A Bittersweet Taste of Transformation
It’s the project dreams are only made of! A magical chocolate land. A lush oasis of cocoa beans. A one-of-a-kind rollercoaster. And to top it all off, it’s for a great cause! Tony’s Chocoloney, an Amsterdam company that works effortlessly to make the chocolate industry 100% slave-free worldwide, contacted Storyland Studios to design their brand-new chocolate factory. And we were more than thrilled to work on this sweet project with their team!
We created an attractional concept for Tony’s where people would be immersed in a magical chocolate adventure. The factory tour begins on Tony’s Chocoloney boat in the north sea canal. Then as guests enter the building, smells of chocolate fill the air as they anxiously get their tickets. The walking tour begins on a catwalk so everyone can see active, factory machinery below them with vats of chocolate exploding before their very eyes.
But then, in an epic Tony’s twist, the harsh reality of the faceless chocolate industry confronts guests. The magical factory suddenly grinds to a halt and the surrounding brick walls disintegrate as guests find themselves in the midst of an Ivory Coast cocoa farm. Here they come face-to-face with the farmers and families behind the flavors they love.
Entering a lush oasis, guests dive deep into the world of chocolate as they experience the entire bean to bar process in a real, working factory where they encounter Tony’s mission, “Crazy about chocolate, serious about people.” Guests celebrate this craze about chocolate by hopping on Tony’s Factory Express. On this one-of-a-kind rollercoaster, guests are “shrunken down” to the size of a bean and moved through Tony’s Chocolonely Factory along an assembly line montage. After being “molded” and “wrapped,” they are launched out the top of the iconic smokestack to be sent out to the world for maximum impact.
After the coaster, guests finish their tour with a multi-sensory Taste of Transformation in the Impact Gallery, an interactive and fun experience where they get hands on with every part of the chocolate world. They’re also invited and inspired to join the journey in becoming serious about people. By the end of the experience, every guest has a personal stake in Tony’s mission and is encouraged to “be a Tony” and help transform the world.
Storyland Studios Project Manager Duane Montague says, “This project was a blast to work on! After all, who wouldn’t want to design a chocolate factory? But it became so much more than that. We all got very personally involved because of the cause – we wanted to do our part to end slavery in the chocolate industry, too. The language barrier was a little difficult initially since nobody on our team spoke Dutch, but everyone worked closely with the Tony’s team and Henk, the owner, was really happy with how we incorporated the Tony’s story throughout the tour.”
Together we can make chocolate 100% slave free. Visit Tonyschocolonely.com to learn more!