Sweet talkin’
Hersheypark

Kids Stuff
By William Feldman

Welcome to Kids Stuff. Today’s column includes a fun family idea to Hershey, Pa., and a cryptogram.
Recently, my family and I visited Hersheypark, located in Hershey, Pa., for our annual trip. Actually, we have been going there since I was 5 years old.
It’s approximately two hours from Far Northeast Philadelphia. As its advertisement goes, "Hersheypark Happy, Hersheypark Glad" is still the sweetest place on earth.
Believe it or not, as I am writing this column, a plane just flew overhead with a banner for Hersheypark Boardwalk. Talk about the word ‘irony.’ Anyway, they have a new area attraction in honor of Hersheypark’s centennial birthday called the Boardwalk.
You really do get the feeling of being down the shore with background sounds of planes, reminding you as they drag large banners behind them over the ocean and the sound of seagulls.
The good thing here is you do not have to worry about the seagulls dropping something on your head, which I already had the not-so-fun experience of. Also, the ground has simulated wooden planks, with stores and games on both sides.
The new Boardwalk area houses five great and fun water-based attractions. The new area covers 4.6 acres and holds 323,000 gallons of water; each of the new attractions will have high-tech filtration and uses recycled water and rainwater. In fact, they filter 6.5 millions gallon of water!
They make sure they tell you this for those who are concerned about our environment. They built this area based on an original water area Mr. Milton Hershey built in 1907 called "The Seashore at your Door."
They still have Canyon River Rapids, Tidal Force and Roller Soaker, a water roller coaster, but what they added to this new water area is Coastline Plunge, which consists of four normal-size water slides, along with one humongous funnel called the Tornado.
On the Tornado, you slide down on a large raft that goes fairly fast as you spin 360 degrees, along with some hair-raising turns. I highly recommend this. We were lucky — we had no wait and were able to go on all these rides at least five times each.
Next up, East Coast Waterworks: This is a very large play structure. According to a brochure, it is the world’s largest, at the time of building, with many slides, bridges and crawl tunnels, along with 200 interactive water toys.
By the way, they give you a loud warning sound when two large buckets of water, suspended 20 to 50 feet in the air, are going to tilt over and spray you. Believe me, on a hot day this feels great.
For real little kids and their parents, they have Sandcastle Cove, a tot pool with a giant sandcastle play structure. Also, there is a 48,000-gallon pool with zero-depth-entry, ramp slide and small waves.
Now for you surfer dudes, the new ride Waverider is ultimate: This water ride has an incline with constant waves, and you get on these boogie boards laying flat on your belly and ride the waves.
Other new events worth mentioning: Chocolate World, which is located right next to Hersheypark, has changed its automated ride with some new automated friends. They have a new show called Velocity, which is a cirque-style circus — no animals, just plenty of acrobats, gymnasts, dancers and aerial artists. Another new show is the Ultimate Road Trip, which lets you experience the magic of Motor City, Motown.
I enjoy printing trivia, for two reasons: First, I personally enjoy learning something new, plus you never know where this information might turn up: Maybe tryouts for Who Wants to be a Millionaire or Jeopardy. You should see the unique questions that are asked for Teen Jeopardy tryouts.
MR. HERSHEY’S BACKGROUND
• Milton S. Hershey was born in Derry Township (today better known as Hershey) on Sept. 13, 1857. He died Oct. 13, 1945 at the age of 88.
o Milton’s middle name was Snavely, which was his mother’s maiden name.
• After a failed printing apprenticeship, Milton became an apprentice to a candymaker in Lancaster named Joseph Royer. He learned a great deal from Royer before deciding to set out on his own as a candymaker.
• Mr. Hershey opened his first candy business on his own at the age of 18. This was in Philadelphia, the focal point of the country’s centennial celebration.
• He also explored business opportunities in Denver, Chicago and New Orleans but found nothing satisfactory.
• In Denver, he learned that adding fresh milk to caramels makes them creamier and chewier.
• Lancaster, in 1886, opened the Lancaster Caramel Company.
• The caramel that made Milton Hershey famous was called the "Crystal A" caramel.
• The Hershey Chocolate Company was established in 1894 as a subsidiary of the caramel company.
• Milton Hershey became the first person in the United States to mass produce milk chocolate.
• Mr. Hershey wanted to create a community where his employees could be self-reliant and own their own homes.
• In creating "his" company town, Mr. Hershey made provisions for recreation (he provided a park and community center), religion (he donated $20,000 to five Hershey congregations) and financial independence (he established the town’s bank).
OTHER TRIVIA
• There are 107 Kiss-shaped streetlights along Chocolate Avenue — 55 wrapped and 52 unwrapped, plus a few others scattered around town.
• More than 3.1 million pounds of concrete make the base of the Kissing Tower.
Food/beverages consumed by park guests (based on park statistics from the 2005-06 season):
• 70,000 regular pizza pies
• More than 1.1 million chicken strips
• More than 1 million gallons of Pepsi products.
What life was like in 1907, the year in which Hersheypark first came to be :
• A Hershey bar cost 5 cents.
• A loaf of bread cost 5 cents.
• A gallon of milk cost 31 cents.
• A stamp cost 2 cents.
• A car cost $500.
• A house cost $4,500.
• James Murray Spangler invented the first electric vacuum for Hoover.
• Scientists used radiometric dating to determine that the earth was 2.2 billion years old.
• Albert Einstein introduced the principle of E=mc2 (the theory of relativity.)
• The average life expectancy in the United States was 45.6 years for men and 49.9 years for women.
For more information about Hersheypark, call 1-800-HERSHEY or visit Hersheypark.com

CRYPTOGRAM
EZXDX BV LZMLMFUEX WHRXD EZX AMUDRYUFG, AMUDRYUFG
Hints: G is K; A is B; L is C; P is R
Columnist William Feldman can be contacted by e-mail at wmkidscolumn@aol.com