Not sure why we pulled over at a rest stop and visitors welcome centre when we neither needed a rest nor a welcoming, but we did. And inside were greeted by a display case of PEZ dispensers, of all the bizarro things. Turns out, not 30 mins away and not 5 mins out of our way, was the world famous PEZ factory and visitor centre, and Mr K decided that we HAD to go! In all fairness, a break from driving with these nutters was probably well deserved at this point. So off we went to the PEZ Visitor Centre in Orange, Connecticut! 
First thing you are greeted by when you step through the door (other than instant diabetes from the smell of the sugar) is a giant Minnie Mouse riding a custom made Chopper hanging from the ceiling, complete with flashing LED lights and fancy paintwork. Apparently the guys from the Custom Choppers TV show were made into PEZ dispensers and in return, they made the PEZ guys this cool motorbike! Wish it was down on the floor so you could see it a bit better, I have a feeling it was quite fancy.
Opposite the chopper is the Reception lady who gives you a ticket, on a special PEZ lanyard for the grand price of $5 and a $2 discount towards any gift shop purchase… you can tell they aren’t trying real hard to make money off this thing.
Opposite the reception is a Great Wall O’Pez Dispensers! There are 792 of them mounted on the wall in an enormous collection and in amongst these is THE most rare PEZ dispenser of them all, with only one known to exist in the entire world (no idea why there is only one).
And it’s in this pic and it’s a yellow base with a green lizard like head and I have no idea what it is or why it is so damn special, but it is! 🙂
Then we went on into to read up on the History of PEZ, and I learned that they were originally from Europe and originally designed as an anti-smoking aid for adults! And I thought that was pretty cool actually, given we now absolutely associate them primarily with children (children and Seinfeld, but it’s a grey area).
There was a bit of a spiel on how they make the PEZ dispenser heads and how they are modelled, and then loads of different ones on display for people to have a look at, so I took some pics of ones I thought The Small Child might like.
Mr K was rather taken with these ones, and some that had Stanley Cups on them (I forgot to take a pic of the Maple Leafs Stanley Cup one, I’ll be in trouble now!)
And there was even a limited edition rather expensive looking Swarovski Crystal Ladybird PEZ dispenser…
Then we got to see into the factory floor to see how the PEZ machines work and how they make the PEZ dispensers and how the candy is made. This factory pumps out over 12,000,000 pieces of PEZ candy every single day which is a figure that just blew my mind, no doubt because I have just never thought about it before.
This last lady is making Mario Mushroom PEZ dispensers,
Which look just like this one: 
We also found a cool Pikachu one for The Small Child but was unable to find one to buy 🙁 and we were desperately looking to see if they had gotten on the Minecraft bandwagon yet, but alas there was nothing. 
Then we discovered that there are huge conventions each year where serious PEZ collectors get together and buy and sell and swap their PEZ dispensers, and they meet up all over the place… that’s no weirder than the National Association of Hungarian Pigeon Fanciers or the Cleveland Hibiscus Club, right? 
Then, predictably, it was onto the giftshop where you could buy collectable PEZ dispensers:
Buckets of just PEZ candies in bulk without bothering with a dispenser:
There was Halloween themed PEZ dispensers:
AND the full set of Presidential PEZ dispensers which we ran into in bits in Washington DC: 
There was also plenty of PEZ apparel – because apparently there are some people out there whose lives are just not complete without a PEZ hoodie – and I thought this kids t-shirt was kinda cute:
I actually enjoyed my little 30 minute break from the highway at the PEZ Visitors Centre, and if all of this sounds like I was surprised, then I guess that is because I was… still, if we had to stop somewhere for a break and a walk around an iconic ‘something’, I am so glad it was the PEZ factory and not America’s Largest Ball of Twine or something!
