A Festive Family Day Out at Cadbury World #ACadburyWorldXmas

Today we were lucky enough to be guests at Cadbury World for an exclusive blogger day, so we could experience all the festive fun that they have laid on for their Christmas Celebration weekends, which run until December 21st.  After an early start, we arrived at Cadbury World in the heart of Bourneville where we enjoyed a welcome drink before heading off to see Santa in his magical themed grotto.

The grotto was lovely with twinkling lights, woodland animals and Christmas tunes playing as we queued.  We were shown into the festively decorated log cabin, where Santa was sitting in his fabulous chair. Freddy had been looking forward to seeing Santa and happily told him what was on his Christmas list. (The Vtech Smart Watch is what he hopes to find under the tree this year!)  The children received small gifts and we had a family photo taken.  The visit to Santa is included in the admission price to Cadbury World, which I think is really good, and photos and photo gifts can be purchased if wanted.

New to Cadbury World is the fantastic 4D Chocolate Adventure, a 3D film with added special effects. We absolutely loved it!  The film gave us the experience of diving into a lake of liquid chocolate, flying in a Creme Egg air ship and riding a chocolate Crunchie roller coaster. The favourite Cadbury characters from the TV ads, Freddo, Mr Cadbury's Parrot, Caramel Bunny and the drumming gorilla starred in the show.  The 3D was great and we were so tempted to reach out at the chocolate on the screen, just in case we could actually grab it.  The 4D cinema is a great new attraction zone and definitely worth a visit.  Listening to Freddy oohing, ahhing, giggling and laughing was brilliant. It was his first 4D cinema experience and he really enjoyed it.

After lunch, the children met the Cadbury Chuckle Beans, who were dressed in Santa Suits, for a photo opportunity.  Freddy always enjoys meeting characters.  They really add a bit of magic to days out.

We loved the giant chocolate Christmas tree and the exploding chocolate filled cracker that decorated the main reception area in front of the cafe.  The Cadbury Cafe does a family meal deal where 4 regular drinks and 4 hot meals costs £24.95.

We then headed to Pantoland to take our seats for the exclusive pantomime, Snow White and the Chuckle Beans.  The much loved tale was given a chocolatey twist as Snow White celebrated her birthday with her best friend Muddles and the handsome prince.  But the Evil Queen had a plan to ruin the day and make herself the fairest of them all by killing Snow White with a poisoned apple. The panto included a funny rendition of the 12 Days of Christmas that involved a 'brand new water pistol' instead of a 'partridge in a pear tree' which meant we all got squirted by Muddles after every verse.  It was lovely to see Freddy and the other kids all getting involved and joining in with the story.  They boo'd the queen, shouted hello to Muddles and yelled warnings to Snow White.  It was really enjoyable and was just the right length to avoid little ones getting fed up.  After the show we were lucky enough to meet the cast and have a photo taken.  A visit to the panto is included in the admission price.

We were then free to enjoy the Cadbury World Tour.  There was plenty of festive flair with decorations, trees and  staff in costumes to ensure the Christmassy feeling continued as we made our way through each zone.

The tour has so much to see and do and we learned all about the history of chocolate, how it is made and the story of Cadbury. Freddy loved all the hands on exhibits and interactive activities. He likes pressing buttons, turning knobs and pushing levers!  

Kizzy loved the fact that we were each given four full size bars of chocolate and a cup of melted chocolate in the Chocolate Making zone!  We saw a chocolate making demonstration, watched the artisans at work, had a look at the production line in action, had a green screen experience and saw nostalgic advertising campaigns from years gone by.

The Cadabra ride was a big hit with Freddy who loved driving around the Chuckle Beans' hometown, in a Beanmobile, seeing all their little houses and discovering the magic of Cadbury. It's perfect for little people.

At the end of the tour is the world's biggest Cadbury shop filled with their chocolates as well as exclusive gifts, toys, branded merchandise and unique handmade chocolate products (there were amazing chocolate teapots, stilettos and footballs!)  You can also buy specially made Christmas hampers packed with chocolatey goodies that looked amazing.  We enjoyed picking up a few gifts for the family and because we spent over £20 we received a free teddy bear, which was lovely.

We had such a fabulous day and Freddy said it was "The Best Day Ever!"  Having the extra Christmas entertainment really makes it a special day out for families looking for some festive fun in the run up to Christmas.

If you want to visit, I'd recommend booking in advance because the attraction sold out of tickets on the door by lunchtime while we were there.  Cadbury World is very popular!  A family ticket is £48.80 (two adults and two children) and under 4s are free.  This includes a visit to Santa, a gift for each child and the Christmas pantomime.

www.cadburyworld.co.uk/

Celebrate Christmas At Cadbury World

Cadbury World have just launched their festive programme of entertainment and my family and I were lucky enough to receive a family ticket to the Birmingham attraction. The Christmas celebrations, which are included in the price of the entrance ticket, will take place every weekend until Christmas and are well worth a visit.

Among the activities on offer are a special Cadbury World pantomime production of Aladdin complete with songs and laughs aplenty that takes place at hourly intervals throughout the day.  It does get very busy but the kids will love it!

Cadbury World's Christmas grotto is hosting Santa in his own log cabin.  Children can get their photograph taken with the man himself in his cosy front room.  Photo gifts can be purchased from the shop...we got ours made into a bauble for our tree.  Every child gets a very cute cuddly toy as a present for being on Santa's 'Good List'.  Freddy and Kizzy got penguins. Again, it gets very busy and the queue moves quite slowly! But we enjoyed singing along to the Christmas tunes that were playing.

The Cadbury Cafe has a special yuletide menu with tasty festive treats on offer including a full Christmas dinner with a free mince pie.  Cadbury's very own Chuckle Beans are there to meet the children, donned in their Santa suits for a fun photo opportunity.

The Cadbury shop is filled with chocolate galore.  We bought so many choccie bargains and limited edition hand made novelty Christmas chocolate items.

As well as all the festive fun, visitors can also visit the main attraction with fourteen amazing zones which transport you into the world of chocolate and the story of Cadbury.  You also get to walk through the production zone and witness chocolate being made and packaged.

The car ride through Beanville, Cadabra,  was a huge hit with Freddy who grinned with sheer delight as he looked at the Beans having fun in their world!

The Chocolate Making zone where you get to sample molten chocolate was fabulous!  The kids also got to try their hand at piping with chocolate and they watched as the hand-made limited edition items were made and decorated.

The Purple Planet Zone is full of interactive fun and games.  The children all really loved all the high tech special effects.

The Green Screen photography area allows you to get photographed in a magical Cadbury background.  My children had a picture taken as they rode in Santa's sleigh!

As the weather wasn't too bad, Freddy got to have a play in the African Adventure outside play area while we enjoyed a cup of coffee from the kiosk.

Cadbury World is a great day out.  The festive weekends have some added magic that the family will all thoroughly enjoy.  It does get very busy because it is a very popular attraction.  You get given lots of chocolate throughout the tour so the chocoholics will be very happy too!

For more information on Cadbury World and to pre-book tickets go to www.cadburyworld.co.uk

#Project 52: Our First Day of Christmas

In the run up to Christmas we intend to do as much together as a family to make it a festive season to remember.  Today we started things off with a trip to Cadbury World followed by a visit to Ikea.  We saw Santa twice which was an unexpected treat!  We bought our Christmas Tree and some pressies and had a wonderful day!  Seeing the look of delight on my children's faces has filled me with so much festive cheer that I am feeling more excited about Christmas than I have done for years.

This is Our First Day of Christmas!

A Brilliant Brummie Birthday Outing!!

Yesterday Ian turned 43 years old...a fine age for a husband who is ageing to perfection!  To celebrate we went for a hotel break with 19 year Megan along with Ella, Kizzy and Freddy.  Our location was not the most exotic of places...a Park Inn off the M6 next to Wallsall FC football ground, purchased as a Groupon Deal from a while back.  But we packed in two day trips and a shopping spree, making it a full on way to enjoy his special day.

My Birthday Boy!!

After our previous visit to West Midlands Safari Park we had free return tickets (it is such a great offer...2 visits for the price of one!) so we had another encounter with nature's finest from the comfort of our car.  Our first drive through was a bit of a nightmare.  The place was so busy it took us nearly 3 hours to negotiate the traffic which was as snarled up as the M25 on a bank holiday weekend.  The animals seemed unimpressed with the constant stream of cars belching out fumes and stalling on the million and one hill starts that were necessary given the flow of the vehicles through the enclosures.  We saw three cars broken down, overheated by the experience...thankfully (for their sake) not in the Lion Enclosure.  Their sorry plight did however lead to us pondering about the prospect of a Final Destination film set in a zoo, where we imagined grisly endings to the characters involving electric fences, elephant tusks, deer antlers and hungry wildcats.  How the imagination runs wild when stuck in a car for 3 hours!

Traffic jam in the drive through!

It was a relief to escape and stretch our legs in a wander around the other exhibits.  The new African Village area had a Goat Walk, the Lemur Woods and a Meerkat enclosure.  We had some real close up animal encounters with a family of gorgeous Ring Tailed Lemurs.  Freddy was particularly overjoyed with seeing the creatures jumping around trees and running around our feet, because he loves the film Madagascar.  Seeing King Julien and his minions in the flesh was a real treat for him!  Ella became a goat whisperer surrounded by Pygmy Goats all intent on licking her hands and nibbling her hoodie.  She was a real magnet to them...I'm thinking she may be a modern day Heidi!  At the end of the day we braved the drive through again.  This time it was virtually empty giving us free rein to stop and look at the animals, who had now woken up and were much more interactive.  We had giraffes, cattle, deer, zebra and camels coming right up to the car having  areal nosey at us through the windows.  Megan was overjoyed to stroke a huge giraffe who bent his majestic head to peer into the car and give her outstretched hand a cheeky lick!  My highlight was two of the cutest baby camels who took a shine to our car and enjoyed being petted so much that they chased after us when we drove away.  They were so soft and cuddly...but I was afraid they might spit at me and the green frothy goo collecting at the corners of their mouths did not look like the sort of substance I wanted in my face!  I'd definitely recommend a late in the day drive through...it was absolutely lovely!

The next day we visited Cadbury World with free pre-booked tickets as part of our Groupon package.  The place was incredibly busy so having our tickets pre-ordered was a godsend allowing us to jump the 2 hour long tour queue and go straight in.  We were given Curly Wurlies, Crunchies, Dairy Milks and pots of molten chocolate on our way round so the kids were pretty impressed.  We sat through various film shows, walked through parts of the plant, pressed buttons on machines, watched nostalgic adverts from my childhood (remember that smutty Flake in the bath ad or Frank Muir's Fruit and Nut case song??) and took a ride on a little car that drove through scenes of dancing cocoa beans which Freddy loved.  We played in a cool play area and made our own concoctions in Essence with melted choccie and sweeties (which I couldn't eat due to the intense pain it gave my sensitive teeth!)  It was a lovely few hours but had I paid full price and had to wait two hours and then queue up for everything inside, I don't think I would have been as impressed.

We ended the day with a trip to the Bullring, grabbing take out food to eat in the sunshine in the Cathedral Park.  It was lovely.  I hope Ian enjoyed his birthday outings...tomorrow we'll be going to Drayton Manor with my last freebie tickets of the Summer.  The last six weeks have been non-stop and lots of fun!  The kids going back to school will undoubtedly put me on a bit of a downer...we've loved having them around and have enjoyed their company so much.