For years tour buses drove past Weta Studios (Miramar, Wellington). The tourists would do anything they could to get a glimpse of something happening inside the studios. The studios where hundreds of people play a role in creating some of the most successful movies of all time.

The problem? There was nothing to see. You couldn’t see anything beyond the white walls. Yet the tour buses would continue to come by.

This is what led to Weta Workshop Tours opening up to the public, so they could at least see something.

This was a fun tidbit our guide, Isaac, told us during the Weta Workshop Tour. It reminded me of the tour buses driving through Beverly Hills trying to catch a glimpse of anything.

This post will give you the details you need to know. The theory is, you’ll be able to then tell if the tour is right for you. Or not.

A photo of me from inside the tour.

The entrance to the Weta Cave

The official address of the studio/workshop is 1 Weka Street, Miramar, Wellington 6022.

You could walk but it’s about two hours to get there from the CBD. So your best options are to either drive, bus, or use a ride-sharing service.

DRIVING
If you’re planning to drive, there’s free parking available though it’s limited so make sure to give yourself time to find a park on a public holiday/holiday period. You should be able to park within a five-minute walk from the studio.

From Courtenay Place, you can expect about a 10-15 minute drive to get out there. I’d allow 20 minutes to be on the safe side, and to find parking.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT
It’s takes longer to get out there on public transport compared to driving/ride-sharing, but it’s pretty efficient as far as buses go. From Courtenay Place you’ll need to catch the #2 bus to Kilbirnie and the #18 bus the rest of the way (you’ll have a 3-minute walk at the end). The total journey from Courtenay Place will take somewhere between 30-40 minutes if all goes well.

If there’s only one or two of you with a Snapper card, this is an okay option. Otherwise YourRide or Uber will be your better bet.

YOURRIDE/UBER/OLA
This is a solid option for most of you in a small group. The cost from Courtenay Place is about $15-20 with YourRide and Uber, the two cheaper options (Ola is expensive). And it’ll take 15-20 minutes in most scenarios.

WHAT I LIKED

• Knowledgeable guide. He has been working there for a few years, and was genuinely passionate.
• A simple check-in process (and booking) that’s part of the gift shop and mini museum so you can browse while you wait (not hard sales pushed).
• Easy to reach the location.
• They cap the tour sizes so it’s not crazy (at 20 people I believe)
• 45-minutes is a suitable length of time for the tour

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE

• No photos. That’s totally understandable though and they do mention this at the time of booking so there’s no reason not to be surprised.
• No momento. Photos are often the only souvenirs we need. While it’s not Weta’s fault we can’t take photos, a nice little momento could be fun.

After meeting my two friends at Wellington Station, we jumped on the #2 bus then the #18 bus to the Weta location out by Miramar. It’s a decent journey, but we were all surprised at how efficient it was as we made the final three-minute walk from the bus stop.

I also met the super friendly cat Rocco inside the Weta Cave.

We were told to arrive 15 minutes before our 12:30 tour began, but we were 30 minutes early. That’s not a biggie, as they checked us in, then we spent some time wandering about the Weta Cave Store, which has plenty of interesting stuff to look at (and buy), and took some photos with the big trolls in front of the entrance.

At 12:30 we were introduced to our guide and we were stoked we would be the only three on the tour. An unexpected private tour. Win.

Our guide, Isaac, took us to the entrance to the studios less than a minute along the footpath. We entered the foyer and were told what was and wasn’t going to happen on the tour.

You can’t take photos on the tour as Weta Workshop doesn’t own the pieces they’re working on, they belong to the movie companies etc. This makes sense right? There’d be all sorts of leaks about upcoming movies if you could see a costume that’s completed for an upcoming movie.

Anyway, the first room was an introduction to Weta Studios and talked about fun parts they’ve played in 100+ movies (all these).

Sometimes they’re involved in the whole movie from start to finish such as Lord of the Rings. But sometimes they have a minor piece of the puzzle, such as making a sword. Yeap, Weta has one of the world’s best swordsman on their payroll, so he often gets requests for one-off pieces.

There are about 400 staff who work at Weta Studios fulltime. And with the workload from movies coming and going regularly, sometimes people will have lots of time to work on other projects. It’s these other projects that allow Weta to keep everyone employed year-round rather than hiring people as contractors. If this was the case they’d see a lot of talent leaving NZ shores when work dries up.

You can buy plenty of books in the cave of course.

Some of these projects involve custom pieces for private buyers, board games, memorabilia for the Weta Cave and the figurines for the Gallipoli display in Te Papa.

There were also a bunch of items from movies in the room we were introduced to, and despite me having never seen them before it caught my interest. The details in some things are insane! Animatronics would be something interesting to study if I went back to Uni. And the precision around 3-D printing vs. making stuff by hand is impressive.

The rest of the tour was spent in a few different rooms. We continued to learn about some of the people who work at Weta and their departments.

The person who designed the look of King Kong was a vet in her previous profession. This enabled her to understand how muscles work, making the design of King Kong more relatable to us humans. The amount of detail that goes into costumes is insane, but everything helps the director tell the story.

Speaking of storytelling, the role of perspective was super fun to listen about. I knew about some of the tricks they use in Disneyland, but I’ll be looking at any movies I watch differently now. Particularly in fight scenes. Most of the time the swords are made of plastic, it’s the magic of painters who make the swords look like the real deal.

It’s hard to tell you everything in a short blog post. Over the 45-minutes you’ll learn so many random fun facts, and quips you’ll be able to tell your friends in the future.

And to finish it off, you do get a chance for a photo as seen at the top of the post.

As I mentioned our tour went for nearly an hour which was super cool (it was a quiet day). By the time the hour was up I was happy with what we were taught and stuff.

The Hobbiton Tour is great for people who have and have not seen any of the famous movies Hobbiton is known for. The same goes for the original Weta Workshop Tour.

The info you get is compelling, and the guide did a great job. And it’s a lot cheaper at $28 for adults which is a bonus. It’s a great way to spend a couple of hours in Wellington once you include the time getting there and back.

RECOMMENDED READING

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Weta Workshop is always going to feature on this list!

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Check out some of the scenery in the hikes around Wellington in this post. And then plan to go on one or six yourself.