Hershey's Chocolate World is the name of five visitor centers that started in Hershey, Pennsylvania, United States. Open year-round, Hershey's Chocolate World offers marketplace shops and restaurants, specializing in Hershey's chocolate products. Attractions include Hershey's Great Candy Expedition, the Hershey Trolley Works, Create Your Own Candy Bar, Hershey's Unwrapped: A Chocolate Tasting Journey, and a free Hershey’s Chocolate Tour ride.
| Hershey's Chocolate World | |
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Hershey's Chocolate World in Hershey, Pennsylvania in 2012
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| General information | |
| Type | Visitor center/Indoor attraction center |
| Location | Hershey Paradise Niagara Falls Times Square Singapore |
| Opening | June 30, 1973 (1973-06-30) |
| Owner | The Hershey Company |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 2 |
| Website | |
| chocolateworld | |
The first Hershey's Chocolate World is located off of Hersheypark Drive, in Hershey, Pennsylvania, and is in an entertainment complex that also includes Hersheypark, Hersheypark Stadium, Hersheypark Arena, Hershey Museum, and Giant Center. The Las Vegas location is where the Broadway Theatre used to be.
Although Hersheypark and Chocolate World are in the same complex, both operate independently of each other. Chocolate World is owned by The Hershey Company, while Hersheypark is owned by Hershey Entertainment and Resorts Company (HE&R). However, the Hershey Company and HE&R are both owned by the Hershey Trust Company.
Parking is available via a separate lot that is free for the first three hours only, or via the Hersheypark parking lot (when the park is open), which offers a tram service to and from Hershey's Chocolate World. While the facility is open year-round (except Christmas), hours vary depending on the season, ranging anywhere from 9 am to 11 pm.
Hershey's Chocolate World was built as a replacement of the Hershey chocolate plant tour, which had reached its capacity and no longer was able to handle the large numbers of visitors per year. The facility opened on June 30, 1973, and took inspiration from World's Fair pavilions.[1] Through its first year of operations, Chocolate World had over 1.4 million visitors.[2] In its first thirteen years of operation, the visitor's center received 20 million visitors.[1]
A $4.5 million update to the chocolate-making tour ride opened in 1988, featuring a curious robot for a host named CP-1. It was phased out within a year.[3] In the mid-1990s, the ride saw numerous revisions on a small scale, including the removal of several show elements. The last renovation occurred in early 2016 when several scenes in the chocolate tour ride were replaced. Today, there are still portions of the ride that have changed very little from the 1978 updated version, including the sorting and cleaning, roll refining, milling, and chocolate conching scenes.[citation needed]
The building features brownstone quarried out of the neighboring town of Hummelstown. In 2014, the retail area received major renovations as well as a new entrance and queue area for Hershey's Chocolate Tour.[citation needed]
Following the June 3, 2014 opening of its Paradise, Nevada location, Hershey then rebranded all other visitor centers worldwide under the Hershey's Chocolate World name. In July 2016, it was announced that Hershey's Chocolate World would expand to a new location in Times Square, New York City, and open in late 2017.[4]
In 2022, it was announced that the 4D Chocolate movie would close to make way for "a better experience"[5] This new attraction would be revealed as "Hershey's Great Candy Expedition", which was added as a part of Chocolate World's 50th anniversary.[6]
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The rest of Hershey's Chocolate World contains various shops selling Hershey souvenirs and chocolate, and several counter service meal locations (Bake Shoppe, Hershey's Courtyard Food Court, and Hershey's Ice Cream Shop). The main candy store is one of the largest stores of its kind in the world selling Hershey's products including new items not widely released, and premium chocolate brands such as Scharffen Berger Chocolate.
Hershey's Chocolate World ... attracted 1,441,272 visitors during its first full year of operation...
...Long gone is CP-1, an extra-terrestrial robot who briefly became the star of Chocolate World after a highly publicized $4.5 million renovation in 1988. CP-1 quietly was phased out within a year. "Nobody liked him," said one Chocolate World employee.
Official Opening of "Hershey's Chocolate World," a new complex that will enable Hershey Foods Corporation to better tell the story of chocolate to its throngs of visitors, will be held on Saturday, June 30, from 9am to 5pm.
40°17′17″N 76°39′40″W / 40.288136°N 76.661117°W / 40.288136; -76.661117