what else besides hershey park?? About This Page:

[fourdrawfs]

hi guys, I need some help from anybody who lives in or near Penn. we will be going to H/P again this summer, and was wondering what else is there to do besides the park??? we've been to chocolate world and the car museum. went to indian echo cavens and lancanster amish country, been to strasburg railraod, and stopped at roadside america, been to the river for the music and craft fair, we usually spend two days in hershey, and like to stop somewhere on the way home as we only live a couple hrs from Penn. we will have 6- yes 6 kids with us between the ages of 5 and 20. any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[lfredsbo]

What about Sesame Place? It is mostly Water Park - and great for all ages! We started going there when DD was 2, and she still loves it at 8.....
I have heard that the Philly Zoo is good too.

[bau8]

Boyd's Bears in Gettysburg. It is only apx. 1 hr drive south of Hershey. Plus you have the whole Gettysburg. But Boyd's Bears ranks up there.

[LBAK]

Philadelphia. Ther's always something going on there for everyone. We had a blast when we went there. The US Mint was free and the tour was interesting, Independence Hall, The Franklin Institue for the little ones, chinatown, the Reading Market, we ate at The Hard Rock. All age groups can find something.

[Eeyoresmom]

Ooohhh, Boyds Bears is a good one. I've heard wonderful things about it. The Hershey Gardens are lovely. There's a family oriented park in Lancaster - DutchWonderland. there are outlets in Hershey, Lancaster and Reading (the Reading ones are the original Vanity Fair ones - which are usually really good). OH, what about the Crayola Factory (which is close to Allentown).

[RobDVC]

Dorney Park/Wildwater Kingdom is near Allentown, not too far off of I-78.
Valley Forge is about mid-way between Lancaster and Philadelphia.
Philadelphia has LOTS to do.

[janicelovesmickey]

dont forget the cheesestakes, oh and I love South Street, has great shopping and stuff.

[emtpej]

Originally Posted by janicelovesmickey

dont forget the cheesestakes, oh and I love South Street, has great shopping and stuff.

And the Reading Terminal market has that legendary Ice Cream shop - Bassett's - it had part of America Eats - Ice Cream, along with Ben & Jerry's!

[jenntyl]

I work about 15 mins from Hershey. There are many great attractions depending on your needs and interests. I will list them according to free and with a cost.

Cost
Dorney Park (allentown pa)-can get quite costly and crowded on weekends
Gettysburg (can be done for free if you want to tour it on your own)
Valley Forge
Outlet Shopping in Hershey and Lancaster (good for school shopping and there is no tax on clothes in PA)
Whitaker Center in Harrisburg (science and arts museum) www.whitakerenter.org

Free
Pennsylvania State Museum (Welcome to The State Museum of Pennsylvania)
Pennsylvania Capitol (very nice architecture and can schedule free tours) If you would like to see pictures I can send you some
Strawberry Square (business district of Harrisburg that offers some great shopping, dining and other events) Strawberry Square

If I can think of more I will update you on this list

[fourdrawfs]

thanks for the input everyone,, I was thinking aabout sesame place or dorney park but Dh might be a little tried of parks after two days in hershey,, I might look into gettysburg and philly, but I just found Kitchen Kettle Village has anyone been there? and give me info- is it worth looking into? tia

[jenntyl]

Kitchen Kettle Village has some great shopping and the Jam/Jelly shop is awesome. However, it is very expensive and crowded during this time of year. You will find that you might have difficulty getting in initially or trouble finding a parking spot. But if you go you will not be disappointed. The jam shop is all homemade by Amish and in the fudge shop you can watch them make it right there. Hope this helps! Enjoy!

[Chrissi]

KNOEBELS!!! It's a park, but nothing at all like Hershey. I live for vacations to Knoebels. I live minutes from Dorney Park, the Crayola Factory, Sesame Place, Shawnee Place, the Poconos, Gettysburg, and Philly and I would skip every single one for an afternoon at Knoebels.

Free parking, free admission, free entertainment. You buy tickets and pay by the ride (and the rides are dirt cheap) or you can get an all day wrist band Monday - Friday if you're just going to pound out rides. There's a pool and water slides (they use a kind of ticket system too - rubber arm bands instead of tickets) if you're burnt out on rides and Knoebels has won the Golden Ticket for Amusement Park Food in Amusement Today for the last 8 or 9 years. They're known for their awesome food, wooden coasters, and for rescuing rides from other amusement parks that have a lot of nostalgic value. You won't see these rides at Hershey, Dorney, or Disney.

They also have one of the few remaining grand carousels in the country where you can still catch the brass ring and win a free ride. There are actually two carousels (three if you count the Spanish Bambini) and three band organs.

You can get a decent discount on tickets at AAA in advance or get 10% off Monday - Friday at any ticket booth in the park. Some of the local bakeries run coupons on bread bags for $4.00/person discounts mid-week on all day ride wrist bands. The thing to be careful of is that some rides aren't covered by all day ride passes - coasters, the haunted house, the ski lift-thingy, Sklooosh!, or the Flume. The tickets are a better deal IMO. Oh, and the tickets never expire.

BTW - Knoebels is pronounced "kuh-NO-bullz" in case you have to ask for tickets at a local AAA office. If you call it "NO-bullz", they'll have no idea what you're talking about.