If you followed my pulses last week you'd have correctly concluded that the family and I went on a short jaunt to Hershey, PA. (Not a hard thing to figure with a pulse that read, "Going to Hershey tomorrow. Whoever thought of a theme park based on chocolate is a mad genius in my book.")
Next door to Hershey Park (the amusment park) is a place called "Chocolate World". The admission is free. You get to go on a ride which is a simulated tour of the real factory. But the main purpose of Chocolate World is to get you to purchase chocolate (and other Hershey's products such as Twizzlers and Jolly Ranchers) at exorbitant prices. You should see people get swept up in the frenzy of being at Hershey. People paying $1.25 for a Hershey bar that they could get for 50 cents at Wal-Mart. People stuffing bags with pounds and pounds of chocolate. Chocolate which must be consumed at some point. Chocolate World single-handedly upping the country's BMI.
My kids are not impervious to this madness. We let them indulge a bit. Christian was fairly restrained; I was most impressed. He got two regular sized candy bars and a bag of Jolly Ranchers in flavors we can't find here.
Elise is in love with Hershey's Kisses, so we let her get one of those 7 ounce ones. She was floating on a cloud (after consumption, she was bouncing off the walls). I told her about how they made the candy right across the street at the big Hershey factory.
These silos hold millions of pounds of cocoa beans.I flipped around the package later to discover where the Kiss was actually manufactured
:
Mexico. It's cheaper to make it there and ship it up to PA then to walk it across the road. Sad, isn't it? Adios to
The Great American Chocolate Bar.
These silos hold millions of pounds of cocoa beans.
Comments (16)
Wowza, that's crazy that they're actually made in Mexico, how strange. I would love to go to a chocolate factory, I lubbbs me some chocolate. I think when we go to Vegas in December we're going to go to the M&M factory or something. That should be fun!
@StewieIsMyHero - There was a big controversy about this last year, that Hershey was going to shut down this plant and move all the operations to Mexico. So it really shocked me to see that they did open in Mexico. But they (as of now) aren't shutting this one down. They don't let people into the real factory for cleanliness and safety issues anymore. You are going to Vegas? How cool! M&Ms are little bits of sunshine wrapped in a candy shell.
You mean Charlie and the Chocolate Factory isn't accurate?! lol, maybe back then they were allowed to tour like that... that would be bad ass. M&Ms are pretty epic.
*sigh* More US jobs shipped overseas for cheap labor. It makes me sad. I think I'll indulge in some chocolate--it's good comfort food. Ya know, they say chocolate is a single woman's best friend
sad times we're in. Hershey holds a lot of childhood memories for me...
HAHAHAHA! That's too funny.
When I would go to the PIAA Cross Country State Championships in Hershey every year, my friends and I would always go over to Chocolate World afterwards. Screw the park. Gimme the chocolate!
With the cap and tax bill, we'll be seeing a lot more manufacturing going overseas.
And holy moley, those are some big silos.
This is totally unrelated, but for some reason I just thought of it. My dad used to tell me he got me at Pep Boys, on the top shelf because I was cheaper that way. One day, when I was like 5, I had fallen asleep in the car and when I woke up we were in the Pep Boys parking lot. I thought he was returning me. I cried for like hours.
/random story
@StewieIsMyHero - I'd have love to toured the Wonka factory. I'd probably have gotten stuck in that pipe though. Chocolate river. Yum.
@ShamelesslyRed - And chocolate is a married woman's finest affair. ;) Thanks for the rec.
@PreciousOnyx - Are you from PA?
@omgitsmackie - I second that. I could live without the rides when there is a five pound bar of chocolate for sale next door.
@Amarisa - I took that shot from 250 feet up in the air. They are incredibly huge.
@TastyAnonymity - Awww. You put the "pep" in Pep Boys. ;) That's so cute. Tom tells C that we got him on sale at the hospital.
Does the air smell heavenly there?! I like gimmicky things so I probably would have spent a $1.25 on a Hershey bar!
I think the best value is the tasting parlor on the 3rd floor of the Coca-Cola museum in Atlanta, GA. All the flavors from around the world... Hershey would be nice if they sold real dark chocolate and not the cheapie milk variety. But even their special dark is too "light". I want a minimum 62% cocoa solids in my chocolate. I want to FEEL the theobromine hit my blood stream and slam into my brain.
its like willy wonka!.. i live near there and have never been! i should go..
@heart_beep - It is easy to get caught up in it! Chocolate is my kryptonite.
@murisopsis - I've heard about that! Sounds amazing. You are a hard core chocolate lover. I am not so picky, real dark, light-dark, milk. I just won't eat that Palmer's crap they sell at Easter and Christmas. It shouldn't even be classified as "chocolate flavored".
@anth0nyc - You're a PA guy? Did I know that? I live in PA, too. Definitely go. Isn't it always the locals that don't visit their own town's treasures?
That is insanely depressing. We outsource EVERYTHING. It's insane. America - land of people who don't really want to make anything, but LOVE to buy stuff.
That's b.s. And people wonder why it's so hard to find a job... *scratches head*
@danlang - That's so insightful. It should be the American slogan!
@heidenkind - Good thing I've been watching Dora the Explorer to learn Spanish.