Despite living in PA for the past 16 years, I am taking my kids to Hershey park for the first time. We will be there a Friday and Saturday, staying at Hershey lodge so we will have early entry.
Any tips or tricks? I don’t want to pay for fast lane.
Thanks!
You get early admission the day before your tickets start! Free Extra Hours | Hersheypark
We were there on a relatively low crowd day and no one was doing any inversions so our day was pretty low key - and easy. I don’t have a touring plan to share with you - we started in the front and worked our way back.
Bring swim stuff if your family is inclined to use the water park. It’s included with admission and looked like a lot of fun. We didn’t bring a change of clothes so we opted out of that part.
We found the park to have so much shade - which was awesome!
Get the Hersheypark app. It’s great for directions to attractions or food locations. It does show wait times too.
The meal plan is great. My family of 4 purchased 2 of them. Every couple hours we all shared two meals. We found that the eateries around the boardwalk/pool had very good quality food overall. If you get a meal plan, make notes on what food places participate.
Go on Thrilldata to view the average wait times of all the popular attractions. You’ll most likely want to experience the best ones early or late in the day.
Also see the individual attractions pages to know the best and worst time to go on those popular attractions. The grey dotted line would be average.
When you’re in the park, you can set TD to in park mode with the ability to time your waits. (That’s what Liners do right 
)
TD will save your data and compile your waits:
When looking at the rides, be aware that the back half of the park does not open for early entry- they hold you back around the Chick fil et (btw that place is always super packed, no mobile order, I wouldn’t bother trying to eat there). You don’t mention ages or interests, but def hit Candymonium early entry if you’re not into lines or paying for passes. The more classic Comet coaster also gets pretty long pretty early so other early entry consideration.
The waterpark is pretty nice and they have changing rooms available if you want to get into/out of your suit.
Like WDW, the go early, leave during heat of the day/crowds, come back for the evening tends to work pretty well (although they close early enough the crowds don’t get back down to the morning levels).
Oh, and I forgot to mention that there is Hersheypark and there is Hershey Chocolate World. Different things. Chocolate World is right next to the park entrance and is the Hershey version of “visit the factory”. There’s a ride that explains chocolate making and you get a fun size piece of candy at the end. My kids insist on going in there Every. Single. Time. There’s other pay-for activities like making your own chocolate bar, chocolate tasting, etc. that you can do but they have to be scheduled in advance (or morning of for best availability)
Because my husband has a meeting until 5, and we live an hour and a half away, we can’t realistically make it for the preview hours which is too bad. Park closes at 7
We’re planning to leave home early Friday as the park doesn’t open until 11.
Glad for shade. I have a 7 year old who doesn’t like coasters and a 12 year old who loves them so it should be interesting.
Thanks!
We did chocolate world and stayed at the lodge for the indoor “waterpark” a few years ago, but we haven’t done the park.
I have a 7 year old who’s not a coaster fan and a 12 year old who will want to ride them all, so it’s going to be a tough balance. I hadn’t thought about thrill data, I’ll look and see if there are certain rides that would be better at certain times of day.
We’ll do the park Friday and Saturday, go home Sunday, likely stop at chocolate world before we go.
We did Chocolate World in the late 70s and at that time the treat at the end was a HUGE cookie.
I’ve lived in TN for more than 40 years & still haven’t been to Dollywood! It’s my deepest shame!! 
Long time touringplana fan and spent three years as an HP passholder. Use the early entry to ride Candimonium (and possibly Skyrush) then try to be near the ChickFilA right when they open the rest of the park. Go to the back of the park and ride Lafftrack first, then backtrack to get in line for Fahrenheight. The other day hit Reese’s Cupfusion first. Cupfusion and Laff are the lowest capacity rides with broad appeal. HP has a lot of great coasters.
The seals and sealions show is a great way to take a break mid afternoon.
Marshmallow ice cream at Milton’s is great.
