Legoland, Hershey and more family road trip ideas close to Long Island
After a day at Chocolate World, stay overnight at the Hershey Lodge, which includes an indoor water play area. Credit: Hershey Lodge
Climb into the Minifigure Skyflyer to take a ride across Legoland or invite a Crayola Experience CrayolaBot to draw a picture of you that you can then color — these are two new activities coming this summer at family-friendly venues just a road trip away from Long Island.
Here are details on the Pez Visitor Center in Connecticut, Legoland in upstate New York, and the Crayola Experience and Hershey’s Chocolate World in Pennsylvania:
Pez Visitor Center
35 Prindle Hill Rd., Orange, Connecticut
72 miles from Manhattan by car
Vintage vending machines at the visitor center at the Pez factory in Orange, Connecticut. Credit: PEZ Candy Inc.
The Pez Visitor Center offers colorful displays, touch-screen games, a scavenger-style hunt for kids and a hefty dose of nostalgia for parents and grandparents. “We’ve got thousands of items on display from the 1930s to today,” says Shawn Peterson, direct-to-consumer business manager for Pez Candy Inc. “We’ve got archives of old dispensers.”
Pez candy is made on-site. “People really seem to like looking through the window into production to see what the factory workers are doing,” he says. A caveat: From July 1 to 12 the factory slows down for maintenance and not all machines will be in operation.
Families can spend as little as 30 minutes at the center or as long they want, Peterson says. “If you’re really into it, I’ve had people stay for hours.”
COST $5, $4 ages 3 to 12
MORE INFO: 203-298-0201, us.pez.com
Legoland New York
1 Legoland Way, Goshen, New York
61 miles from Manhattan by car
Legoland New York resort in Goshen features a theme park and resort hotel. Credit: LEGOLAND New York Resort
Launching this summer is the Minifigure Skyflyer, which will allow visitors to ride a gondola from one end of the 150-acre park to the other, says Lauren Truskowski, senior communications manager. “It goes through the air; it’s something similar to what you would see at a ski resort, but it’s fully enclosed,” she says.
The New York venue is the newest Legoland in the United States, joining sister parks in California and Florida when it opened in 2021. It’s the only location that has the Lego Factory Adventure Ride that “transforms guests into Lego minifigures during the ride. You're watching yourself move along the ride, looking at yourself in the mirror as a minifigure,” Truskowski says. There’s also a 4-D theater that plays Lego movies, costume characters and a water playground, she says.
A Lego character dragon greets guests in the lobby of the Legoland New York Hotel in Goshen, New York. Credit: Getty Images/Michael Loccisano
The park is currently offering a special of up to four children’s tickets for ages 2 to 12 for $29 each, Truskowski says. The Legoland Hotel is offering a deal of $125 per person for children and adults that includes the overnight stay with buffet breakfast and two-day park tickets. Both specials run through June 30.
COST Tickets start at $54 plus tax online and vary based on date, $94 at the gate; through June 30 buy one adult ticket for $59 and get up to four children's tickets (ages 2 and older) for $29 each plus tax
MORE INFO: 845-410-0290, legoland.com
Crayola Experience
30 Centre Square, Easton, Pennsylvania
77 miles from Manhattan by car
More than 20 hands-on activities await visitors to the Crayola Experience in Easton, Penn. Credit: Crayola Experience
New this summer is a CrayolaBot that will sketch a visitor’s cartoon portrait that they can then color to make themselves the hero of their own comic book story. The venue has more than 20 additional hands-on activities, including naming and wrapping your own crayon, learning how crayons are made in a live show and making a melted-wax creation.
The on-site Crayola Store offers the world’s largest selection of Crayola products and souvenirs, says Constance Walker, manager for public relations and marketing activations. The Easton location is the flagship of the Crayola world — other Crayola attractions are in Orlando; the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn.; Plano, Texas; Chandler, Ariz.; and soon Pigeon Forge, Tenn.
COST $29.99 per person; online $26.99
MORE INFO: 610-515-8000, crayolaexperience.com/easton
Hershey’s Chocolate World
101 Chocolate World Way, Hershey, Pennsylvania
166 miles from Manhattan by car
After a day at Chocolate World, stay overnight at the Hershey Lodge, which includes an indoor water play area. Credit: Hershey Lodge
Hershey’s Chocolate World is separate from Hersheypark; it’s in its own building next door to the amusement area. “It’s very much focused on edutainment activities,” says Chocolate World spokeswoman Paisley Haddad. A free chocolate tour ride takes visitors through the history of Hershey and how iconic candies like Hershey Kisses came to be, she says.
Branded characters like the Hershey Bar show for meet-and-greets daily. The venue also has a handful of other attractions that require additional fees, including Create Your Own Candy Bar (including the wrapper), an interactive movie called “Hershey’s Great Candy Expedition” (viewers use buttons on their seats to participate), a stuff-your-cup Reese’s activity (choose marshmallows, potato chips and more to stuff a 1-pound chocolate cup) and the Trolleyworks ride around the local streets. Most of the experiences cost between $15 and $20, Haddad says.
There’s also a food court with items such as s’mores or cocktails inspired by candy as well as pizza and salads. The world’s largest Hershey’s store sells merchandise and candy that can’t be found anywhere else, Haddad says.
After a day at Chocolate World, stay overnight at the Hershey Lodge, which includes an indoor water play area. Credit: Hershey Lodge
Visitors can opt to stay overnight at the nearby Hershey Lodge with an indoor water park area for kids, at the Hersheypark Camping Resort with cabins or tent camping or enjoy luxury at The Hotel Hershey.
COST Entry, chocolate tour ride and character meet-and-greets are free; each additional experience is a la carte for between $18.99 and $29.95
MORE INFO: 717-534-4900, chocolateworld.com
Beth Whitehouse writes about families, parenting and great things to do with the kids on Long Island. She’s been a Newsday editor and shared a 1997 Newsday staff Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the crash of TWA Flight 800.