Willy Wonka, Willy Wonka and the Abandoned Factory: The ‘Awful’ Glasgow Event that took the Internet by Storm
Kiera Milne
(Image Credit: Jenny Fogarty/SWNS)
Close your eyes and count to ten, make a wish, now open them. Here’s an event that’s like no other. If it were, I wouldn’t bother.
When purchasing a ‘golden ticket’ to the Willy Wonka Experience in Glasgow, guests were promised an “immersive experience based on the new Warner Bros film, ‘Wonka’”. The ‘immersive’ event had promised giant mushrooms, candy-canes galore, chocolate fountains, special audio and visual effects, and dancing oompa-loompas. In reality, guests were met with a sparsely decorated warehouse, that was scattered in plastic props, cheap backdrops, tiny bouncy castles, with oompa-loompa’s dressed in amazon specials.
Come with me and you’ll be in a world of pure imagination
The Willy Wonka Experience at the Box Hub Warehouse in Glasgow took place on February 24 and 25th 2024. According to the event website, “Your journey begins in an enchanted garden, with giant sweet, vibrant blooms, mysterious looking sculptures, and magical surprises that add an extra layer of wonder to your chocolatey experience”.
(Image Credit: Wiily’s Chocolate Experience)
The event website stated that the experience would be split into different sections including the enchanted garden, imagination lab, and the twilight tunnel. Eventgoers were promised ‘captivating entertainment’ which included live performances featuring characters singing tunes from the 2023 version of ‘Wonka’, which was guaranteed to provide an ‘immersive and delightful’ entertainment experience, suitable for ages 3+.
It looked like a fun-filled day out for all the family to enjoy and displayed pictures, mirroring what the event would entail. However, guests were deceived by the organisers, as the company used AI-generated pictures to advertise the event, alongside using AI to create the overall experience.
If you want to view paradise, simply look around and view it…
If you have watched any film from the Willy Wonka franchise, whether that’s the Gene Wilder (1971) version, Johnny Depp (2005) version or the latest adaptation with Timotheé Chalamet, you are widely familiar with the beloved tale of Willy Wonka.
Watching the film as a young child, you were desperate to visit the iconic factory, to see the chocolate river, try the Ever-Lasting Gobstoppers and, of course, meet the man of the show himself, Willy Wonka. Well, if you attended the Willy Wonka Experience, you sure got to visit an ‘iconic factory’ and see a Scottish version of Willy Wonka…maybe in the fourth film he will be ginger in honour of the event.
To make the event as ‘authentic’ and ‘immersive’ as possible, the organisers, House of Illuminati, hired a group of actors to play the roles of Willy Wonka and the oompa-loompas. However, like the guests, these actors were falsely drawn into the event and were shocked to learn it had all been created using AI. Talking to the Independent: Willy Wonka performer Paul Connell describing the script as “15 pages of AI-generated rubbish”. Connell goes on to describe an AI generated sinister character known as ‘the unknown’, Connell states “The Unknown is an evil chocolate maker who lives in the walls”.
(The Unkown, Picture Credit: BBC)
Whilst watching the beloved childhood movie, you may stumble across characters such as Willy Wonka, Charlie Bucket, Violet Beauregard, Veruca Salt and, of course, the infamous Oompa-Loompa’s. However, at the Willy Wonka Experience guests were introduced to ‘The Unknown’, a character generated by AI. A video of the villain, dressed in a silver mask and long black cloak emerging from behind a mirror, scaring unhappy children has circulated social media.
Embarrassed by the state of the event and the public uproar, actors such as Kirsty Paterson, who dressed as an Oompa-Loompa, tried to increase the public morale. Talking to Vulture, Paterson argued she tried to make best of the situation despite being underwhelmed by the costuming, theming and script. Also, Paterson tried to engage with younger visitors to make the event more entertaining for the young audience.
Don’t care how, I want it now!
(Image Credit: The Telegraph, supplied)
Parents and children were met with confusion and anger whilst attending the ‘awful’ event, leaving children in tears. The family fun-filled day was cut short after the event was abruptly cancelled midway through as Police Scotland were called to the venue. With the abrupt cancellation of the event, the event organisers failed to inform guests who had been scheduled to attend later, with some individuals travelling long distances.
Across social media, parents have expressed their thoughts and experiences of the event, with one woman writing on Facebook, “she laughed so much the whole way round”. Whilst another person wrote “It’s definitely worth doing your homework before buying into events. Thankfully our bairns just embraced the whole thing and weren’t too disappointed”.
House of Illuminati released a statement apologising to guests:
“Today has been a stressful and frustrating day for many and for that we are truly sorry. 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 realise we probably should have cancelled first thing this morning instead”.
Event organisers have confirmed full refunds of the £35 per person ticket will be given to customers, which could potentially take up to 10 days to receive. However, talking to Sky News, Mr Sinclair, who visited the attraction, stated “I’ve had no money back yet, but the company have said they are issuing them. I’ll have to wait and see”.
Life doesn’t seem quite so bad
Of course, in good old fashion, the ‘immersive’ event became an online sensation overnight.
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Since photos and videos of the event surfaced on social media, the internet has been inundated with endless amounts of memes and light-hearted jokes to bizarre conspiracy theories.
(Image Credit: The Independent)
Across X, users have made comparisons of the event’s interactive lab area to a meth lab. However, it’s the infamous picture of Kirsty Paterson dressed as an Oompa Loompa that’s took the internet by storm with a X user stating “This photo from the Willy Wonka experience is single handily the photo of the year. I know it’s only February but close the vote there’s no topping this. Please find this woman she needs to be interviewed ASAP”.
Despite the event being heavily criticised and mocked on social media platforms, platform users are praising Paterson for trying to engage with the young children at the event, making it more enjoyable, with X user stating, “She’s the closest thing we have to a modern-day Princess Diana”.
(Image Credit: @Karn_EX on X)
(Image Credit: @balf4our on X)
(Image Credit: @balf4our on X)
Not only was the internet flooded with memes about the iconic Scottish event, but there were also bizarre conspiracy theories linking Catherine, the Princess of Wales’s disappearance after undergoing abdominal surgery to the ‘The Unknown’. One woman wrote on X, “not to speculate but has anyone ever seen Kate Middleton and the unknown man in the same room?”.
However, despite the Willy Wonka Experience being heavily scrutinised by event goers, and laughed at on social media platforms, there has been a petition created to bring the event back. According to Change.org, a petition called ‘Reopen the Beloved Glasgow Willy Wonka Experience’, which has up to 6,652 signatures.
If you fancy reliving the experience, a popular Glasgow club is set to host a theme night based on the Willy Wonka Experience. Cathouse in Glasgow’s city centre will host ‘Wonka Experience 2’ and will take place on Friday, April 12 at 10.30pm.
The event will have a guest appearance from the Unknown and guests will receive AI generated drinks, along with one jellybean and lemonade, in honour of the Glasgow event.
For more information about the event, click here.