Hershey Children's Museum — Local services in Conewago Township

Let me start by saying that we have always loved the Hershey Children’s mueseum. We bought the family season pass before it even opened and visit frequently. I had my daughter’s 3rd birthday party there this year and the staff was wonderful. I told so many friends about this place and we have always had a great experience.

I hate to write a review on a one time experience but it was so awful that I feel the need to share. I visited the mueseum on Thursday. The experience started out great but took a quick turn once a bus of over 90 first graders pulled up. It was so loud that it was hard to even speak to anyone. We left soon after they arrived. In the process of getting my three children out the door, I left my Stanley water bottle. I called as soon as I got home when I realized it was missing.

The owner answered and said it was there. I asked if he could hold it for me until tomorrow. He said he would put it in the lost and found. I asked if they could keep it somewhere else safer since I was concerned someone might take it. He agreed to keep it up front with the staff. When I went to get it the next day, the staff there was very kind, but they could not find the water bottle. They told me I could wait in the car with my children and they would call the owner and ask where he put it.

They came out about 15-20 minutes later and the employee said she searched everywhere but it’s gone. I asked her if I could speak with the owner who had said he would keep it for me. She said I could call the number and that he normally answers his phone. I got ahold of him and he told me where it was left. I said that the employees had checked there but it’s gone. I was getting frustrated at this point and I think he was too because obviously it was gone and nothing could be done. I likely voiced how disappointed I was that it’s no longer there.

He started yelling at me and saying it’s my fault because I left it in the first place and he’s not responsible for my things. I don’t disagree with this statement. I said I realize that but I thought I could trust your business to keep it safe for me since you had it when I called yesterday and agreed to keep it for me. This really upset him. I certainly didn’t mean to accuse them of anything but was curious if maybe an employee took it. He started screaming at me like I’ve never been screamed at in my life.

He told me to get out of his building and then just continued screaming “Get out, Get Out, Get out!!!!” I was with my three young children and I just started to cry. The employees were so nice and when I got off the phone they wanted to make sure I was ok before I drove home. I started to chat with the employee as I was calming down. Suddenly over the building projector, he started screaming to get out!!!! It was mortifying! I’ve never been spoken to like that and it was even more horrible for it to happen in front of my children. It is never ok to speak to anyone the way he spoke to me and I find it shocking. My five year old had so many questions about why the mean man was screaming at us like that. She was very scared and has a lot of big feelings about it herself. All of this over a lost water bottle.

UPDATED FOR RESPONSE

Your response was as predicted, no accountability. I have yet to receive an apology for my water bottle not being there today when you promised to keep it safe for me. If by creating a scene, you mean me crying because you became incredibly unhinged screaming, then yes that did happen. I did not raise my voice. Please share any footage that backs up your claim of “scene”.

I was told your staff would hold our water bottle and it’s not there, yes we question their integrity. Where is it?

The irony though is your staff was great and kind and comforted me as I unexpectedly was screamed at in front of my children. The real regret here is that we supported this business before it was even open by buying a year membership, having a birthday party here, and referring many friends. I will now be going out of my way to share my...

I went here with my husband and 4 kids on a weekend about 1-2 months ago. I did not feel that this indoor playground was designed with safety in mind or that it was designed to be educational. I was very concerned with the fact that there were small sensory beads that were spilled from sensory playplace into the baby and toddler areas. It does not seem safe to put small sensory beads station next to area where babies and toddlers would play. There was also a few electrical outlets with wires sticking out that the toddlers could easily access. The face paint area poses concern for spreading skin bacterial infections.

I also expected as a Children's museum for there to be more educational opportunities for kids to learn about science and not just pretend play. Aside from the ball pit, my 6 and 8 year old kids were bored. My 8 year old son loves NASA and was so excited when he heard there were NASA exhibits in this museum. However, he was quickly disappointed when he saw that NASA rocket was just a small slide for 1-3 year old babies that did not include any buttons or switches to even play with or any educational information. I felt like there was a lack of originality and creativity in exhibits as most of them were directly bought from overseas company due to cheaper prices. The exhibits seemed to be arranged randomly throughout the building without any flow or theme to it. It seems like some of the exhibits served no educational purpose. This resulted in this place feeling more like indoor playplace for toddlers rather than an actual Children's museum . The barber shop was next to gift shop which was awkardly placed in the middle of the room. The camping area hut was rather small and underwhelming without much interactive things for kids to do.

In addition, the 18 dollars for admission ticket seems way overpriced for an indoor play place when compared to most other much bigger Children's museums and even Science Centers. My kids had more fun at Lancaster Science Center where admission was only 12 dollars and play time was not limited to 2 hours only. Furthermore, unlike most other Children's museums, this place does not offer any educational or seasonal workshops or events for community. It is set up more as a business transaction with overpriced admission tickets with limited 2 hour play time rather than a place for community and families. Although this museum has potential to improve, I would not come here again due to safety concerns for babies and toddlers, lack of things for my older children to do and extremely overpriced admission tickets.

Furthermore, since I have posted this, several other people commented on how sensory beads pose a hazard for babies and young toddlers. Since then, the owner has not only completely disregarded any helpful constructive criticism by other reviewers but also he did not make any real changes to make this playplace safe for...

While I think the intentions are great, this space could be greatly improved. First off, the welcome desk isn’t even when you first walk in. The toy shop is directly beside it and has things EVERYWHERE that little hands can get them, including shelves and the floor. I would love if that could be even somewhat separated. (And there was a second counter with more stuff to purchase in the back area as well). We weren’t ask for any names, contact info, etc during check in, even though we told her we had never visited before. There also didn’t appear to be cameras anywhere, which doesn’t really make me feel safe as a parent. The front entrance is in no way secure. Your child could simply walk out the front (or side door) without anyone knowing. It’s not in plain sight of anything and they specifically tell you during check in that the building is a big (and clearly unsafe) circle. I feel like this is concerning to any parent, but even more so to myself as the parent to a special needs child who always has her head on a swivel due to elopement. I was on edge the entire time and couldn’t just enjoy the space. And I’m thankful I only had one of my children with me today because if I had more than one, it would be utterly impossible to keep eyes on them and know that they’re even still in the building at any given moment.

We were told during check in that things have to stay at the specific spots and we need to pick up after our children before moving to something else… but one of the employees followed my friend’s son around and was putting things back while he was still playing with them. And made a point of telling her that if her son pushed the shopping cart into the big TV-like screen, it would break… he was supervised and wasn’t doing any such thing. And if you’re also that concerned with people breaking things in a children’s space, maybe they shouldn’t be there.

There’s a lot of stuff, but yet it’s still lacking. It feels like a lot of the areas were kind of overlooked in certain parts - like having a cheap pop up canopy for the “cafe”, the barn with slide for kids has absolutely nothing inside of it while the other barn has things inside that isn’t even relevant to being a barn. There are other things just kind of randomly around the space and make it feel overcrowded. Chipping paint on shelving with kids toys and the lack of any padding in the ball pit are definitely safety concerns. Plus the pit with the small plastic rocks that is smack dab in the middle of the space (and then has rocks spread throughout). I’m curious how or if this area is cleaned, especially with the kids coming in and out regularly. My daughter’s feet were BLACK on the bottom from walking around by the time we left (just under two hours).

We had a coupon and paid $12 for myself and my daughter but if I had paid the full price, almost $30, I definitely would have...