Hollywood Casino and Penn National Race Course, Grantville, PA

A year ago we tried to go to the Hollywood Casino with the Roadtrek. The casino is part of the Penn National Race Course near Hershey, PA - the city the chocolate comes from. Before going on that trip I contacted the casino and asked where RVs may park as I knew that they had a parking garage that we would not fit in. I was told that there was a special lot for RVs and trucks and that we should not enter at the main entrance but follow the signs past that and continue on to this special lot. When we got to the parking lot it was nothing more than a gravel road that went in a circle with a line of 18 wheelers parked in it every which way. There was no place to put even an RV as small as a Roadtrek. We drove around that lot a couple of times and gave up. In the distance we could see a regular parking lot for cars. When I had contacted the casino before we went, I was told very emphatically DO NOT PARK in the car parking lots. OK. We left.

This year we would be in Hershey again for the same event as last year and I decided in advance that we were going back to the Hollywood Casino. I brought their location up on Google Maps in satellite mode and carefully examined where the main entrance leads. There was a very large parking lot right before the entrance to the indoor parking garage just to the right. There was plentyl of parking there and I could easily see that the Roadtrek would have no problem finding a place to park there. After mentioning last year in a article here about our experience in the so-called RV lot there, I received a few responses that there is no problem parking if you just go into the car lot.  The heck with what management told us in the email... And that is exactly what we did.

This was at night and the lot we went to was not crowded at all. Most of the cars were turning toward the parking garage. We would have a short walk mostly uphill, but that was fine. There were two other RVs in the lot - one a Class C and another Class B off in the distance which could have been just a standard conversion van. We parked and went into the casino.

We are not gamblers but I love the atmosphere of casinos. This one, I learned from their website  has a museum. A museum of gambling? Nope. This casino's name and theme is Hollywood and this casino has a collection of Hollywood memorabilia - props and costumes from some pretty significant stars and movies. I am a long time film buff and have been going to the movies since I was an infant in my mother's arms. My parents were not going to stay home and not go to the movies and brought me along. I don't remember, of course, what I saw as an infant but I remember some pretty big films that we saw in the mid-50's and beyond. I love the movies! Anyway - I wanted to see the collection at this casino.

The museum is free and not very large but we saw some pretty neat things that impressed me. There are two costumes worn by Marilyn Monroe, props from Elizabeth Taylor's Cleopatra though the dress on display was a reproduction - everything else in the museum was original, and more.  Here is the motorcycle driven in Indian Jones and the Last Crusade - Harrison Ford and Sean Connery!

Another motorcyle - the Triumph ridden by Marlon Brando in The Wild One (and owned by him when he made the movie).

And another motorcycle - but the BEST of all - Steve McQueen in The Great Escape! This one got a big "Oh MY!"

There were costumes and props from Batman Returns - both Batman's outfit worn by Michael Keaton shown below and Catwoman's stitched together jump suit (no photo - it was dark in the museum and this all was behind glass which made photograph quality marginal).

From the movie Aliens - the Alien - (up on the ceiling hanging over you as you walked past)

From one of the Star Trek movies (Kirk era - Star Trek IV) - a phaser and autographed poster -

And from Back to the Future II - a hoverboard!

There was more in the musuem. And my photos here do not really do these objects justice.

The decor of the museum is also Hollywood and there are Roman Arches, backdrop sets, a full size park statue of a Rev War soldier on horseback, the front of a cruise ship (that I looked to see if it said Titanic but it didn't - but that was what it was supposed to be, and more. It is important to know that no one under the age of 21 can go through any entrance door to the casino. No children at all may enter. Some casino complexes - Atlantic City and the casinos in Connecticut have areas that children can go into and walk through to game rooms, shops, restaurants, etc. NOT HERE. They can't see the musuem. They cannot get to any of the restaurants that are part of the casino.

We walked around the casino and no, we did not make a bet. We had dinner and then after dinner we got to see something that neither of us had never seen before.

Penn National Race Course was running races and neither Meryl or I have ever been to a racetrack where the jockeys sit on the horses. Years ago we both were at a local racetrack - since closed - at which Trotters raced. These are horses pulling sulkies (carriages) driven by a jockey. We are not far from the famous Belmont Race Track but neither of us have ever gone. After dinner we went out of the casino and walked right into the racetrack. The racetrack is also free. (Another surprise as it used to cost an admission fee to go to the trotters track we had been to. While there are no children allowed in the casino - there were plenty of children with their parents at the track! This was all a new experience for us and I am sure if this is all common to you, you are wondering what the big deal is but it was a big deal for us. We walked up to the rail and were just a very few feet away from where the horse run. We heard the trumpet and the race was about to start. Each horse came out with its jockey and another horse ridden by what I assume is a trainer and they all walked around the track. Again - all new to us. We watched three races - had we known that the races were going on we would have come out earlier. Between each race you can walk up to where the horses are prepared for the next race - and when the race ended we followed the crowd to see what was going on and found this. There was a food stand outside so if you bring children to the track you can eat outside without going into the casino - though the Skybox Restaurant is within the casino where no children are allowed. Again, we did not make any bets. We did get to see a horse and jockey injured during the last race resulting in both a "people" ambulance and a horse ambulance going out to get them.

Now, while the kids can't go into the casino, there were lots of kids waving race bet tickets around and not one's that they found discarded on the ground. The kids were all making bets along with their parents! And lining up at the payout window with mom or dad to get their winnings. After the races the kids and their parents took off and we went back into the casino to see a free show in the lounge on the casino floor. Not a name but a decent band with a good singer.

Lots of excitement for one night out! For non-gamblers we had a really good time.  We had two events to attend this weekend - one during that day and one the next day and this was the highlight of the trip for us. The events were good too.

The casino is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. I am not sure if you could stay overnight without drawing some reaction from the security cars that drive around the parking lots here. If you are inside the casino, no one will stop you from parking. If it is obvious late at night that you are sleeping there, I don't know if they will react. The Connecticut casinos anticipate that an RV will stay overnight - but this is in a specially set aside lot. Here that lot is full of 18th wheelers - which we could see in the distance. We were staying in a campground a bit of a distance away but we choose that not for our Hershey event but for our event near Kutztown, PA the next day.

Here is a link to the museum with hours - http://www.hollywoodpnrc.com/Casino/Museum

The Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course is located at 777 Hollywood Blvd
Grantville, PA 17028. Their phone number is 717-469-2211. Their website is http://www.hollywoodpnrc.com/

Hooray for Hollywood!