Hobbiton Evening Banquet Tour and exploring Hobbiton in the dark! New Zealand travel vlog!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 14 มี.ค. 2020
- Hobbiton Evening Banquet Tour and exploring Hobbiton with lanterns in the dark!
We had such an amazing day exploring Hobbiton! It really felt like a dream as we enjoyed perfect weather and a beautiful sunset on the North Island of New Zealand!
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Wasn't this just the BEST?!? For a fan of LOTR and The Hobbit, this is just the ultimate fan experience 🤩! It just blew me away every step of the way!
Hands down the best experience! Even Abbie who is not a LOTR fan had the best time. We 100% plan on doing this same experience when we finally get back to NZ! 😍 For sure if you all go to that area you need to do it!
On an episode of The Graham Norton Show (England) a guest mentioned that he'd visited Hobbiton at which Graham Norton laughed and scoffed at the suggestion that Hobbiton actually existed. As a New Zealander I felt so disappointed and disrespected. I hope Norton gets to see your wonderfully beautiful video. Enjoy your time in our wondrously beautiful country 😘
Haha yes, he should at least know that it's a real place!!! We loved every moment in NZ! 😍
You say “a guest” as if Elijah Wood, FRODO HIMSELF, is just another guest 😂
I must be one of the few New Zealanders who has not seen Lord of The Rings or the Hobbit. My wife and I took our Australian Niece a couple of years ago to visit Hobbiton. She is a big Lord of the Rings and Hobbit fan. We took the tour only. We had great weather and that was a great 2 hour. It is a must place to visit.
Must see for sure! It really is incredible!
I am waiting to visit hobbiton soon.
Must see...just stunning...
Seeing how happy you both are makes me happy ❤️
That's so sweet! Joy is contagious! ❤️❤️
Elated hearing how wonderful this experience was for you both. Thank you for sharing. I could almost feel both of your excitement. This was awesome!
What a kind comment! Thank you for taking the time to share! We appreciate the encouragement! It was such a great day! We can't wait to go back one day 😊
Took my English cousins and hubby who is not a lord of the rings fan on a daytime tour. Worth every cent. We live about 30 mins away from Hobbiton
Fully agree. If you're visiting the North Island you have to see this, period. ❤
Music choice is spot on
Tried to make it Shire-like without copyright infringement 🤣
Rumour has it that on a very clear day at the very back of our farm you can see outmost paddock on the Hobbiton farm in the very far distance ;) Ive never visited the Hobbiton set, I enjoyed seeing it through your eyes :D
That's so cool! You live in such a beautiful area! I would love to go back. I heard they are going to be hosting second breakfast now haha!
Looooved this!! Made me smile and your enthusiasm made my heart happy!
Yay!! I'm so glad! 😊❤️
This is so wonderful it's probably one of the best things a couple can do is travel together and experience the world around us 👍😃
Agree with that statement 100%! Abbie and I plan to travel as much as we can and see everything we can! ❤
Unlike any director you would only see in a museum. But as kiwi director you are getting a real life experience.
It was such an amazing experience too ❤️
This has been added to my bucket list!
Abbie says she has to go with you! So let us know when you plan to go 😂
Yes!- wonderful to see others enjoying our country!
It really is such an amazing country you have! ❤
How cool near end when u can see live? Activity Inside! The hobbit holes!!
So cool! Hobbiton is magical and even more so at night!
Very interesting, i didn't kow the original set was torn down. I hope one day i can visit this place, too!
100% recommend seeing this...one of the best experiences we had the entire trip!
OMG this is soooo awesome definitely on my bucket list!!
Go for the evening dinner tour! It gave us goosebumps from the excitement! ❤
Hobbiton is very cool, even for us NZ domestic tourists
Wiebe is a HUGE LoTR fan and it really was the coolest thing ever to walk around the movie set :)
Couldn't stop smiling watching this. 👏
You sound like a LoTR fan 🤣
@@AbbieandWiebe just awesome watching people enjoy themselves.... and yes, I am. 🙂
Haha thank you! We love our time on vacations and hope to share our excitement with our audience! 🥰
If you are ever in NZ, Hobbiton is incredible and a must see!
How wonderful! Beautiful respectful portrayal of your Hobbiton experience😊👍
Thank you so much! It was an amazing day!
that bar maid .. was so awesome
Hahaha! It was fun!
She definitely looked the part, know?!? "'Rosie Cotton' was her name..."
fun vid . glad you guys loved it .
Thank you! Surreal day, loved it! 😍
Oh guys it looks amazing and you could tell you loved it. Thank you so much for sharing your amazing adventure. You're a really great couple so glad you enjoyed it.
.
Wow thank you so much Darren! We did love it and love to share our experiences with others such as yourself! 🥰
Cute and I love to see how you guys are genuinely excited from the beginning 😀 true fans
We can’t wait to go back one day! We hear they’re doing 2nd breakfast tours now 😆
Maybe 2023? 🥰
So awesome! 😁Thanks for sharing.
Of course! This is definitely a bucket list experience for us and the weather was absolutely perfect! One of the places we cannot wait to see again! ❤️
Sir peter Jackson lives near by my place. the maker of this movie.
No way! You should be really friendly and maybe he'll invite you over for some second breakfast 🤞
Where??
Loved the Faux English accent from behind the bar!
Hahaha! That's very kind. Especially because I'm terrible with accents 😜😂
I hope you guys know how really lucky you are. I'm happily jealous 4 you!!!!🙏
Oh we do! We are blessed to have the ability to travel the world!
Haha well thank you! 😂
Amazing video!!!! 💚💚💚
Thank you so much for the encouragement! 😊❤️
I live just over an hour from Hobbiton, my friends have spoken about visiting but we have put it on the back burner until we watched your amazing video. Thank you for sharing your experience with your viewers. Nau mai haemai e hoa
Thank you so much for watching! It's such an amazing place, you should def go check it out! ❤
I hate hphotographing or filming while wandering around, as I love to take it in without being concious of how I look or that I should picture eerything. So it is good that you took the effort to do it for me, because I probably will never (as much as I wanted to) go to those places. Thanx For sharing your adventure with us!
So very true! There are times when it definitely gets tough filming things and we just want to 'take a vacation' haha! But we love being able to go back and relive that day, so we're glad you also enjoy it! Thanks!
I really enjoyed your joy together being there. I would go there. Great video.
We had the best time! It truly feels magical being there! We feel like no trip to NZ would be complete without a visit to Hobbiton lol 😂
Great video! Big LOTR fan. Maybe able to get there someday.
Thank you so much! I'm a huge LOTR fan and even though Abbie is more or less indifferent, we both thought it was one of the most memorable things we've done our entire lives!
OMG we went there too during daytime the old busses took us there we loved it, The Tavern sooo great... we did not see the movies earlier but our nephew pointed it out to us so on route on Air NewZealnd from London to Auckland we were able to watch the lot and got hooked .
Haha fantastic! I grew up reading all the books and of course I’ve seen and loved the movies. Being on the set and seeing everything that they built for the movies was just incredible. Definitely one of the things we will do again when we go back! 🥰
I haven't been to Hobbiton... it looks awesome! Especially at night.. that's a great idea 😁
Hobbiton is a MUST see for any visitor to NZ or Kiwi! Definitely one of the best if not THE best experience we had!
You're very lucky. God bless you.
U both look great together ❤️
That's so kind! Thank you! I agree 😂😊
glad you enjoyed the tour....another well shot vlog with amazing film of the set...worthy of working on a Peter Jackson film set I'm sure.....the banquet served looked better than what I was expecting to see.....po-tay-toe
Haha! Yes! Po-tay-toe 😂😂😂 Wiebe wants to do the tour again!
I was just there last weekend for a work function. Even though I never watched the movies, I had a great time! I plan on binge watching some of the movies now after the experience. Loved the Green Dragon!
Definitely need to watch the movies! It’s an awesome place but even better if you have a frame of reference with the movies! 😊
Thanks !! Love Tolkien been reading The Hobbit and LofTR since hippie days . I used to have a button that said " Frodo Lives"
Amazing! I need that button lol!
New Zealand is my dream destination....love from India🇮🇳
Thank you for the support! It was a dream vacation and can't wait to go back some day! 😍
so awesome u lucky bunch
It’s quite the incredible experience!
@@AbbieandWiebe yeah hopefully ill be able to go some day
If you’re ever in NZ it is a MUST DO! 😊
You 2 are dags. (which mean funny in NZ) I sure hope you both enjoyed yourselves whilst in Kiwi land and that you were greeted and treated every where you both went with kindness and respect?
Haha thank you! Yes, everyone was SOO nice and hospitable! It was a dream vacation!
Thank you dear brother and sister
Thank you for your support!
@@AbbieandWiebe Pray for me that God will take me to this place
it dont mata mata haha. you can see glow worms along the side of the waikato river in hamilton near the first bridge if i remember right
Oh I didn't know you could find glow worms outside of caves! Interesting!
What a great video, well done!
You timed it just right, 16th March, New Zealand lock-downed about a week later.
I had a friend coming on 30th March 2020 from America. We played Lord of the Rings Online, so Hobbiton was definitely on the must do list. We were totally geeking out at the thought.
Sucked we didn't get to do that, she had to cancel her trip due to Covid. I had been twice before back in 2002-2005 and did not realise how big it was now.
On the news today 7th October 2021, they announced the 20th Anniversary of the original Hobbiton and it will be a massive outdoor banquet with a huge party through the day and evening at the party tree! In the game, the Spring Festival in Hobbiton is such a highlight each year.
Thank you so much Paul!
Hobbiton is amazing! I didn’t realize it wasn’t as large back in 2005, interesting! Oh man, we would LOVE to be there to celebrate the 20th anniversary!
We’re hoping to be back in 2023. We saw the other day they now offer a breakfast banquet called ‘second breakfast’ 😂
Really want to go to that but Abbie wants to also do the dinner banquet again! Haha
You definitely need to go back and see what all has changed! 😊
I went to the Evening Banquet tour with my 9 year old son who, like me, is a massive JRR Tolkien fan. It was magical.
Magical is the only way to describe the whole experience! You took the words from our mouths!
This is great. We were originally planning to hit Hobbiton on our way from here to there, but this makes me want to stop for the whole dinner experience. Except that I'm struggling to find time for the overnight afterwards. And then I saw it. Did you know? It's new - they're now doing . . . . Second Breakfast! It's just on weekends now, but I'm hoping it expands to daily by the time we get there in 2022. Will also help with my timing problems.
Oh that sounds awesome! That was not offered when we went. I will say though, one of the best parts of the dinner experience is that you're part of the last group of the day. So I don't know how many tours go at the same time normally, I just know that by the the time our tour reached the top (Bilbo's house), you could look out across the entire set (town) and there wasn't a soul in sight. Felt like you were really special :)
"Watomo Caves" that cracked me up, Waitomo Caves.
I feel bad that all of our pronunciations were wrong!
@@AbbieandWiebe Don't feel bad It's all good.
@@AbbieandWiebe you are all good with your pronunciations. Even the Kiwis pronounce our te reo Maaori wrong
@@daycare5881 We said in several of our videos we'd get the pronunciation wrong and mean no disrespect ❤
... you're lucky not to have been eaten by uruk-hai in this part of New Zealand !
Nice picture ... !
Haha! Yes, very lucky! ... Thank you! ❤️
if that was me id be pilling it on my plage
Haha well we didn’t want to take everyone else’s food!
THANK YOU! That was AMAZING!! Your experience was very VERY well vlogged - first time here, and I'm already your BIGGEST FAN! All I can really say about Hobbiton is, very briefly:
Been there... Dunn that... CAN'T WAIT TO DO IT AGAIN!!!
But this next time: YES!! The full-blown for the evening lamplight feast after the tour... Ohh, yeaaaa...
PS: I found that the Gift Shop had HIDDEN TREASURES! I bought an absolutely delightful "Chronicles" 'Art & Design' book for "The Hobbit - An Unexpected Journey" movie, and while standing in the cashier's line, I realized that both of the primary artists of the series, John Howe and Alan Lee, along with the head of Weta Workshop, Richard Taylor, had hand-signed the inside title page of this singular book - from a stack of at least 50, if not 100, copies! Once I got to the front of the line, I asked the cashier if they were all likewise signed, and she stopped everything to go find a manager and see if I somehow got something that wasn't supposed to be in that stack or sold at that small of a price: it was listed for $25UK/$40CAN, and I was getting it for $17US. Neither of them had ever seen anything like it! They sold it to me for the bargain-basement price they had set on all of them, and I found myself in Seventh-Heaven.
However, just before we got back on our exit bus, another site manager - I later thought that he was perhaps the overall top executive there that day - tracked us down and told me the longer tale: the book was signed along with a tall stack of others at a 'grand opening' weekend of the newly refurbished Hobbiton Movie Set a year prior. Some of the primary actors and crew members were there, and it was a whole afternoon of a public meet-&-greet, lots of tables for signing autographs, and just generally interacting with their huge fan base. Other cases of pre-signed books from other artists and crew who couldn't attend the big event had also been shipped earlier from Wellington, where Weta Digital is located. The book I got was a left-over from that moment, or from one of those bookcases, opened later, displayed, or re-stacked and then forgotten until I ran across it... I can't imagine that it's actually worth much more than it's list price to anyone else, but to me it's worth more than it's weight in gold! It was as if I went into the very Mines of Moria and recovered a whole vein of mithril, or found my own Arkenstone while needlessly wandering around inside Erebor.
Now it rests along with a few other 'tokiens' on the mantlepeice above the hearth in my happy hobbit home, and only brought down to reminiscence of past adventures, or help set new ones alight.
Here's yet another delightfully fun detour down Bagshot Row: th-cam.com/video/_4exEKAbeSg/w-d-xo.html
Thank you Gary! The evening tour is literally magical so you have to do that the next time you’re there!
Wow! That is an incredible story! I would have loved to be there for big signing event! That would have been amazing 🤩
Wonderful Was Frodo home?
He wasn't accepting guests lol 🤣
Water mow, lol 😂. Pronunciation was phonetically perfect. Why_tore_mow
HAHA, well yeah we knew our pronunciations would be bad!
Thanks for video.
I would like to take photos at Sunset time.
the evening tour stay open until what time pls?
Oh you should definitely do the evening tour then! That would be perfect for sunset.
They said it would be over around 10 but it was past 11 before we got back to the parking lot area.
If you love butter, then you would have enjoyed New Zealand butter. I have a small bakery in Australia and I use NZ butter nothing else.
Where in Australia? We are thinking our next big trip might be Queensland.
@@AbbieandWiebe My bakery is in Sydney, NSW. I'm sure you both will enjoy Sydney if you get the chance to visit.
@@warriorwithin9310 We will for sure check out Sydney when we come to Australia. Hopefully not too far off as travel comes back to 'norm'! 🤞
@@AbbieandWiebe Did you get to try any Kiwi pies like Steak and Cheese and so on? Kiwis are nuts about their pies.
@@warriorwithin9310 You know...there were so many choices and honestly I'm not quite sure what things like 'minced meat' pie even mean that we didn't. Neither of us are too adventurous with food so we tend to stick to things we know for sure we might like haha 🤣
Ginger beer? I didn't know Hobbiton was part of the magical world of Harry Potter lol. In true Hobbit fashion, there was plenty of good food to eat.
Haha that does sound like something from Harry Potter and not LoTR! The food was delicious, we highly recommend doing that tour of you have the chance 😍
What's the Airbnb called. Looked good!
It was the perfect location! Here is a copy of the link to it:
www.airbnb.com/rooms/15931549?guests=1&adults=1&s=67&unique_share_id=d9821784-738e-4f14-b6cf-4cacd150f0f2
Thank you for sharing your journey this was really awesome to watch! I would love to ask the name of this Celtic music used throughout the video? sounds really good 8:06
Thank you for watching! ❤️
Abbie edited this video long enough ago that she couldn’t find what music she used. But it was from Artlist since we have a subscription. We really like that music too and thought it fit perfectly 🥰
Just wandering what camera/s o you guys use? Love your vlogs so much and I want to start vloging myself
Yes go for it! It's really fun! So our main 'vlogging' camera is the Sony RX100 VII. At the time we were buying gear it's the only point and shoot that had an external mic jack, and we liked that it's smaller so when you add a gimbal it's not super heavy. Otherwise we mostly used our Iphones for a few shots but tried to avoid voice recordings with those.
@@AbbieandWiebe thank you so much . Didn't notice you guys were filming on your mobiles until I seen it when you were shooting your upgraded hotel vid ...I just love the content and the quality of your vids. You must've spent alot of effort, love and time into editing it . Really enjoyed it. Thank you so much for responding 🥰🥰
@@tali3815 It was so much fun actually! Abbie did spend a lot of time editing which is why it took us a few months to get that whole trip edited but she likes the creative side. Thank you so much for the support!
Hello ! We are going to do the evening banquet tour next february, how long is the evening walk with lanterns ? I see this is guided tour aswell so I'd like to know if we have time to chill around hobbiton freely and take our time to do pictures and stuff 🙂
@denisklien8216 I don’t remember the exact time but they gather around the party tree and have everybody turn off the lanterns and watch the stars. If I were to estimate, it was maybe 20 minutes to walk around after. They don’t let you go off on your own at all, but there are several guides and they did a really good job of letting everyone get the good pictures ❤️
@@AbbieandWiebe Alright ! Sounds good to me :-) Thanks for your answer :)
@denisklien8216 no problem! We are so jealous you’re going haha! It is really one of the most incredible experiences we’ve ever done and one of the main reasons we want to go back to NZ! You will have an amazing time! ❤️
What month did you go for the beautiful weather? We are considering having our wedding here and we're trying to decide on the most optimal month.
We were there around mid January and the weather was perfect! Wow that would be an awesome place to have a wedding! Congratulations!
pavalova 😋😋😋
Abbie loved it! Good stuff!
@@AbbieandWiebe You guys don't have pavlova in the States?Incredible..😊
@@suehowie152 Maybe somewhere? But it's not common at least.
Very cool, thank you for sharing. I will be driving from Auckland, Where did you stay after the tour? At what time it ends?
Thank you! From what we remember, we stayed at an Airbnb in Hamilton and it wasn't over until after 11pm 😀
@@AbbieandWiebe Thank you. Very helpful.
late to the party here, but what time of the year did you visit? We are planning a visit for 2024 and I want to visit when the flowers and plants are in full bloom. thank you
Hey no worries! This was the end of January when we went. 2024? That’s soooo exciting 😍. We hope you have an awesome time!!!
Love your video, I'm LOTR fan just like you and this video have made me almost cry. So I will go there with Evening Banquet Tour and maybe Second Breakfast tour as well if my wallet can hahahah! Thanks a lot for sharing your amazing experience. Any hotel you recommended before and after this tour?
Awww thank you!!! I am such a huge LoTR fan! It really is magical on set! You should definitely try to do both tours, and then let us know how the second breakfast one is! Haha
There are quite a few AirBNBs around so I’d check those out, otherwise Matamata or Cambridge are the closest towns that would have hotels.
@@AbbieandWiebe Thank you so much. Very useful information. If I have a chance to reserve the second breakfast tour I will share that experience. And wish you guys all the best. Again thank you for sharing us your amazing experience.
Yes do share! That sounds amazing! Best wishes to you! ❤️
Hi Abbie and Wiede! May I know which AirBnB provided did you use or recommend please? Thank you!
@charlesgageeb4284 the one we stayed at was just outside of Hamilton. Here’s the link abnb.me/di4skDhkTGb
Looking around there are a LOT more choices now than we had ❤️
@@AbbieandWiebe Thanks so much!!! More power to you both!! May Love, peace, and harmony follow you in all your travels :-)
@@charlesgageeb4284 of course! Thank you so much! We hope you have an amazing time at Hobbiton! ❤
is it possible to explore the hobbiton in the dark!? like- was it in the tour package? or was it just by luck?
Yes that was part of the evening banquet tour. That is the only way to walk around it at night. We highly recommend it as not only was it amazing at night but you eat dinner in the Green Dragon!
Can you do self guided tours? Or is it only in groups?
It would be cool to be able to walk around on your own, but all tours are with a guide.
Thank you
Hi i was wondering if you could give the location of the air bnb im planning a whole trip for my mom since she loves lord of the rings and the hobbit so that air bnb would also be perfect for us
You all will have a blast! We’re excited for you!
Our Airbnb was just outside of Hamilton and north of Cambridge. I don’t see the same one but there seem to be several to chose from!
@@AbbieandWiebe thank you so much! Just by this video and what you showed I know my mom will love it appreciate you telling me where the airbnb was located very helpful thank you again!
Of course! We hope you have a wonderful time! It has to be one of our favorite places and tours we’ve ever done 🥰
Waitomo is pronounced why-toe-moe. Wai is the Maori word for water, tomo is a hole in the ground.
Yeah we should probably Google some of these things before we try to just pronounce them ❤
When does the banquet tour begin? How much Daylight lasts at banquet tour until me(banquet) i want to see hobbiton both day and night with only banquet tour
The tour started at 7 and went to 11 or so. I guess it would depend on the time of year as to how much daylight you would get. We went in mid January so there was quite a bit of daylight for us. Have you seen they also started a Second Breakfast tour? Next time we’re going to do that one 😊
@@AbbieandWiebe thank you, does banquet tour require tour of hobbiton completely?
The tour part is included with the banquet price. They don’t allow you to just have dinner. The actual banquet is held inside the Green Dragon Pub, so you can’t get there except on the guided tour bus if that makes sense.
@@AbbieandWiebe thank you, i live far far from new zealand,i hope i will go there one day, not only hobbiton tour, also tour of new zealand
No problem! It’s such an incredible place we hope everyone has a chance in their lifetime to visit! 😍
would you rather live in the USA or NZ??
That's a good question. While in NZ we both felt physically so much more active and healthy. The weather was absolutely perfect and everything was so beautiful outdoors that I don't even think we watched TV once. Ultimately though, family is what keeps us in the US. But it's fun to dream about the possibility of retirement in NZ :)
Why do you get to eat dinner and explore at night I never got to do that
They offer a specific tour called the evening banquet tour. It's 4 hours and you're the last tour group to go in the evening and they provide dinner. If you haven't done that yet you definitely should! It was amazing!
@@AbbieandWiebe thank you this was the first time I ever heard about this and now I have to do it the last and first time I went was 2017 and I think I'm now ready for another adventure
@@nathandavern7030 do you live in NZ? We're shooting to come back in 2023 just hoping everything is normal again!
Also, since we've gone they've added another tour like this except in the morning called Second Breakfast!!! That's what we're going to do next time we go 😍
@@AbbieandWiebe nice now looks like I will also have to do that now lol and yes I do live in nz will have to try the second breakfast as it is one of my favourite lines in the trilogy
Oh nice you have to do that! Let us know how it goes, we’d love to hear about your experience 🥰
Thanks for the guided tour and whilst I never had the chance to work on either film, a colleague of mine did special effects work on the Lord of the Rings trilogy as well as the Hobbit and was awarded an Oscar on two of the LOTR films. I have been to Matamata a number of times but never been to Hobbiton and so based on your recommendation, I should make the 5 hour drive and visit there. My only claim in this regard was that I went to the same high school as Peter Jackson, ten years before he did, although my younger sister was there at the same time. I am however currently working with the director of the film that Peter saw as a 10 year old that inspired him into making films and am now assisting to have it released to cinema-goers throughout New Zealand. vimeo.com/395696827
I bet that was an awesome experience for you colleague! You definitely need to visit Hobbiton, I can't say enough how magical that whole tour felt. Who knew you'd be so close to a celebrity in high school lol! ❤
By the way.. Wiebe... that is a very Dutch name.... what gives???
Interesting 🤔 My family came from Germany, I’ve never heard anyone say there’s Dutch Wiebe’s 😊