A father who attended the disastrous Charlie and the Chocolate Factory-inspired event with his family has admitted he is "almost grateful to have experienced" what he called a "beautiful nightmare".
Police were called to the 'immersive' event, which was held in a warehouse space in the Whiteinch area of Glasgow, as irate families, who had paid as much as £35-a-head for tickets, demanded refunds.
The organisers of the event apologised after families were met by a sparsely-decorated room of plastic props, a small bouncy castle and AI-generated backdrops pinned to walls.
They said "technical issues" were behind the event's shortcomings, and promised that full refunds would be given to all attendees.
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Jack Proctor was one of those to attend the botched event with his two children.
He told The Herald: “It was grim, but in retrospect, I’m almost grateful to have experienced the beautiful nightmare that was Willy’s Chocolate Experience.
“We arrived around midday and were met by group of families leaving the event, looking utterly bewildered. We passed through a makeshift prop gate saying ‘Factory’, and the sight was grim.
“A small prop bridge ran over what was advertised as a ‘mystical chocolate river’, it was a strip of brown rug.
From the 'majestic' chocolate river that was a strip of brown carpet, to the Oompa Loompa meth lab, we survived the beautiful nightmare that was, "Willy Wonka's Chocolate Experience" Glasgow. 😂 pic.twitter.com/UD6GsEWgTY
— Jack Proctor (@MrJackProctor) February 28, 2024
"In the next section, some oversized prop mushrooms and pipes sat adjacent to a meth lab-like candy station that had test tubes with some jellybeans in them - two soul-broken Oompa Loompas gave each kid a jellybean and a half cup of supermarket brand Lemonade.
“In another section there were some free-standing mirrors, from behind which a demonic chrome-masked character would appear with the sole purpose of terrifying the children to tears.
“We passed through the entire area in about four minutes having the entirety of 'Willy’s Chocolate Experience'.
“The remainder of the venue was just tables, some chairs and small unmanned bouncy castle where one kid was drop-kicking any other kid that dared try to enter.
“We left the event within 15 minutes of entering as security were telling an irate queue of families that the event was cancelled”.
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