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A Willy Wonka “immersive experience” turned out to be a partially decorated warehouse. Some parents were so angry, they called the police.
Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory is a magical, colorful place with a chocolate river, edible flowers and Oompa Loompas bustling about. But a “Willy Wonka” event in Glasgow, Scotland that was billed as an immersive experience turned out to be less than stellar. In fact, when some ticket holders showed up with their kids, they called the police.
Stuart Sinclair, a dad who drove two hours with his three kids and paid $44 a ticket for the event, told CBS News’ Anne-Marie Green there wasn’t even any chocolate. “That was the worst part about it,” he said.
He said event space was just a warehouse and they did a “very, very poor job” of decorating it. Photos that show lackluster decorations barely filling a giant warehouse have gone viral.
Stuart Sinclair
“It was all described as a massive immersive experience, great idea for the kids, chocolate fountains … Just sounded really, really good, a nice day for the children and the family,” said Sinclair. “And when we got there, as you can see by the pictures and stuff, it just was not that at all. There were four or five props, a few jelly beans for the kids. Half a cup of lemonade. Just was not what was promised whatsoever.”
Sinclair said his oldest children found it funny and laughed it off, but his 4-year-old daughter, who was dressed as Willy Wonka for the occasion, was really disappointed. “She was telling all her teachers beforehand how she was going to meet Willy Wonka and it didn’t really pan out like that,” he said.
He said it took only five minutes to get through the experience. The actors, however, were professional, he said.
In a now-deleted social media post, House of Illuminati, which ran the event, said: “We fully apologize for what has happened and will be giving full refunds to each and every person that purchased tickets.”
Sinclair said he has not yet gotten a refund.
The actor who played Willy Wonka said it was not what he was expecting either and that he was unsure if he and the other actors would be paid. “It was very disappointing to see how many people turned up at this event and found basically me dressed up as Willy Wonka in a half-abandoned warehouse,” Paul Connell told BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland on Wednesday.
“I was offered the part on the Thursday, given 15 pages of AI-generated gibberish to learn and then obviously turned up and saw what it was,” he said.
“The actors were furious, we’d been conned as well and it did turn quite scary at one point because people were angry,” he said. “There was lots of shouting and groups of people getting very, very irate.”
Some visitors even called the police on Saturday and the House of Illuminati cancelled the experience midway through the day after receiving complaints, BBC News reports.
Glasgow City Council’s Trading Standards department received one complaint about the event, according to BBC News.
CBS News has reached out to House of Illuminati as well as Box Hub, which provided the event space but was not responsible for the experience, for comment and is awaiting a response.
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Long before comic book characters dominated movie screens, actor Christopher Reeve made the world believes in superheroes with the 1978 classic “Superman.”
Reeve died in 2004, nearly a decade after an accident re-shaped his life. “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story” is using interviews with family and friends and never-before-seen home videos to explore his real-life heroism.
Reeve started his career on the stage, studying at the prestigious Juilliard School and living with comedian Robin Williams. The pair had a friendship that was “more like a brotherhood,” said Reeve’s son Matthew. Reeve was in awe of Williams’ energy and versatility, Matthew Reeve said, but audiences quickly clued into Reeve’s own star power when he took on the role of the Man of Steel.
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To his children, though, he “was just dad,” Matthew Reeve said. The documentary explores how Matthew Reeve and his sister Alexandra Reeve Givens grew up watching their dad take the stage as Superman. “Super/Man” also reveals their heartbreak over their parents’ breakup and the joy they found when Reeve re-married. He tied the knot with Dana Reeve in 1992, and the pair welcomed another child, William Reeve, later that year.
“Dana was sunshine,” Alexandra Reeve Givens recalled. “She just brought joy with her wherever she was and could find it even in the darkest moments.”
Those dark moments came suddenly, when in 1995, a near-fatal horseback riding accident left Reeve paralyzed from the neck down. The documentary allows viewers to see, for the first time, what went on out of the public’s view. Reeve can be heard talking about how he “ruined (his) life and everybody else’s,” but in a touching moment, old friend Robin Williams is seen visiting him in the hospital.
“Robin showed him ‘Hey, you’re still you,'” Alexandra Reeve Givens said. “‘You still have this foundation of friendship and people around you, who adore you. And you’re going to find those fun moments in life again.'”
That support from friends and family re-ignited Reeve’s legacy of activism. He made appearances at the Democratic National Convention and the 68th Academy Awards in 1996, about a year after the accident. Matthew Reeve said watching his father address his industry peers at the Oscars was “one of (his) most proud moments.”
“It was just a production for him to get out of bed every morning, let alone get across the country and go out in public for the first time,” Matthew Reeve said. “It was a big deal. It was a big deal to him, but it was also a big deal to the entire disability community. We stayed up in London till like three in the morning to watch that live. It’s a fond memory.”
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Reeve also went on to launch what would become the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, which is dedicated to advancing research into spiral cord injury and help individuals and families impacted by paralysis. It was his dad’s mission to find a cure, Matthew Reeve said, while his stepmother wanted to focus on improving the lives of paralyzed people and their families. The foundation and Reeve’s platform helped bring unprecedented attention and funding to spinal cord injury research.
Reeve even kept acting and realized his lifelong dream of directing with the 1997 HBO movie “In the Gloaming.” Reeve died in 2004 from heart failure at 52.
“There is a huge amount of great actors and actresses out there, where their filmography might be amazing and what they achieve on a cultural level might be amazing, but have they actually achieved anything really as a human that moves the needle for our society?” said filmmaker Ian Bonhote, who made the documentary with Peter Ettedgui. “And Chris has done both things.”
“Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story” will open in theaters on Friday, Oct. 11.
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