My wife and I accompanied our daughter and a group of her friends to Hershey Park in Pennsylvania over Labor Day weekend. It’s a family-oriented theme park that we have visited many times over the years.

I decided this time to do what marketing expert Robert Middleton (www.actionplan.com) does on his vacations — observe what works and doesn’t, from a marketing point of view, at the places he visits.

What works at Hershey Park (www.hersheypa.com) is that they have been able to preserve a “family-centric” feel to the park. I think a lot of it has to do with the inviting tree-lined entrance and foliage-covered old part of the park one visits first.

I have also always been quite impressed with the way the staff reacts with the patrons. Having been a costume-character myself one summer at another park during my youth, I know the challenge! During this particular visit, my eyes followed for a moment a senior executive of the park staff, walking as if he were off to a meeting. I then noticed how when approached by a park guest for directions, he stopped and courteously answered the inquiry — even taking the time to point out the destination on the patron’s map.

This was also the first time I saw the park’s new additions to their water park area. I was pleased to see how they had incorporated a new large pool with the park’s history by harkening back to a design complete with images of the original pool from many decades ago. When my wife lamented not having brought her swimsuit, it said to me the park had hit just the right tone with this addition.

Then there was the negative. My wife suggested we go get an ice cream from the Ben & Jerry’ s stand. Well, that now has been replaced by a Cold Stone Creamery store. I was actually looking forward to visting this stand since I had read about the great success of the Cold Stone brand in various business periodicals. (www.coldstonecreamery.com)

But alas, I was disappointed once I got to the window. There were posters haphazardly taped to the wall — with sealing tape! Ugh! And the service was less than stellar. Is it really appropriate to have someone with a tongue piercing serving me ice cream? I was then shocked at the huge amount of vanilla icecream I received for just a “medium” (yes, you can get too much of a good thing!). Of course, with such quantity, the ice cream started to melt all over my hand. The flavor was passable, but frankly, not memorable. Hmmm, where was the appeal I had read about? Something tells me that if the presentation had been better, it might have positively affected my opinion of the product. My wife said that they must figure they have a captive audience at the park. Yeah, but am I now inclined to try another Cold Stone Creamery? Hershey Park, please bring back Ben & Jerry’s! (www.benjerry.com)

And then there was the Chevrolet (www.chevrolet.com) display outside the theatre of the same namesake. The car, and the display surrounding it, seemed to reflect the current misery of Detroit automakers. (http://tinyurl.com/2yzf7j)

The car was all black, which implies sport to me, but this model was stodgy and weary-looking to me. And what were those boxes and other items strewn in the back seat? Finally, what was I to think of the rusted metal display structure holding up the Chevrolet banner?

Well, those are my marketing observations from my visit to Hershey Park. I’d love to hear your thoughts. Write me at dryan@videolabs.net