Cadbury World: Willy Wonka and Wheelchair Access

Helen Dolphin MBE spent the day devouring chocolate at the Cadbury’s world attraction in Birmingham. Here she reports back on Oompa Loompas, the history of chocolate and, of course, disabled access.

Arrival

If you’ve read Charlie and the Chocolate factory, or watched the film, and wished you could visit Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory then the next best thing is a visit to Cadbury’s World. Situated in the historic village of Bournville, just outside Birmingham city centre, Cadbury’s World is easy to get to. The car park is pretty big and there are plenty of disabled parking spaces marked out clearly with purple disabled parking signs.

I visited Cadury’s World on a weekday and although it didn’t seem that busy I still had to wait for an hour for my allocated tour time. If you’re not a fan of waiting I would recommend pre-booking as I can imagine at the weekends it could get really busy. However, although I had to wait for my tour there was still plenty to do and my first visit of the day was to the 4D Chocolate Adventure zone. The main attraction here is a 4D cinema where the film shown takes you on a journey through the land of chocolate. Without leaving my seat I was able to dive into a pot of melted chocolate, ride a rollercoaster and take to the skies in an airship piloted by the Cadbury’s caramel bunny. There are two wheelchair access spaces in the cinema but if you’re unable to transfer you will only get a 3D experience. For people who don’t want their chair to move there are some static seats available.

Being a bit of a chocoholic I was hoping to eat a fair amount of chocolate and things started well from that point of view as I was handed a Crunchie, Curly Wurly and bar of dairy milk at the start of the tour. However, a visit to Cadbury’s world is not just about how much chocolate you can eat – there are 14 different zones within the factory teaching you about everything from the history of the factory to how chocolate is made.

Tour

I started my tour in the jungle where I learnt how cocoa, which grew wild in tropical rainforests, was first discovered by the Mayans. The next exhibit is Bull Street, a replica of John Cadbury’s first shop which opened in 1824. It was interesting to see how products and packaging have changed over time. Chocolate in 1824 didn’t sound like something we would like very much as it was gritty. It wasn’t until later that it had milk added to it. However, it was very popular with the Victorians and I learnt how a small shop expanded over time into a large factory.

For workers in the 19th Century, Cadbury’s was a pretty good company to work for as they introduced health and pension benefits to their employees as well as setting up the village of Bourneville for them to live in. The story of how Bournville village was created is told by the ghost of George Cadbury.

Unfortunately because of health and safety reasons, it’s not possible to walk through the actual factory processing plant but you can see where the day’s products are being wrapped and packed. Although access is generally excellent throughout the factory there is just one area where wheelchair users can’t go which is a small part of the landing of the packaging plant. A video is provided but with so much else to see I didn’t feel I’d particularly missed out.

After walking through the packaging area you arrive at the Cadabra ride. This to me is the part of the factory most akin to Willy Wonka’s factory. This ride has individual cars that carry you through a magical world of Cadbury characters. Although there were no Oompa Loopa’s the Cadbury equivalent were chocolate bean characters. This ride is great for wheelchair users as there is a specially adapted car.

There were lots of different things for people of all ages to see and do and one of my favourite exhibits was “Advertising Avenue” where all the old chocolate adverts were shown. I was amazed by how many I remembered.

The tour ends by bringing you into an area where Cadbury staff are decorating chocolate items. Here you’re given a lovely cup of melted chocolate and you can choose what toppings to have. If you still haven’t had enough chocolate at this stage you can stock up in the Cadbury’s shop where you can buy chocolate at discount prices.

Disabled Access

Cadbury have catered very well for disabled visitors. You can borrow a wheelchair at reception, there is a changing places toilet as well as standard disabled loos, and concessionary pricing is available. For visitors with visual impairments Cadbury’s enables you to feel and touch key props at various stages of the tour.

Although Cadbury’s World is aimed at children it was suitable for people of all ages and there were lots of exhibits that I found really interesting. If you like chocolate, a visit to Cadbury’s World is not going to disappoint.

To find out more or book tickets online visit the Cadbury World website.