Cadbury World is in the midst of a multi-million-pound investment from its new owner, Merlin Entertainments. Alterface’s Stephane Battaille explains how one of the attraction’s biggest investments - Cadbury Chocolate Quest - was brought to life
Tom Anstey | Planet Attractions | 29 Jul 2024
Alterface worked with Merlin Entertainments on the new Cadbury Chocolate Quest dark ride Credit: Cadbury World
Cadbury World - one of the UK’s top visitor attractions - has been undergoing a transformation.
First opened in 1990, the experience is dedicated to exploring the history of the famous Cadbury chocolate brand at its factory site in Birmingham. After 32 years of operation, 2022 saw Merlin Entertainments reach a deal with Mondelez International to acquire the venue, with the operator promising an £8m (US$10.1m, €9.3m) investment into the site, including the now announced dark ride experience.
The multi-million-pound dark ride attraction replaced Cadbury World’s existing offering, with the new addition combining sounds, smells, lighting effects and other sensory experiences with 3D sets and virtual screens. The ETF Multi Mover car completes the experience, with the trackless car programmed to work its own way around the dark ride course without the aid of rails.
Opened to the public on March 29, Cadbury Chocolate Quest, Cadbury character Freddo sends guests on a “choc-tastic” mission, as they search for all the ingredients required to make a bar of Dairy Milk chocolate, using lasers attached to the ride vehicle to ‘catch’ each ingredient. Following the ride experience, guests are given a Cadbury’s chocolate bar, which will have been made with all the ingredients they ‘collected’ using the lasers.
Working from Merlin Entertainments’ initial design, interactive and media-based attractions specialist Alterface helped to refine the project. Assuming project management responsibilities, Alterface also coordinated and subcontracted suppliers for media, lighting, audio and the ride system, ensured the ride adhered to gameplay and interactivity standards, and powered the ride and its effects through its Salto show control technology.
Planet Attractions spoke to Stephane Battaille, CEO of Alterface about the new addition to Cadbury World
How did Alterface get involved in the Cadbury World project?
“We started a discussion with Merlin quite a long time ago for this project. They wanted to deliver a ride with a chocolate river. That was the start of the discussion. It derived a little bit from this first concept idea. In the beginning, the ride was supposed to be non-interactive. Little by little we discussed it and decided that interactivity might make the experience more interesting and engaging.
We shifted from the original experience to what you see now, which is more about discovering how chocolate is made, but in a fantasy world with Cadbury characters like Freddo.”
How is the ride interactive?
“This ride is family-friendly, you aren't shooting, you are using a device to collect the ingredients to create the best chocolate. You collect ingredients such as cocoa beans from the forest and collect milk from the English countryside. You bring all of the ingredients into the factory, with those ingredients then transformed into Cadbury's chocolate.
You then help the factory workers to turn the chocolate into chocolate bars and then send them out.”
How has it been working with Merlin on this project following the Cadbury World acquisition?
“It was very interesting to work extremely closely with the design team, to take their vision and turn it into a reality. Making an interactive ride you have to look at a lot of elements such as gameplay, and create something fun and engaging.
It's also got to be easily understandable for the audience, so we worked closely together to combine that vision from Merlin with all of the elements that make an interactive dark ride great.”
What's the highlight of the ride for you?
“It has to be the chocolate factory at the end for me, which brings people to understand what's going on in the factory and how you make this wonderful chocolate.
A lot of, care and attention went into its creation. I really like the scene. It's an immersive experience where you find yourself immersed in the media, so it's very dynamic. It's a fantastic combination with the set and the projection on top of it. I think the combination is the perfect blend.”
On the other end of the attractions spectrum, Alterface recently worked with Heide Park on Dämonen Gruft, which has been frighting and delighting visitors since its launch in March. For more on the new addition and to hear more from Stéphane Battaille, click here
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