Since the plan was to skip the theme parks, we sought out smaller local attractions in Orlando. The Chocolate Kingdom Factory Adventure Tour is located in a strip mall near SeaWorld. We love chocolate and we love factory tours, so it was a clear choice for our Saturday afternoon entertainment.
Tickets were 16.95 for adults, and included plenty of chocolate samples. We also added on a custom made candy bar for seven dollars each, more on that later.
We arrived with about twenty minutes to spare before the next tour, so we perused the displays in the entrance hall and checked-out the gift shop.
The chocolate was so tempting, that we couldn’t wait for the samples, so we bought some alligators. They were nearly too cute to eat…nearly. I bit the tail right off, easter bunny style!
The tour started with a short video that set the story for the chocolate kingdom, which kicks off when a friendly dragon accidentally melts a pair of chocolate shoes that a prince was planning on presenting to a princess for her birthday. The prince and the dragon set off to learn about chocolate and to make another pair of shoes. Our tour guide educates them ( and us) on their quest. Puns and corny jokes are abundant. It’s like the chocolate version of The Jungle Cruise.
The theme is cute for kids and carried on throughout the guided tour. We were with one other tour group, grandparents with their elementary-aged grandchildren. I think the small group was due to covid, but also we might have been visiting during an off-peak time. It looks like pre-covid, the tours could be as large as fifty people. I certainly want the pandemic to end, but I’m appreciating visiting places with small crowds.
The tour is education and fun. We saw a model of the castle made from chocolate complete with a chocolate river and we played game where we had to catapult marshmallows into the dragon’s mouth.
The last part of the tour included the actual factory. It was small, definitely not like Cadbury’s, but it was still nice to see the chocolate being made.
We enjoyed large-scale creations made from chocolate. Although, I’m not convinced that a chocolate shoe was what the princess most desired!
The best part was watching our custom candy bars being made. Mine had almonds, espresso beans, and toffee. It was absolutely delicious! We nearly made a stop on the way to the airport to buy more candy bars to take home.
The candy bars had to set in a chiller, but within fifteen minutes, they came out to the front of the store on a conveyor system.
Don’t forget to tip your tour guide.
We enjoyed the tour so much, that we will likely do it again with the kids on our next trip to Orlando. It’s a great activity when the weather is too rainy or too hot to enjoy the parks. Make sure to upgrade to the custom candy bar. It was enormous and worth every penny.
I will end with some chocolate facts.
