Little Boy Big Jelly Belly

Scott and I had our first adventure with Nick recently, we went to the Jelly Belly factory in Pleasant Prairie.  The store is open daily 9am to 5pm and tours from 9am to 4pm.

 There was no wait when we arrived, and within minutes we were handed our hats and told to board our train.  Its more of a shuttle that is pulled by a train, but Nick liked the train engine AND put on his hat.... so it was already a success.

As we sat waiting for the tour to begin, Nick said to me, "I want a white one".   There were about 40 people on our tour.

Here is a little history on the #1 gourmet jelly bean in the country.  The Goelitz brothers came to America from Germany in 1869.  They made different kinds of candy and were successful even during the depression. In the 1960s, Gustav Goelitz's great grandsons, fourth generation, developed jelly beans of all different sizes.  The "Extra Touch" which became the signature of the company, was flavors cooked into the centers of the jelly beans.  Jelly Bellys were a favorite of governor, and then President Ronald Reagan.  He made sure there were jars in both the White House and Air Force One.
The tour itself is not very exciting.  The train travels around the factory, making stops so the visitors can watch  videos about something pertaining to Jelly Bellys:  family history, Jelly Belly Art, Flavors, to the Kitchen, Engrossing, Finishing and Packaging.  Its pretty much like turning on the TV and watching "How It's Made" and kind of a let down.  But, Nick seemed to like the stuff hanging from the ceiling so we were happy because he was happy.

When the tour was over (about 25 minutes long), we exited our train, Nick immediately removed his hat, and everyone was given a sample bag of assorted Jelly Bellys ..score.  We were lead to the Jelly Belly Store.  Inside the store the walls were lined with containers of all the flavors of JB.  You take a bag, put it under the spout, pull the lever and JBs drop into your bag.  How do you know if you like a certain flavor?  Scott put his hand under one spout so we could try them, but then we heard the announcement that visitors should not sample candy from the bins but should go to the tasting station.  Ok, we went to the tasting station but that was pretty lame.  You say to a worker, I would like to try a French Vanilla and he gives you ONE BEAN.  I mean come on.. there were three of us.  We let Nick pick a few to samples to try and he liked them all.  I found the Harry Potter display, none of which we tried..

I filled the requests, cinnamon for Leah, fruit punch for Heather (which there wasn't any JB called Fruit Punch so we mixed some Cherry, Island Punch and Tutti Fruiti) and Scott made an assortment for us, and we checked out.  The price in the JB store is $9.00 a pound, and they have an area with Belly Flops, which are misshaped beans, they were sold by bag not by flavor.

Rating?  Pluses:   It is a great value as the tour was free and they gave each person a sample bag of Jelly Bellys.  Nick liked the train ride as would most kids under the age of 6.  He liked the store and sampling the beans.  The JB store has a large selection of clothing, toys and a snack bar. 

Minues:  There isn't any personal tour guide, no one answers any questions or gives out strange but cool facts, and though the videos are informative they also are boring.  I would have loved to see a glass wall with the actual operation of making JBs on the other side.   

But, once again, this wasn't a tour for us, this was for Nick and he liked it and that is all that mattered to us!