BACKSTORY: Hersheypark (known as Hershey Park until 1970) is a family theme park situated in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1905 by Milton S. Hershey, as a leisure park for the employees of the Hershey Chocolate Company, as of 2012, the park is wholly and privately owned by Hershey Entertainment & Resorts Company. The park opened its first roller coaster in 1923, the The Wild Cat, an early Philadelphia Toboggan Company coaster. In 1970, Hershey Park began a redevelopment plan which made the park into the new Hersheypark. The 1970s brought the first looping roller coaster on the East Coast (The Sooper Dooper Looper), as well as a 330' tall observation tower, the Kissing Tower. Beginning in the mid 1980s, the park rapidly expanded. Between 1991 and 2008, the park added eight roller coasters and a water park. As of 2011, the park's area covers over 110 acres, containing over 60 rides and attractions. The park contains a waterpark called The Boardwalk at Hersheypark, and a zoo called ZOOAMERICA - North American Wildlife Park. Adjacent is Hershey's Chocolate World, a visitors' center that is open to the public and that contains shops, restaurants, and a chocolate factory-themed ride.
