Christmas Candylane 2024 at Hersheypark!
Season’s Greetings from the Sweetest Place on Earth! We’ve taken to formally kicking off our holiday season with a late November visit to Hersheypark for their annual Christmas Candylane event, and we were excited to continue that tradition this year. Normally, we plan a “snack crawl” that takes us all over the park for both sweet and savory seasonal treats. This year, however, the savory offerings seemed to be more limited…so we instead built an itinerary around the events, the characters and the experiences offered throughout the park.
The “Holi-dogs” at Berk’s were the first things to draw our attention and the only notable savory option for the 2024 holiday season, so that was where we headed first. Of the three seasonal hot dogs, the one that caught our eye was the “Melted Snowman”, topped with carrot slaw, onion pickle relish, bacon, and white barbeque sauce. It wasn’t our all-time favorite Berk’s dog (that honor goes to the “Wildcat’s Revenge” dog) but it was rather tasty! You will have to watch our vlog to hear the interesting secret ingredient for the “Ugly Sweater” dog and why we took a pass on the other Berk’s offerings.
After a satisfying snack, we headed for the Mary N. Bright Airfield, the new home of Santa Claus and his elves and where the reindeer have always made there Candylane home. This meet and greet is located directly across from Berk’s in the Fahrenheit catering area, which also features the Concourse Cocoa Bar. The Cocoa Bar is a premium hot cocoa vendor that sells Hershey’s delectable hot chocolate with a twist for guests 21 and older. We first decided to greet the reindeer at their recently rebranded home in Hangar 96, which is one of our favorite offerings from Candylane each and every year. Where else can you meet all 9 (yes, Rudolph too) of Santa’s reindeer in one place? We always recommended checking them out earlier in the day, as the after-dark crowds can increase your wait times as the day goes on. After a lovely visit with Santa’s trusted transport, it was time to greet the big man himself in the Yule Lounge.
Now, one of our disappointments from Candylane 2024 was that the “Mrs. Claus Dance Party” was not on the schedule. This was our favorite show from last year and it was sad to see it wasn’t offered this year. But we were excited to see Mrs. Claus and the elves entertaining guests waiting in line for Santa. In our opinion, the elves are the real stars of the Candylane experience, but don’t tell Santa! We found out from the elves that they have some unscheduled performances throughout the day, so we knew we had to return for a Cocoa Carolers show later that day. After a lovely visit with Santa, we decided to try a Chocolate Coconut Cocoa, featuring Hershey’s hot cocoa, coconut rum, whipped cream, and toasted coconut flakes. It tasted like a melted Almond Joy, and I was in heaven. We enjoyed this beverage so much that Tim went back later for a Chocolate Peanut Butter Cocoa, which had peanut butter whisky and peanut butter sauce (pro-tip, drop a Reese’s cup in yours for a little extra peanut butter kick). Both were delicious and a perfect treat to warm guests up on a chilly day.
Although most of the holiday overlays in Hersheypark are best experienced after dark, there is one that you can do anytime of day, and that’s where we headed next. Laff Trakk gets a complete holiday makeover every year and we highly recommend you check it out. The queue is re-themed, the music changes and you can’t miss out on the giant tree light display in the center of the coaster. Filming is not permitted on the ride, so you will have to visit the park yourself to see how the holiday season truly does bring festive overlays to the attractions at Hershey! It was almost time to return to the Mary N. Bright Airfield for the Cocoa Carolers, but we had just enough time for a Sweet Greet with Hershey characters at the Music Box Theater and a snack at East Coast Mini Donuts. The holiday flavors available were hot chocolate, sugar cookies, and chocolate peppermint. After some consideration, we decided on a half-dozen of the sugar cookie option. These mini donuts are almost always a must get as we love the seasonal flavors and they always come out warm and delectable.
With full bellies and hearts, we returned to our elf friends to watch the Cocoa Carolers. After listening to lovely carols, it was finally golden hour and that means we were headed for the Dry Gulch Railroad for our next ride. This is another attraction that gets very popular after dark, so we always try to get on earlier in the evening. We love seeing the views of the park from the ride and looking at the displays, themed to the 12 Days of Christmas for the past few years. Our perfectly timed train ride brought us to sundown, and that is when Christmas Candylane really comes alive with holiday cheer. We headed for Kissing Tower Hill for our next two must-do rides, the Twin Turnpike Classic Cars, and the Kissing Tower. The cars have a holiday overlay, and the Kissing Tower provides a stunning view of all the light displays throughout the park.
Our night at Candylane was winding down, but we still had a few more activities on our must-do list, the first being a viewing of the NOEL Light Show in the Hollow. This show is synchronized to favorite holiday tunes and goes off every 30 minutes starting at dusk. Now due to the construction of Twizzlers Twisted Gravity, the light display arrangement was a little different and the Kissmas tree centerpiece had a new home for the season, but we did enjoy seeing the new Twisted Gravity light display made in house by Hersheypark maintenance crew. Finally, we headed for the Boardwalk to find the Kissmas Tree and see the beautiful sandcastle light display. The one caveat of visiting Candylane this early is missing out on Treeville, as this Christmas tree trail did not open until December 7th this year. However, we are planning a return visit before the season ends so stay tuned! It was a different Candylane experience for us, with less of a food crawl and less entertainment offerings, but we still had a holly jolly time at the Sweetest Place on Earth. We look forward to continuing our annual Candylane visit in the years to come.
