A few weeks back, my husband got us a yearly pass for our little family of three through www.merlinannualpass.co.uk. This pass gives us unlimited access, as much as we want, to a large number of parks such as Alton Towers, Chessington World of Adventures Resort, Legoland, Thorpe Park, Sea Life and Warwick Castle, to name a few. Of course, the annual pass is financially much more interesting than paying full price at each attraction.
Our pass also gives us access to Cadbury World, so we decided to start our annual adventures with a visit to this attraction, which we had never been to before. A lot of the other parks, such as Thorpe Park, are still closed for a couple more weeks for the winter, so Cadbury World seemed like a good choice at the time to entertain a kid and ourselves for a couple of hours while the weather outside remained wet and cold.
Saturday at 2.30pm was our entrance slot. As soon as our QR tickets were scanned, we were offered three Cadbury chocolate bars per person, which we weren’t expecting, and off we went on our merry way.
I will not describe each “room” or attraction as it would take rather a long time and probably bore you, but what I am going to do is give you the pros and cons of Cadbury World, starting with the pros.
Our entire visit, including letting kiddo run around at the end of the tour in the Cadbury playing area outside (you need to show your ticket to gain access), was approximately 2 hours and 40 minutes.
Side note: one of the main track attractions toward the end was closed for the day due to maintenance.
The pros were the Bournville museum rooms, which tell the story and show the memorabilia of Cadbury from their humble beginnings to now. We loved looking at all the old Cadbury offers, toys and chocolate boxes from the 1800s to more recent times, along with their large Cadbury mug collection. We also really enjoyed watching the 3D movie, which probably lasted around 10 minutes. The visuals were a bit dated, but having your seat move with the animation and wearing the 3D glasses was rather fun, and kiddo loved it.
We also enjoyed the short but pleasant factory area where staff were decorating, live behind windows, all sorts of Easter eggs and chocolate ornaments. We even got to try warm melted chocolate with a choice of two toppings, which was yummy to say the least. The advertisement rooms were also quite fun, seeing all the adverts from our childhood to more recent ones and noticing the evolution of the Cadbury advertising world.
Surprisingly, the shop at the end of the tour was not as pricey as I had expected. As you would imagine, they offered a very large choice of all Cadbury chocolates, from the small bars to oversized Easter eggs. With Easter season approaching, it made total sense. It felt like good value, so spending our money there didn’t feel too painful.
Now for the cons.
I felt that one of the first rooms of the tour, explaining how Europe came to discover chocolate (Spanish conquistadors travelling to South America and encountering the Aztecs, who originally discovered cocoa and were already consuming it), was of course very interesting. Even though we already knew the story, it is always nice to see it told. However, the features, such as the mannequins, looked old, dusty and as if they had seen better days. The talking area explaining each scene was not loud enough. Even though the room was not busy, it was hard to hear, so I can only imagine what it would be like during peak season. The rooms were also narrow, which was fine for us, but I can imagine it being unbearable and impossible to properly enjoy during busy periods.
The next exhibit was interesting and explained how chocolate is made, from the cocoa bean to the final result. This was an assisted animated movie. The story was interesting but was ruined by childish adults making unnecessary jokes that spoiled the whole experience. Perhaps staff should mention before the visual starts to keep quiet, as not everybody wants to listen to a 35-year-old making five-year-old jokes and then being laughed at by his friends.
Then followed more long corridors with no real end in sight until we entered a “goldfish bowl” type room where two or three staff members were decorating Easter eggs and other products behind glass. I believe this could have been a very interesting room, perhaps even showing chocolate machinery, even if only on a small scale. However, there was a lack of information, and people were more interested in queuing to get the free melted chocolate pot with two toppings of their choice.
In another room, we saw someone making moulded chocolate, but we could barely see or hear anything. We then moved on to the next room to try making our own decoration on a marble table. It was alright, but not exactly the highlight.
Overall, I felt that Cadbury World was more interested in making money than truly showing the whole chocolate-making process from start to finish. Some of the rooms didn’t make much sense or felt confusing.
We didn’t try the canteen or coffee shops. That being said, for my own research, I went to check the prices and offers, which were mainly pre-made club sandwiches, the usual packs of crisps and all sorts of sweets like cookies. Sandwiches started from around £6 to £7 and, I’ll be honest, they were nothing exciting and way overpriced for what they were. I thought about getting a soda, but at £2.50 for a bottle of Diet Coke, it felt extremely pricey, so I gave it a miss.
I did get an oat milk latte, which, as a bit of a coffee connoisseur, wasn’t the worst I’ve had but definitely not barista style. Some of the staff were friendly, others seemed bored and more interested in chatting between themselves. To be fair, I don’t blame them. The job is not exactly a dream when you are seeing thousands of people a day crammed in like cattle and repeating the same actions over and over. I forgive them.
Overall, Cadbury World lacked a true immersive experience and felt dated. They had the opportunity to really show the world their history, but it was poorly executed. Like most big brands, profit seemed to interest them more than the real experience.
I originally thought about giving them three stars out of five, but after reflection I think Cadbury World is closer to two stars out of five.
Cadbury World tickets are around £22–£25 per person, which is way too pricey for such a mediocre experience, especially considering one of the main attractions was closed and it wasn’t advertised on their website. I am glad we didn’t pay that price, as I would have otherwise been gutted.
If you really want to see it, please do, but wait for offers such as 2-for-1 tickets. Paying over £20 for a ticket is simply not worth it.
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