HERSHEYPARK will be part of "The Goldberg's" on ABC. Pretty cool! Official press release is below.
The Goldbergs, ABC-TV’s hit comedy, will travel to Chocolate Town, USA – Hershey, PA, and ride the legendary sooperdooperLooper during an all-new episode entitled Hersheypark, airing on ABC-TV on Wednesday, October 17 at 8 p.m. EST / 7 pm. CST.
In “Hersheypark,” Adam Goldberg (Sean Gentile) and his classmates attempt to avoid having their parents chaperone them on a high-school field trip to Hersheypark. Goldberg concocts a plan to ditch his smothering mother, Beverly (Wendy McLendon-Covey), but it backfires and all of his friends’ parents become chaperones and accompany their children.
During their trip to Hersheypark in this episode, the Goldbergs delight in feasting on the many wonderful chocolate treats available in Chocolate World and ride the sooperdooperLooper. In fact, Gentile dons an “I survived the sooperdooperlooper T-Shirt,” which is still Hersheypark’s best-selling T-Shirt.
When it opened in the summer of 1977, the sooperdooperLooper was the first steel looping coaster on the East Coast. It is Hersheypark’s most-ridden coaster 40 years later.
Attempting to recreate Hersheypark, most of the scenes were filmed in Southern California, but the Goldbergs did send a team to Hershey, PA, to capture the essence of the park. Some of the 107 Hershey Kiss street lights (55 wrapped and 52 unwrapped) are included in this episode of The Goldbergs.
The Goldbergs is an autobiography of executive producer Adam F. Goldberg’s experiences of growing up in a Philadelphia-suburban family in the 1980s. Goldberg often inserts recreations of his personal life into the show, including actual videos from his youth.
“One of my greatest memories from school was going to Hersheypark on a field trip,” said Goldberg. “I vividly remember going through Chocolate World where I bought a giant-sized Hershey kiss in the gift shop and ate it for the next year.”
“The sooperdooperLooper was the first looping roller coaster I had ever seen,” added Goldberg. “Even though my mom insisted I not go on it, I ignored her and still did as a point of pride. Sure, I ended up losing consciousness on the coaster for a bit, but I still did it! It really is an amazing destination if you live in the Philadelphia area.”
Hersheypark has the highest annual attendance of any privately-owned amusement park in North America and is one of six PA parks operating for a century or longer.
In addition to summer hours, Hersheypark is open for Hersheypark in the Dark in October and early November, and Christmas Candylane in mid-November and throughout the holidays in December. Hersheypark also just announced Hershey’s Chocolatetown, a new region at Hersheypark for summer 2020 where guests can eat, play, shop and gather yearround as part of the development of 23 acres. The investment of $150 million dollars into the 23-acre Hershey’s Chocolatetown development represents the largest capital investment and most transformative expansion in Hershey Entertainment & Resorts’ history.