The Willy Wonka-inspired event that police were called to in Glasgow (Picture: Jenny Fogarty/SWNS)
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory might have come out in 1971, but we certainly don’t remember the scene when the parents phoned the police.
(Though, let’s face it, they might have had good reason to. What with their kids flying up into tubes and swelling into blueberries.)
But exactly this happened on Saturday after an ‘immersive event’ inspired by Willy Wonka in Glasgow left families so ‘underwhelmed’ they dialled 999.
With children in tears, House of Illuminati, an immersive events company which organised Willy’s Chocolate Experience, was forced to cancel the weekend event midway and issued some 800 refunds.
The £35-a-ticket event at the Box Hub Warehouse in Whiteinch promised a ‘chocolate fantasy like never before’, according to House of Illuminati.
‘Charming characters singing original catchy tunes’ will fill the room, the website says, as they lead the children on an ‘exhilarating and immersive adventure’ through the ‘twilight tunnel’ and ‘imagination lab’.
Families very much wanted to give back their golden tickets (Picture: Jenny Fogarty/SWNS)
‘As we countdown to the day when Willy Wonka’s world comes to life, imagine a day filled with laughter, joy, and the irresistible allure of chocolate,’ it added.
Yet the event, the attendees said, wasn’t exactly a world of pure imagination.
Instead, the hundreds of families arrived at a near-empty warehouse where a few plastic mushrooms and gummy bears, a pink bouncy castle and tables and chairs greeted them.
They described children being handed only a few jelly babies and a quarter of a can of Barr’s Limeade.
One mum said she arrived with her family at 10.30am for an experience that only lasted a few minutes.
‘Waited in a huge queue for about 40 minutes and then when we got inside there was more waiting around,’ she said on social media.
Hundreds of families have asked for refunds (Picture: Jenny Fogarty/SWNS)
‘Underwhelming was an understatement. Embarrassing doesn’t even cut it. I paid for Willy Wonka and got Billy Bonkers.’
Jenny Fogarty, 25, who was hired to play an Oompa Loompa, said she was handed a 15-page script the night before the event before being told to just ‘improvise’.
On the morning of the experience, Jenny and the other actors hired to play the tiny unpaid labourers were given costumes not exactly well-suited to factory life.
‘We were given the sexy version as opposed to the traditional ones,’ she said.
‘Some people had T-shirts underneath to give it a bit more modesty. I just had a lacy shirt underneath.’
Police Scotland confirmed officers attended the scene to find crowds gathering outside.
Jenny Fogarty in her ‘sexy’ Oompa Loompa costume (Picture: Jenny Fogarty/SWNS)
Event organisers promised it would be ‘enchanting’ (Picture: Jenny Fogarty/SWNS)
In a since-deleted Facebook post, House of Illuminati apologised for the ‘stressful and frustrating day’.
‘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,’ the company said.
‘We fully apologise for what has happened and will be giving full refunds to each and every person that purchased tickets.
‘We planned a fabulous event and it just did not take shape as planned and for that we are truly sorry we are devastated at how this has turned out.’
Refunds will take up to 10 days, the company said, sharing a screenshot of a bank transfer app showing 850 refund transfers have been made.
The statement added: ‘We understand people’s anger and frustration that everyone has had, refunds have already started being issued and the rest should be over the coming days. Again we are truly sorry to everyone.’
A spokesperson for Box Hub told STV News: ‘The event itself did not reflect what had been promised to the many paying customers and was incredibly underwhelming.’
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