Families in Scotland were told they would experience a “visual spectacle” at a Willy Wonka-themed event in Glasgow last weekend. Instead, the event was cancelled partway through when police were called to a venue as disappointed families complained about spending hundreds ($44 per ticket) on the “awful” event that left their children in tears, as reported by the Guardian.
“Willy’s Chocolate Experience” was set for Feb. 24 and 25 and promised performances from Oompa Loompas and other immersive experiences based on Roald Dahl’s novel, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” When crowds of families arrived to a thinly decorated warehouse, it is understood the police were called, per The New York Times. It is not clear who called the police.
The event was billed as a “surreal journey where the boundaries between reality and fantasy harmoniously merge, resulting in an enchanting and visually striking encounter” and “an exhilarating and immersive adventure.”
Descriptions on the event’s site are accompanied by AI-generated images that allude to a high-end event.
Images from the Willy Wonka event — which have since gone viral — show something far from what was advertised. According to the Guardian, guests showed up to “a sparsely decorated warehouse with a scattering of plastic props, a small bouncy castle and some backdrops pinned against the walls.”
Rather than the “paradise of sweet treats” guests were told they would encounter, kids were apparently given a couple Jelly Beans and a drink. There was no chocolate.
“The children got two jelly beans each,” Stuart Sinclair, a father who took his three kids to the event told The New York Times. “And then they got a half a cup of lemonade.”
“As soon as they walked in the door, they were like, ‘wow,’ just shaking their heads and totally in disbelief of how bad it was,” Sinclair added.
The event organizers, the House of Illuminati, issued an apology for the “very stressful and frustrating day,” per the Guardian. In light of the event’s seeming failure on day one, organizers promptly cancelled the event’s second day.
“Unfortunately, last minute we were let down in many areas of our event and tried our best to continue on and push through and now realize we probably should have cancelled first thing this morning instead,” the statement continued, per the Guardian. House of Illuminati also noted it would be providing full refunds for every ticket sold.
The event was held at Box Hub in Glasgow. According to Matt Waterfield, the operations manager for Box Hub, “They dressed the venue on Friday,” Waterfield told The New York Times. “The result was incredibly underwhelming.”
Waterfield continued, “We are fully on side with the many outraged customers and truly hope that House of Illuminati refunds these families as promised.”
Jenny Fogarty, who was hired to act as an Oompa Loompa, told The Scotsman she was given a 15-page script the night before the event and expected to have it memorized. Fogarty also said her “cheap” costume arrived within an hour of the event beginning.
“I was there from Saturday. I was hired as an Oompa Loompa. I didn’t get a costume until Saturday morning, about an hour before people started to arrive,” she told The Scotsman. “The wigs were very cheap. We were just handed an Amazon box that probably arrived that morning.”
“We were trying our best, all the actors, to make it work,” Fogarty continued, “But we were given just 12 hours to learn our script and told to just improvise. It’s not easy to improvise a whole show.”
“By the end, understandable, people were getting really annoyed. That’s when the security came up to me and told me they were shutting it down.”
Images from Willy Wonka event go viral on social media
Guests who attended the Willy Wonka event over the past weekend shared images of the “disastrous” event — which have since gone viral.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly spelled the name of the city. It should be Glasgow.