Cadbury World Review

Booking

Let’s start with the booking process. I would strongly advise you to book through the Cadbury World website and make sure to pre-book all your tickets. It is a very popular tourist attraction, meaning without pre-booking your tickets, you risk not being able to gain entrance on your chosen date and time. Also, remember to fill out all your details clearly on all the types of tickets that you order, saving a lot of confusion later on. It is quite easy to navigate through and find the right section to reserve your tickets and process your booking.

Once you are in the section of the website where you book your tickets, it automatically takes you through to the right pages. There are different ticket choices for you to select. There are adult tickets, children’s tickets (aged 4-15 yrs old) student tickets (bringing student ID), tickets for those who are senior citizens (60yrs +), Family of 4 (max 2 adults) and Family of 5 (max 2 adults)      

Booking your tickets is a very clear process and you can review it before finalising your transaction. When I book my Cadbury World tickets through their website, I select a student ticket (£12.21) and a carer’s ticket, for the person who accompanies me. This ticket is completely free of charge.

You will be asked to fill in some of your personal details as part of your order, including your email address. Once your booking confirmation comes through to your email, I would suggest that you make a note of your booking reference. You will need to show it to a member of staff when you arrive. If you select a carers ticket as part of your order, you will receive a second email. It will ask you to phone up Cadbury World on the day before your visit. This number will be clearly specified on the email you receive. When you call them, confirm your reference number, and tell them you are a wheelchair user, coming with a carer and that you will need assistance on the tour. Upon entering the exhibition, you will be asked to provide evidence of your disability. Be sure to get your carer in, along with you.  

Arriving 

I have visited the Cadbury World exhibition a number of times by getting a lift with a parent or by using a taxi. Directions are clearly written on the Cadbury World website. I would suggest that before the day of your tour, you decide on how you are getting there and find the directions via the Cadbury World website, to plan your journey ahead of time. I suggest factoring in your travel time and then at least ten minutes more in case of traffic. 

There is a large car park which you can park easily within. There are spaces specifically designated for the different groups of people, coming to Cadbury World. The different ones are clearly marked, so they can be identified easily. The disabled spaces are a decent size, so whatever your mobility difficulties, you will be able to use the space without any trouble. I love how the car parking spaces for those with mobility issues are bigger than the rest in the car park and that these spaces are the closest to the exhibition entrance, compared to the others, which prevents those with mobility issues from walking long distances. It really does show that Cadbury World has done some forward-thinking and has considered all the needs of their visitors. 

When you get inside Cadbury World, be warned that the attraction will be busy and you will have to weave in and out of crowds to get through to the tills to check-in. For those who are disabled and/or are in wheelchairs, you will be directed to the front of another queue and showing your reference number, you will be admitted to the tour. Before you go through the first set of double doors into the tour, you and your carer will be given green wristbands to wear. This will alert staff members who are positioned at points around the tour of your presence and that you may need assistance during the duration of your tour. 

Changing Places

I have great pride in announcing that there is a brand-new ‘Changing Places’ facility in the Cadbury World exhibition! The facility is well equipped with all of the items expected to be in there.  Be sure to ask any staff member whether the ‘Changing Place’ facility is operating properly. Make sure to take your own sling and radar key with you on the day of your visit. If you do not have your radar key at hand, don’t worry, the exhibition would have one behind their main desk in the entrance. I also am appreciative that the facility is radar-key operated, preventing those who do not need to use the facility from gaining access to it. It reinforces the disability awareness at Cadbury World and that they have put everything in place for everyone to have the full experience there.  

Read my Full Review Here: Changing Places – Cadbury World 

Cadbury World Tour 

I would estimate the tour to be roughly 1hr 30 minutes, depending on how long you spend at each part of the exhibition. The tour has something for all the family and it is a good value for money. You can learn about the history of Cadburys chocolate, the interactive experiences, writing your name in chocolate. The Cadbury’s Kadabra’s ride is similar to the It’s A Small World ride at Disneyland. Then there is a green screen experience, where you can have your photo taken against any background related to Cadburys chocolate to take home with you as a souvenir. Then, of course, there is the melted chocolate tasting. You can have a small cup of melted chocolate with two toppings of your choice. Yum.

When you push through the first set of double doors, you enter a rainforest where you see how the cocoa bean was formed and how it grew in the rainforest. It leads on to how people took the cocoa bean and started to manufacture it into Cadbury’s chocolate. The story then takes us into a screening where you learn about how Cadburys company grew to how it is today. The history of Cadburys chocolate is very interesting and informative. Now that I am older, I have become more appreciative of the rich history behind the world of Cadbury’s. I would say adults and teenagers are more likely to enjoy and benefit from this part of the tour. However, Cadbury World has introduced the use of holograms and recordings of the Cadbury family to explain more about the history.

The disability access around the history sections is good. There is space to move around and view everything at your leisure. You might have to quickly get to the front of the crowds, to be able to see everything and get the full impact of the history of Cadburys. I have noticed that there has been an increase of awareness in the history section. While the holograms are describing the history, there is a woman on a small screen alongside, interpreting the dialogue into sign language. There was also a lady on a screen interpreting the dialogue of the Cadbury family expressing their success of being able to expand their small family business into something much larger. I feel having a sign language interpreter at these sections really shows that Cadbury World is adapting and updating its resources to enhance everyone’s experience on the tour.

If you are in a wheelchair, you can’t necessarily join in with the next part. I love it as it is an interactive experience, which I can watch my carer join in. The interactive experience involves you going on a journey to learn about the cocoa bean and how it is made into the Cadbury’s chocolate we all love. Before you go into this screening, there is a safety announcement to warn customers with any medical conditions that may be activated by any sudden or abrupt movement are advised to sit in the back rows of the screening of the history of the cocoa bean. I like that this announcement is made before the video is shown as it demonstrates awareness and courtesy for everyone, especially those who have medical conditions.

Having been to Cadbury World before, I know that as you watch the history of the cocoa bean, there are times during the screening where if you sit on the front three rows, you will shake in response to what is shown on screen. Those who cannot get out of their wheelchairs can’t exactly experience the full impact of the interactive element of this showing, but you can still get involved. I think you will like learning about the rich history of Cadburys chocolate and while you discover it, you get the chance to tuck into chocolate bars which you are given to you at the start of the tour. I believe this makes the tour and the history more authentic.

After you have finished learning about the history of Cadburys chocolate, you are to go a floor up to go onto the Kadabra ride. There is a lift that goes to the upper floors and down again, so wheelchair users and disabled people can access all points of the tour. The lift is small, so be prepared when you manoeuvre into it and inside of it. Having been to Cadbury World and on the Kadabra ride a few times, I would like to warn you that the queues are very long. You can be in the queue for 10-40 minutes. If you are wearing a green wristband, you can skip straight to the front of the queue. I am happy that those in wheelchairs and/or are disabled can jump the queues, it stops the feeling of claustrophobia.

There were a few times at Cadbury World where my carer and I got to the front of the Kadabra ride queue, a few members of staff came over to us. The two of us prepared to go on the ride, but we got told that the adapted car, made specifically for wheelchair users was out of order. I was disappointed about this as it is a big part of the tour, and I was missing out on it. Luckily, I have been on it before, so I know what happens. When you phone Cadbury, ask if everything is in working order. Take note that the adapted car is very narrow, especially if you have a larger wheelchair like myself.

Update: On my last few visits, I’ve had a new wheelchair and, though there was an adapted car, my chair could not fit in it nor turn around in the limited space. Now I must miss out on the ride, which is a shame. 

After the Kadabra ride, ask for help from members of staff to get you to the next part of the tour. In this section, you now have the chance to write your names in melted chocolate. There are no physical barriers in this part but depending on how busy this part is on the time you go; it may be difficult to navigate and manoeuvre around people.  Following the tour layout, you will find yourself in queues to get your photo taken against a green screen. It is up to you which background you have in your photo. While you queue up, you can see examples of all the different options, complete with props. There’s having your photo taken inside a Flake bath, while you wear shower caps and hold rubber ducks along with your shower scrubbers.   

You can surf on a Dairy Milk chocolate bar in space, posing any way you want. My personal favourite is having a photo with the drumming gorilla from the old Cadbury’s chocolate advertisement. Taking props from the nearby buckets and standing in position, you can pretend to be playing a guitar or trumpet. One that I haven’t tried is the one where you can join the caramel bunny in her habitat. It’s been a while since I’ve visited, but I’m sure there are plenty of options to choose from.

Once the photograph is taken, you can have the chance to preview it. Unfortunately, you are unable to preview the complete photo with your chosen background. The least you can see is how you are positioned and how your facial expressions look as well as making sure your eyes are open.

 If you’re not happy with these, or you want to pose a different way in the photo, you can have the photograph taken again. When you are happy with the photos, you receive slips of paper with a code. Take these to the photo desk to preview your complete photo.    

After you have given your code or codes to the man or woman behind the desk, they will enter it and your photo will appear on the screen. If you do decide to purchase it, you can choose how your photograph is presented. There’s the choice of it being in a photo frame, on a magnet, on a keyring or photobook, complete with facts and trivia from Cadbury World. Only with your purchased photographs, will you receive a digital code in which you can use via picsolve.com to download a digital copy of the photo you have brought. This allows you to keep a photo of your day at Cadbury to use via social media etc.    

Clutching your photographs, you move along the tour and join the queue to taste some melted chocolate. Once you get to the front, you are given a cup of the chocolate liquid, then have the choice to have it plain or select two toppings to go inside of it. The choices of the toppings are written on a board on the wall, beside the counter which you get given the melted chocolate. I think this is a good thing to do as it informs people exactly what the topping is made of and alerts people to whether they can have it, depending on whether they are vegetarian or have any allergies. The melted chocolate may seem like a small serving, but trust me, the cocoa liquid is thick and rich. With two toppings added, it can get very sickly, very fast.

Leaving the melted chocolate behind, you will embark down advertising avenue. This is where you can see all the different adverts that Cadbury has ever released from back when Cadbury first started. Though it may sound boring to some people, it is very visual and fascinating to see all the adverts. By watching, you can see how technology has progressed through the way the different adverts are constructed. As an ex media student, I loved this and was able to identify the changes in technology. Watching all the adverts from the very beginning, I must say that my favourite one remains to be the gorilla playing the drums. I absolutely love it, more so by the fact that Cadbury World has an animatronic model of the gorilla who plays the drums at the touch of a button.

The last section of the tour is very interactive and enjoyable. All the activities involve people running around and jumping on floors, stamping their feet to make things happen. Children enjoy stamping their feet to make a slab of Dairy Milk chocolate break into pieces and then stamping their feet again to melt the chocolate. There are activities like this all over this section. It’s perfect for families to compete against each other and have a laugh, but not for those people who can’t join in these activities. The only fun that I could join in on was pushing buttons and pulling on leavers to try and make a cocoa bean grow into a healthy tree. I hope they bring in more disability orientated activities into this section as soon as possible, where everybody can join in.

Pushing through the last set of double doors, you finally walk into the Cadbury World shop. It is difficult to describe the exact contents of the shop. It sells all the chocolate you can imagine, there are also gift bags which contain different selections, so you can choose which combinations you would like. Toys and stationery related to the Cadbury World exhibition are available for you to purchase. I remember when I came to Cadbury World as a child, I used to whizz around, snatching everything I could reach off the shelves and passing them to my parents, begging them to buy these items for me. Now that I am older, I have felt sick from eating too much chocolate during the tour, so I was more restrained when I went into the shop. But you nor I could resist buying a selection of chocolates to take home.  You can buy a range of chocolates for you and your family to enjoy whenever you please. All the contents of the shops are reasonably priced, but I would recommend that you be mindful of how much you buy. It soon adds up, especially if you have already brought photos of yourself on the Kadabra ride or of your green screen experience. Personally, I prefer the momentums that I brought from my green screen experiences. They are up in my bedroom and are lasting memories of my days out at Cadbury World.

Cadbury World Café & Afternoon Tea 

When you’ve finished the tour and have spent time browsing in the shop, I suggest you delve into the delights of the Cadbury World Café. The café offers sandwiches, cakes, and drinks, including the best hot chocolate that I have tasted in a long time. Don’t miss out! While at Cadbury World and after you have finished your great tour, I suggest trying out their afternoon tea at the Cadbury World Café.

Booking an afternoon tea via the Cadbury World website is relatively easy. Click onto the afternoon tea promotion that is on the website and you are taken to a page and can see what is included in the afternoon tea and the different deals that are currently available to entice you to book. On the day of your tour and afternoon tea, I would make sure to make a note of the reference number you receive via email after you make your booking.

When you go to the Cadbury World Café, give the reference number to the staff member behind the till and he will guide you into the Café. I really liked how afternoon guests are able to sit in a different area at the back of the Café, specifically for afternoon tea guests. You will be led to a table in this area and be asked what you would like to drink. Tea, coffee or afternoon tea. Once you have made this order, you will be presented with your afternoon tea.

The afternoon tea is served on British bone crockery. This makes it all the more elegant and special. It was Britain’s classic afternoon tea with a chocolate twist, fitting for an afternoon tea at Cadbury World. The first of the layers was scones, cream and jam and macaroons. The scones were good, with plenty of cream and jam. The bottom layer had an array of sandwiches including salmon & soft cheese with cucumber, ham & English mustard, and cheese & pickle, on white and brown bread. I wasn’t too keen on the sandwiches selection, but there was a range for you and your party to choose from.

My eyes went straight to the middle layer. The layer held several tempting cakes and treats, chocolate brownies and rocky road, made by a Cadbury recipe!

My overall opinion and review of Cadbury World’s afternoon tea are mixed. On the negative side, the group of sandwiches were stale and dry when we received them. My enthusiasm for the sandwich fillings wasn’t great and the staleness of the bread put me off the sandwiches completely.

The afternoon tea improved slightly when I tried the scones. Yes, they were slightly dry, but with the cream and jam, they tasted nice. I had held off having too much of the scones, as I wanted to enjoy the cakes and treats. The highlight of the afternoon tea for me was the hot chocolate. The liquid was definitely Cadburys, tasting rich and creamy, the hot chocolate was sickly but well worth it! 

The experience of the Cadbury World from a disability point of view is a positive one. It is a great day to enjoy with your family and friends. You can create memories here that you wouldn’t be able to anywhere else. I enjoy how confident I can be and how I can be a tour guide to whoever comes with me.

Take your time to enjoy all the parts of the tour and take as long as you need for you to do so. You brought the tickets, so feel free to get the most out of your day. There’s nothing to worry about with accessibility and there are members of staff at hand to ask for help when you need them.