Ad disclosure: We were invited to spend the day free at Cadbury World and given brunch and a chocolate treat, in order to review their Christmas events. As per my PR info page this post reflects my honest opinion.
We visited Cadbury World last weekend to check out their Christmas Celebration Weekends, and had a fantastic day. We are very local so it only took us 5 minutes to get there in the car. Parking is plentiful and free, but if you are travelling by train the Bournville station is just a short walk away.
After a coffee and some introductions in the Cadbury cafe, we started our morning with a visit to Santa in his grotto. In the back outdoor area of Cadbury World, they have put up some large marquees to host the panto and grotto. Once inside the marquee, there is a well organised queuing area, with Christmas decorations for the kids to look at while they wait, and a wooden structure for the big man himself.
The Cadbury World Santa and his Elves were all friendly and great with the kids. Santa spoke to both of the girls, asking if they had been good and what they wanted for Christmas. Georgie asked him for a horsey toy, knowing full well that we had already bought a hobby horse for her at the charity shop. Each of the girls got a teddy bear and then had a photo taken with Santa before leaving the grotto. Older children were given a set of Cadbury stationery, and photo souvenirs are on sale on the way out of the grotto.
Next up on the agenda was a trip to the 4D cinema. Although I’ve visited Cadbury World a few times before, this attraction is new to me and I have to say I really enjoyed it. The lead up to the film was good, with a faux lift “taking us down to the cinema” complete with a screen on the ceiling and a little bit of fun that had Georgie yelling along to tell off a naughty parrot.
The film itself was an entertaining dive into a vat of chocolate and a slightly weird but wonderful chocolatey adventure. Georgie and Lydia both really enjoyed it, and it was the first time Georgie has been captivated by this sort of thing from start to finish.
After a yummy brunch back in the cafe it was panto time! This year Cadbury are putting on performances of “Snow White and the Chuckle Beans” which was absolutely hilarious. All the adults and children were shouting along and laughing out loud. It has a small cast; Snow White, the Evil Queen, the Prince of Bournville, and Muddles… plus of course a couple of Chuckle Beans as dwarves.
The pantomime is half an hour long which is just right for young children, and also doesn’t take up too much of your day. There are showings at 12pm, 1pm, 2pm, 3pm and 4pm on celebration weekends.
Following the pantomime we headed back to the main building for the Cadbury World tour. As always, everyone enjoyed this… it strikes a great balance between entertainment and informative, and I learn something new about the brand or the history of chocolate every time we go. The four bars of chocolate per person is a nice touch too, and Georgie found a lot of the working factory and chocolate demonstrations really fascinating. Advertising Avenue is always very nostalgic to wander down, and the addition of the infamous drumming gorilla is a nice touch.
They have rejigged things since my last visit, with the disappearance of the Essence area outside to make way for the 4D cinema, the make your own melted chocolate creation has been moved to the demonstration area and fits in nicely there. It’s actually an improvement in my opinion, as the cinema is better than the old Essence attraction, and the updates to the demo area makes it a more engaging area and we stayed there longer than we have on previous visits.
Unfortunately the Purple Planet attraction was closed for refurbishment so we didn’t get any interactive play time, but it will be reopening in 2015 and hopefully will be much improved, as it was getting quite dated.
All in all it was a fantastic day, and we ended it in the best way possible: by raiding the bargain area of the humongous chocolate shop on the way out… I have a lovely stash of cherry drops that will keep me going a while now, and we bagged our Christmas selection boxes at a fab price.
I think the ticket prices for Cadbury World are really quite reasonable, and it’s brilliant that all of the Christmas entertainment is included in the standard ticket price, including getting a toy from Santa.
This looks like such a fab day out – I am so envious! So much to do. Your photo is funny, the kids don’t look very impressed! x
It’s looking so fun and festive there. They pack loads into a day, don’t they? It sounds like a brilliant day out for a family, really great informative post.