Parents felt more than a little deceived when they brought their children to the Willy’s Chocolate Experience children’s event in Glasgow, Scotland. The Willy Wonka-inspired event was advertised using AI-generated images promising giant lollipop trees, colorful candy forests, and a jellybean waterfall, and was sold as an immersive experience providing “captivating entertainment.” Unfortunately, the actual experience looked more like a creepy storage warehouse with small posters hung up on walls, complete with plastic figurines scattered about the place (see photos below). Certainly not worth the $40 parents paid.
The event was so disappointing that police were called to the scene by furious parents who demanded their money back, as children were left crying. One attendee, Stuart Sinclair, took to Facebook to describe his less-than-sweet experience, saying “What an absolute shambles of an event. Took 2 minutes to get through to then see a queue of people surrounding the guy running it complaining…The kids received 2 jelly babies and a quarter of a can of Barrs limeade.”
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Actors hired to portray characters were just as shocked when they arrived as the attendees. Paul Connell, who was hired to play a Willy Wonka-inspired character, told STV News, “My heart sank looking around … I just felt sad because I was aware of how many kids were going to be coming through.”
One attendee was quoted by Sky News as saying “Great idea to have a person dressed in a terrifying outfit to come out and scare all the kids. They were all crying—it was terrible, shocking, and embarrassing, to be honest.”
House of Illuminati, the event organizer, apologized, saying they were “devastated” by the way the candy-themed experience turned out. “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.” They have since confirmed that all attendees will be receiving a complete refund.
