Cadbury World Is Set To Receive £8 Million In Investment Following Merlin Entertainments Takeover!
Following Merlin Entertainments taking over the operations of Cadbury World in mid-2022, it has been announced this week that the group are making an investment of £8 Million toward the attraction’s development and future ambitions.
As part of the investment, the attraction will undergo a series of changes across the board with a few areas receiving particular attention.
At this time, we know the following areas are penned for future development and enhancements:
- The Bournville Experience
- Advertising Avenue
- Have a go zone
- Cadabra
The Bournville Experience is set to be completely re-imagined. This experience tells the story of Bournville, how it came to be and how the founders’ values remain today.
I must admit, during my visits this was part of the attraction which I’m sure we managed to miss at least once as it was put in a slightly unusual location.
We would hope that this experience will be more noticeable following investments and have a larger footfall.
Advertising Avenue began work back in September 2023 with a range of exhibits being unavailable (including the iconic Gorilla!).
This area is set to receive upgrades which I can imagine include some of the more recent advertising over the years.
This area is quite different to the part of the attraction which comes before it & I would like to see that chocolatey theme continue out of this section and into the rest of the experience.
I do think we will see a bit more of an interactive experience be added to this part of the attraction as it feels like a section they could really play with.
It also stands just before the Purple Planet experience – which would also benefit from future development in my opinion as some of it is outdated & in need of maintenance.
The “Have a go zone” is one of the most hands-on parts of the Cadbury World experience as guests are allowed to get their hands messy with chocolate.
At the moment this area allows guests to watch handmade demonstrations, try chocolate tempering and write their name in chocolate too!
However, it does lack magic… This part of the experience is quite factory like with the use of temporary queue lines it feels more like a production line than an actual visitor experience.
We hope that the enhancements made to this experience make it a more inviting and magical experience overall.
With the right enhancements this could really be quite an exciting zone (yes, I know its in a real chocolate factory, but we all want to be like Mr Wonka don’t we?).
Notably, the largest change of the investments is the unfortunate removal of Cadabra. This magical ride has taken guests on adventures into a chocolatey world for almost 27 years and has been a fond part of the Cadbury experience for guests young and old.
This announcement may have been a shock to some – I know it was for me. But we can’t deny that the attraction has definitely been showing its age over the years.
Changes have been made over the years with the addition of new effects & maintenance periods however time was still going to take its toll.
We found the ride ran a lot slower than we remembered on our last visit and a few of the effects & animatronics were not working quite as well as they could.
Despite all this, it was a delight of an attraction and really something that felt like a wild dream. Fortunately, this is not the end of the road for rides at Cadbury World – Far from it in fact.
Cadabra will not be leaving an empty space as an all-new ride experience will be taking its place: Cadbury Chocolate Quest will be arriving in Spring.
The ride appears to be a trackless model which will take guests on a chocolatey journey to complete their quest set by Freddo – Obtain the ingredients to create your very own bar of Cadbury Dairy Milk!
The attraction is set to be an immersive experience utilizing themed “Laser guns” and other technology for an interactive sensory adventure which will be fun for all ages. Personally, whilst I look forward to this attraction, I can’t help but already miss Cadabra.
Thanks very much for reading!
– Elise.