Families in Scotland were expecting to sample chocolate treats and witness “visual wonders” at a Willy Wonka-themed event in Glasgow last weekend. Instead, they got some jelly beans, a short walk through an almost empty warehouse, and a visit from the police.
The event, Willy’s Chocolate Experience, scheduled for February 24 and 25, was promised on event listing websites to include chocolate fountains, performances by Oompa Loompas and interactive experiences inspired by scenes from Roald Dahl’s book “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”.
One father, Stuart Sinclair, drove two hours from Dundee to take his three children to the event. “There were maybe 20 chairs, a couple of tables and a half-inflated bouncy castle,” he said.
Mr Sinclair said he paid 35 pounds, or about $44, per ticket for his two sons, aged 10 and 11, and his daughter, 4, who was dressed in a Willy Wonka costume and had told her teachers preschool how excited she was. to go to the event.
“The children got two jellies each,” Mr Sinclair said. “And then they got half a cup of lemonade.”
Families were scheduled to enter the venue every 15 minutes and were greeted by rows of unadorned tables and black cloth walls separating one sparsely decorated space from another.
“As soon as they walked in the door they were like, ‘wow’, they were just shaking their heads and in complete disbelief at how bad it was,” Mr Sinclair said.
Alana Lockens, of Hamilton, said after she bought tickets, she noticed the event’s website had been updated with a legal warning to say it was not related to the Wonka franchise, which is owned by Warner Bros. He worried it was a hoax and was initially relieved when he arrived and saw a real event taking place.
“I can laugh about it now, but at first I thought it was ridiculous,” said Ms Lockens, who went with her ex-husband, a friend and her two children. “It was so bad considering how much the tickets cost us.”
Faced with throngs of disappointed families, event organizers abruptly canceled the event on Saturday afternoon.
Police Scotland said officers were called after the event was canceled but that police decided they were not needed. It was unclear who called the police.
The event’s organizer, the House of Illuminati, addressed the complaints on Saturday, saying in a statement that it recognized the event was a disappointment and should have canceled it earlier. “We fully apologize for what happened and will issue a full refund to every person who purchased tickets,” the company said in a statement on its Facebook page, which has since been removed.
The House of Illuminati did not respond to requests for comment.
The event was held at the Box Hub, an event venue in Glasgow.
Matt Waterfield, the director of operations for Box Hub, said in an email that House of Illuminati approached him in early January and that the company was entirely responsible for the marketing, promotion and operation of the event. “They dressed up the place on Friday,” he said. “The result was incredibly moving.”
“We stand fully with the many outraged customers and truly hope that House of Illuminati will refund these families as promised,” he said.
Families who watched the experience and people hired to work on it gathered in a Facebook group to complain about what had happened and discuss how to fix it.
Jenny Fogarty, who was hired to play an Oompa Loompa, told The Scotsman that she was given a 15-page script to read the night before the event started and received her costume an hour before the families arrived.
“Wigs were very cheap,” Ms Fogarty said. “They just gave us an Amazon box that probably arrived that morning.”
Ms Fogarty said she was told she would be paid £16.66 an hour but had not yet been paid.
The event follows immersive experiences that have appeared in cities around the world over the past two decades, such as the Museum of Ice Cream in New York and “Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience.”
The event’s website built on this suggestion, but also hinted that the experience might be of questionable quality.
It promised “a journey filled with delicious treats, enchanting adventures and moments worth capturing”, and featured elaborate, candy illustrations. These illustrations were marred by unusual misspellings and phrases, including: “a fold of sweet nipples” and “exarserdray lollipops”.
Mr Sinclair said that although his family were disappointed by the Willy’s Chocolate Experience, he and his children still made the most of their day in Glasgow by taking his daughter to make her first teddy bear in a workshop Build-a-Bear.
“Worst of all,” said Mr. Sinclair, “there was no chocolate.”
