Cadbury World — Attraction in Birmingham

As a fairly regular visitor to Cadbury world, I have to ask what's happend?

We attended Sat 27th June. 2 adults (1 in wheelchair) and one 5 yr old child.

There's a HUGE difference in this attraction now compared to the countless visits in the past (we have 5 children, the oldest being 29 now, and have visited every year or two for a long time).

The first thing that you note is that on arrival, you don't get a load of chocolate like you used to. Yes it was a mad amount...and we'd have bars of chocolate in the fridge for ages after a visit, but for the kids, a bag with multiple bars of chocolate in ... An experience they don't get normally ... It was part of the magic. But now it's a single solitary bar. And I can't see why they thought that was a good idea.

Moving on, the main walkway with the Incas is unchanged. It's a great set of displays with lots for little ones to be absorbed in.

Further in we enjoyed the story of Cadbury, but was disappointed to find that the hearing loops on the small hologram displays no longer work. So the hearing impaired no longer benefit from this. I was saddened at this.

The two bench stories were as good as ever, especially the wobbly bench in the second story.

When we excited this we had to negotiate a very unpleasant walkway. The access used to be great, but now the wheelchair path is really badly laid out with moveable barriers. The pathway was far too small for a wheelchair and it meant I needed assistance to move each individual post, which meant disturbing the very busy line of walking visitors on the other side of the barriers. I caught my shoulder on a badly placed sign on top of a barrier, and it painfully ripped out a blood glucose monitor in my arm, which then needed to be replaced.

The new ride, that replaces the old animatronic beans ride is the biggest disappointment. It's basically a load of video screens. The magic of the old ride has gone completely. Replaced by screens. It makes you think that the people who now operate Cadbury world don't have a connection to the spirit of the place. Much of the spirit has been lost, along with the yellow and purple pipes.

The attraction then gets cut short. By a massive amount. Lots of the old factory experiences are gone. We found them eventually, later on, but the integrity of the 'factory' visit has gone. There was a small display on a screen of tempering chocolate. But microphone. So it was entirely inaudible. And no thought given to accessibility. So I sat in my chair, at the back of a crowd, looking up at a screen and hearing nothing. It was terrible, and at this point I realised that the experience had let down disabled visitors in a big way. It used to be so much better.

We exited the main section of the visit just over 40 minutes after starting. It felt like we'd been cheated.

Going outside to the next section, I noted the signage for disabled access was poor. After moving to the right I found myself at the top of a large set of steps, so had to back track a fair distance to the ramps. At the top of the ramps there are small signs telling pram users to use the ramps. But the addition of a disabled symbol would be beneficial. We're very tuned in to that symbol and that would save a lot of frustration.

The Bournville experience has had a face lift. Reinstating some of the missed displays that were once in the original factory. But the look far less attractive. It's darker. There's a lot less space for accessibility, and you can see that they are designed to get people to flow more than they are designed to capture imagination.

It just looks plastic. It's a recreation of what once sat in the factory, with the big bright windows, the pipes, the conduits, everything that gave the displays context and authenticity.

The chocolate doodling and tempering was ok, but again, very dark, very 'disneyfied' and crowded. The staff need microphones, or training on making themselves heard.

The only thing that has been saved, and brought our experience up to a decent level was the face painting by the...

A childhood dream finally come true as an adult. I have long wanted to always visit Cadbury's World but just never got round to it especially as I don't live in Birmingham, but now was the time.

I managed to bag an offer promotion with the chocolate and roped in a friend to come with me. We booked our train tickets in advance and off we headed for our adventure. (12-07-25)

It was very straight-forward to get there. An Avanti Train to Birmingham New St then buy an open return for £3.90 and off on the local train a few stops to Bournville. I didn't know how to feel but when I saw the huge factory from the train windows and the words CADBURY, I squealed with delight and the excitement began as a full blown adult!

Cadbury's World is very easy to find. A short walk from Bourvnville station, you exit to the left then follow the road down walking past the iconic Bourvnville House and factory itself till you see the green then go down the ramp/steps when you see a statue and walk alongside the factory to the end, your nose with be emitted with smells of chocolate that make you mmm and ahh! Then you come to the carpark and you are there. I'd say 15-20 min walk depending on how fast you walk.

I say use toilets on arrival as there aren't many throughout the exhibition, there are some in the pre-fab before you go to the 4D Cinema ride experience.

You will receive free chocolate - yummy! (1 Wispa, 1 Cadbury's and 1 Cadbury's Caramel). The tote bags you are offered, you have to pay for. You follow the exhibition from Aztec to where coffee was founded and originated then the old school back in the day, the history of Cadbury's, how it evolved and became the big brand it is today.

It's so interactive, there's videos, moving benches to stimulate machinery movement.

There's even a Harry Potter esq style Diagon Alley with old style fronted shops. There is so much to write but then you go on to Chocolate demonstrations, seeing how the chocolate shoes are made, you get to try some liquid chocolate and add toppings. You can play with chocolate and spell out your name etc.

There is so much to see, so much to read, so much to take in. It was an absolute joy and very well put together, it flowed smoothly so you could take everything in at your own pace.

There are 2 rides - One is the 4D cinema experience whereby you sit on a seat that vibrates and moves to stimulate a rollercoaster. As someone who isn't a fan of theme park rides, I actually enjoyed it quite a lot and found it quite therapeutic like a massage chair with a difference. We tried our luck again but the worker said we could only go once - Poo!

The other ride is a short kid friendly ride whereby you sit in a carriage and zap at the screens to collect as many items listed as you can.

At the end, you enter the souvenir shop whereby merchandise both chocolate based and usual pencil/keyrings etc are actually very reasonably priced for what they are. There is ample choice, the shop is well stocked.

Overall a wonderful day out if you love chocolate, love cadbury's and want to have a fun day out. I left with a smile and pep in my step. A childhood dream come true, now make a Willy Wonker style Charlie and the Chocolate Factory style theme park please!

If you are lucky, you may see a Chocolate/Sweet mascot to take...

Really great museum and tour. Loads of fun hands-on activities to try, perfect for families but my partner and I (both adults, with no kids) had great fun trying everything ourselves. The theming and set design was incredible! Our favourite part was looking at all of the old merchandise and seeing which ones we had collected ourselves. All of the staff were lovely - Nancy, who showed us all how to temper and fill chocolate trays, did a great show and answered everyone's questions with ease. We felt comfortable asking the staff for more information, and everyone we spoke to was knowledgeable and happy to chat with us about the exhibits.

There were great facilities for wheelchair users! It was wonderful being able to attend the experience and being treated like any other guest, I didn't feel at all like special exceptions were being made for me as wheelchair accessibility was built into the experience from the start. I was a bit worried after reading their wheelchair access page (which I think has a lot of room for improvement!) that being in a wheelchair would be a hassle for the staff and other guests, but this was definitely not the case. The site instructs wheelchair users to book a slot to attend the tour, but I missed my slot by over an hour and nobody minded at all. Nobody even asked me about the booking. Really, five stars for wheelchair access, just please update your website!

The experience is lacking in some areas, notably the 4D cinema experience wasn't super well maintained. As well as the show being quite dated, the projectors were vertically misaligned making it a bit difficult to focus on the screen, and one of them was making a huge shadow on the top left which was pretty distracting. I'd love to see more done with this space, I'm sure the experience would benefit from a new show in that area.

We went on a Saturday during the summer holidays, which meant it was pretty busy. Queue times were quite long but in most areas there's loads to look at anyway so you're not just standing around waiting. I'd like to see a little more care given to the facilities - I understand that the venue is busier than usual and this was at the end of the day, but when I went to use the toilet before going home I found that the disabled toilet had been absolutely trashed by other guests. I didn't feel comfortable using it at all. There are both a changing places facility and a gender inclusive toilet stall for those with additional needs or who don't feel comfortable in either the men's or the women's, which is lovely to see.

The gift shop was spectacular! Chocolates are very reasonably priced and I saw families leaving with giant baskets full. Full sized bars, which usually would be at least £1-3 in a supermarket, were on a deal at 10 for £7! We bought way more chocolate than the average person can tolerate in a week.

Overall, even though there are a couple of points for improvement, we had a fantastic time here and we'll definitely be returning with friends and...