Cadbury world

Today was another trip that had been organised by Headway South Staffs. This time we were going to Cadbury World in Birmingham. 

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

I checked the My Trip app and saw that the bus was early and was already at the next stop. Typical. I waited for another twenty minutes and caught the next bus. It normally takes me ten minutes to get into town, but the mini bus was due to leave at 9:00am. I texted Anne Marie with tears in my eyes, hoping she could tell my text was merely what I thought I should say, but I in no way meant it. The undertone of my message was "DON'T LEAVE WITHOUT ME!"

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 stop

9:03

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"

I head down the path at full power - all 4mph of the mighty iM.4 Elite is unleashed.

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.

Then we went through a doorway as if we were changing zones on The Crystal Maze and emerged on a set similar to The Muppet Christmas Carol. There were dozens of
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.

Next we stood in a corridor for about ten minutes, I didn't know why at the time but I know why now. 

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

A Google search for "Cadbury World reviews"

*--------------------------------*

It appears I'm not the only one with a negative review, although to be fair there do seem to be quite a lot of 4 or 5 star reviews and just about every review mentions whether their children enjoyed it or not. I would admit it's an attraction for small children, a demographic I aged out of in the 80s. 

Disabled Toilets?

The first set of toilets we came to didn't have disabled facilities. I was told by another customer in the queue that the toilets are very narrow, so that may be the reason. I looked for somebody to ask where the nearest disabled toilets were, but as we were on the self guided tour there didn't seem to be anyone around. I might be being a bit harsh there, there may well have been people around but I couldn't get to them as I WAS QUEUING IN A NARROW FREAKING CORRIDOR!

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.

@fatpigeonsbook

@fatpigeonsbook

Wheelchair Worries - Sherlock or A Quiet Place?

My eyesight is pretty poor and my eyes don't stay still, which in general isn't too much of a problem. This is only an issue when they're trying to focus on something. Then my eyes flick side to side and up and down. Fortunately, subtitles are easy to see, and I always have subtitles on. Oh except when I watch football. I'm too busy trying to follow the ball, which is rather small and constantly in motion. 

The Gentlemen (2019)

They do a decent job of making television accessible for us partially sighted folk nowadays. We have the option of putting subtitles on for most programs or films. We can change the size, the font, background or no background, font colour and background colour. All televisions, streaming services etc allow this level of customisation. Mostly. Netflix, Apple and Disney seem to make it mandatory that anything that appears on their platform has subtitles. Amazon don't. Although to be fair to them, they do when it's Amazon original content. A lot of the content on Amazon is content that hasn't been distributed by Amazon; meaning the availability of subtitles depends on the licensing agreements with the original content owners. 

I don't know about you but I always check if there's subtitles available, it's non availability can be a deal breaker.

Closed captioning is a legal requirement for all nationally broadcast media in the UK, including satellite television, cable companies, movie theaters, and DVDs. The Media Act 2024 also established minimum quotas for subtitles and signing on on-demand services.

Source: Google search - "are subtitles a legal requirement"

I didn't ask about the UK solely though, a bit presumptuous there Google

closed captioning is a legal requirement in the United States for many types of media,

Source: Google search - "are subtitles a legal requirement in America"

 

Shrinking S2 ep 9

So subtitles are a legal requirement. Interesting. Shouldn't text that is displayed on screen in any form - text message, note, letter - follow the same rules? It would appear not. The mobile phone appears in just about every program/film nowadays, which is fair enough, they are barely out of our hands and we are constantly interacting with them. So it's realistic that people are always reading things on them. Surely that should mean the director /editor /producer /tea boy? (I'm not sure how these things work), are aware of how something is displayed on screen. 

My basic knowledge comes from documentaries or 'the making of..." docs. The director always seems to be watching what's happening in front of him, on a TV screen. I accept this is the equivalent of watching Instagram to keep up with what's happening in the news though. Mr Spielberg & co may not be responsible... But somebody is

Ironically old Nokia's used to have the perfect display. Before technology advanced to allow colour, Our choice was very limited. There were a few different fonts to choose from, but the level of customisation was so basic, virtually every set up we could choose ticked all the boxes. Then technology started to get better and Blackberry's started to take over. Mobile phone's still weren't a must-have item until the dawn of smartphones. With smartphones came colour screens. Smartphones were still compliant and each phone could be customised to help with any visibility issues. But, the smartphone doesn't ship with these settings by default and as most of us have the same setup, this is how it looks when it's shown on the television. The option is there to have your text large etc, but it doesn't look very appealing on camera, so the default more appealing setup is used. None of the boxes are ticked, but that's ok if steps are taken, meaning we're not constantly having to rewind and pause to read these tiny messages for the brief moment they're on screen.

Steps aren't always taken though.

Based On A True Story S2 ep 5

A good example - In Based On A True Story S2 ep 5, Ava's phone buzzes several times. Her phone screen is filled with alerts but they're too difficult to read without pausing. however, she is with her husband - who also wants to know. She turns on the news to show him and we see the story she was alerted to. From the dialogue they have, the viewer is under no illusion as to what is happening. The briefly and barely visible phone screen wasn't the only way of getting this information.

Based On A True Story S2 ep 3

However, the same show also has a bad example. Earlier in episode three Ava is in an apartment she shouldn't be, when a cop comes in. Ava's phone vibrates and the noise it makes alerts the cop who goes to investigate. The cop finds nothing and leaves. Ava checks her phone to see why it vibrated, and we the viewer see the text message as if we are looking through her eyes and it's too small to read. Ava stares forwards as if she's just had a realisation. Unfortunately I had to rewind and pause to get the chance to have the same realisation.

Carry On

There was nobody else in the room for Ava to explain what she's just seen. We, the viewer, have to rewind and pause to read the message. The NetFlix film Carry On is a good example of what to do here. Ethan receives a text and as he reads it the message is blown up on screen so we can see it. Simple. 

Why couldn't they do something similar on Based On A True Story? Instead of viewing the message through Ava's eyes, the camera could have been in front of her, the message is blown up and then she stares into the distance in realisation. Seriously, Mr Spielberg & Co, I'm available.

Another example of a show that doesn't have any consistency, is shrinking. I have put a few of the examples I found whilst watching it. There are a couple of good examples. The whole screen is taken up by a closeup of the phone screen. The message is large and easy to read. Then there is a post on Twitter, the post is flashed up on screen but is too small to read, fortunately, Liz reads it out. It doesn't matter that we couldn't read it because it was read out to us. Then there are three examples of hard to read text. They are readable if you pause on the screen. We have to see the characters face and that they are typing/reading a message. Therefore the phone is at an angle. Again, couldn't we use the Carry On approach and have the display of the phone blown up next to them? We could read the text conversation and see their reaction. Finally we have Alice sending a text to Paul. Paul's phone is momentarily flashed up on screen at an angle that is difficult to read. Paul is visibly peeved at whatever the message says and writes a reply while muttering his reply. His mutter is inaudible and the camera switches back to his phone at an angle so the message can't be read. The phone is the only thing on the screen though, so why couldn't just be at a readable angle? I had to rewind and pause, take a picture because it was still unreadable and zoom in. Again, couldn't we use the Carry On approach? (For the older readers I mean the 2024 film, I don't mean reading the message and then grimacing cheekily at the camera and saying "Ooh! Matron")

A Quiet Place: Day One

These aren't the only options and neither might fit it in with a project, take A Quiet Place: Day One for example. The solution here was, "sod it, it's not my problem". I should say I don't know for sure if that's what they thought, but for the purpose of this post I'll pretend they did. A Quiet Place: Day One is the third installment in the A Quiet Place franchise. The premise is, you can't make a noise because you will alert the aliens who have ultra sensitive hearing, to your presence. The humans communicate by writing messages, but they can't read them out loud or even whisper them, so the viewer has no choice but to read them. As you can see from the picture, no effort has been made to make this message readable. It says "what meds do you need?" What follows is an intense scene where he's gone to another building to look for medication, something you would be none the wiser to if you didn't read the message.

The rewind button on my controller is looking worn as it's called into action again. The message is still very hard to see however, so I had to take a picture on my phone and zoom in on my picture to read it. What a faff! A faff that could have been saved if they'd inserted a few extra frames, showing a closeup view of the notepad.

As well as Carry On, Sprint is another good example. Is it a coincidence that this and Carry On are Netflix shows? Or is it just because they are the type of shows this look is appropriate for? (That's not rhetorical, it's a genuine question). From the first episode of season one, a lot of social media posts are displayed like this, so that they are clear and easy to read for ALL viewers.

Sherlock

I think the best example of a show being accessible is the BBC show Sherlock. It's fifteen years old now having first aired in 2010. It was the first show I'd noticed that integrated the reading of text messages or notes into the drama on-screen. It was seamless and the design of it was brilliant. This was a show where Mr Spielberg & Co were joined by Mr or Mrs make-things-look-good-but-also-practical-so-that-all-can-enjoy-it. 

As there would be written clues that Sherlock and Watson would get

Sherlock

throughout and text messages and notes, it would need to illustrate how Sherlock's mind works differently from ours. There was a consistent design throughout. Texts would always be white. Subject headings would be bold, while the body of the text would be smaller. The text would appear next to the person receiving it. Illustrations of how Sherlock was thinking was more free form, but would appear around an image of him thinking.

So you have three options. There is the *shrugs shoulders* not my problem approach. The get it right some of the time, but also shrug your shoulders when you can't be bothered. Or smash it outta the park every time. There needs to be some rules in place, similar to subtitles meaning all forms of text on screen have to be readable or audible for all viewers. We call that doing the Sherlock.

@fatpigeonsbook

@fatpigeonsbook