Last weekend, little man's Birthday celebrations continued with a trip to Cadbury World. I had read mixed reviews about the place, but my friend had said it was worth the visit and it had the advantage of being half way between me and my parents so it seemed like a good spot to meet up.

You have to book a time slot to go through the exhibition so I called up on the Monday and chose the 12.40 slot. The girl on the telephone had advised that we could do the 4D Cinema and Bournville experience once we had picked up our tickets so it didn't matter if we arrived early.

We arrived at 11 and went to the 4D cinema. This was really good. You entered the cinema by taking a shaking lift (a bit charlie and the chocolate factory style) with Mr Cadbury's Parrot coming to say hi in the lift ceiling, We then went into a holding area where we played some conveyor belt memory games before heading to the cinema. Inside we put on our 4D glasses and took a chocolaty roller coaster ride. It was different to other 4D cinemas we have been to and I liked it.



There is also a children's playground in this area, which would have been good but it was shut due to the rain.

We then went and had lunch in the cafe. It was nice food and reasonably priced which was good.

At 12.40 we went through to the exhibition. The children had scratch cards asking questions in attempt to keep them interested. Little man was not up for this part at all and in a lot of the areas I felt that the speaking parts were too quiet for you to actually hear.

You then got to walk through the factory, which isn't amazingly exciting. The Cadabra was the weirdest ride I have ever been on. Timings meant that we had to queue for 30 minutes to get on this. You sit in cars of 4 people which then take you on a ride round a world full of cocoa beans. It is bizarre and only really suited for small children.

We then went down to the chocolate decorating area. Here we all got a pot of melted chocolate which was extremely sweet even for me.

We then headed off to watch the Sooty show. Cadbury World have a number of events on at weekends and holiday times and the Sooty Show was their event for this weekend. Middle man in particular liked this. Who can't find it funny when Sweep puts on Gangnam Style!?!

We then went through to the Bournville experience which was less of experience and more of a room with some old stuff in.

After having read negative reviews on Cadbury World, I can see where they are coming from. I think that the opening of the 4D Cinema has made a difference and it is now heading in the right direction. We had a lovely time, and I would recommend you to go, but only on a weekend where there is a show that would suit your children. It is not too expensive, but it isnt cheap either, so for us, the addition of the Sooty show made it more worthwhile.




We won tickets to Cadbury World and my parents purchased theirs. I haven't been asked to review it, but thought it may be helpful to some of my readers.