – and tons cheaper. I did a dark chocolate base with chocolate chips and butter toffee crunch so perhaps my choices affected the flavor. I think the pretzel bits would have helped cut the sweetness. It is really sweet.
Thick, hard-to-break chocolate bar
The bar is thick. It was impossible to break other than in half so this is not something you can share easily unless you freeze it or use a knife. It’s kind of one of those things you have to gnaw on like a giant Hershey kiss.
Would I recommend this experience to people? In general, no.
I think people who are patient and don’t mind waiting in line will enjoy it more. I think children from the age of 8-12 would like it the most since they would understand what is going on. The younger ones didn’t understand and the teens didn’t care, they were texting. The biggest hit with nearly all the kids were the hair and beard nets. Many people around me waiting for their chocolate bars were saying it wasn’t worth the wait or the money.
But of course this is a novelty and people will do it just because they are there. I’m sure everyone can find something to enjoy about the experience, like seeing your Dad in a beard net, but just be ready to hurry up and wait. I did enjoy the design area so it wasn’t a complete loss. And well, chocolate is chocolate.
What would I suggest as an alternative? Try the Chocolate Tasting Adventure. It was more enjoyable and educational too. You also get to try several different kids of chocolate and there is no hair net required and only one line to get in.
