Wētā Workshop Auckland vs. Wellington Review

What is Wētā Workshop?

Wētā Workshop is a special effects and prop company based out of Wellington, New Zealand. The company has worked on The Lord of the Rings, Avatar, The Chronicles of Narnia movies, and many others.

Richard Taylor and Tania Rodger started the company out of their apartment in Wellington, New Zealand in 1987.

What amazes me about their story is that they were entirely self taught. They just loved to create and figured things out as they went. Kind of like the young and scrappy self-taught filmmaker Peter Jackson…

They started working with Peter Jackson on one of his first films Meet the Feebles and continued working with him after that until The Lord of the Rings really put the company on the map.

Since then, the company has grown to about 400 employees, many of whom are also self-taught and share a passion for creating.

If you’re interested in learning more about Wētā Workshop before your visit, here’s a recent interview with co-founder Richard Taylor you might like to check out:

What is the Difference Between Wētā Workshop Auckland vs. Wellington?

Each Wētā Workshop experience has something unique to offer. When comparing Wētā Workshop Auckland vs. Wellington, staff told me that the Wellington experience is more about what they’ve done while the Auckland experience is more about how they do it.

The Auckland experience gets into more details on how they make costumes, prosthetics, miniatures, animatronics, and more. You learn about these things in Wellington, but in Auckland, they use fake movies to help share the information in a more interactive and detailed way.

The Wellington experience shows more of the costumes, props, concept art, and more from The Lord of the Rings and other past projects. It’s where the company still operates, so you might even get to see some staff working on something for their next film.

I found both tours quite interesting and think they’re both worth it if you have the time. They were some of my favorite activities on my trip to New Zealand.

Plus, they’re not very expensive and can be reached without a car!

If you plan to visit the North Island, they’re definitely worth considering for your itinerary depending on what you’re looking for during your trip and destinations you plan to visit.

Here’s a quick Wētā Workshop comparison table so you can consider the differences between the two tours at a glance:

When choosing between Wētā Workshop Auckland vs. Wellington, here’s what I recommend:

If you’re a fan of The Lord of the Rings and don’t care as much about the general special effects process, Wellington is the better choice.

Want an interactive, hands-on experience focused on special effects? Auckland is for you.

If you are interested in all of the above and have the time, I highly recommend both!

Note that this post will focus on the main tours at each location, but if you’re a creative person and want to do something more, both locations offer creative workshops.

Workshops cover sculpting, makeup for scars and scrapes, miniature world building, and more. You can find the list of Auckland workshops here and Wellington workshops here.

Wētā Workshop Unleashed Auckland Review: Best for Learning About Special Effects

I did a tour of Auckland’s experience, Wētā Workshop Unleashed, with my dad on one of my first days in Auckland. Here’s my full review with more information on what to expect and if the tour is right for you.

Overview

Overall, I really enjoyed this Wētā Workshop experience and found it fascinating to learn so much about how they make special effects. When comparing Wētā Workshop Auckland vs. Wellington, the Auckland location really does a deeper dive into teaching visitors how they bring special effects to life.

However, I did leave feeling slightly disappointed that the tour didn’t include much relating to The Lord of the Rings, but that was on me for not realizing that going in.

Wētā Workshop Unleashed has some cool LOTR statues and replicas of items from filming in the gift shop area, called Wētā Cave, and in one room during the tour, but that wasn’t the focus.

As noted above, this tour really is not about the work they’ve done in the past. The tour focuses more so on helping you learn about their special effects processes.

Throughout the tour, they use fake horror, fantasy, and sci-fi movies to explain how they make special effects.

This allows them to have much more freedom with the tour since they own everything and don’t have to worry about any legalities with what they can and can’t show. Because of this, you can also take photos and videos the whole time!

My tour had around 15 people, making it easy to ask questions. The smaller group size also meant we got to interact more with the props and displays.

Tour Structure

The tour lasts about 1.5-hours and your enthusiastic guide will take you through various rooms to learn all about the special effects work they do–from prosthetics to animatronics, miniatures, costumes, and more.

To kick off the tour, we learned a little bit of the history behind Wētā Workshop and took photos with some swords. There are various professional photo ops throughout the tour, and you can purchase those photos at the end if you’d like.

I found that this tour doesn’t get as much into the company’s history as the tour in Wellington since this one focuses more so on how they bring movie magic to life.

At the start of the tour, they showed us some short clips from the three fake films they worked on.

While this tour doesn’t include much from The Lord of the Rings, they did take us through a room full of miniature sculptures they’ve worked on. Many were from LOTR, including one of Treebeard that they said took four years to make.

Next in the Wētā Workshop experience we learned more about animatronics/puppets and prosthetics and got to explore a huge interactive room dedicated to them. You can play with the puppets and props throughout, and there are some alternative reality screens that put prosthetics on your face.

Afterwards, there’s an optional horror film area we could walk through. It reminded me of a haunted house as it was quite dark and there are things hanging from the ceiling that touch you.

I hate haunted houses so was a bit nervous, but it was fine. There aren’t any people or anything that jump out, and it takes less than a minute to walk through. You can opt out of this part if you want.

Pricing

The tour cost $37.27 per ticket. I was able to book the tickets the same day online; however, I visited during shoulder season when there aren’t as many visitors.

Location

Wētā Workshop Unleashed is located right by the Sky Tower in the central business district, so it’s centrally located and easy to get to.

Is the Wētā Workshop in Auckland Worth It?

Since you’ll no doubt end up in Auckland due to flights and since it’s such a cool city worth visiting, I recommend going on the Wētā Workshop Unleashed tour if you have the time.

Even though they don’t showcase much of their work on The Lord of the Rings, it’s cool to learn in detail the processes they used to create the films.

I didn’t know much about special effects before and found it fascinating to learn how they do this kind of work.

Book your visit to Wētā Workshop Unleashed here.

However, if you’re ONLY looking to learn about their work on The Lord of the Rings and are limited on time, you may want to skip Wētā Workshop Unleashed in Auckland and focus on other activities in the city.

If you only have one full day in Auckland and want to see something from The Lord of the Rings, I recommend going on a Hobbiton tour instead. It’s one of my favorite day trips from Auckland, as get to visit the filming location of the Shire and even step inside a hobbit hole yourself. This tour includes a visit to Waitomo Caves to see glow worms as well.

Wētā Workshop in Wellington Review: Best for LOTR Fans

I inadvertently went on not one but TWO tours of Wētā Workshop in Wellington. My first tour was part of my full-day The Lord of the Rings tour (more on that in a later section), and I decided to come back to do the more official standalone tour for this review.

Both tours had some similarities but were a little different. I’ll cover the main tour here but will get into the visit that was part of my larger LOTR tour in that section.

Overview

Visiting Wētā Workshop Wellington is quite special. You get to step into the former ice cream factory that was converted to house this special effects company for its work on The Lord of the Rings and other films.

Wētā Workshop still runs out of this location, and you may even get a peek at what they’re doing on your tour!

When comparing Wētā Workshop Auckland vs. Wellington, the fact that Wētā Workshop still uses this space in Wellington already sets this tour apart.

While this tour does get into how they make their special effects, it’s less focused on that than the Auckland tour. The tour in Wellington focuses much more on their history and past work they’ve done on films like The Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, District 9, and more.

Since the tour showcases items that are technically owned by the film studios, you cannot take photos during most of this tour.

My tour was quite small with just six of us, so it was really easy to ask our guide lots of questions. He told me tours usually have around 16 people but that mornings tend to be quieter.

Tour Structure

I arrived a little early to the gift shop area called Wētā Cave. Like the Auckland location, it has some large statues of trolls and other characters from The Lord of the Rings.

However, the Wētā Cave in Wellington also has what they call a “mini museum.” This showcases real pieces they worked on for The Lord of the Rings and other films. I enjoyed seeing the many costumes, props, miniatures, concept art, and more. for those movies while waiting for your tour.

Once this 1.5 hour Wētā Workshop experience began, they showed us a short video featuring Richard Taylor and Tania Rodger. In the video, they shared some background on how Wētā Workshop started and the work that they do.

Those videos continued throughout most of the tour. I appreciated getting to learn more of the backstory on the company and hearing directly from the co-founders.

Next we visited a small room showcasing a number of cool artifacts from films and other work they’ve done. We even got to see an Oscar they had won for some of their early work.

After that, they walked us through the process of creating prosthetics, using a fake example where they turned someone into a vampire. We got to watch a video about it and the guide talked us through it too. This was the most in-depth prosthetics overview I got on all my tours.

The BEST room followed featuring iconic artifacts from films they’ve worked on. I’ll never forget walking in and seeing a massive Sauron costume. We got to see Sauron’s gloves, boots, and weapons too.

Our guide told us that Richard Taylor himself was the one who wore the Sauron boot and stomped down on Isildur’s sword in the filming of the movie.

The first room allowing photos was very interactive featuring examples of work from various departments–prosthetics, makeup, costumes, props, animatronics, etc. We also got to meet one of their staff and learn about the work that she does.

The following room focused all on foil sculpting, including a demo from one of their staff and the opportunity to make your own foil sculpture. They’re big on using accessible materials like foil and trying to inspire their guests to create.

To end the Wētā Workshop Wellington tour, we got to take some professional photos with props. I ended up purchasing one print photo myself for $11.44 ($20 NZD) so I could show you.

A print photo purchase allows you to download all photos digitally. They provide tons of fun backgrounds to select from. The photo opportunities are similar in Auckland.

Pricing

The tour cost $33.83 per ticket. I was able to book the tickets the day before, but I did visit during shoulder season. Since the Wētā Workshop is located a bit outside of the city, I definitely recommend booking your tour in advance.

Location

Wētā Workshop in Wellington is less centrally located than the Auckland location. However, it isn’t too hard to get to.

Located just outside of the city in Miramar, you can easily hop in an Uber and get there from the city center in around 15-20 minutes (pending traffic). My Uber cost me $14.

If you don’t want to pay for an Uber, there are a number of city buses available that can get you there in around 30-40 minutes. You can pay for the bus either in cash or with a Snapper card that can be purchased at the visitor’s center and some convenience stores.

Is the Wētā Workshop in Wellington Worth It?

Wētā Workshop in Wellington is absolutely worth it for any fans of The Lord of the Rings. If you’re able to visit Wellington while in New Zealand, this should be #1 on your list for the city.

It’s such a fantastic opportunity to see iconic costumes and props from the films and learn more about the history of the company and process for the work that they do.

Book your visit to Wētā Workshop Wellington here.

Wellington The Lord of the Rings Tour: Best for LOTR Super Fans

Beyond Wētā Workshop, I highly recommend booking a tour to see filming locations for The Lord of the Rings throughout Wellington.

Overview

I spent a few days traveling solo in Wellington and this full-day The Lord of the Rings tour was the highlight of my time there and one of my favorite things I did during my whole month in New Zealand.

My guide knew so much about the making of the movies and thoroughly explained each filming location as well as background on Peter Jackson and how the movies came to be.

Tour Structure

This approximately eight-hour small-group tour included the following stops:

• One of the five locations used for filming the River Anduin
• An area used for the scenes when Gandalf rides to Isenguard
• A temperate rainforest used for filming Rivendell and the location where King Théoden’s son was found fallen in battle
• Buffet-style kiwi lunch
• Wētā Workshop tour (more on this below)
• Mount Victoria where the hobbits were hiding and running from the black riders

At each stop, our guide showed us stills from the movies and explained where exactly the scenes were shot.

He explained in detail behind the scenes information–like how Sean Bean was not very skilled in a boat–and how Wētā Workshop was able to create some of the special effects.

Throughout, our guide offered to take lots of photos of us, even bringing along some props like a Gandalf hat and a fake bow and arrow.

If you don’t have time for a full-day tour, a half-day tour is also available. It looks like it just covers the Wētā Workshop tour and Mount Victoria stops.

Wētā Workshop Wellington Tour as Part of The Lord of the Rings Tour

The Wellington Wētā Workshop visit included in this The Lord of the Rings tour was a bit shorter than the main tour at about one hour.

It didn’t include the videos of Richard Taylor and Tania Rodger talking about the company, but the staff member who led the tour gave us some background on the company’s founding.

To start, staff told us about their prop making process. As part of that, we had the opportunity to hold different stages of a gun used in District 9 to see firsthand what that process involves from start to finish. This was the most detailed explanation on the prop making process I got in all of my tours.

We got to learn about costume making and prosthetics as well. The prosthetics information wasn’t quite as detailed as the main tour, but they provided a nice overview of the process.

Staff talked to us about their animatronics and miniature processes as well.

Pricing

The full-day The Lord of the Rings tour costs $186.35 per person. It includes pick-up and drop-off at your accommodation and lunch.

I found the tour to be absolutely worth the price with the huge amounts of information we learned from our guide. This is a MUST if you’re an LOTR fan visiting Wellington.

If you don’t want to spend that much, you could drive to the filming locations yourself, but you won’t get nearly as much out of it as you would with a guide. Many of the locations aren’t marked well, if at all, and there aren’t many plaques describing the locations either.

Here’s a map of all of the places we visited on the full-day tour if you want to take a closer look for yourself:

Other The Lord of the Rings Tours Throughout New Zealand

New Zealand is home to over 150 The Lord of the Rings filming locations throughout both the North and the South Islands. If you’re traveling around and want to go on other tours, be sure to check these out:

• Hobbiton (Matamata, North Island): You can’t miss a visit to this iconic movie set. Plus, it’s an easy day trip from Auckland or stop on the way to Rotorua.
  • Book this tour as a day trip from Auckland here. This also includes a visit to see glow worms in the amazing Waitomo Caves. I did this tour and highly recommend it!
  • Book tickets without transportation here. This is perfect if you’re planning to drive there yourself.
• Rohan (Mount Sunday area, South Island): Filming locations for Edoras, Helms Deep, the Misty Mountains, and more lie just outside of Christchurch. I’m bummed I didn’t have time for this tour but heard great things about it from people I met while I traveled around New Zealand.
  • Book this tour as a day trip from Christchurch here. Note that commercial tours can’t visit Mount Sunday, the exact filming location of Edoras, but the tour takes you close by.
  • You can visit Mount Sunday on your own if you’d like. Here’s the Google Maps location.
• Isenguard, Lothlorien, and more (Glenorchy area, South Island): Just outside of Queenstown, you can visit the filming locations for Isenguard, Lothlorien, Ithilien Camp, the Misty Mountains, and more. I’m sad I didn’t have time for this either, but it’s top of my list for my next New Zealand trip.
  • Book this half-day tour from Queenstown here.

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are some answers to frequently asked questions on Wētā Workshop and the tours in Auckland and Wellington.

Where to Stay in Auckland

If you’re looking for accommodations in Auckland, I’ve got you covered! As New Zealand’s largest city, it can feel a little overwhelming figuring out where to stay. Here are three options I recommend that are all centrally located:

📍Budget Option: When planning my trip to Auckland, Attic Backpackers kept coming up as the BEST hostel in the city. I stayed there two times on my trip and really appreciated the central location, facilities offered, and all the advice posted up on the walls for things to do and places to eat.

📍Mid-Range Option: Adina CityLife Auckland provides clean, spacious private rooms at an affordable price and convenient location in the central business district. I stayed here with my dad in Auckland and would stay there again.

📍Luxury Option: For beautiful waterfront views and stunning rooms, stay at the Park Hyatt Auckland.

Where to Stay in Wellington

If you plan to visit Wellington, here are a few options for accommodations in New Zealand’s capital city that I recommend:

📍Budget Option: The Marion Hostel has to be one of the nicest hostels I’ve ever stayed in. They host daily events for guests, and the rooms and bathrooms are incredibly nice. The showers are some of the nicest I’ve ever used and include shampoo, conditioner, and body wash.

📍Mid-Range Option: Adina CityLife Wellington has an amazing location and clean and comfortable rooms.

📍Luxury Option: The Intrepid Hotel is a boutique hotel with a cool design and staff that are known to go above and beyond for guests.

Book Your Visits to Wētā Workshop

Now that you’ve seen my full Wētā Workshop Auckland vs. Wellington review, which one will you visit? When comparing the two tours, both have their pros and cons, and you can even book both since they compliment each other so well.

Book your tour now so you can secure your spot for your trip!

➡️ Book Wētā Workshop Unleashed in Auckland Here.

➡️ Book Wētā Workshop in Wellington Here.

➡️ Book The Lord of the Rings Wellington Full-Day Tour Here