We love Hershey, we have gone almost every summer with my kid siblings (started when my bro was 5 and now he's 12, siter started same age and now 9) it has rides for all ages, some for the daring and some for the quiet types. The water park part of it is absolutely fun and made for every age. If you get there early that the gates aren't open head over to Chocolate World, once you get off the gates will be ready to open. I don't know how long you are staying or what day you are going. We have always gone on a weekday (mostly Wed for us) and it's still packed but not as bad as the weekends. We live about 45mins to and hour from there so I don't know about hotels up there. Hope you guys have a good trip