Full Day Lord Of The Rings Tour

Ant provided insight about the filming locations and history of the film in addition to knowledge about the local community. Visual aids help bring the tour to life and Ant volunteered to take photos of us. I could not imagine a better tour.

Quite expensive considering most of the stops felt rushed and could be completed on your own without a guide holding up pictures. You could buy a weta workshop ticket and stop at the places/parks yourself. We also had an incredibly awkward tour. The tour guide also sat at our table for lunch when we wanted some private one on one lunch. He seemed like he didn't want to be here, also made comments that he was bribed to come out because it was a Sunday. He also cut in front of us to order food which I thought was weird considering he's the guide? I spent the whole time looking at the clock to see when we were going home. We also felt unsafe in the van as he cut off multiple cars and nearly had a T bone accident. I also fact checked some of his knowledge after the tour was incorrect. Including the story about Sean's wife calling up Peter Jackson about the fat suit.

Very informative, staff were amazing, very inclusive and catered to all on the tour. Would definitely recommend to everyone and especially those diehard Lord of the Rings fans 👌🏽👌🏽

Was a really great time. Our guide was very knowledgeable about LOTR as well as the native wildlife species. They ran the tour even though it was just two of us on it.

Went on the LOTR tour today. It was a lot of fun. We went to several filming locations and saw some beautiful scenery. The Weta workshop was also really cool. Our tour guide, STAN, was really knowledgeable, informative and friendly. It was a great day. I’d definitely recommend.

Amazing day! Stan our tour guide was just full of knowledge and stories about the LOTR movies, set and everyone involved! Of course New Zealand itself is such a beautiful place and the WETA workshop is a must see;

Great tour to areas where LOTR was filmed. There was more walking involved than we anticipated. We enjoyed the forest of several of the scenes we loved in LOTR. Weta workshop was really fun to!

Stan was our guide and did an awesome job of sharing his knowledge with us. It was just us and 1 other young couple and we all had a great time listening and learning all about the various filming sites around Wellington. The Weta Workshop was very interesting and we learned a lot about the various filming sites”tricks of the trade” used during the filming.

Great experience - tour guide Stan was very knowledgeable and experienced

We opted for a smaller non-cruise line operated tour, with two groups of 10 operating in tandem. Father and Son tour guides were fantastic with exceptional depth of knowledge and made sure the youngest was kept entertained despite not knowing what everything was about - carrying a "Sting" prop for the majority of the tour and playing on a swing set at the site of Isengard. If additional site tours were offered, I wouldn't hesitate to engage them again. Only downside, the "One Ring" purchased as a wedding band replacement is faulty and does not hide me from the kids as the movies suggest - still looks the business though. For an all day tour, the fee was a fraction of what the Cruise Line offered with a more personalised and genuine atmosphere.

Just not good guide was rude and condescending

Josef was a very knowledgeable and friendly tour guide. Very polite and mindful of safety. He told us not just LOTR things, but local flora and town history. Well done

Had an absolutely fantastic time on this tour! My husband and I were the only ones who had signed up that day so we got a very personal experience. Really appreciated that our guide Richard was very well informed and had multiple photos to show us what we were looking at. Great way to see multiple filming locations and the Weta workshop all in one day!

Weta was a little underwhelming being the main head quarters but the tour was fun. The locations are cool and the guides were solid.

We had an amazing time! Wayne was our tour guide for the beginning of the tour and he was exceptional. His knowledge of Lord of the Rings was absolutely amazing and we learned so much. Weta Workshop was an amazing tour and it was so interesting to see all the movie props. Stan was our tour guide after the workshop tour and he also had exceptional knowledge of Lord of the Rings. We couldn’t have wished for a better day!

My friend and I had an incredible experience doing the full-day LOTR tour in Wellington. We got to visit Weta Workshop + a heap of locations including Mount Victoria, Hutt River, Harcourt Park, Kaitoke Regional Park. Standouts for me were Mount Victoria (Frodo's pipe smoking + hiding hobbits) and Kaitoke Regional Park (Rivendell). Sorry, I can't remember the guide's name, but he was a champion. Really tested me on my LOTR knowledge. 10/10 would do again.

The tour was well organized and having Jozef (Joe) as our guide was a brilliant stroke of luck. He entertained not only with great knowledge of LOTR but also an abundance of local knowledge as well. We would highly recommend this tour to anyone! He also recommended other sites, which we took on board. Visiting the Pinnacles at Cape Palliser, the next day just topped off our trip. “You need people of intelligence on this sort of mission…quest…thing.”

A really increasing experience taking in sites all across Wellington. Our guide, Jack, was great and really knew his stuff, and was super friendly. A full day was quite a lot though, so if we did again we would probably chose the half day. Weta workshop was really interesting and we learnt about all aspects of creating a huge blockbuster movie. They had props and statues from the big franchises, such as LOTR, The Hobbit, Avatar and King Kong. Over all a fascinating experience

We had a great time on the tour. Our guide, Stan, was knowledgeable, friendly, and very attentive. We were also the only 2 people on the tour, so it was completely personalized and very pleasant.

I cannot express how much we loved this tour. Lester was an incredible guide, and while this tour might be aimed at Lord of the Rings movie fans, it was a beautifully well rounded education about all things New Zealand. Lester was friendly and smart and so excited to share his culture with us. I came looking for an LotR tour and left with SO much more. In addition to that, his ability to take pictures in each of the spots without a lot of wasted shots, was really phenomenal! I would do this tour again in a heartbeat, if I knew it was going to be Lester as my guide.

We saw other groups today visiting some of the same filming locations. Our tour was, quite simply, better. Our guide, Lester, was solidly familiar with the details of the making of the films and with Wellington culture. He showed us how even some of the specific trees we toured appear in iconic shots of the films, with licensed images from the movies on hand. Wētā Workshop itself, though a surprisingly small footprint in a largely residential neighborhood, has great impact. (“Wait, are those the actual shards of Narsil from the film?!” “Yeah, they are! To make them, we…”) It is easy now to imagine a teenaged Peter Jackson having his lunch under a tree in Wellington, imagining around him scenes from the books. This experience made the films I already love even more impressive.

We got to a lot of places and Lester had great quotes and photos to remind us of the filming that ocuured at each location. He even brought props so we could mimic poses from the films. On top of all this, he performed a welcome haka for us and gave ys an explanation. A must for serious LOTR fans.

Our tour guide Jozef was awesome! Took us to see all the cool lord of the rings stuff, we did some trivia, and he was patient as we took pictures of everything. Amazing tour!

Our guide Lester did a wonderful job! We've seen all important LOTR highlights and I appreciated Lester also giving us some insights into the local culture as well. The tour has been well planned, timely and interesting. I especially appreciate that despite only two of us on the tour - it wasn't cancelled and was still organized which speaks to the reliability of the company. Certainly recommend.

our guide Mitch was excellent, and not only showed us the iconic scene locations (with helpful movie and behind the scenes photos!), he also went above and beyond to show us some great nature spots and shared knowledge about the local plants and traditions associated with them. shout out to our fellow pair of “orlando bloom spot” loving hobbit travelers,

Excellent tour and guides who had wealth of knowledge of the movie and all things directors actors. Comfortable transport to your hotel door. Small group gave more intimate experience.

Very interesting Informative Weta was amazing! Great tour guide friendly/ helpful. Allowed us to stop for lunch. Break and h4lped my husband.d with GF options. Co.fortsble vehicle

It was truly a full day, but went by quickly. Our tour guide did a great job of bringing the scenes to life at each of the locations and also gave us a lot of great information about Wellington and the local landscape. He kept things moving, despite some local traffic and was kind enough to take photographs of me at some of the key sites and views. The Weta workshop tour was definitely a highlight!

Had a terrific day with Richard. Very informative, fun and exciting. Weta Workshop was a great time and extremely interesting. Having the photos to go with the locations was helpful and made imaging the scenes they represented easier. Being able to recreate some of the scenes was fun and made the trip more interesting. Richard's knowledge added more to the history of Wellington and the Pub lunch was delicious. Thank you for a terrific day Richard. We highly recommend anyone coming to Wellington to consider this tour.

The Lord of the Rings full day tour was absolutely incredible! Richard was our tour guide and did a fantastic job. He took us to all of the actual film locations around Wellington and the extended area, including the "Get off the road" scene, Lothlorein, Isengard, and more. We actually got to act out some of the scenes as well. And the Weta Workshop was a great experience cs well. And beyond all of this, Richard was just a fantastic, fun loving, good natured, and knowledgeable guide, who made our whole family feel welcome. Cannot say enough good things about Richard and his team and this tour!!

This is a really fun tour and great way to both learn about the Lord of the Rings filming and see some of the beautiful areas in and around Wellington. Our guide was very friendly and knowledgeable. He made good calls in switching up the order of locations based on the weather that worked out well for us. It was well organized and a good way to spend a day.

Our guide was very energetic and knowledgeable on the Lords of the ring saga. You have to be a fan of this to enjoy the tours. Overall good tours and good experience in the Wata worship. I would recommend.

A great excursion for the Lord of the Rings fans! Richard was a great guide to some awesome sites. He went out of his way to make sure we had a full personal experience. There were multiple stops with time to enjoy and reenact some scenes. The stop to the Wega workshop was amazing!

Very personalized tour with knowledgeable local guide with photos of films that relate to the sites.

Absolutely fantastic. Richard was great and not only did he astound us with LOTR stuff he also talked about Wellington, the sights and its history. He definitely gelled a group of strangers and made it seem like this was his first ever tour! Thanks Dickie!!!

It was fun, informative and Richard made us all feel like we were part of the making of the movie. Excellent driver, small group, a must see if visiting Wellington.

A MUST tour for Lord of the Ring Fans. Richard the guide was incredible! Seeing and visualizing where they filmed was awesome.

Stan gave us an excellent LOTR filming site tour out of Wellingtin. The Weta Workshop tour is excellent and must be seen.

To enjoy this tour you must have seen the movies and have an imagination as there are not any sets to see at any of the stops. A few trees that were in the movie was all that were still there.

Unless you are a really geeked out LOR fan....I would probably avoid. If you do want to see some country side scenery..then go. The problem here is the movie was over a quarter century ago...and all the sites bear zero resemblance. The production crew had to reset the area to as it was..and new trees and growth have grown in. If not for the pictures the guide held up....you could not tell anything. Not their fault...just that time has erased most of what could be seen. Want something to see with LOR...go to Hobbiton. That was preserved

The previous reviews are all correct; this is a great tour! Lester was friendly and knowledgeable with an ability to bring the filming locations to life with stories, descriptions and pictures. Weta Workshop was a must see and exceeded my expectations. A bonus for this excursion was that Lester even did a traditional Haka to welcome us! Great way to spend a full day off the cruise ship and no worries about getting back on time.

Disappointed….. Excursion was to have had a limit of 17 people so we were surprised at 21 on the tour, that doesn’t sound like a bunch except it meant not a small bus where all were together but 2 vans of people. That might have been acceptable but the driver of our vehicle was absolutely not knowledgeable about Lord of The Rings and provided zero add. She was no more than a primary school bus driver on a field trip. The other van had the true guide. You will be let down to know there are no buildings or props left from filming so mostly you see a tree here or there where filming was done. Again, for true die hard fans that’s great but you will undoubtedly be amongst people who have no real knowledge of the trilogy or stories. There is at least one stop where you will be walking a steep incline up and back-be prepared. WETA was great but 90 min is too long for this tour. It can be done in an hour and be sure you ask the guide to speak up as you can’t here from the noose of other groups. They left us 10 min to go through the gift shop but cut that short when non fans decided they were done. We were picked up at 8:45am, had 1 bathroom break, no food or water until nearly 3pm. Gave us 30 min for lunch and then rushed us back to the ship. As a true fan-this was incredibly disappointing. Our driver turns out owns the vans that are rented to the tour company so no training or idea about JRR Tolkien or the filming of any movies and relied heavily on Lester the actual guide in the other van. So recommend if you get Nicola as your guide, just cancel. Save your money and just book WETA on your own, take an UBER and spend quality time there. What a waste of a day and money. The tour gets 3 stars ONLY because Lester was extremely knowledgeable. Otherwise 1 star for sure.

Our guide Stan did a great job showing us around. He was very knowledgeable and more than happy to take photos. I really appreciated the large pictures Xplor Tours had to help us visualize where each scene was used in the movies. Wētā Cave was well worth the experience as well.

Our guide Lester was extremely knowledgeable about the Lord of the Rings history and his enthusiasm was contagious. Everywhere he took us he could describe every detail as he tries to take us back in time to the creation of the films..he assisted in helping us make photos of some of the sites and heaven took us to a wonderful bakery to grab some lunch.A totally wonderful experience!

Our guide Mitchell was extremely knowledgeable not only about The Lord of The Rings but the local history as well. He answered all our questions qnd pointed great insights to the film making. Process. The Wetq workshop was fscinqting and a fun interactive experience.

It is a rare thing to find such a knowledgeable and engaging individual such as Leister. He managed to impart Māori tikana and Peter Jackson’s and Richard Allen’s passion and expertise with humour, fine detail and natural story telling. What an asset to Xplorer, to LOTR and to the country he is! Such a gentleman. If you want an all-inclusive beautiful expert of Middle Earth, go with Leister. Nga mihi nui e hoa Kind regards Mary & Maria

Had a wonderful time with Mitch. He was great at explaining / Showing the places and had a very good sense of humor.

We had a wonderful tour with our tour guide Lester. He did an amazing job. He was very knowledgeable not just about the LOTR locations and movies/books but also about Wellington and the local flora and fauna. He was also great about building in photo opportunities. We saw so many filming locations and the Weta workshop was great! It was a long day but went by really fast. I recommend bringing snacks and water though. There’s not much time for breaks to grab these. Also, if you have dietary restrictions it was a little difficult to find a place for lunch if you the tour is on a Sunday around a holiday so you may want to bring your own food. We had 2 people with Celiac’s and could not find an open restaurant that had decent gluten free options because we went on the Sunday after Christmas.

This was a fantastic tour for the LOTR fans! It is wonderful to listen to the stories of the tour guide and to see the photos of filming to help you visualize what things looked like 20+ years ago when filming began. It was also a great way to tour Wellington, as the locations to visit are scattered across the city. Great photo opportunities and the tour of Weta Workshop was extraordinary, and probably a welcomed break for those on the tour who were not “die-hard” LOTR fans! :) My only tip — make sure you know/confirm your pickup time as we made a mistake and kept our whole group waiting which was so embarrassing. Richard was so kind about this gaff but it was avoidable on our part :)