Willy Wonka in Disguise

Last weekend we felt the need to go to the source of chocolate.  The two and a half hour drive to Hershey, Pennsylvania was painless enough because we were headed toward "Chocolate World."
 How clever of them to call it "Chocolate World." 

Pennsylvania surprised again by it's beautiful farms and very interesting signage.

They frown upon tailgating here.

They also frown upon the president not having a birth certificate.

This picture isn't mine... I was slow on the camera.  But we laughed when we saw this billboard.

As we entered the city of Hershey Scott asked me if I knew where to go.  I said, "Um, we should go to the Hershey factory right?  I think that would be the world of chocolate they are referring too."  I looked at my phone and guided him to the Hershey chocolate factory. 

 It was a factory.  A factory with a parking lot and buildings and a guard inside the building.  I got out of the car and was instantly hit with a Chocolate World smell.  Surely this must be the right place.  The nice guard probably thought I was from California or something and he tried not to laugh when I explained that I was looking for Chocolate World.

Apparently there were so many people converging to see the Hershey factory that they actually built a place called, "Chocolate World."  He very sweetly explained that chocolate needs a sanitary environment when it's being made and having hundreds of thousands of people walking through a factory was unsanitary.  I got back in the car corrected.   A few minutes later we pulled into a very packed parking lot and into air that did not smell like chocolate.

I was impressed that all of the street lights around the town were in the shape of Hersheys' kisses. 

Some with the foil and some already unwrapped.  Really clever.

We took a short tour of how the chocolate is made. The tour is a ride with singing cows and replicas of the machines that make the chocolate. It's a cool tour because the line moves quickly. It's informative and you get a small appreciation of how chocolate is made. They also give you a little treat of chocolate when the ride is over. Sweet!

We decided that the kids would like to make their own candy bar so we headed to the innovation room (or something like that).  It's a forty-five minute chocolate bar making experience.  We were dressed in a food service hat and apron.  We seemed very official.  This is the part that we had to wait in line for a bit and it was really Willy Wonka-ish seeing everyone dressed in white food service garb.

The way you make your own candy bar is very cool.  You pick the type of chocolate you want, the fillings you want inside, and you even make  your own label for your 9 ounce bar of chocolate-y goodness.

Below is the process of how the magic happens.

Did I mention the bath of chocolate? 

When all is said and done, these nice people find the right box and put your candy bar into your personalized box.

Chocolate World was very chocolate-y and worth the drive.  We all liked being Willy Wonka for a day. 

Well, at least for forty-five minutes!