THEMED ATTRACTIONS
Cadbury World in Birmingham, UK (left) and Nestlé’s iconic “red origami bird” building in Mexico City, Mexico (right)
on the book. “That was the start, it triggered my mind,” he says. “Our offi ce is an old monument, built around 1886 and we have two fl oors which are empty. I thought it would be great to do something where children could play and learn about chocolate.” The hook of de Chocolade Fabriek is Holland’s heritage as
a chocolate and cocoa producer and over the past 10 years Rubenstein has been building up a memorabilia collection, as well as travelling the world sampling chocolate attractions. Having looked at many attractions, he found some to be very good and some on the verge of boring, so he’s keen to make sure there’s a strong element of fun at de Chocolade Fabriek. The 4,500sq m (48,000sq ft) attraction will span several levels.
“There will be a real chocolate factory, where children can see and learn and make their own chocolate,” explains Rubenstein. “There will be a fun part, where they can smell, touch, feel and
eat chocolate, as well as historical exhibits, exhibitions on choc- olate-related topics and a museum telling the story of Holland’s chocolate history. There will be a chocolate fountain, a canteen and a restaurant where visitors can eat an actual chocolate menu.” Drawings and designs are currently being fi nalised and it’s hoped de Chocolade Fabriek will be open at the end of 2012. With the aim of attracting 350,000 visitors a year, Rubenstein is bankrolling it, with the help of some co-investors, so hopes the attraction will “stand on its own” from the beginning. There are plans for some of the profi ts to go to the Children for
Chocolate Foundation, which helps children who depend on cocoa for a living: a reminder that there’s also a serious side to chocolate.
“Cadbury World is a sweet, delicious, fun place to visit. Everyone has some kind of connection with
chocolate. Chocolate has a feel good factor, but mostly people just love the smell and the taste”
56
FRUIT AND NUT CASE
To mark its 20th year of operation, Cadbury World, in Birmingham, UK, has invested £500,000 ($757,600, 554,300) in a new zone, which looks back over the company’s past advertising campaigns, from the turn of the last century. Cadbury has always been proud of its advertising: it was one of the very fi rst advertisers on commer- cial television in 1955 and this exhibit is a way of reminding visitors of its well known campaigns, including the iconic drumming gorilla, the ‘everyone’s a fruit and nut case’ adverts from the 1970s and the Flake adverts with a different sultry girl for each era. Made to look and feel like chocolate, the visitor will walk through a wall of melted chocolate into Advertising Avenue, walking past trees made of chocolate and across a chocolate bridge. Looking through the win- dows of chocolate buildings, the visitors will recognise the Cadbury adverts from their childhoods. Last year, Cadbury World received 570,000 visitors and it’s
hoped that the new exhibition will push this up to 600,000 this year. Marketing manager Lucy Giaquinto says that chocolate attractions have an enduring appeal because they are liked by such a wide audience: “It’s a sweet, delicious, fun place to visit. Everyone has some kind of connection with chocolate. Chocolate has a feel good factor, but mostly people just love the smell and the taste.”
THE ORIGAMI BIRD
Mexico’s fi rst chocolate museum opened at the Nestlé factory, in Mexico City, in April 2007. Nestlé wanted to provide an inner path- way through the factory to show visitors the production process. Architects rojkind arquitectos took this a step further by creating an iconic building, resembling a red origami bird, which they say mirrors the magical world inside. The result is “an unfolding kalei- doscope,” says Michale Rojkind, founder of the practice. The new building has a reception area – a playful space with
sofas shaped like chocolate bars – which will immediately delight children and whet their appetites for the tour ahead. Next, a virtual reality theatre experience prepares them for the tour and, fi nally, a tunnel takes them into the factory to learn how chocolate is made. With so many mouth-watering attractions worldwide, it could well
be just a matter of time before the Irish fi nd themselves being chal- lenged as the number one consumers of chocolate. ●
Read Attractions Management online
attractionsmanagement.com/digital
AM 2 2010 ©cybertrek 2010
PHOTO ABOVE © PAÚL RIVERA / ARCHPHOTO.COM
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