This year, a Willy Wonka themed experience opened in Glasgow, Scotland, hoping to reinvigorate audiences with a chocolate factory experience following the release of Wonka (2023).
With promises of bright, vibrant sets, elaborate candy displays, and musical performances, guests from all over Europe traveled to experience this once in a lifetime event… but after setting foot in this supposedly whimsical wonderland, visitors were quick to realize that Willy’s Chocolate Experience was not at all what they’d expected.
Leading up to the event, promotional images were released featuring elaborate candy displays, oversized lollipops, and an enchanting immersive experience for any Wonka fan. However, once guests arrived for the experience, they were shocked to find a barren, nearly-empty warehouse littered with the occasional candy prop.
With tickets costing $45 each, complaints began rolling in immediately with many families demanding refunds for the atrocious attraction. Instead of colorful candy landscapes, guests were greeted by gray walls with scattered AI-generated prints poorly taped to them.
… and it gets weirder!
The walkthrough tour took certain creative liberties when it came to retelling the story of Wonka’s chocolate factory, the most notable of which was the introduction of a bizarre new character referred to as “The Unknown”. According to the script, the Unknown was a rival chocolate maker who lived within the walls of the factory.
Despite the unusual inclusion, the Unknown has become an instant internet sensation with a viral video on TikTok documenting the bizarre reveal of the character over chorus of children crying “noooo!” as this dark-cloaked figure in a silver mask creeps out from behind a mirror.
Like the other actors of this event, the Unknown’s performer had no idea the state of the event and was just as surprised as guests by the quality of the experience. Despite the difficult conditions, the actors did their best with the material provided to give children the best possible experience from the event.
In the aftermath of the disastrous experience, guests demanded refunds and the event was shut down. The organizer of the event finally broke his silence last week, apologizing for the misleading promotional material and promised to use this as a learning experience.
The Unknown ironically got the sweetest deal out of the whole situation and managed to land himself his own horror movie with a potential release date of late 2024 or early 2025.
Despite the controversy and underwhelming debut, the Willy’s Chocolate Experience will still go down as one of the greatest event failures in history along with the likes of the Fyre Festival and DashCon. With an event as abysmal as the Willy’s Chocolate Experience turned out to be, it’s only natural the internet gravitated toward it to share in some laughter…
Let’s just be glad not all immersive experiences share this level of quality. As of the time of writing this, the event’s website is still operational, promoting “Willy Choclate Experience Glasgow”. Though tickets are no longer available for purchase, you can still see some of the nonsensical promotional AI images created for this experience. Me personally, I’m quite sad I missed out on the exaserdray lollipops!
