Searching for Cadbury Land
Hi folks a totally random one for you.
In the UK the tourist attraction Cadbury World used to have an attraction within it called "Cadbury Land" which was based on the marketing campaign of the same name.
I have a very very vague memory of this place from when I was a kid. The kind of memory that plagues you throughout your life like an itch you can't scratch. From the wayback machine I've found bits, including this text which describes the attraction:
"Follow the yellow footsteps around the outside of Cadbury World to enter the world of Dudley Sidebottom and friends. Fun and games in a short interactive show as you escape reality and give a helping hand to Dudley."
I remember that this was in quite a dark tent near the play park, you could press buttons and the characters would light up and talk (I can't remember if there was any motion associated with this though). Looking at Google Earth, I think it could have been in this building:
In here maybe? Now the 4D cinema
On and off I've been searching for some imagery that shows this attraction, my searches have been pretty much inconclusive all around.
Below there are three images:
- The Cadbury Land characters that would have featured in the attraction (Left to right: Dudley Sidebottom, Wildlife(?), Chomp (behind), Giant Buttons, Buttons, Shush (top), Curly Wurly and Fudge.
- Dudley Sidebottom - I'm 99.9% certain that this is a photo of the actual attraction
- Actual photos of the attraction, though Dudley looks different in this one.
Does anyone remember this attraction at all? Or know any info that could lead to me finding out more.
Ultimately I'd love to find out where the heck the characters actually ended up, surely not landfill?
UPDATE #1
Just received a response from Cadbury:
"The attraction opened at Cadbury World opened in the Summer of 2000 and was a 10-15 minutes long experience where visitors would meet characters such Dudley Sidebottom (voiced by Noddy Holder), Buttons, Chomp and Curley Wurley. Opened by the Chuckle Brothers, this was part of an overall marketing re-branding campaign which would have specific characters linked to various Cadbury products. The campaign itself ran until 2001. The Cadbury Land show closed in 2006/7 and the building was repurposed to house a new attraction called Essence. This in turn closed in 2014 to make way for the 4D Chocolate Adventure.
However, in tribute to the Cadbury Land show, the 4D Chocolate Adventure features a small snippet of music used in the original attraction. All the characters and figures used in the Cadbury Land show were removed and possibly destroyed due to copyright and marketing restrictions."