Wētā Workshop

Auckland, New Zealand

Wētā Workshop in Auckland, New Zealand is so, so fun! A must do for the creative and imaginative! The Wētā Workshop Unleashed tour takes you behind the scenes on how special effects are made for movies and so much more. It's just a really fun place from the brightly painted entrance hall to the gift shop known as the Wētā Cave. OMG. They had so much Lord of the Rings merchandise. I seriously wanted all of the things! They have more items here than at Hobbiton! 

Wētā FX artists have worked on some of the biggest movies and TV shows including the The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, Avengers, Avatar, and more. They've earned numerous awards - including 7 Oscars for the best visual effects. They brought characters such as Gollum, Kong, Neytiri and Caesar to life as well as created worlds like Middle-earth, Pandora, and more. These guys are the real deal!

I enjoyed the The Wētā Workshop Unleashed tour because I love movies, especially fantasy and sci fi, so I really liked seeing how some of the mind blowing sets I've seen on film are made, and some of the props. I'm really not into horror films but learning about the special effects for those movies was one of my favorite parts.

Wētā has two workshop locations in New Zealand, one in Auckland and one in Wellington. I visited the one in Auckland. The one in Auckland is near Sky Tower at 88 Federal Street on the 5th floor. The guided tour is 90 minutes. 

Our guide asked us not to over post too many photos so as not to ruin the surprise and experience for others which - I totally get. So, I'm not posting anything you can't see on their own page. I took hundreds of photos! You should really check it out for yourself! If you already made it all the way to New Zealand - then why not?

In addition to the tour, you can sign up for one of their hands on creative workshops as well. I did both the fantasy and the horror workshops. They both give you an opportunity to unleash your creativity and really just play. I loved how everyone created something unique.

The horror workshop ended up being my favorite. Go figure. We learned how to make flesh wounds. No two people created the same kind of wound. I created bloody scratch marks across my hand that I ended up keeping on all day which drew some alarming looks while I was out shopping on Queen street afterwards. So I must have done a good job! HAHA!

Visiting Wētā was some of the most fun I'd had in a while and I would definitely do it again. I'd love to visit the one in Wellington just to see the differences because from what I read they are not quite the same. (Update: I did. They're not!)

Update, March 2025:

Wētā Workshop

Wellington, New Zealand

I made it back to New Zealand, and I went to Wellington to see the original Wētā Workshop.

First, look at what's hanging up in the Wellington Airport! There are two massive eagles hanging from the ceiling - one ridden by Gandalf. These were created at Wētā, of course!

I discovered Smaug, when I came back near Air New Zealand check-in kiosks.

My first day in Wellington, I took a full day Lord of the Rings tour with Welly Rings Tours, (I am not affiliated with them) which stopped at numerous film locations, as well as Wētā.

The Wētā Workshop in Wellington is located within a residential neighborhood. We got dropped off at a side entrance and entered a teeny tiny gift shop. Our guide came out to greet us and brought us into the first room, which OMG, I wish I could have taken pictures!! They were from Lord of the Rings and Avatar. Although Wētā built and created these items, they do not own the rights to their images, the studio does, so there are no photos allowed. Sigh. 

This tour was completely different from Auckland. However, we still saw very cool things and got to handle some props. In total, I think we only entered 3 rooms. I remember thinking at the end - that's it??

Afterwards, we got dropped off around the corner at the Wētā Cave, and I was able to get a shirt that they didn't have in Auckland. Woohoo! While at the shop, there were people waiting to go on a tour and I noticed they met out in front of the troll, and then left in a different direction than we had came. Past the other trolls.

While at lunch, I talked with some other guests who had also visited Wētā in Auckland, and we agreed that this tour was a bit underwhelming and seemed to be missing something. And it was short. It was only an hour. I don't know if that's just the tour they provide for the commercial tour operators or if our particular tour was cut short because we were a bit late. At one of the LOTR filming sites, in the woods, a young lady crashed on her mountain bike, and our tour guide ran to the bus to get her First Aid kit and back to help the girl out until an ambulance came.

I booked another tour, directly through Wētā, and had a completely different experience, again! I started at the Wētā Cave this time, and went the other way. I did not enter one room that I had on my previous tour. Nothing was repeated. This was a totally different. I'm glad I went back!

There were rooms that had short introductory videos from the creators of Wētā, Richard Taylor and his wife Tianna Rodger. We also went into rooms where artists were working and we could talk to. We went into a room that had windows into a metal workshop, where we could watch people creating weapons.

Please check out Wētā artist Sonja Howard and her Sonsational Creations. We were allowed to take pictures of her stuff. I just lover her fury little creations.

Also, check out this demonstration from tin foil artist Kim Beaton. She hoped we'd share this with the teachers in our lives:

I'm glad I got to experience the full package. Each experience was different. When you walk into Wētā you know you're about to have a good time. On my flight back to Auckland, there was a guy sitting in front of me that had a very well done fake bloody scratch on his hand. I knew where it was from, but the flight attendant didn't and was concerned. Haha. Yes!