Hersheypark Expands: A Look Down-Stream

This week I was able to score an exclusive interview with the Head Engineer for Hersheypark, Joe Smoe. It's not typical for me to discuss something outside Disneyland, but with the whole company going silent during the Fozzie Bear fiasco I thought I would switch things up a bit.

Hersheypark recently released information for their most recent upcoming expansion, the Hershey Chocolate River. Although just a simple water feature, Hershey had big plans for this feature. The Chocolate River plans to unite the park with an underlying story, allow guests to more easily position themselves within the park without a map, and also just be a sweet object to look upon. Mr. Smoe had this to say:

"When you create a water feature you have the ability to impact the park in either a positive or negative way. And we wanted to impact the park in the most negative way possible. I mean, the most positive way. Positive, positive, not negative, positive..."

Having spoken with Mr. Smoe, I can assure that the Chocolate River brings a lot to the table for this beloved American theme park.

The Chocolate River begins at the Chocolate Geyser, located far off from the park's entrance around the Wildcat's big helix. This helps give that far-off coaster a bit more pizzazz. The Geyser is a naturally occurring phenomenon, and the new lore reason for why Hersheypark exists here in the first place. As the Wildcat makes its turn through the helix, the Geyser shoots up dyed brown water, themed to real Hershey Chocolate!

Right by the Gesyer is the river, which initially runs parallel away from the main path, with loose "magic" themeing (really just cartoony mushrooms and gnomes) to convey a sense of natural wonder. It does this up through the Fahrenheit coaster area.

(Here is a map of the Chocolate River. I encourage you to click on the image to get a closer view and understanding)

It should be noted the dark-brown dyed river at this point is entirely Dark Chocolate, with the Milk Chocolate coming later. The river heads into the main Hersheypark pathway: the path that connects the far-off Laff Track to the very entrance of the park, right next to the Hershey Factory. The river becomes more canal like with brick walls and various bridges interconnecting the two sides of the path, leaving many opportunities for photos. Mr. Smoe told me beforehand they had nicknamed this portion the "Cocoa-Canal", and he seemed very impressed for coming up with such a corny name. The river eventually slides off the main path and through Pioneer Frontier, returning to a more natural river-bend appearance.

This is when it reaches the milk river, a white dyed river. They don't actually mix, but it looks like it thanks to a big "Mixing Machine" of spinning wheels and gears. You now have the "combined" river be a lighter brown-dyed Milk Chocolate coming towards the factory. On this wider river you can see statues of the fan favorite Hershey Kiss, Hershey Bar, and Reese's Peanut Butter Cup characters playing among the river! The Milk Chocolate River continues on before reaching the Skyrush Pond, where it sucked down two large pipes into the factory to produce the magical Hershey Chocolate.

And with this, the chocolate has successfully transversed the entirety of the park!

Of course, that's not what really happens. The river is actually split into three distinct portions: The Dark Chocolate Stream, beginning at the Geyser and ending with the Mixing Machine. The same for the Milk River, which begins by some pipes just after ZooAmerica and ends at the Mixing Machine. The dyes don't actually mix, but they certainly look like it. Meanwhile the Milk Chocolate Portion begins with the Mixing Machine and ends at Skyrush Pond, looping back via underground tunnels. And finally, there's the regular river, which used to run through the park, that now is rerouted via a tunnel right after ZooAmerica through the park and outside with no negative consequences to the Pennsylvania environment.

VERDICT

If you ask me, this park feature will draw comparisons to Willy Wonka. But that doesn't mean it's not a bad idea. Although perhaps not the most "original", it makes up for it with the unique additions of the Chocolate Geyser, mixing of the Milk, and custom lore. Furthermore, the park could use some more ties to its Chocolate Brand other than "here's some random characters!" I think the park will greatly improve by this addition.

So overall, although I will always be a Disney fan, my time with on this report has made me consider coming out to this Pennsylvania treasure.

I highly encourage you to watch the full interview with Mr. Joe Smoe above. Alternatively, you can read the full transcript of our interview here.

Thanks again for reading, and until next time, bye bye!