Hersheypark (known as Hershey Park until 1970) is a family theme park located in Hershey, Pennsylvania, about 15 miles east of Harrisburg, and 95 miles west of Philadelphia. The park was founded in 1906 by Milton S. Hershey as a leisure park for the employees of the Hershey Chocolate Company. As of 2016, it has been wholly and privately owned by Hershey Entertainment and Resorts Company. Hersheypark has won several awards, including the Applause Award.
The park opened its first roller coaster in 1923, the Wild Cat, an early Philadelphia Toboggan Company coaster. In 1970, it began a redevelopment plan, which led to new rides, an expansion, and its renaming. The 1970s brought the SooperDooperLooper, an early complete-circuit looping roller coaster, as well as a 330-foot-tall observation tower, the Kissing Tower. Beginning in the mid-1980s, the park rapidly expanded. Between 1991 and 2008, it added eight roller coasters and the “Boardwalk at Hersheypark” water park. As of 2018, the park covers over 110 acres, containing 76 rides and attractions, as well as a zoo called “ZooAmerica”. Adjacent to the park is Hershey’s Chocolate World, a visitors’ center attraction that contains shops, restaurants, and a chocolate factory-themed tour ride, where visitors can get their picture taken and receive a piece of chocolate at the end of the ride.
