This is a must have experience for the Lord of the Ring fans. A truly 5 star experience, from online booking, to the actual day of the visit. We got held back due to an issue with our rental vehicle, but we called and the staff were super efficeint and reschedules for a tour two hours later that worked perfectly for us. Our tour guide James was an amazing person, whose insightfulness and ability to tell stories and make jokes made our tour absolutely wonderful. Overall the tour took 3 hours from getting on to the bus at the recption, till arriving back at the reception after completing the tour. We were guided on the history, present, and the future plans of the location, entire set, and the surroundings. It was a hot summer day, but we had complimnetry umbrellas as soon as we arrived at the set, and there was sun screen available throughout the site. Ample drinking water is available throughout the tour site, while your general admission ticket also gets you a free drink at the end of tour in the Green Dragon Inn. Here is the detailed step by step review of the tour:
Online Booking: We booked online a month in advance and the online payment was smooth internationally and the confirmation was received immediately. On the day of the event we had to change the reservation time and we got really lucky to find space at a later tour. We communicated through their official phone line.
Checking In: The parking lot is really big and there were a lot of parking attendants ushering the drivers on available parking spots. At checkin the staff was wonderful, they took our booking number and assigned us the bus. The buses leave every ten minutes so you have to keep note of your bus time and board the right bus. The tour guide ensures that for you as well.
Transport to the Movie Set: Its a short ten minute ride to the movie set tour, on which the tour guide informs about the history of the land, the acquistion, and the creation of the set. Interactive tour right from the word go.
Movie Set Tours: As soon as you disembark from the bus, you are provided large size umberellas to cater for the weather in case of sub or rain. There is also sun screen available at that spot as well as throughout different sites. The tour starts from the bottom, and you walk right throughout the set till the end of it that is the Dragon Inn. The tour guide provides detailed information on each spot, while it is timed perfectly to allow the group ahead of us move, and allow the group behind us to take up the spot we leave. The tour guide also took pictures of everyone at sites where they wanted.
Interior Hobbit Holde Experience: Named the Bagshot Row, you can now enter the hobbit holes towards the far end of the tour before the dragon inn. he experience was really good, as it provided us an opportunity to relive those moments from the movie. The interior has been done really well, and the attention to detail is impeccable.
The Green Dragon Inn: This is the last part of the tour, where each tourist gets a free cold drink between beer, and non alcoholic ginger ale. You can also purchase food and more drinks here as they have an interesting menu.
From here the tour practically culminates, as you walk back to the bus boarding area, from where you are transported back to the reception and car park. At the reception area there is a gift shop which is priced slightly higher than regular souvenier shops. There is also a restaurant and a bar, andice cream shop. The prices for food and drinks are slightly higher but not too high. Overall a highly recommended experience.
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