Before I planned a trip to Cadbury World, I'd read lots of mixed reviews. Nobody sang their praises, most people said it was ok and a few people really hated it. I wanted to experience Cadbury World for ourselves before making our own judgement and Jack especially was dying to visit a real chocolate factory. I booked a bus trip via National Holidays which in hindsight wasn't the best way to see Cadbury World (we were only given three hours to explore which on a peak visiting day in the Easter holidays wasn't long enough). We arrived at around 1pm and left at 4pm.
Admission to Cadbury World is timed and the tour starts with each group going through a series of rooms at timed intervals. I enjoyed this part as we learned all about the history of chocolate, how chocolate is made and the history of Cadburys. It was fairly interesting but it was mostly watching videos so may not be of great interest to younger children. My three enjoyed it though - especially as we were shaken in our seats like a cocoa bean.
One of the huge plus points for me is all of the chocolate you're given as you walk around - we were treated to a full-size crunchie, dairy milk and curly wurly bar plus a chocolate pot with sprinkles (everyone was given this - even us grown ups). These are perfect for keeping kids quiet in the queues or as they watch the videos. I'd recommend packing baby wipes and taking change for the water machines or taking bottles of water with you as chocolate eating is thirsty work! I bought this handy bag for £1 at the entrance which keeps all of the samples in one place.
The second part of Cadbury World was the chance to watch chocolate being made. We had to queue for around 30 minutes to get into this room but it was interesting to hear how temperature is everything and to watch the experts at work. We then had the chance to write our names in chocolate ourselves. After this part, there is a green screen where you can pay to have photos taken in various Cadbury scenarios. This wasn't for is though so we skipped it.
We joined the queue for the main Cadbury ride but noticed a sign that said 40 minutes from this point. My three aren't bothered about smaller rides anymore and didn't want to queue for a short (and non-thrill-seeking) ride so we left the queue after around 5 minutes and headed down to the chocolate sampling zone. Here we were treated to a chocolate pot and watched chocolate decorating live through the windows.
The last indoor zone was all about advertising. I loved seeing the famous gorilla and old crunchie advert on a surfboard but it was all lost on the kids who are too young to remember these. There's an interactive games area here which they enjoyed and actually wasn't too busy.
We skipped the gift shop entirely as I knew it would be expensive and as it was Easter, they weren't exactly short on chocolate. We did pop into the cafe for a drink though. It was pretty expensive if I'm honest (a hot chocolate was £4.95!).
The final part of Cadbury World is outside, we joined the queue for the 4D cinema experience but again, there was a notice saying the queue was 40 minutes long. It was a warm and sunny day and the 4D cinema is right by a park so the kids naturally did not want to queue. I was also really conscious of time, our bus was leaving in one hour and if we joined the queue, there was a chance we would be late. So again, we decided to skip this bit.
Just as we left the 4D cinema queue, they were closing the doors to the 3pm panto in the entertainment tent. There wasn't another showing until after our bus had left and I was frustrated that we'd missed this too. Some show timings as you enter the outdoor area would have been useful.
So we spent our final hour in the outdoor play area and visiting the Bournville experience which is all about the history of the town. I think these two attractions are free to visit for anyone and although good, it was frustrating that we'd missed out on a lot of the 'paid' activities.
We're pleased we visited Cadbury World. We now know how chocolate is made and it was really interesting to see how the Cadbury brand has evolved. I was frustrated with how busy it was though and when you pay to visit an attraction, it's annoying to have to spend most of your time queuing rather than enjoying the experience. We had to skip the 4D cinema, Easter panto and Cadbury ride due to the crowds and queuing which was annoying. The whole experience wasn't very personalised either. We felt like cattle being herded through the experience with standard monologues being repeated by staff time and time again, There was no injection of fun or enthusiasm and the whole experience was just very bland and commercialised. We
visited West Midland Safari Park the following day and our experience was completely different with staff taking the time to chat and the whole day being a lot more chilled rather than busy, busy, busy like it was at Cadbury World. Engaged staff really do make the world of difference to the public when visiting an attraction.
I know our time was limited at Cadbury World but we had to queue A LOT. If we'd have spent the full day here we'd have queued for over three hours - first to get inside, then for the first 'history of chocolate' section, then again to wait for the chocolate making zone, then again for the ride before a final queue for the 4D experience. There isn't really anything to entertain the kids during all of this queuing and I am betting most people will just queue because they kind of have no choice after paying. Queuing like this would not have been fun for the kids who would have ended up bored and started bickering or for myself who would have been stressed with bored kids in a long queue with nowhere else to take them and nothing to distract them with. Sort it out Cadbury!
I also feel like a lot of the exhibits weren't particularly child-friendly, especially for smaller kids who may not have the attention span to watch a film about the history of Cadbury. I'd love to see more up-to-date and interactive experiences for kids that were free-flowing, kind of like the
last part of Legoland Discovery in Manchester.
Finally, I know this is probably kind of obvious and I am so naive for not realising this before but Cadbury World is actually just one big advertisement for their products and it kind of stings that we have to pay for that. I'd love to see them going back to their roots and giving something back to the community with free factory tours and a play area - that's all people want really. There is lots of propaganda about how great Cadburys are to work for, how innovative they are and how much they invest in their workforce. This might be the case but it left me rolling my eyes a little and there's certainly no mention of Cadburys in
The Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For list.
I'd struggle to recommend Cadbury World if I'm honest. I'd much rather spend the afternoon at the cinema and the park. If you are really keen to visit, I'd try and find out when the off-peak times are and visit then so the crowds and queues are minimal. A family ticket for the five of us would normally cost £61 if it wasn't booked as part of a bus tour. I can certainly think of better ways to spend this cash on a day out and would definitely advise looking for discounts before booking.
Have you visited Cadbury World? What did you think?
Disclosure: We paid for our own day out.
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