Charlie And The Chocolate Factory
the Queue
Located in a small offshoot from London Square, guests can find a smaller version of the Chocolate factory seen in the 2005 movie. After the events of the movie, the factory was no longer closed and guests were invited to visit all the time (now with added safety features)!
Upon entering the factory, guests wind down the long hall that is seen in the movie. Throughout the hallway guests wind up and down passing little mementos from Willy Wonka/ the movie such as the Golden Ticket, the original Everlasting Gobstopper, Wonka’s glasses, and a small spot for a photo-op with a few of the lifesize candy pieces. Leaving this hallway leads guests into a larger room where they can see the ride vehicles and loading platform. The loading platform consists of a large old “taste testing” room where chocolate and packaging can be found throughout the room that clearly isn't used anymore and hastily transitioned into a tour room. The ride is a large water coaster, similar to that of Atlantis at SeaWorld, where instead of travelling through water, the boats make their way through the chocolate river of the factory (dyed water).
the Ride
Coaster Statistics:
Model: Water Coaster
Height: 30m (100 ft)
Largest Drop: 15m (50 ft)
Duration: 3:45
Height Restriction: 100cm (39 in)
After pulling out of the loading platform, the coaster goes up a small life hill against the chocolate passing some important rooms along the way, such as the coffee cream, hair cream, and whipped cream rooms, as well as a quick glimpse into the inventing room seen in the movie. The climb stops and the guests enter the Television room where Oompa Loompas are seen teleporting things from one side of the room, to the large screen on the other side of the room having fun with what they can teleport (chocolate, a large film reel, a car, etc) using scrims and screens to make these teleportations seem instantaneous and flawless. The next room the guests enter is a modified version of the nutcracker room where the floor is instead a chocolate river allowing the nuts to instantly mix into the chocolate. A mix of static and animatronic squirrels line the edges of the room, occasionally throwing “good nuts” behind them to roll into the chocolate (they catch into a trough before reaching the river). The one problem with this room, however, is that it is still a large hole in the middle of the room.
The guests drop down this hole for the first thrill segment of the ride using the coaster tracks to drop and then weave in the dark before finishing nearly back to the same height they were at before, back in a new chocolate river. This chocolate river starts in the dark but is slow and calm to pace out before opening the doors to the big reveal, the large chocolate room. The guests spend a long time in this room as they wind through this room seeing others throughout as they can see every aspect of the gorgeous room, complete with its edible grass, trees, and more. After winding through this room for a little while, the guests leave the chocolate room and hit another lift hill, this time taking them above and outside of the factory. Now outside, and on the back side of the factory, guests get a great view of London Square, as well as the ability to check out quick glimpses of other lands as they turn the corner from the top of the lift hill and take a steep nosedive drop with banked corners and high speeds. The drop leads into a small splash pad leading back inside to see the invention room. While a small room, guests can find references to many Wonka inventions such as the Three Course Dinner Chewing Gum, or the Everlasting Gobstopper. The inventing room is a quick stop before guests are back outside for one final large drop leading all the way down to a final splash pad stop back at floor level leading to the exit of the tour, and the unloading platform. After unloading, the boats go back up a small lift hill to get back to the loading platforms.