10 Festive Ways To Check Out Hersheypark Christmas Candylane

Hersheypark Christmas Candylane is incredibly festive and a very sweet way to celebrate the magic of the holiday season.

Note: We were hosted in exchange for this review, but this post represents our honest opinion of Christmas Candylane

Every summer you make at least one trip to Hersheypark for a day or weekend of absolute family fun. While the summer is awesome fun (hello Comet. hello Boardwalk!), you might wonder if it’s worth the drive to visit Hersheypark for Christmas Candylane during the holiday season.

We recently spent the day welcoming the Christmas season at Hersheypark Christmas Candylane and we loved it so much Hersheypark has instantly become a must-do item on our family holiday bucket list.

Here are 10 festive ways you can fall in love with Hersheypark at Christmas time too!

1. Arrive during the day and ride the rides!

Hersheypark opens early on the weekends! As in noon. That means, you could theoretically arrive around noon and ride a ton of rides before the sun goes down. Depending on how cold it is outside, a fair number of rides.. including a few roller-coasters, will be operational. There is no guarantee that the crowds won’t be big the closer you get to Christmas.

But they also won’t be as big as they are during the summer. If you time it right you can literally walk onto some of the big attractions without a wait at all. (we scored big time with a 10 minute wait for Reeses Cupfusion!)

2. ZooAmerica

ZooAmerica is also open normal hours and your admission is included in the price of the Hersheypark ticket. The cool thing (pun intended) about visiting ZooAmerica during Christmas Candylane is that cooler weather tends to mean some of the animals are more active.

We were able to get a great view of the wolves, bears, and mountain lions!

3. Sweet Treats!

Oh my goodness, don’t think for a second that Hersheypark doesn’t bring on the sweet treats just because it’s cold outside. You can purchase a souvenir hot cocoa mug and get refills all day.

Or, you can head to Simply Chocolate for some truly decadent treats.

They offer a number of decked out hot cocoa concoctions. And from Thanksgiving on, you can indulge in a holiday themed King Milkshake!

Oh my goodness.. this hot cocoa makes my mouth happy!

My daughter loved hers too!

4. Characters

Be on the lookout for some of your favorite Hershey characters, as well as some holiday characters!

We bumped into Reindeer, Hershey Kiss, and Mr. Kit Kat.

5. Light Show

When the sun goes down, the real festive fun starts at Hersheypark Christmas Candylane! Starting at 5pm, every 1/2 hour over Hersheypark puts on NOEL– 4 different choreographed light shows featuring over 200,000 holiday lights. It is really fun and festive.. and a can’t miss part of the event!

6. Visit Santa Claus!

Don’t forget to pay a visit to the North Pole’s most famous resident. Santa Claus actually makes appearances inside Hersheypark AND at Chocolate World!

7. Reindeer Spotting

Near the entrance to Christmas Candylane, you can actually pay a visit to Santa’s reindeer. All 9 reindeer (and Rudolph) are on hand, just munching some hay. They have to pack on the energy for their big night on the 24th!

8. More Shows and Entertainment

Make sure you carve out time to see the sea lion show. Mango and Cocoa are incredibly cute and playful.

Another great idea (especially if the weather isn’t cooperating) is to catch the 2019 holiday show, ‘The Littlest Tree.’ It’s super festive and cute!

And of course… ice skating is always a great idea! For $3 you can do a little ice skating at Rudolph’s skating pond.

9. Don’t forget Hershey’s Chocolate World

Hershey’s Chocolate World is an excellent idea anytime you visit Hersheypark. However, any visit during the Christmas season is an absolute must! If you do nothing else, stop here for a little holiday shopping and holiday snacking.

And– while you are hanging out make sure you check out their very impressive Hershey candy-inspired Gingerbread House. It is a masterpiece!

10. Sweet Lights

The best way to end your Hersheypark Christmas Candylane experience is with a drive through Hershey’s Christmas lights display. Sweet Lights features 600 animated lights displays over a 2 mile wooded trail.

And the drive is quite magical!

If you don’t want to drive yourself, you can actually pay to ride the Sweet Lights Trolley. This ride is pretty cute with fun sing-a-longs and free chocolate (of course).

Know Before You Go:

Want to purchase tickets ahead of time? Here is ticket link.
Christmas Candylane runs on select days November 15th to January 1st.
ZooAmerica opens at 10am year round. On Christmas Candylane days, Hersheypark opens at either noon (weekends) or 5pm (weekdays).
Hershey’s Chocolate World is open year round and typically opens at 9am. Oh, and it’s FREE. 🙂 (but you will want to shop. Trust me on this one)
Sweet Lights runs every night through January 1st, from 5pm until between 9 and 11pm (depending on the night).

10 Festive Ways To Check Out Hersheypark Christmas Candylane

10 Festive Ways To Check Out Hersheypark Christmas Candylane