Police were called to the scene of “Willy’s Chocolate Experience” in Glasgow, Scotland, as children burst into tears when the “immersive experience” promised in AI advertisements turned out to be a sparsely decorated warehouse.
House of Illuminati, the organization behind the event, reportedly charged up to £35 for tickets (about $45) for an afternoon of activities based on the Timothée Chalamet Wonka reboot. The event was promoted with AI renderings full of lollipop forests, jellybean waterfalls, flying horses, giant mushrooms, and other fantastical, larger-than-life scenes, promising “a place where chocolate dreams become reality.”
Click through the slideshow to see how the AI ads stack up against the real-world event.
When hundreds of parents arrived with their families, they were greeted by a gutted factory with dirty windows and exposed air conditioning systems, a couple of plastic candy canes, and other rented props strewn about on bare concrete floors.
Disappointed families reported that the “whimsical” Oompa Loompas turned out to be struggling actors frantically reciting scripts that were handed out the night before the event. Actors reportedly wrote on social media that they were asked to improvise with props that weren’t even there when they arrived.
Customer Stuart Sinclair wrote on Facebook that it took around two minutes through an event that was supposed to provide an hour of entertainment, where the main attraction was people lining up to complain to flustered organizers.
Sinclair wrote that he drove two hours to attend the event with his two sons and four-year-old daughter. “This was described as the full Willy Wonka experience with chocolate fountains etc and a great day out for the kids,” he wrote. “Wouldn’t recommend this company for anything.” Sinclair described the experience as an “absolute con.” House of Illuminati did not immediately respond to Gizmodo’s request for comment.
The House of Illuminati reportedly offered 850 customers full refunds and canceled the event just a day in.
This story originally appeared on Gizmodo.
