Hershey's Chocolate Tour

The main attraction of Hershey's Chocolate World is the Chocolate Tour. The tour provides an overview of the candy-making process on a sit-down ride through an automated and often animatronic presentation. The entrance is very unassuming.

The tour entrance

The line winds its way through the building Disney-style, hiding its length until it is too late to turn back. Happily, we visited in February, far from the peak season, and were able to enjoy the emptiness of the switchbacks.

A ramp up too...

...the main queueing area!

The "info" part of the infotainment

At the end of the line is a rotating platform that lets visitors get in and out of the constantly running ride. I bet the workers get a lot of steps in on their pedometers!

Family in their cart

Happily, I made it in the cart before we went inside the barn

The first step was seeing cows who produce milk and were the hostesses of the chocolate-making process. They appeared again and again as we rode along.

Business end of the cows

Later on they sang to us!

After a brief overview of the agricultural part of the process, most of the ride involved the creation of the candies, starting with the processing of cocoa beans.

Entering the factory

The beans are roasted and the various beans from various countries are blended together to make a homogenous flavor.

Cleaning the beans

Mixing beans from different sources

Chocolate blocks at bottom about to be mixed with milk and sugar

Blending (a variation on the mixing theme)

The chocolate is refined on rollers, creating a smoothness and delectability that is highly desirable.

Entering the refinery

 One sign showed the average production of various candies during the day.

1.3 million kisses--let me in on that action!

The final section of the faux factory was making bars, sweets, and other treats for shipping across the country and the world!

Bars of chocolate

Making individual treats

The famous chocolate syrup!

How they make Kisses on an industrial scale

Mini-munchies!

The tour ends with a quick walk back to the retail floor, but not before an employee hands out chocolate samples. We received KitKat bars of which there are no pictures because we consumed them rather quickly.

The tour is fun to do and quite informative on how Hershey's is made in their factories.