Planning a road trip with the kids this summer? Take a detour and experience one of these superfun factory tours—each of which is a destination in its own right!
THE CRAYOLA FACTORY 30 Centre Square, Easton, Pa. 610.515.8000, www.crayola.com/factory If your child is a Picasso in training—or even if he or she just likes to scribble in coloring books—a trip to The Crayola® Factory in historic downtown Eaton, Pa., is sure to be a hit. Inside
the 20,000-square-foot facility, families witness live demonstrations of Crayola crayon and marker manufacturing and participate in hundreds of colorful hands-on activities—without having to clean up afterward. “We know how important it is for families to spend time together. So with that in mind, we provide a place for families to connect through play,” says Executive Director Ramona Hollie-Major.
Exhibit highlights include Color Park, where kids paint with different colors of melted crayon wax; Super Sculptures, where they mold a giant 3-D sculpture; and Light Zone, where they color on miniature slides, which are then projected onto the wall for all to see. In 2003, a $1.5 million redesign added two Animation Stations, where aspiring filmmakers create their own 3-D film clips. Kids younger than 5 have their own activity area, which includes ball play and a discovery garden. Once kids are done tapping into their creative sides, they can pick up some art supplies to go at The Crayola Store,
which features the most complete line of Crayola products anywhere. The summer months are the factory’s busiest, and reservations are recommended. Plan to spend several hours there: The admission fee includes a visit to the neighboring National Canal Museum, where visitors learn what life was like in the time before trains, cars and airplanes.
JELLY BELLY VISITOR CENTER One Jelly Belly Lane, Fairfield, Calif. 800.9-JELLYBEAN, www.jellybelly.com Upon entering the Jelly Belly® Visitor Center, located about an hour’s drive north of San Francisco, visitors’ senses are besieged by a cornucopia of luscious scents, including chocolate, apricot, cinnamon, pineapple and many others (there are 50 flavors of Jelly Bellies in all.) During the 40-minute walking tour, families watch as the legendary beans are created, a process that has many steps. First, flavors are added to the candy centers, which are
The Jelly Belly factory in California has free tours-and a chance for kids 6 and older to get a degree in Beanology.
then molded and left to dry overnight. Then, the baby beans are starched, moisturized, sugared, sanded, cured and rotated for up to 48 hours. Finally, the color coating is added and the beans are polished to perfection. From beginning to end, the process takes more than a week! Visitors also see taffy, chocolates and wild gummy critters in the making. A new offering is Jelly Belly University, where participants (who must be at least 6) don lab coats and hit the factory floor for a longer, behind-the-scenes experience. At the end, each child is awarded a degree in “Beanology” from the “Dean of the Bean,” along with a Jelly Belly University T-shirt and shopping discount.
Kids can’t survive on sugary samples alone, so plan on having lunch at the Jelly Belly Café, which serves creative delights such as jelly bean-shaped pizza. Stop by the nearby Java Bar for an espresso on your way out—the perfect cure for a sugar crash. Tours are free and depart every 15 minutes, and reservations are not required. Check out the Jelly Belly Web site for special events, such as Mrs. Grossman’s Stickerpalooza on Aug. 21-22. At this event, kids take a detour from the usual factory tour to peruse dozens of fabulous stickers and create their own with the help of Mrs. Grossman’s team.
BEN & JERRY'S FACTORY TOUR Route 100 North, Waterbury, Vt. 802.882.1240, www.benjerry.com Summers are made for slurping ice cream—and there’s no fresher place to get it than at the source. If you happen to be in Vermont, it’s well worth planning a trip to the state’s No. 1 tourist attraction: the Ben & Jerry’s® Ice Cream Factory. Nestled in the heart of the Green Mountains, the factory sits on a rolling pasture overlooking the Worchester Range, just north of the small town of Waterbury. The grounds feature lots of places to picnic, as well as fun items for kids to climb on and a small playground. During the summer,
When in Vermont, don’t forget to take a tour of the state’s No. 1 tourist attraction—the Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream Factory. Learn the company’s history and receive a taste of samples at the end.
kid-friendly activities, such as a bubbles kiosk, spin art and temporary tattoos, are often offered. Inside the brightly colored factory, visitors are offered a fun and educational 30-minute guided tour. The tour starts with a seven-minute “moovie” shown in the Cow Over the Moon Theater, which explains how childhood friends Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield turned a $5 correspondence course on ice-cream making into a successful business. From there participants go up to a mezzanine, where they get a bird’s-eye view of the ice cream being made and an explanation of the process. The best part is at the end, when generous samples are handed out and enjoyed in the FlavoRoom. Don’t miss the Stairway to Heaven to the Flavor Graveyard, where tombstones honor discontinued flavors, such as Fred and Ginger and Holy Cannoli, or the Scoop Shop, where 30 to 40 flavors of ice cream tempt and delight.
Hershey’s Chocolate World provides something for the entire family, including tours of a simulated Hershey’s chocolate factory.
HERSHEY'S CHOCOLATE WORLD 251 Park Boulevard, Hershey, Pa. 717.534.4900, hersheys.com/chocolateworld A visit to Hershey, Pa.—birthplace of the famed Hershey’s® brand—is not unlike a visit to Charlie’s chocolate factory. In Hershey, the streets are lined with Hershey’s Kisses-shaped streetlights, the air is filled with the mouthwatering aroma of chocolate and the fun never ends! There are activities for every member of the family, ranging from 36 championship holes of golf to the Spa at the Hotel Hershey to Hersheypark, a world-class theme park with more than 60 rides, plus other attractions and live entertainment. No visit to Hershey would be complete without a trip
to Hershey’s Chocolate World, which takes visitors right to the center of the chocolate-making process. A free tour featuring animated characters, special effects and a spectacular finale begins in a “tropical rain forest” where cocoa beans grow. As the beans are harvested, tourgoers follow their journey across the ocean to America, where they are transformed into milk chocolate in
a simulated Hershey’s chocolate factory.
Other Chocolate World attractions include Factory Works, where kids see their images on personalized chocolate-bar wrappers, package their own Hershey’s Kisses and create their own personalized message on the plume of a giant Kiss; and the Really Big 3-D Show, where the Hershey’s product characters come to life as never before. Families can also ride a trolley (which departs from the main entrance of Chocolate World; call for operating times) through the town of Hershey, accompanied by singing trolley conductors dressed in period costumes. Sweet gifts and souvenirs for friends back home are available at the Marketplace Shops, and the two restaurants—the Kit Kat “Gimme a Break” Café and Courtyard Café Food Court—both offer a kid-friendly menu and atmosphere.
