KISSIMMEE, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35 ORLANDO) -
A new Kissimmee attraction aims to take chocolate lovers through the process of how their favorite confections are made -- and allows visitors to custom-create their own chocolate bar.
Chocolate Kingdom, a real chocolate factory founded by the owners of Winter Park's Schakolad, opened today for tours, but Fox 35's David Martin got a sneak peek.
Chocolate Kingdom's owner, Edgar Schaked, explained how the idea for the attraction came about.
"Basically it's the headquarters to our Schakolad chocolate factory," Schaked said. "But as we started growing it and adding a museum to it and building a factory, we decided, 'Why don't we make it an attraction?'" he said.
"We teach people where chocolate comes from. A lot of people don't even know it comes from a tree. ... That's the whole idea from this store, to learn what happens," Schaked said.
The attraction takes visitors on a family-friendly, themed walking tour through the factory featuring dragons, castles -- and a real river of chocolate.
"It's everybody's fantasy to see an actual river of chocolate," he said.
At the end of the tour, guests can create their own chocolate bar, with standard ingredients such as nuts to exotic mix-ins such as bacon and cayenne pepper.
"That's the beauty. People just want to have fun with chocolate. What better way than to create your own bar. ... It makes you happy," Schaked said.
Chocolate Kingdom opens today, with tours beginning at 1 p.m. For more information, call 407-705-3475 or go to ChocolateKingdom.com.
