Inside the disastrously bad Glasgow Willy Wonka ‘experience’ that had kids in tears

A Glasgow based event has gone viral after what was sold as an immersive Willy Wonka experience ended in disaster, crying children and police called to investigate what went down. ‘Willy’s Chocolate Experience’ saw parents paying hundreds to give their children what was promised to be “a celebration of chocolate in all its forms”, but it ended up being cancelled halfway through as kids were in tears and the general shitshow of it all seeing the experience go viral across social media.

‘Willy’s Chocolate Experience’ was organised by House of Illuminati and they promised a land full of huge mushrooms and candy, inspired by the Timothée Chalomet film released in 2023. But instead, families paid £35 a ticket and showed up in an industrial area of Glasgow to a shoddily decorated warehouse and disaster quickly reached fever pitch.

An actor involved, Paul Connell, said: “My heart sank looking around … I just felt sad because I was aware of how many kids were going to be coming through. We were told to hand the kids a couple of jelly beans and a quarter cup of lemonade at the end.”

A Facebook group even got set up by the parents who bought tickets, to share outrage at what they paid for. House of Illuminati released an apologetic statement saying “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.” They’ve confirmed everyone will be getting full refunds.

But still, the laughs of the Glasgow Willy Wonka Experience live on via Twitter, where the memes are going insanely viral and one particular picture of an Oompa Loompa looking very much over it.

There was also a terrifying villain invented called “The Unknown”, a rival evil chocolatier Wonka has to defeat. He reduced children to screams and seemed all round rather harrowing.

Just another normal day in the world, I fear. The fact the viral Willy Wonka experience in Glasgow has reached America is even funnier with all eyes on how much of a car crash it was. I never want the pictures to end.

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