Anne Marie announced the trip to the group and looked puzzled as the blank attendance sheet she was pinning to the notice board had my name already written on it by the time she put it up on the wall. She then reached into her pocket to find a crisp £10 note to book my place.
To say I was excited for this was an understatement. You could say I have a slight chocolate addiction but you'd be wrong...I have a big addiction.
8:28
I catch the number nine bus ran by Select Bus Services which isn't particularly reliable. Regularly busses don't turn up, so when a bus does turn up it has all of the passengers that were meant to be on the previous bus. It does keep time pretty well though, when it turns up, it's usually on time. It's never early though, except for this occasion.
8:48
9:00
I got to town and could see the mini bus was still there. My bus goes past Headway South Staffs before it reaches its stop9:03
I get off the bus by bouncing off the sides like a pin ball. Regular passengers must think I'm a dreadful driver...well to be fair, they've got to the right conclusion but for the wrong reason. You see the aisle is a few centimeters wider than my wheelchair, and the joystick is so sensitive, the slightest gust of wind from my hand moving near it is the equivalent of pushing the joystick hard. Pushing it in the other direction means you immediately run into the opposite wall.
I arrive and immediately head towards the back of the bus where the wheelchair lift is as I thought everybody would be waiting to depart.
"Tom...Tom! TOM!
I turn around and head back to the front of the bus
"Where are you going? They're waiting inside for you"
The gate is ajar but not fully opened!
There is plenty of room to get through the gate, but I'm in a rush! I don't have the time to slow down.
So I ram into it.
My entrance doesn't prompt any shouts of "what's that?" Or a startled inquisitive look, the crash of my arrival had merely told everyone the idiot they were waiting for was here. Anne Marie popped her head out: "Here he is, turn around we need you on the bus".
9:17
I drove to the back of the bus where Richard (the driver) had set up the lift. When the lift reached the height of the bus, Richard took over the controls and drove the chair into the position he needed, my reputation has preceded me I thought. I could have been slightly offended, but I was actually slightly impressed, he'd managed to get into position without running into things, I didn't realise that was possible! He strapped me in so tight I think if we drove off a cliff I'd still be alright.
Cadbury World
We arrived, and, well I didn't see what I expected. I had watched the Inside Cadbury:Chocolate secrets unwrapped on Netflix. As you can see from the video there are shots of the Cadbury and Bournville Factories, what it doesn't show you is that directly to the left of the old looking factory is a very new looking building with glass from floor to ceiling. I was helped off the bus and rather than head towards what looked a gift shop at an amusement park, I headed for the factory. I was immediately told I was going the wrong way and to head for the shiny new building. If I wasn't sure which way to go I just had to head for the building that a line of primary school children had entered.Access was pretty good though, the car park surrounded the building, there seemed to be plenty of disabled parking spaces and it was a short trip from the bus to the entrance. It started to rain as soon as I entered the not particularly busy building, there were a few people here but it wasn't bustling.
We were told the tour would take about 2 hours, which having watched the documentary would be quite an interesting 2 hours I thought and there would be plenty of opportunities to try the chocolate before it's made into the confectionary it's intended for. As the tour starts we go past a lady who hands us three chocolate bars - Wispa, Dairy Milk and Caramel. They were full size bars as well, none of your fun size rubbish, which definitely is not fun.
These aren't fun size, they're pointless size.
First is a walk around some displays they've made to explain how chocolate came to Europe. Well that's what I learnt from the interactive screens. There was nobody with us to tell us what we were looking at, nobody had told me what to expect. I'm sure somebody in our group was told, but if you're expecting your customers to make their own way around, you should make sure they know.
I've learnt since that we were on the self guided tour. They don't seem to offer any other kind of tour, the self guided tour is all that's mentioned on the website.
people here, most of which weren't from our group, not only were we giving ourselves a tour, but we had joined other groups. We were in the middle of an old English high street, there was somebody here who briefly explained this is like the high street where John Cadbury had a small shop before founding Cadbury. A short dramatised video from the founder John Cadbury was going to play. We turned our attention to the screen to see a man in a wig wearing clothes of the period speaking in a very proper English accent. Just before the video finished the person re-appeared and beckoned me over to some double doors, the next part of this tour was in the small theater next door. There was another short video of this fellah in a wig, sorry, John Cadbury. Next it was through to another small theatre next door, but this one was 4D. I was told however that I wouldn't feel the benefits as I need to be sitting on the seating provided to feel it shake. I can't say I was particularly disappointed to be excluded from this experience, I wanted to stay in my chair, it's got a comfy cushion, the benches looked hard and uncomfortable. I sat in the theater watching as a floating head of John Cadbury appeared on a small screen above our heads and his son appeared on the screen at the side of the stage. They spoke to each other as if they were in the same room.
We were queueing to see a live demonstration.
I could hear that there was a video playing on a TV, I don't know what was playing as I couldn't see. I could barely hear it either and there weren't any speakers for people further down the line, basically you couldn't see or hear it unless you were near it in the queue.
I know now that this queue was because there was a live demonstration going on up ahead. They were obviously only going to do this once, and the people who weren't fortunate enough to see it, could watch on the television...you see where I'm going? This demonstration is basically in a corridor, so the amount of people who will be able to see it is minimal and the amount who will be able to watch on the TV is minimal.
By the time we got to the demonstration area, there was nobody there, we just walked past it, giving it a glance as it looked fairly modern and not at all interesting.
Rather than continue in my relentless assassination of Cadbury World I decided to have a look around the Internet and see what other people are saying.
What Others Say
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| A Google search for "Cadbury World reviews" |
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Disabled Toilets?
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| Is It Required By Law To Have A Disabled Toilet |
How the chocolate is made
Next we went into a room where you could see into production rooms to see the chocolate being made. They were currently making footballs and football boots for Father's Day. The production of the balls/boots had already been done and the workers were basically piping a message onto the balls. Not particularly interesting, but that's the luck of the draw and depends on what's being made at the time.
As we got past the window to view the various choc balls and shoes, there was a sign that said choose your toppings. Toppings to what? There was nobody around to ask. I picked a topping of white buttons and sour patch kids, although I still didn't know what they'd be a topping for, I figured that would become clear. Jo went to get whatever it was, she returned with a small plastic cup of white and chocolate buttons and 1 sour patch kid. I've since learnt that the cup was meant to be filled with melted chocolate topped by my 2 choices.
The 4D cinema
Next was the 4D cinema. We took an elevator down to the cinema. The roof of the elevator is a large screen, with a view of the elevator shaft that has a troublesome parrot pulling on the falling elevator so it's falling unevenly. It was fun and would be a hit with small children. The lift feels like it's falling quickly, I imagine if you're a small child it would feel quite convincing.
The 4D cinema is easily the highlight, although far too short. You sit in a purple leather recliner and wear 3D glasses. I was able to transfer into the recliner, although I couldn't see in 3D, which I expected but it didn't really impact on my enjoyment. The enjoyment was to be had with the fun roller coaster ride, the chair dips and raises and tilts as you hurtle around Cadbury World. You go up in a hot air balloon and feel the air blowing in your face.
Adverts
There have been hundreds of famous Cadbury adverts that stick in the memory. The Cadbury Milk Tray man, all of the Cadbury Flake adverts, the Cadbury's caramel bunny voiced by Miriam Margolyes, the blue car and the red car had a race Double Decker advert and the iconic gorilla playing the drums along to In The Air Tonight. I'm not sure how this was done, whether it be CGI, puppetry, a guy in a suit... But if you're going to recreate it, you've got to make it exactly the same as the advert or at least close to it. The advert was brilliant because it looked so real, it moved like a gorilla/human. What they showed at Cadbury World was embarrassing. It probably cost them a lot to make and all it does is show up the fact that it's a very unconvincing animatronic whose limbs can only move in a specific direction. It was as convincing as those toy monkeys that bang two cymbals together.
End of tour
Well, it was for us anyway. I'm not sure if the tour was meant to stop there, but as nobody was giving the tour...We finished at the gift shop which was by far the best bit in my eyes. Although I expected there to be lots of different flavours or fillings of chocolate bars that you don't find elsewhere, there wasn't. Everything available you'll find in supermarkets and likely for less money. Everything was under one roof though and Cadbury chocolate is the best chocolate in my opinion, so I was happy.
In conclusion
I was very disappointed. I think that was largely my fault as I was expecting to see what I saw in the Inside Cadbury:Chocolate secrets unwrapped on Netflix, and as I found out, that documentary is filmed in the factory, not the building we were in. However if I hadn't gone in with any expectations I still don't think I would have enjoyed it. For the amount of money they charge I think it's ridiculous they don't conduct the tour. The queues are incredibly annoying and you are joined with other tours to get as many people through the doors as possible.
The wheelchair facilities are woeful and in one case non existent.
I am not the demographic though, young children are and I can see they would love it. There appears to be a whole outside playground, with picnic tables and booths selling hot and cold food that I can't comment on as we didn't go there.
