INTRODUCTION

I do not live very far from Cadbury World at all and over the past 21 years I must have been about 10 times or more. I usually go with family and each time we visit there is something new there or something has changed. Not all changes have been good in my opinion! The most recent change is a new section called 'Essence'.

ENTRANCE

Once it's time to start your tour, you queue up outside the tour entrance. Your tickets will be checked by a member of staff and they will give you some free chocolate! We were given a bar of Dairy Milk Caramel and some Cadbury's Buttons, although this may be different to what you are given.

Upon entering the first part of the tour, you may be quite surprised when you walk in as it is like stepping into a dark jungle!

The next section of the tour shows you how cocoa was first introduced to Europe. This is done with five scenes and hologram people acting out the story. The story is in a loop so if you walk in halfway through you have to wait for it all to come round again. It doesn't last very long, about 3 minutes. From this you learn that chocolate was first drunk as a liquid rather than eaten as a solid as is more common today. I'm a bit disappointed as they used to give out samples of this drink to try but they no longer do this now.

You now walk through onto a replica of a street in Birmingham, made to look how it would have done in the days of John Cadbury (founder of the Cadbury corporation). There are shop windows you can stand by and have your photo taken and look through. But basically this is just a waiting area to go through into a theatre. There are a few benches to sit down on if you are tired already! There is a TV screen by the theatre doors which tells you how long you have before you can go through into this section. Before you go through, you are shown a short film of John Cadbury (or rather an actor) telling you about his family's history. There used to be an interesting video here showing you the history of the Dairy Milk bar, showing you the different image changes throughout the ages. I'm sad to say this has gone now and can't currently be seen anywhere else in Cadbury World.

Upon entering this room which is lined with benches, you are told that anyone of a nervous disposition should sit on the back row. This made everyone very excited and there was a mad scramble of people who wanted to sit on the front row! Me and my family sat on the second row. There is a screen at the front of the room where a zany looking man will appear and tell you all about how beans are transported from South America and what happens once they reach the UK. It will then show you how the cocoa beans are processed to make chocolate (still in a unsolidified stage. When doing this there are a few effects which go with the presentation eg. speed and heat. Not wanting to give too much away, the seats will move! All this is quite a fun way of educating you about chocolate.

The next part of the tour will take you into the factory where you will get to see chocolate actually being made and packaged.

In this section there are various machines with screens where you can see how certain types of chocolate is made. These include, Buttons, Dairy Milk, Crunchie, Roses, Creme Egg and Turkish Delight bars. To see how each one is made you press the corresponding button. The same man who taught you in the last section is back and talks you through how each one is made. The ones with fillings were interesting to learn about, such as the crunchie, but once you'd seen one the others were pretty much the same. What I found annoying was there weren't really enough machines for everyone, even when people grouped into families, and often the machine next to yours was louder than your machine so you couldn't really hear it properly!

Next you go up some stairs until you reach the factory floor. The first thing you see is a huge vat full of chocolate which is being stirred. The smell is quite strong and very tempting, and it will stay like this for the duration of the factory section! You then walk on and there is a conveyor belt with huge dairy milk bars being wrapped, ready for the Christmas rush. You also see it being loaded into boxes.

CADABRA RIDE

DEMO AREA

CORONATION STREET ROOM

ADVERTISING

PURPLE PLANET

THE WORLD'S BIGGEST CADBURY SHOP

CAFE

There is a really good children's playground here. I remember having lots of fun on this as a child, sadly I can no longer go on it as I'm too old but if I could, I would! There is also a drinks machine (very expensive) and a stall selling ice creams, chocolate and drinks. There is plenty of seats with tables for adults to sit and watch their children playing.

Essence is at the back of the playground. There is a queuing area at the front and a board next to the door telling you that people are let in every 5 minutes. Along with another couple, my family were the only people waiting to go in! When you enter, you are led into a room with a big screen with no seating so you have to stand. This wasn't a problem for me, but is just something to bear in mind if you are tired by this point. The story is told of how Dairy Milk was invented and you see some characters you have already 'met' again along with a couple of new ones. You then go into another room which has a stage and holograms will continue the story and talk a little about how changing ingredients can make a difference. After this, you are taken into a third room where you are given the chance to 'make your own chocolate'. This isn't quite as exciting as it sounds though, you are basically given a paper cup and asked to choose between a variety of fillings (they had popcorn, biscuit, rice crispies, jelly babies, amongst other things)! I was a bit disappointed as you could only choose one. They then covered these with melted chocolate. I had rice crispies and was very pleased with it, it was so yummy! Once you exit, there is another shop to look round.

The final stop of the tour is the Cadbury Collection. This is a museum like room and has information in particular about Bournville. There is information on the wall along with old photographs. There is also a model village of Bournville. There is a section where you can design your own Cadbury's Flake bar or Milk Tray box. When you have finished, it is made into a poster with your name along the bottom. This poster is then flashed up onto a looping screen in front so everyone can see it.