Hobbiton Evening Dinner Tour for families – review!

Read our review of the Hobbiton Evening Tour + Dinner with kids!
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Hobbiton is where the trilogies of The Lord of The Rings and The Hobbit were shot. Well, at least some parts of it. The Shire, or the Hobbit Village, is there. It’s amazingly well done. We’ve also been there for the day tour and here is our review. On this post, you’ll find the Hobbiton Evening Dinner Tour for families – review!

There's a lot of fun souvenir from Hobbiton, just make sure you arrive while the shop is open.
Inside the shop, with tiny Gandalf hats. The shop is super fun.

The day of the dinner

It was a horrible day. It rained all day long. The sky was completely gray. There was even some fog. I ended up wondering if it was really worth the drive, but we’d already paid for it, so we went ahead.

This time, we went straight to the Shire’s Rest. We got there at 3 pm – 1 hour earlier than what they ask. The rain was drizzling.

We went to the cafe, had some tea, and spent the rest of the hour at the shop. It’s nice and has a varied array of merchandise. Overpriced, of course, but still fun.

At 4 pm we were given Hobbit family names (ours was Proudfoot) and were directed to the van that would take us to Hobbiton. A short drive of around 10 minutes and there we were. Sam, the guide-driver was telling us curiosities about the filming all the way.
The guides (Sam and Teresa) were great.

Hobbiton is best enjoyed on a sunny day. It gets kind of hard to see through the sea of umbrellas.
A part of the group at Hobbiton, NZ. If we wanted to hear and see whatever the guides were saying, we’d have a bit of trouble.

The Hobbiton Twilight Tour

The group was pretty big (around 60 people). Right at the entrance, they offered people umbrellas – we took one but since we were wearing raincoats, it wasn’t really necessary.

We went behind everyone because we’d already heard all the stuff they say and we really wanted to see stuff (and take photos) without a bunch of people around waiting for their turn, or even crossing in front of the shot.

The guides do keep the group moving and together, so even though we were able to stay behind, they were always calling us, showing something ahead.
I felt that we did have a little more time than on day tours.

Hobbiton is one incredible trip, but the empty and fake houses are very disappointing.
Inside one of the hobbit houses. Pretty on the outside, nothing on the inside. It really barely fit us all.

The good and the bad about the Hobbiton evening tour

There were 2 main disappointing things about this evening tour:

  • The weather was bad, the light wasn’t nice and it got dark really early, making it difficult to get good shots without a tripod. We should have tried it sometime during summer. It’s hardly their fault, though, so it’s not really about the tour but about our sheer luck.
  • The way back from the Green Dragon Inn was pitch black. All we could see were the lights at the hobbit houses. It’s pretty enough but the details aren’t visible and they’re half of the fun.
The prettiest house, with all the props in Hobbiton, NZ. It is a lot of fun for families.
The prettiest house, with all the props (on the outside, at least)

BUT there was also the good thing! The hobbit houses light up when it starts to get dark and it’s a whole different experience. So pretty, I loved it!

Hobbiton Dinner for families

It took us around 90 minutes from the Hobbiton entrance to the Green Dragon Inn. In there, we were offered drinks and had some time to rest – even though there weren’t enough seats for everyone (and since we were last, we didn’t get to sit down and rest). It was still nice, though. We roamed between the tables, saw the details in the decoration, went outside for some more night shots.

During the day, there are enough seats, but for the Banquet tour, they use up half of the place to set up the dinner table – that’s why they had little space.

Bilbo's house in Hobbiton (NZ). That's as close as one can get. Pretty disappointing for the kids, but still fun.
Bilbo’s house, unfortunately, that’s as near as you can get

When Sam (the guide) called everyone back to open the curtains, we were led to our Proudfoot table. The food smelled and looked delicious. We took our seats, Sam told us the menu, and we ate. We ate A LOT.

There were all kinds of meat, roasted potatoes, carrots, sweet potatoes (or kumaras, as they’re known in NZ) and parsnips, salad, gravy, chutneys, bread, and butter. There was a lot of things we still don’t know what they were because we couldn’t hear what Sam was saying.

There was water, tea, and coffee for guests throughout dinner. If you wanted something else, it was paid on the side.

Ever thought about having dinner in Hobbiton, NZ? You can! We did and you can read all about it here!
Dinner time at Hobbiton, NZ

When we were finished, they brought the dessert. There were 5 different desserts. I was only able to try 3 of them – couldn’t really have anything or I would burst. It was amazing. The toffee sauce? Oh, dreamy.

After dinner, the Hobbiton at night experience

After all the eating, we were given a lantern for every two people and led outside for a nice stroll around the Shire at night. It’s beautiful, I’m sorry we couldn’t take better photos – we needed a tripod. Sam kept telling us funny behind-the-scenes stories about the film.

It was long, to be honest. He spoke for around half an hour, interesting facts, but we were standing, in the dark, with full stomachs, and tired kids. It felt very, very long.

They set up one hobbit house with lighting so we could take at least one nice photo, which we did, and it was over.

Inside the Green Dragon Inn, Hobbiton, NZ. The details make everything more magical.
Inside the Green Dragon Inn, Hobbiton, NZ

Our view of the Hobbiton Dinner Tour for families

There’s a toilet at the entrance of Hobbiton and one at the Green Dragon Inn. The umbrellas are free of charge, and you need to return them, along with the lanterns, at the end of the tour.
The tour lasted a bit over 4 hours, 2 of those spent eating.

Hobbiton at dusk is just amazing. It's worth going to the Dinner Tour just for that reason. We loved it!
Hobbiton at dusk is just amazing.

The food was child-friendly (though it’s not a separate menu) and they cater for different food necessities, you just need to let them know when you book. You do need to book it early on (and pay). We booked ours a month before – it was the earliest we could get. Joao and Coral are picky eaters but they still had a lot of food. Coral loved the pavlova and ate more than everyone at the table.

My kids were really tired after dinner, they weren’t even listening to what Sam was saying. It was, after all, late. It was 9 pm when we got to our car. We woke up really late on that day, but even so, we got home and they all went straight to bed.

Coral didn’t even change her clothes, so I don’t believe this is the kind of thing you can take your kids to, then expect them to be up early and go to school or something like that on the next day. My kids had one nice very quiet day afterward.

It’s also quite dark, so if anyone in your family isn’t a fan of the dark, aim to do it between November and March, when the days are longer.
Also, it was good that we went wearing our hiking shoes – there were puddles and some slippery bits – and it’s a walking tour.

Hobbiton (NZ) offers Dinner Tours - a later tour, dinner, and awesome photo opportunities. We did it! Click to know more!
Hobbiton at night, just magic. I know you can’t see much, but that’s as much as I could hold the camera still. 😛

Coral (4) was happy, she tried to open every gate and every door (some opened, some didn’t, but we stopped her from entering where it was closed – because you’re not supposed to).

She also loved the mailboxes and the props (donuts? Cheese? Tools?). She didn’t like to stop and listen to Sam when he was trying to tell everyone a curiosity, though. She did keep quiet when we asked her to, but she really wanted to wander around and play with stuff (so did I, Coral). I did have to hold her hand through some parts of the way because she was dancing around and it’s a hill.

Melissa was happy taking photos and finding everything so pretty. The boys were really disengaged from the set itself, but they were happy looking at the hedgehog, the bees and the pretty and realistic props around.

Hobbiton is located in an actual working sheep farm in Matamata, NZ. It probably adds more character to the place!
Hobbiton is located on an actual working sheep farm in Matamata, NZ

Hobbiton prices

It cost NZ$ 195/adult, NZ$ 152/chilld from 9 to 16 years old, and NZ$ 100/child from 5-8 years old. Kids aged 4 and under are free.

It includes the bus (to Matamata I-Site or The Shires Rest), guided tour, and dinner.

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To finish it…

  • City / Country
  • Minimun Stay
  • $ ~ $$$
  • Child-friendlyness
  • Best local transport option
  • Safety
  • Do we recommend it?
  • Hobbiton / Matamata / New Zealand
  • 4 hours for the whole tour
  • $$$
  • It’s child friendly
  • Walk but you’ll need to get to the iSite or Shire’s Rest first
  • Super safe – but for a few rabbit holes
  • Yes, if you’re a fan!

It was a very expensive experience, but it was well worth it!

Leave us a comment saying if you would try it?

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4 replies

Trackbacks & Pingbacks

  1. […] Hobbiton: this is probably the only reason to visit Matamata. Do you need more? It is a 2-3 hours drive from Auckland and the tour takes 1-1.5 hour only. It is guided, so a group comes in, the guide talks about the place, takes you to the places they want to show, give you 5 minutes each time to take photos. Still…. awesome!!! It is incredible, you know, to see the work people put on building such a beautiful place, full of details, that’s gonna be on screen for 1 minute. It is a must for Tolkien/movie lovers. […]

  2. […] paced tour, and you can’t just wander around taking in all the little details. When we found the Dinner tour, I knew we had to do it, even if it broke the bank (and it does). So we did. It’s a bit slower […]

  3. […] We’ve also done the Hobbiton Evening Tour and Dinner Experience! […]

  4. […] post is about our 2013 day tour. In 2016, we did the Hobbiton Evening Tour and Dinner Experience, and you can read about it […]

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