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Families in Scotland were expecting to taste chocolate treats and observe \u201coptical marvels\u201d at a Willy Wonka-themed event in Glasgow this past weekend. Instead, they got a couple of jelly beans, a short walk around a nearly empty warehouse and a visit from police officers.<\/p>\n
The event, Willy\u2019s Chocolate Experience, scheduled for Feb. 24 and 25, promised on event listing websites<\/a> to include chocolate fountains, performances by Oompa Loompas and interactive experiences inspired by scenes from Roald Dahl\u2019s book \u201cCharlie and the Chocolate Factory.\u201d<\/p>\n One father, Stuart Sinclair, drove two hours from Dundee to take his three children to the event. \u201cThere was maybe 20 chairs, a couple of tables and a half-inflated bouncy castle,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Mr. Sinclair said that he paid 35 pounds, or about $44, per ticket for his two sons, aged 10 and 11, and his daughter, 4, who was dressed in a Willy Wonka costume and had told her preschool teachers how excited she was to go to the event.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThe children got two jelly beans each,\u201d Mr. Sinclair said. \u201cAnd then they got a half a cup of lemonade.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Families had booked time slots to enter the venue every 15 minutes and were greeted by rows of unadorned tables and walls of black fabric separating one sparsely decorated space from another.<\/p>\n \u201cAs soon as they walked in the door, they were like, \u2018wow,\u2019 just shaking their heads and totally in disbelief of how bad it was,\u201d Mr. Sinclair said.<\/p>\n Alana Lockens, of Hamilton, said that after she had bought tickets, she noticed the event website had been updated with a legal warning to say that it was not related to the Wonka franchise, which is owned by Warner Bros. She grew concerned it was a scam and was initially relieved to arrive and see an actual event taking place.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI can laugh about it now, but initially I just thought it looked ridiculous,\u201d said Ms. Lockens, who went with her ex-husband, a friend and her two children. \u201cIt was so poorly done considering how much the tickets had cost us.\u201d<\/p>\n Facing crowds of disappointed families, event organizers abruptly canceled the event Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n Police Scotland said that officers were called after the event was canceled, but that the police determined they were not needed. It was not clear who called the police.<\/p>\n The event organizer, the House of Illuminati, addressed the complaints on Saturday, saying in a statement that it recognized the event was a disappointment and that it should have canceled it earlier. \u201cWe fully apologize for what has happened and will be giving full refunds to each and every person that purchased tickets,\u201d the company said in a statement on its Facebook page, which has since been removed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The House of Illuminati did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The event took place at Box Hub, an event space in Glasgow.<\/p>\n Matt Waterfield, the operations manager for Box Hub, said in an email that the House of Illuminati approached him in early January and that the company was entirely responsible for the marketing, promotion and operation of the event. \u201cThey dressed the venue on Friday,\u201d he said. \u201cThe result was incredibly underwhelming.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe are fully on side with the many outraged customers and truly hope that House of Illuminati refunds these families as promised,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Families who attended the experience and people hired to work at it gathered in a Facebook group to complain about what had happened and to discuss how it would be set right.<\/p>\n Jenny Fogarty, who was hired to play an Oompa Loompa, told The Scotsman<\/a> that she was given a 15-page script to read the night before the event began and that she received her costume an hour before families arrived.<\/p>\n \u201cThe wigs were very cheap,\u201d Ms. Fogarty said. \u201cWe were just handed an Amazon box that probably arrived that morning.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Ms. Fogarty said that she was told she would be paid \u00a316.66 an hour, but that she had not been paid yet.<\/p>\n The event was marketed like immersive experiences that have appeared in cities across the world in the last two decades, such as the Museum of Ice Cream in New York<\/a> and \u201cVan Gogh: The Immersive Experience<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n