There’s something sweet brewing in Tysons Corner Center. After months of anticipation, The Hershey Super Sweet Adventure pop-up officially opens on Friday, April 24.
As a frequenter of Hershey’s Chocolate World since childhood, I had to check out the pop-up to see if it lived up to the hype. And, I have to say, I give it a thumbs-up.
Immersive Activities
The candy-themed workshop starts by customizing your candy badge (this is important if you want to score some candy). Once you have your “sweet seeker” badge, the Hershey Kiss-shaped door is revealed and you’re welcomed into the immersive play experience.
Guests are able to explore six candy-themed stations full of activities. You earn sweet treats by completing the Kisses, Reeses, Jolly Rancher, and Twizzler sections.
We started with the Kisses section. Guests are able to get creative and design their own Kisses wrapper at The Share Shop. Once finished, the design is scanned and appears wrapped on a digital Kiss and topped with the candy’s iconic paper plume with your name as it makes its way down the conveyor belt. The section also includes a short digital game and plume walk-through.
Next was Reese’s. This section is for the game lovers. The Combination Station challenges players to stuff the Reese’s-shaped cutouts with the “peanut butter” balls using the Combo Cannons. Once that game is mastered, you can choose between three other activities: Connect Four, a mind-twisting Rube Goldberg machine, and the splat wall.
Over at the Flavor Intensification Station, the Jolly Rancher-themed activities were designed to heighten your senses. Guests were met with a larger-than-life Lite-Brite that can be customized using the candy pegs. The Intense-O-Meter challenges you to generate light, color, and sound to help create the fruit-flavored candy. The Flavor Sensors delight you with sweet scents of Jolly Rancher flavors. (But, you might want to skip the blue raspberry tube.)
The Twizzers section is all about being flexible and getting twisted around. The ninja-like Pull ‘n’ Peel Maze will have guests of all ages trying to bend like a Twizzler in order to get through the narrow openings. If that didn’t turn you around, The Extruder will. Trust me when I say you’ll definitely feel like Twizzler by the time you make it to the end of the tunnel.
The other candy experiences include Bubble Yum and Icebreakers. Over in the Bubble Yum section, see who can blow up a bubble (aka a pink balloon) until it pops the quickest. And expect a full upper body workout in the process of completing this task. While over the Icebreakers section, the temps drop as a minty scent fills the room.
Collecting Your Candy
Once you’ve completed all the sections and filled the stickers on your badge, return to Sweet Seeker Central to collect your candy. Guests are surprised with one more sweet when it’s time to leave the experience. Be prepared to smile for the camera in order to get your own customized Hershey’s chocolate bar.
The pop-up experience also includes a storefront, which is open to non-ticketholders. There, you’ll find sweet treats and chocolate- and candy-themed merch, like T-shirts, ornaments, and puzzles. You won’t find the rare candies you might see at Chocolate World, but the merch selection, while small, is pretty comparable to what you would find at the official store.
Tickets for Hershey Super Sweet Adventure start at $19.99. They include entry into the experience, a “sweet seeker” badge and lanyard, full-size Hershey bar with a customized photo wrapper, and additional candy treats. Companion tickets are $14.99. These only allow you access to the experience and require the purchase of a participant ticket.
All in all, the Hershey Super Sweet Adventure is fun pop-up for kids of all ages. The pop-up will be at Tysons Corner Center through the end of the year.
Feature image by Michele Kettner
