We visited Weta Workshop in both Wellington and Auckland. Both had amazing Weta Caves and workshop tours. As an avid crafter and LOTR fan, I was in heaven during our visits!

Weta Wellington

The Weta Workshop and Cave in Wellington were astounding! This is the original workshop where they made all the LOTR props as well as other movies. We unfortunately weren’t able to take pictures on the tour, but there were even more phenomenal props than the Weta Cave, including the original shards of Narsil, the full Sauron armor, and an extensive collection of LOTR swords, armor, and helmets. We enjoyed the aluminum foil demo by Doc Tinfoil at the end of the tour (he was way more skilled at it than us during our Auckland Intro to World Building workshop).

Weta Cave

We loved posing with the trolls, Gollum and Lurtz at the Weta Cave in Wellington!

The LOTR props in the Weta Cave were amazing!

Weta Auckland

We did the Intro to World Building workshop in Auckland as an add-on to the Weta Workshop Unleashed experience. This Unleashed workshop was created to allow fans an inside look into a custom-made experience that features 3 fictional films (horror, fantasy, sci-fi) and props to allow total access (including pictures). Whereas the Wellington location is more limited because it’s an actual workshop studio, making proprietary props. We enjoyed both experiences but would recommend the Wellington location if you have to pick one.

Weta Workshop Unleashed

The Weta Workshop Unleashed was very hands-on and definitely designed for kids. We enjoyed the latter half the most, especially the chainmail creation zone and the fantasy bigature.

Weta Cave – Auckland

The Weta Cave in Auckland was less extensive than Wellington with the majority being the gift shop. It did include Smaug and the Azog (Scott’s favorite ;), in addition to the 3 trolls, Gollum and Lurtz. There was also Gondor and Uruk-Hai scout armor.

Intro to World Building

The Intro to World Building was a pretty basic workshop making landscapes with aluminum foil, hot glue, and paint. We had fun making hobbit holes. This is an inexpensive way to make miniatures or even bigatures, which I will surely apply to future projects.