Pennsylvania's Amusement Parks, Part II: Hersheypark

Hershey's Chocolate World is a smartly-designed adjunct to Hersheypark. Visitors can ride--for free--a "Chocolate Tour." I remember that one portion of this ride took visitors through the chocolate-making process. The temperature rose slightly and we were bathed with the smell of cocoa and roasted nuts. On the ramp out of the ride, a Hershey employee handed each of us a few Hershey's Kisses. The ramp ended at a food-court-sized Hershey's boutique. Like I said, smart design.

Another thing about the ride: it had an It's A Small World-style song sung by multi-cultural chocolate lovers and displayed on skewed TV screens. The lyrics went something like, "Hershey's chocolate, Hershey's chocolate, it's a Hershey's chocolate world." Repeat. I imagine a trip to Hershey's Chocolate World by a "Simpsons" writer inspired the Duff Gardens episode, "Selma's Choice." (Or it could have been a trip to Busch Gardens.)

One candy stood out from the usuals on display in the food court: Desert Bar. This was shortly after Desert Storm; at the time, people didn't associate the (camel-emblazoned, clearly Middle-Eastern) "desert" advertised on the package with "quagmire." The Desert Bar was designed to be an unmeltable--or at least less-meltable--chocolate bar. Aside from the clever play on words, Desert Bar failed to impress. Mom describes it as tasting like a regular chocolate bar that was melted and then reformed. I can find no picture online, so this candy must never have made it past Hershey, PA.

(Wikipedia has some info on the myterious Desert Bar. They were originally shipped to troops in the Persian Gulf. "Since the war ended before Hershey's stores of the experimental bar were shipped, the remainder of the production run was packaged in a "desert camo" wrapper and was dubbed the Desert Bar. It proved a brief novelty but Hershey declined to make more after supplies ran out.")

Continuing a tradition of what could be called April Fools' Day Parenting,* the family meandered over to the entrance of Hersheypark, the beckoning, chocolate-themed paradise. Willy Wonka's factory itself, right? We then turned around, walked back to the car, and drove back home to Ohio.

(I should add that we were only stopping in the midst of an eight-hour drive back from Shillington, PA. There was no way we could have stayed longer.)


*There's a similar Cedar Point story.