Cadbury World is part theme park, part museum and part immersive advertisement all in one located on the campus of the the Cadbury chocolate plant in Bournville, Birmingham, England. This is not a factory tour, however you will learn about the company’s history and the chocolate making process through some great interactive experiences. On a recent business trip the the United Kingdom I got a chance to experience Cadbury World and left with a bunch of new knowledge, good memories and pockets full of free chocolate! Here’s my review of one of the sweetest places on Earth.

Cadbury World is about chocolate and they don’t bury the lead here. Essentially as soon as you make it through security your given your first handful of chocolate and it doesn’t stop there. It seems that every attraction you complete has a chocolate reward waiting for you at the end. You just watched a movie, “have some chocolate!” You completed the dark ride, “have some chocolate!” You just made an artistic design on a table with chocolate syrup, “Have some more chocolate!” They’re literally handing you different forms of Cadbury chocolate constantly that we needed to get a bag to carry it all.

Cadbury World is split into two parts currently, an indoor and an outdoor section. The indoor section houses most of the museum elements, a dark ride and several multi-sensory films. The outside has a kids play area, 4D theater and a building with several hands-on chocolate making experiences. All together there’s probably around 2+ hours of entertainment here depending upon how much time you spend in each of the exhibits.

The indoor area is broken into several zones with pre-shows and theaters in between several of them. This makes for essentially one way traffic and minimal ability to backtrack unless you go back to the beginning again. You’ll start by learning about the Aztec history of chocolate as well as the history of the Cadbury Company. There are lots of fun facts about how the founders saw chocolate as a substitute for alcohol and how Cadbury prided themselves on not using cheap filler materials like brick dust in their chocolate. There are some touchscreens and great walk-through areas to teach you about all this along with some video. This includes a walk through the Aztec jungle and the Victorian Era Bull Street.

This is then followed by learning about the chocolate making and how a cocoa bean becomes chocolate. There is a great special effects theater that uses things like heat and wind to mimic different parts of the modern chocolate making process. Your seat will also vibrate making for a surprisingly fun and immersive experience while simultaneously educating you, making it a personal favorite.

Probably the highlight of the indoor area is the interactive dark ride called Cadbury Chocolate Quest. Unfortunately pictures and video are not allowed in the ride area, but imagine something along the lines of the Men In Black ride at Universal or the Toy Story ride at Magic Kingdom. On this ride you must use your blaster to accumulate milk and other chocolate ingredients and see how much chocolate you can make at the end with some monkeys participating in the fun. We’re not talking Disney dark ride quality here and it is primarily screen based, but it’s quite impressive for what and where it is. At the end you’re also given of course, more chocolate!

The outdoor space is quite large and actually occupies a sort of shared space with the adjacent factory separated by fences. We traveled during the school year and there were several school groups visiting at the same time so the area was pretty full of activity. The kids play area was quite large and nice, but the day we went was cold and wet which is common in the UK for a lot of the year., however there are covered queues for the larger attractions. The 4D theater is called “Chocolate Adventure” and is a typical 4D experience but with a chocolate theme that includes a flythrough the neighboring Bourneville chocolate factory and a ride on a chocolate themed roller coaster. There is also a chance to get some green screen souvenir too.

There is another indoor area only accessible from the outdoor area that offers some great exhibit space related to Cadbury’s advertising and some hands on chocolate making experiences. The area is collectively known as the Bournville Experience. With regard to chocolate making you’ll learn about the important step called tempering and have a chance to write your name in chocolate syrup. There’s lots of staff to help answer questions in this area as well. Of course there’s lots more free chocolate to be had again too.

Since 2022 Cadbury World has been owned and managed by Merlin Entertainments who you may know better as the owners of Legoland, Alton Towers, Thorpe Park and Madame Tussauds wax museums. There are currently some major refurbishments and renovations occurring, probably as part of the ownership change. If you are an ACE (American Coaster Enthusiast) member you can get a great discount on advance tickets. A trip to Cadbury World could be a great addition to a trip to nearby Alton Towers which is also discounted with an ACE membership likely due to their shared Merlin Entertainments ownership. Regular price tickets are around $25 depending upon the day you visit and when you purchase, but are family ticket discounts and combo ticket discounts with the local LegoLand Discovery Centre in Birmingham.

Arriving to Cadbury World is quite easy as it’s only a 5-10 minute walk from the Bournville train station to park extrance with great signage to help you. You’ll walk along 3 sides of the factory and some historic buildings while taking in some amazing smells. It’s also just a short Uber Ride from downtown Birmingham to Cadbury where you can be dropped right at the facility and save yourself the short walk from the train station should the weather be bad. However, especially in the afternoon the return trip to downtown can have some pretty bad traffic. There’s also a little cafe on site where you can buy snacks or food should your visit include a meal hour.

Cadbury World is not a full theme park in the typical sense, but it does have some great theming along with a couple of fun rides and attractions. In this way it is most similar to something like the World Showcase at EPCOT or other “corporate experiences” like the World of Coke in Atlanta. If you’re in the area and you love chocolate (who doesn’t?), it’s definitely worth your time and money to check out Cadbury World. At the very least you’ll leave with most of your money back in free chocolate along with some great new knowledge and memories.