My family and i have traveled to Hersheypark every year for the last six years. While some of the trips have been amazing, others have racked up more disappointment than happy memories in our vacation journals. We’ve experimented with different times of year to visit as well as different times of day to go to the park and the following tips are based upon our experiences and have been proven by the satisfied smiles on my three children’s faces.
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Pick the right time of year – Most travel sites will confirm that earlier in the summer is a better time to visit Hershey. We’ve tried both May and June, and found June to be preferred. If you try to go too early in the season, some of the outside amenities at the hotels may not be open, and school trips are in full swing. Midweek in June is great if you can swing it. The park is half full, as witnessed from the parking lot as well. We were able to get on rides easily and to stroll leisurely around the park without being bumped an jostled by a crowd. Keep an eye on the days following labor day weekend as well. While the park is not always open, one year the park remained open the Tuesday following labor day weekend. We enjoyed a nearly empty park with our kids able to ride each ride again and again with zero wait time.
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Check for events – Herseypark has more than just the amusement park to attract visitors. It has Hersheypark Stadium and the Star Pavilion that are home to their summer concert series. Seating up to 30,000 and 8,000 guests respectively, these visitors will spend some time in the park. These events typically happen over weekends, and a quick search on the events calendar will show you what is happening when. More importantly, these venues are sometimes used by third parties as well during the midweek. We spent one year surrounded by groups of school aged children that were in Hershey as part of music festival. There too, a simple search on the internet for events on that day in Hershey led me to discover multiple schools’ notices of the upcoming trip, that would have been great to know about before planning our trip.
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Go a few hours before closing time – We’ve learned that on busier days at the park the 2 hours before closing can be paradise. I’ve spent hours during the day walking around the park while my children only road 2-3 rides because of long wait times. We all went home hot, exhausted and disappointed. Instead of the marathon day, we started going two hours before closing and the longest wait time we experienced was 15 minutes on a Friday evening; during the week the kids were able to go on a ride, get off, and immediately get back on. They were able to ride 10 or greater attractions in that two hour time frame without any additional cost.
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There’s always Fast Track – If you’re not worried about extra cost, Fast Track is a good option to get on rides even on the most crowded of days. But there are limitations to be aware of, each rider has to purchase a Fast Track pass and there are waits of up to 45 minutes between rides. There are also options to purchase Fast Track passes in the evening only, where the waiting time between rides is reduced, but those are limited to different portions of the park, the lower, or upper halves have to be chosen at the time of the pass purchase. Fast Track options for the day cost $50 per rider for up to 9 coasters, and in the evening, $25 per rider for up to 5 coasters.
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Don’t be afraid to abandon ship – It took us a lot of time to learn this particular tip, but sometimes it’s better to leave the park than to stay if the kids just aren’t going to be able to get on the rides. The park attendants will stamp your hand when you leave and you will be able to regain admittance to the park without any additional cost. If you’ve paid for parking, you can also hold onto your stub, show the parking attendant when you return, and you will be able to park for free. We’ve left the park to enjoy a relaxing afternoon at the hotel pool, and an early dinner, and have returned just as many of the other visitors (especially schools and camps) are leaving for the day.
A little extra planning and your visit to Hershey will truly be to the sweetest place on Earth.
