Report: Willy Wonka Immersive Event Leaves Kids in Tears: “It Looks Like a Meth Lab”
 

An “immersive experience” that promised to transport Willy Wonka fans into a “magical realm” has turned out to be such an epic letdown that customers called the police and compared the attraction to a meth lab.

The U.K. event was titled Willy’s Chocolate Experience and charged customers $44 each (photos below). The attraction was not affiliated with the Warner Bros. movie Wonka, though the event’s marketing came as close as possible to suggesting it was based on author Roald Dahl’s creation. The ad copy invited fans to journey to “a universe where confectionary dreams are brought to life” that included “mind-expanding projections, optical marvels and exhibits that transport you into the realm of creativity” and “wondrous creations and enchanting surprises at every turn!”

The event organizers apparently used artificial intelligence to generate promotional images that suggested a very high-quality attraction, which looked just like the immersive and trippy Wonka-esque world that the ad copy promised. But the result was somewhat different, and ticket buyers needed pure imagination to think it looked anything like a fantastical chocolate factory.

As reported by The Guardian, customers showed up in Glasgow to find “a sparsely decorated warehouse with a scattering of plastic props, a small bouncy castle and some backdrops pinned against the walls.” Scotland police were even called to the scene, the event shut down and parents said their children were in tears. All the event lacked was a man in top hat telling customers: “You get nothing! You lose! Good day, sir!”

Photos from the event went viral online comparing what was promised to what was delivered:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">apparently this was sold as a live Willy Wonka Experience but they used all AI images on the website to sell tickets and then people showed up and saw this and it got so bad people called the cops lmao <a href="https://t.co/tfkyg0G0WG">pic.twitter.com/tfkyg0G0WG</a></p>&mdash; Chris Alsikkan (@AlsikkanTV) <a href="https://twitter.com/AlsikkanTV/status/1762235022851948668?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 26, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The Oompa Loompa from the knock off Wonka land experience looks like she’s running a literal meth lab and is seriously questioning the life choices up until this point. If you scripted this, I would say it was too on the nose <a href="https://t.co/WwkGO8Hjck">pic.twitter.com/WwkGO8Hjck</a></p>&mdash; Disappointed Optimist (@disappoptimism) <a href="https://twitter.com/disappoptimism/status/1762416923080290397?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 27, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Police were called to an &#39;immersive event&#39; inspired by Willy Wonka in Glasgow after furious parents complained about the quality of the event. <a href="https://t.co/8BIz7jOESm">https://t.co/8BIz7jOESm</a> <a href="https://t.co/hqpgeNB9uk">pic.twitter.com/hqpgeNB9uk</a></p>&mdash; STV News (@STVNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/STVNews/status/1762089580851855412?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 26, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

These pop up things are never what you really hope, such as the dinosaur one that seems to travel everywhere, but this one takes it to a whole new level.

:LOL: Love the WSU logo

Went to one of those and was disappointed. At least it was on cheaper. The bouncy houses saved the day.

This is up to the level of what the broncos put on the playing field

The snozeberries taste like snozeberries.

My thoughts exactly. Jurassic Quest right?

Welcome to life, kids. Population you.

It looks like they saw the "success" of the Fyre festival and tried to duplicate it with a theme park.

4-5 years ago. No idea, I remember half the animatronics didn't work though.

Wanted to go to the Van Gogh thing but heard the same type thing from people last year and decided to save my $200+.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">This Willy Wonka story is incredible. What&#39;s going on here? What part of the film was this hahahahaha. <a href="https://t.co/A66AxwYVhN">pic.twitter.com/A66AxwYVhN</a></p>&mdash; Ben (@bene25_) <a href="https://twitter.com/bene25_/status/1762631362597519859?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 28, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Man the pics and videos from this event are classic LMAO