Hershey is located on the ancestral homelands of the Susquehannock people.

Date of Visit: December 13, 2020

There is no shortage of things to do in Hershey, especially at the holidays. While HersheyPark’s Christmas Candy Lane is the big attraction, the nearby Hershey Sweet Lights has become popular since it debuted in 2003. 

Sweet Lights is a drive-through experience where guests meander through two miles of holiday light displays in the comfort of their cars. 

Hidden from the main road, the light displays are tucked away behind the Hotel Hershey. The first part of the drive takes you across an open field where scenes come one after another. These are simple light fixtures, not choreographed shows, though some have simple movements to them. 

There are lights depicting HersheyPark attractions with a holiday twist. Here you can see the Kissing Tower lit in blue with elves watching as it climbs up. And on the Storm Runner roller coaster, Santa sits in the lead car with his reindeer behind. 

Another roller coaster display adds movement as Santa and Rudolph go up and down a pair of hills. A Ferris wheel next to it has them joined by other reindeer while elves spin on a rocket ride next further along the path. 

One of the highlights of this part of the drive is the light tunnel where strings of red, green, and blue lights flicker above and around as you make your way forward. 

All twelve days of Christmas are represented at the end of the field as two lanes become one before the path takes you up a hill and onto a small wooded road. 

We took the nighttime drive in December 2020. Maybe it was the fact that the attraction is good for social distancing, but the line of cars seemingly never ended. And the closer we got to this point in the drive, the more we sat and waited as the lanes took turns before continuing more smoothly into the Enchanted Forest.

Along the road, Christmas trees made of lights add to the greenery of the forest – their faces animated to add a little movement to the scene. 

Animals appear from behind the trees. Look up to see lights depicting birds, squirrels, bears, and other treetop creatures while snakes and ground dwellers sit on the forest floor. 

Throughout the forest, little elves and gnomes bound around mushrooms and flowers.

At the end is a large Hershey Kiss and a thank you message. 

The whole drive took an hour, though a good portion of that was spent in the traffic jam entering the Enchanted Forest. (We had a great view of the 12 drummers drumming for a while). 

In a world where synchronized light shows can be found all over, Sweet Lights felt underwhelming, especially for the price. The cost of a single car varies between $30-$45 depending on the night and how far ahead you purchase tickets. (Vans and buses that seat 9-15 people cost $60). And while it’s not without its charms, and it could be a good activity for the night before your HersheyPark visit, we won’t be driving to Hershey just to drive through Sweet Lights any time soon. 

Hershey Sweet Lights
1183 Sandy Beach Road
Hershey, PA 17033

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