On June 26, Karen and I embarked upon one of our most ambitious trips in decades. Ultimately, the goal was to visit her sister in Milwaukee. I knew we couldn't drive straight there; we had to stop somewhere. Karen also wanted to take our daughter Heather and her family to Hersheypark, which we hadn't visited in a few years. So that would be the starting point of our trip. It was "only" about a six hour drive to Pennsylvania. I decided to plan our two-week excursion so that we never had to drive more than six hours in one day. I routed us so that we were able to stop at parks along the way, places we hadn't visited in decades. In total, we would visit ten parks over that two week span. I knew that our grandkids were at the perfect age to enjoy one of Hershey's neighbors (and a former property), Dutch Wonderland. So our first stop was the Fulton Steamboat Inn, located in Lancaster, just down the street from Dutch Wonderland and a little over a half-hour drive from Hershey. The latter park would occupy our first two days together. We all arrived at the inn at about the same time and checked in. Karen and I had eaten there once before for breakfast (and it was really good) but had never stayed there. The kids really liked it. The building's design was whimsical, looking predictably like a gigantic turn-of-the-century paddlewheeler. The interior appeared lushly appointed in a retro way, with period furniture. There was even honkytonk piano music lightly playing in the background. We checked into our rooms on the second floor. They were attractive and very comfortable. Then we headed down the street to Miller's, a popular local eatery that offered a massive buffet with nearly every type of food imaginable. Since it was late in the day, I just got soup and a salad, and it was about as good as soup and salad can get. Then we went back to the inn to rest up for our first day at Hershey. The next morning we had breakfast at Huckleberry's, the inn's restaurant. I had my usual blueberry pancakes and home fries, and it was really tasty. After breakfast, we set out for Hershey. Even though the area had heavy rains over the previous few days, wildfires in Canada had created a thick grey haze that blanketed the entire area. Air quality was on high alert, at 154, some of the worst in decades. Everywhere you went, it smelled like you were next to a campfire. One small consolation was that the temperature was only in the 70s. Karen and I had purchased all our tickets (including parking) online in advance. We arrived at the parking lot about 10:00, and it was already packed. Hersheypark had one of the longest entrance roads I'd ever seen. After passing through the parking gates, we had to follow a winding narrow road that seemed to lead away from the park, but then circled around and came back, and then circled around again. It seemed like we were driving for miles even though we were in the park. We finally ended up in a parking space quite a distance from the entrance. The park was running trams, but we decided to walk instead. When we approached the park's ticket area, we were shocked to find lines of guests five deep stretching from the ticket gates all the way back to the parking lot. It was a huge queue line just to get inside the park. So instead, our daughter suggested heading into the nearby Chocolate World, a separate building that had the world's largest Hershey candy store and also a free dark ride that explained the making of chocolate. Our daughter's husband, Andrew, was always interested in park merchandise and was looking around at what Hershey offered. We headed over to the queue line for the chocolate ride and it was the first time where I'd seen absolutely no one in that line. The queue itself wound back and forth over two levels, so it took a lot of walking to reach the loading platform. Since the last time we rode it, there had been a few minor changes, mostly with the introduction of digitally animated characters on hidden screens. It was still an enjoyable ride. And as a bonus, at the end everyone was given free candy. From there we headed back outside and fortunately the lengthy queue line had vanished. It was then easier to see the extensive changes the park had made since our last visit. The last we had seen of this area, it was mostly a lot of demolition and fencing. Now it was transformed into Chocolatetown a sort of turn-of-the-century idealized factory community. It did make more visual sense than the previous entrance of Tudor buildings, which made it look more like Busch Gardens. Now the park had its own unique personality. The poured concrete pavement was nicely textured. Streetlamps shaped like Hershey Kisses lit the way. Further up was a large circular area on the ground, like a giant compass, with circular bronze plaques that highlighted various landmarks in the park's history. Beyond that were the entrance gates, a simple brown steel structure that looked fairly perfunctory and industrial. Then again, brown was the most-used color in the park. We passed through the gates and stood at the park's formal entryway. In front of us was a big circular fountain surrounded by the track of Candymonium, the park's big B&M hypercoaster whose lift hill rose up and off to the right. Andrew wanted to ride it, but the wait in the queue line was already at an hour-and-a-half. So instead we headed left into the rest of the park. Behind us was the giant building of the Hersheypark Supply Company which held the upscale Chocolatier restaurant, a gift shop, Milton's Ice Cream shop and a sandwich shop. To our left was the new home of the park's classic PTC carousel in a new pavilion. It still had its Wurlitzer band organ that was playing songs I remembered hearing on the band organ at Mountain Park. Once we passed by the carousel, the park looked more familiar, with the climb up to the Founders Way section of the park and the quaint rustic buildings to either side. To the left was the building that used to house a really good falafel concession. But now that building seemed to closed up and unused. At the top of Founder's Way, the former carousel pavilion had been repurposed into a picnic pavilion. We turned the corner near the Skyview station, the park's sky ride, and headed down into the Hollow. Andrew wanted to ride the Comet, the park's wonderful wood coaster, but the wait was over an hour. So instead we walked a little further down the midway to Skyrush, the park's intense Intamin hypercoaster. Suprisingly, the queue was nearly empty. We inadvertently entered the queue for the front seat (which was fine by me). We were wondering why people in the queue line to our right were moving so quickly, while we hardly budged. But within about 20 minutes, we climbed into the comfy seats. The lift hill still seemed impossibly steep. We were quickly pulled to the top by the ride's cable system and then we plummeted down into the confusing knot of track. Andrew was really surprised by the severity of the coaster's ejector airtime. Andrew wanted to take his son on the nearby Sooperdooperlooper, but it was down. So instead we hiked up the hill alongside that coaster and into the Kissing Tower Hill area to ride Coal Cracker, the park's rare and delightful speed racer flume. It's called a "speed racer" for two reasons: the unusual canoe-like flume boats and the bunny hop after the big drop. The queue line moved fairly quickly and in about 15 minutes we were seated and floating out of the giant circular station. As with most Arrow Development flumes of that era, much of the course was taken high in the air and along the hillside before we plunged back toward the station. Ben, his son, was seated in front, with Andrew behind him. I was at the very back of the boat. Andrew got pretty wet, but Ben and I stayed dry. Then we boarded the Kissing Tower, the park's 250-foot-tall observation tower with windows shaped like Hershey's Kisses. I was glad that the ride was air conditioned. There were a lot of kids on the ride with us, and they were so noisy that we couldn't hear the ride's narration describing the scenery we were viewing. It did offer impressive panoramic views. After that, we all queued up for the Twin Turnpike next door. The Speedway side (with the race cars) was closed, so we waited for the antique autos. After a short time we were chugging along the shady course. We were getting hungry, so we walked the short distance to the Overlook, one of the park's big eateries. It was packed with people. They had a vegan/vegetarian window that no one was in line for, so I made a beeline for it. I asked the staff if they got much business there, and they said just a few people a day. Their veggie burger offering was a Beyond Burger, not exactly my favorite but I ordered one. I got a bag of chips and a lemonade to go with it. That came to $23. I scoped out a table for the six of us, and it took me a while to find one. The carnivore line was so long that by the time the others met up with me at the table I had already finished my meal. The burger was uncharacteristically dry, but it tasted okay. I was glad they had a vegetarian option. From there we hiked over to ZooAmerica, the park's surprisingly extensive zoo. It had its own parking lot and entry gate, so people could visit just that and not Hersheypark. But the zoo was included with Hersheypark admission, so we were given a hand stamp and proceeded through the exhibits. They had lots of attractively designed indoor "cages" featuring the usual assortment of small mammals and reptiles. One dark corridor featured night animals like bats. The exterior exhibits featured bobcats, deer, elk and other typical wildlife. There were also a surprising amount of vultures in the bear exhibit and they never flew very far off. Andrew was then thinking of going on the park's dark ride, Reese's Cupfusion, but the line was nearly two hours long. So instead they queued up for the Monorail, which also had an unusually long line. As we walked there, a group of brass players were performing an energetic musical routine along Founder's Way. I decided to take that opportunity to make another park walk-thru. I returned to the Monorail when I finished about 40 minutes later, and they were just boarding. I was getting thirsty so I got in a long line for the nearby Simply Chocolate booth, which served milkshakes. But after about ten minutes the line hadn't moved. So instead I found a nearby rolling cart selling small cups of lemonade for $6.50. Like most parks, Hersheypark was a cashless establishment. So everything I bought was paid for with my phone. When the others had returned from their picturesque Monorail ride, we had thought of going on the fun Dry Gulch Railroad, but it was down for maintenance. Instead, Andrew wanted to try out the park's newest coaster, Wildcat's Revenge. It was a rebuild of their classic Wildcat wooden coaster that had become extremely rough in recent years. The park hired Rocky Mountain Construction to redesign it into one of their typical twisting steel coasters. When we arrived at the queue line, it was chained off. The coaster was down for maintenance. The nearby Laff Trakk had an hour-and-a-half wait. So we walked down into the Midway America section. Andrew, Ben and I queued up for the venerable Lightning Racer while the others went on the giant Ferris wheel. Lightning Racer was one of my favorite coasters in the park. With it's classic swooping turns designed by Great Coasters International, along with its unique (at the time) dueling action, where trains headed right for each other, it gave a speedy and exciting ride. The custom-made Millenium Flyer trains by GCI were cushy and open. The track layouts were so different that you never knew which train was ahead until you were about to pull into the station. Andrew and Ben boarded Thunder while I boarded Lightning one train behind them. Of course, I waited for the front seat. From off the lift hill, I could tell that the coaster needed some retracking. The trains were shaking hard and jostling about. It had become a really rough ride and definitely needed some TLC. And Thunder always seemed to win. We met up with the others when they disembarked the Ferris wheel. By then it was 5:00 and we decided to call it a day. We walked all the way back to Chocolatetown. I was surprised that the park had three different modes of transportation (the Monorail, train and Skyview), and yet all of them were closed circuit loops. They really needed a way to shuttle people from one section of the park to another. It was quite exhausting walking up and down all those hills in the heat. We stopped inside the vast Hersheypark Supply Company, where I finally found a concession selling milkshakes, Milton's. So I got a vanilla shake and the others got cones and dishes of ice cream. We relaxed at one of the many tables inside while we ate. Then we make the long hike back to our cars and returned to the inn to rest up for the next day. Because of the big crowds we encountered, we decided to get an early start for our second day. We skipped breakfast and headed right to Hershey, arriving there at 9:00. The parking lot was virtually empty. We parked as close as possible to the entrance, right next to the "preferred parking" spots. The haze from the wildfires was still thick in the air. The sun was trying to shine through the smoke, and it was a lot hotter. Since the park didn't open till 10:00 and there was no one in line at the gates, we browsed through Chocolate World again. 2023 marked the 50th anniversary of Chocolate World and the park was planning a big expansion for the building. In one corner was a large sculpture of the building made out of chocolate (of course). We headed back outside at 9:30, and few people were in line. So we queued up. And I'm glad we did. Within a few minutes, the line once again stretched all the way back toward the parking lot. After entering, Andrew wanted to head right over to Candymonium with Ben. The ladies and Ben on the other hand wanted to spend time on the Boardwalk, the park's waterpark area. So as they headed for the Boardwalk, Andrew and I hurried toward the large brick Romanesque station of Candymonium. There was hardly anyone in line. We followed the long winding queue up to the colorfully-lit station. Each of the trains was themed to a different Hershey candy. The seats were the typically comfortable B&M variety, deep and comfortably molded. Our feet dangled above the train floor. Because space was always at a premium in the park, this lift hill, like Skyrush, was surprisingly steep. We flew down the steep first drop and then up into a prolonged and powerful airtime hill. It surprised me that we had already reached the farthest point of the coaster and curved into the left-hand turnaround. There was another airtime hill, a big right-hand 360-degree turn, one more airtime hill, the big left-hand turn around the fountain and then back to the station. It was a really short ride. And I wondered why Hershey wanted it to be over 200 feet tall. There was so much energy left in the train when we hit the brake run that they easily could have made the lift hill shorter and instead have added more airtime hills along the course. Andrew wanted to get in line for Wildcat's Revenge before too many more people entered the park. So we headed off toward Midway America. And once again when we arrived, the queue was chained off. The ride was once again down for maintenance, and it wouldn't reopen that day. Instead we headed over to the Boardwalk to see how the rest of the family was getting along. Karen was walking Ben up to the tall waterslides. Andrew and I then headed over to the Pioneer Frontier section. He queued up for Storm Runner, the brutal Intamin launched coaster. I rode it once several years ago, and it batted my head around in the restraints. So I passed on riding it again and instead got myself a large lemonade from a nearby stand. It was really good. Andrew got off the ride and said there were a few rough spots, but overall he liked it. Next to it was the park's stock Boomerang coaster that had been rethemed to Jolly Rancher Remix. Basically, they repainted the ride and added a tunnel with lighting effects. And next to that was a ride that had been popping up at parks all over the world, Zamperla's NebulaZ. This one of course was themed to Hershey candy and was simply called Mix'd. I would never ride it, but I loved watching it. The movement was mezmerizing. Next we walked over to Kissing Tower Hill so Andrew could ride Great Bear. It was too intense for me. So while he was in line, I went next door to the Speedway, which had opened. The line wasn't very long. But I stood there for about 20 minutes and the line barely moved. So I left and got back to the Great Bear just in time to see Andrew returning to the station. He next stopped at Tower Fries to get some French fries and we sat outside the Overlook restaurant while he ate. Then we met back up with the rest of the family. The kids got walking tacos from a food truck in the Boardwalk area. Then we all headed back to Founder's Way and the 1906 Grille, where Karen and I had previously gotten veggie burgers. Unfortunately that was no longer on the menu there. So I suggested we head for the air-conditioned comfort of the Hersheypark Supply Company where we had noticed another food concession to the left of Milton's Ice Cream. The building was fairly empty when we arrived. The concession offered the usual fried food like chicken nuggets. But they also had grilled cheese and a roasted vegetable wrap. So Karen and I both opted for the latter, with tater tots. I paid for Andrew and Heather's meal as well. The total came to a whopping $83. Because the sign said "roasted" vegetables, I expected the wrap to be hot. But it was stone cold. The vegetables were mostly lettuce, with small pieces of peppers, tomatoes and zucchini thrown it. The texture was somewhat slimy. I could eat only half the wrap. The kids loved their walking tacos, though. After that meal, we headed back to the Hollow section of the park, this time via a hidden path alongside Skyrush and Spring Creek. It offered bits of shade in the form of pergolas covered with vines. The wait for the venerable Comet wasn't that long. So Andrew, Ben and I queued up for it while the others stopped off next door to play SkeeBall. This was our longest coaster queue of the entire visit, lasting about a half-hour. I ended up riding in the front seat with Ben and Andrew was behind us. It was still a fun ride, with a lot of airtime, good laterals and an interesting layout. At less than half the height of Candymonium, the ride was almost twice as long and provided just as much fun. Ben joined his sister Isabelle for some SkeeBall and they each took away a prize. Then they went on the nearby Teacups and Sweet Swing. The line for Sooperdooperlooper had dwindled, so Andrew, Ben and I queued up for that. Built in 1977, it was one of the first big looping coasters in the U.S. Even though there weren't many people in line, it moved excrutiatingly slowly because of the Fast Track, where people paid big money to cut the line. Several people got sick of waiting and departed. After about 20 minutes we were finally in the station. This time Andrew and Ben got the front seat and I sat behind them. It was amusing to me how slow the coaster's lift hill seemed compared with modern rides, but I liked it. I also liked how the track hugged the contour of the hillside. It was still an enjoyable ride after nearly 50 years. We hiked back up the hill toward Kissing Tower Hill and then went down into the Pioneer Frontier to ride Trailblazer, an old Arrow mine train coaster. The station was practically empty when we arrived and we hopped right on. I had forgotten how short the ride was. After the lift hill, there was a dip and a helix. Then another lift hill, a helix and then back into the station. The actual coasting probably lasted less than a minute. The longest part of the ride were the two lift hills. By then it was 5:30, so we met back up with the ladies and called it a day. We swung by Chocolate World one more time before heading to our cars. Hersheypark certainly had changed since our previous visit, and mostly for the better. Since I spent so much money on some wraps and tater tots, I didn't even consider visiting the Chocolatier, the park's upscale restaurant. And $6.50 for a small lemonade seemed excessive. The heat on the second day was pretty intense, but the park did have lots of misters available. The only real disappointments were Widcat's Revenge and the Dry Gulch Railroad being down for our entire visit. I was really surprised at how crowded the park was. I tried to pick the middle of the week before a big holiday because I figured there wouldn't be crowds. But I was really wrong about that. There were several operational rides that we wanted to go on but couldn't simply because of excessive wait times. I mean, waiting forty minutes for the Monorail was absurd. But overall we had a good time. I think the kids were a bit overwhelmed, especially with all the crowds and the waiting. But hopefully we'd return when it wasn't as hot and hazy for a more relaxing time at the Sweetest Place on Earth.

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