Chocolate Town, USA, is sweeter than ever. Electrosonic recently provided all the AV and control systems for The Great American Chocolate Tour, the newly-renovated tour at Hershey’s Chocolate World in Hershey, PA. The tour now features updated content, a new sound system, animatronic characters, special effects and a spectacular finale. Hershey’s Chocolate World is America’s most visited corporate tourist center, with more than 3 million guests annually.
Visitors enter the tour in the tropically themed queue line where they view clips of how cocoa beans grow in the rainforests, are harvested and shipped to America. The new LCD flat panels installed by Electrosonic provide a modern appeal to the experience. Visitors board a streamlined vehicle from which they see, feel and hear the process that transforms the beans into milk chocolate. A trio of animatronic cows provide narration and a song declaring, “It’s all about the milk.”
Along with numerous high-tech visual electronics, Electrosonic also installed a new overhead audio system with speakers distributed every eight feet along the ride’s 1150ft path. Track triggers were added to activate audio and animatronic figures as visitors approach in their vehicles, coordinating onboard dialogue with the cows’ narrative. Audio equipment includes Roland recorders, Fostex 24-track audio players, Soundweb digital signal processing and Crown 8-channel amplifiers.
The ride culminates in a surround theater where 18ft curved walls display six dynamic scenes of America enjoying Hershey’s Products. This was accomplished using Watchout and eight Panasonic DLP projectors. Electrosonic selected Medialon as the control system to integrate all of the AV components.
For more information, please visit www.electrosonic.com.