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The following information is supplied by a wheelchair user! Oyster will be doing their own research regarding accessibility in the near future.
"There is a portion of the Hobbiton Movie Set Tour that is not wheelchair accessible. If you book at least 2 weeks in advance, there is a complementary golf cart available on request to take disabled people around but this is not ideal as a person would have to get out of his/her wheelchair to sit on the cart's seat. Besides if you can handle the rough pathways its more fun cruising the Shire. All you have to do is jump into your own vehicle and follow the green tourist bus down the windy lane and you are soon at the entrance to the Shire. The staff at Hobbiton are very friendly and most helpful but the Matamata site overall has some ways to go to be considered complete wheelchair accessible. Unfortunately one of the features of the site, Bilbo Baggins house is inaccessible as its up a steep incline. Everything else on the tour is accessible, although expect a rough ride in places where the terrain is rugged and detours for wheelchair users are common place to avoid steps. In fact to reach the "Green Dragon" a cross country trip over grass is necessary"
Typically a wheelchair user who can walk a few steps.
Typically someone who can negotiate a small flight of steps.
Great access for young children traveling in pushchairs.
The disabled person needs to be transferred to a golf cart without any fixing devices on the back-seats, looking the whole time backwards. Golf cart only can be driven on paths with a certain width away on the little trails. The information about the movie set were only given on concrete location but not for the people sitting on the cart away from them. The employee were anxious but with this conditions, this visit in not recommended for disabled persons sitting in a wheelchair. An idea for an improvement is that a wheelchair can be fixed on a separate platform in whole, as a trailer on the cart and the person is able to look in direction of movement.
For great fans of LOTR or the hobbit, the Hobbiton movie set is a “must-see” in New Zealand. We decided to go, and advised that my husband, who is in a wheelchair had to be transferred on a Golf cart, This meant he was on the rear of the golf cart facing the whole time backwards. There was no possibility to really take part in a guided tour, because the cart is only able to drive the bigger paths. The person driving the cart did not do anything with us – nothing about story telling or repeating something from the guide. So for this expensive entrance price and the less suitability for disabled persons, we cannot recommend to visit this set.
November 2016 - Visitor from Germany
