Hersheypark (known as Hershey Park until 1970) is a family theme park situated in Hershey, Pennsylvania, United States, about 15 miles (24 km) east of Harrisburg, and 95 miles (153 km) west of Philadelphia. Founded in 1906 by Milton S. Hershey, as a leisure park for the employees of the Hershey Chocolate Company, it is wholly and privately owned by Hershey Entertainment & Resorts Company as of 2016. It has won several awards, including the IAAPA Applause Award.The park opened its first roller coaster in 1923, the Wild Cat, an early Philadelphia Toboggan Company coaster. In 1970, it began a redevelopment plan, which led to new rides, an expansion, and its renaming. The 1970s brought SooperDooperLooper an early complete-circuit looping roller coaster, as well as a 330-foot-tall (100 m) observation tower, the Kissing Tower. Beginning in the mid-1980s, the park rapidly expanded. Between 1991 and 2008, it added eight roller coasters and the Boardwalk at Hersheypark water park. As of 2016, its area covers over 110 acres (45 ha), containing 70 rides and attractions, as well as a zoo called ZooAmerica – North American Wildlife Park. Adjacent is Hershey's Chocolate World, a visitors' center that is open to the public and that contains shops, restaurants, and a chocolate factory-themed tour ride.