We Found The Golden Ticket

Jason had a day off today so we decided to head to Hershey Chocolate World during one of his study breaks so we could tour the chocolate factory. The smell of chocolate is constantly in the air here so I'm actually a little surprised that it took us two weeks before we stopped into the factory for a visit. The first thing on the agenda was to go through the free tour. I had read some reviews that the tour didn't actually go through the real factory, which was disappointing, but they set up the tour like a real, operating factory. We walked our way through the Cocoa Plantation and then we were given little buggies to ride around in as a commentator explained the chocolate making process. It was very interesting...so much work goes into making the yummy chocolate!

Some interesting facts that we learned on the tour were:
It takes the milk of 50,000 cows A DAY to produce enough milk for Hershey's milk chocolate production for ONE DAY of chocolate!
The factory makes 25 Hershey chocolate bars a second!
Hershey's chocolate factory is the largest chocolate factory in the WORLD!

After the tour, we headed to the bakery. We were so overwhelmed with Hershey goodies. The cookies were fresh out of the oven so we went with a Reese's Blossom Cookie. YUM!We grabbed our cookie and made our way to the trolley tour. The trolley tour took us all over Hershey and showed us the historic buildings that were mixed along with the other buildings of Hershey.

The side of the Hershey chocolate factory had wrote out "Hershey Cocoa" in their bushes. Milton S. Hershey's home was built on a hillside overlooking the factory so he could keep an eye on it.
In this view, the famous Hershey smokestacks can be seen on the left side and then Hershey Park, the amusement park, can be seen. The tour around Hershey was pretty interesting...so much history in such a small town.

Here are some fun facts we learned on the trolley ride:
Mr. Hershey didn't get married until he was 41. He married Kitty and they bought the plantation home for $53,400.
Originally, Hershey specialized in caramels. He was in England for a meeting and during an evening party he noticed his caramels were coated in chocolates and the kids were going crazy for them. They would take handfuls, run outside and then come back in for more. He eventually went out to see what they were doing and noticed that they were sucking all the chocolate off and spitting the caramels out. He decided to make a change to chocolate.
During the Great Depression, Mr. Hershey made sure that no one working at his factories (wherever they might work) lost their jobs. Pretty amazing!We had such a fun day learning how Hershey operates and exploring the city. A lot of things at the factory are free, including the parking, so I have a feeling that we might be making a second trip in the future. If nothing else then we could make a quick run inside for another yummy cookie!