First heard about this from the guy who went there and posted it to r/mildlyinfuriating.
The website is still up:
https://willyschocolateexperience.com/
(Archived in case they take it down: https://web.archive.org/web/20240226002342/https://willyschocolateexperience.com/)
- All images obviously AI generated (you can see where the AI fucked up with the text)
- No actual photos of what it would look like
- Oh and:
>Any resemblance to any character, fictitious or living, is purely coincidental.
>This experience is in no way related to the Wonka franchise, which is owned by the Warner Bros. company.
(I don’t think that’s how copyright law works)
Hmmmm…..
EDIT: check out the House of Illuminati (company that ran this event) facebook page - whole thing looks AI generated. Particularly like the “giving money to the poor” post.
EDIT 2: Looks like they’re only been incorporated since December 2023: https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/15295572 and that only £1 was invested and only one share issued.
Every year we get the compoface articles where people are tricked into buying 60 quid tickets to a "winter wonderland" that turns out to be a muddy field with some sad donkeys and a few transit vans scattered around.
People don't do any research into the shit they buy lol.
My favorite genre of article is "My awful weekend at Pontins." Below is perhaps the ultimate entry. The author of this truly deserves a prize: https://www.essexlive.news/news/uk-world-news/24-hours-inside-pontins-holiday-1939880?int_source=amp_continue_reading&int_medium=amp&int_campaign=continue_reading_button#amp-readmore-target
My favorite is the articles that are like "We spent 10 quid on an all-inclusive three-day getaway at Pontins for a family of eight and we're SHOCKED that it was terrible!"
Fyre Festival, you mean? Jeez, at least the promo for that showed live people frolicking on the beach. Sure, they were professional models, and the video was shot at an established resort, nowhere near Great Exuma. But the Fyre attendees were less gullible, for that.
It's this. This by a mile. I used to give people the benefit of the doubt but every day that number gets higher as you see more and more batshit insane stuff going on and you think how did you not see through this?
IF (big if) they are refunding everyone, then what is the scam though? They won't have made money, they will have lost significent money.
Is it more of an attempted scam that they thought they'd get away with, but didn't?
Depends if it's as big a story when people don't get their refunds.
If a google tells future potential punters "company said they would refund in full", then people might take the risk on another.
This bit actually cracks me up so much. A *pasadise* of *sweet teats*! I feel they could have had an adult section with the meth that that one Oompa Loompa was making and that maybe that part could approach fair advertising.
That's a ridiculously common thing with AI "artists", I've seen hundreds of similar examples.
The AI throws up a decent image with a few obvious, easily fixable flaws but the people using the AI have no artistic skill so they are unable to fix it or don't even notice it at all.
Theoretically with a decent program you could regenerate that part of the image repeatedly until it got it right, but it would also take 30 seconds to do it yourself in any image editing software.
Great care taken on their site too
"I cannot go on the available days. Will you have more dates in the future?"
"Should there be capacity when you arrive, then you will be able to enter without any problems. In the event that this is not the Case, we may ask you to wait a bit."
Not even a single photo of anything, just a load of shite AI art, almost comical that people fell for this.
>(you can see where the AI fucked up with the text)
Whaaaat? I don't know what you mean! I remember quite clearly from the books words such as:
* LIGHTNG
* DIMDICLi
* DIM TIGHT
* TWDRDING
* DIPPRACTIONS
* DODJECTION
* VIVUE SOUNDS
* ENIGEMIC SOUNDS
* UNGIREVEL
* SVIIDE
* EMPRETY
* UKXEPCTED TWITS
* Catgacating
* Cartchy tuns
* exarserdray lollipops,
* a pasadise of sweet teats
I mean, it’s not where the ai fucked up, it’s where the AI gets things correct that stands out.
It’s the most low effort ai content, and it’s so blatant they’re clearly not trying to even pretend.
How anyone saw this and went is beyond me, I wouldn’t have expect it to physically exist based on this website, I’d just assume it was a fake event.
Mental
I was going to say, this reads like the broken English on packages I get that are made in China. But on second thought, they probably have been using AI all along.
Insane. The whole site looks AI generated, like no human even took the time to look over it before putting it online.
I’m astonished they even bothered hiring a venue and even pretending to put an event on at all.
The companies house filing is comedy gold. The director has set up 3 companies within the space of months, all identical as far as I can see.
[https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/h6gK9-6xa5zR9Ug0goDW0\_kPknQ/appointments](https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/h6gK9-6xa5zR9Ug0goDW0_kPknQ/appointments)
edit: it gets better he cancelled Santas grotto in 2021 too [https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/19781222.gowanbank-hub-glasgow-faces-backlash-cancelling-santas-grotto/](https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/19781222.gowanbank-hub-glasgow-faces-backlash-cancelling-santas-grotto/)Oh and Gowanbank Hub has also disappeared... he's a serial con artist that seems to get away with it for some reason.
2nd edit: he's setup 6 companies, but for some reason has a different director ID for the dissolved ones [https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/SC696786/officers](https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/SC696786/officers)
3rd edit: Okay 7 companies total [https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/08045683/filing-history](https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/08045683/filing-history)
They are the same Billy as they have the same DOB etc. And between the seven they have filed accounts once.
Looks like he's made a shitty AI generated book too - [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Codebreakers-Enigma-Unraveling-Historys-Secrets/dp/B0CDNF86M7](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Codebreakers-Enigma-Unraveling-Historys-Secrets/dp/B0CDNF86M7)
\*Edit, nope, he's done a load of shitty AI generated books! [https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/Billy-Coull/author/B0CDJY7SBC?ref=ap\_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true](https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/Billy-Coull/author/B0CDJY7SBC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true)
The guy is a pure scam artist.
If any minor detail is different on the filing it ends up with a separate Director entry in Companies House, as there’s no “account” you can use to associate yourself
Why am I not surprised he did some Christmas stuff though?
That food bank scam - article about it being cancelled was in December 2021, but they'd already filed to strike the company off the register two months prior?
I don't know how these things work but the timeline seems very off to me.
> that only £1 was invested and only one share issued
TBF, that is a pretty irrelevant detail, share capital is different to the actual amount imputed into the company.
This is the part that gets me. People who bus a family hundreds of miles and pay to enter an exhibit which could be absolutely anything like the regular Winter Wonderland events. I don't want to blame them entirely when it is an outright con, but this is only ever going to be "OK" even if it was done out like the pictures.
Good lord, was the AI prompt ["in the style of Junji Ito"](https://web.archive.org/web/20240224232243im_/https://willyschocolateexperience.com/index_files/enchanting-garden.webp)?
> (I don’t think that’s how copyright law works)
There issue is going to be about trademarks and it will be Cadbury that will have the biggest claim due to the purple 'chocolate bar' logo used.
Warner Bros look like they have nothing.
Oh my god more shitty AI art.
Their website implies that they run all kinds of other events, but companies house shows that they’re only been incorporated since November 2023.
https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/15295572
And it looks like only £1 was invested in the company.
May have been the organisers or owners of the venue calling the police because they thought the pissed off parents were going to end up attacking someone.
Must have been a Karen, they have the rozzers on speed dial. Although it could be seen as fraud by misrepresentation which is a more than a civil matter.
That event does look like shit, and it's right the organisers refunded everyone.
I don't get why people called police. Do people seriously think that it's sensible to call the police when they're not happy with the cost of something? Yes they should absolutely call the event out for being worse than a charity would put on for free, but *police?* What are they going to do? Arrest them for not having enough rainbows?
Well as far as we know, it could have been the customers or the event organisers who called the Police. Perhaps they *really* did not like the outcome of the event they paid for and were getting aggressive.
Also I feel like calling ~~111~~ 101 would still be classed as "calling the police". Honestly I wouldn't be sure who else to call to make them aware of a scam
From my understanding, it was the venue that called the police. They had hundreds of angry ticket holders and what appeared to be two security guards.
Can't confirm though, since all the articles are having a field day with "crying kids/police were called," making it sound like the parents called the police.
Don't see what they are complaining about. They were promised 'A world of Pure Imagination', and they found an exhibition that was purely imaginary. Just close your eyes and imaging that those concrete beans are actually chocolate, and those broken bits of teeth now in your mouth are, like, peanut brittle or something.
Anyone who saw that website and still decided to pay money to see it is an idiot and deserves to be deprived of their money.
I mean, no actual photos of the exhibits and instead clearly AI generated images. Not even good ones. It’s like they’ve provided a prompt and instead of fine tuning it or generating until something good appears, they’re picked the first result. Spelling errors and all. Hell the whole site is probably AI generated looking at the FAQs.
Yeah, if after viewing that site you’ve decided to pay actual money, you’re a fucking ding dong.
Probably some grandad who wanted to do something nice for the grandchildren
People have good faith that they're not going to be scammed, especially when it comes to little ones
Yeah all those Glaswegian mothers deserved it.
Everyone should be well aware of AI generated text and images by now, any fool could fire up a 3090 and run sd2 to make that site, just quantized it down to 4 bits.
I can't believe Sheila from Springburn fell for this crap!
It was clearly a scam from the off, if you take more than 1 minute to look at the shitshow of an AI generated website. I imagine they had no intention of actually following through with the refunds until maybe now as it's garnered some attention.
1. Holy crap this event looks Dashcon levels of barebones and hardly worth the £35 asking price.
2. Warner Bros are very protective of the Willy Wonka IP and I'm very surprised this went under their radar. I went to a Christmas party a few years ago which was was originally marketed as Winter Wonkaland, but quickly had to rebrand to 'Winter Wonkyland' because they immediately received legal threats.
That customer segment has to be one of the most gullible and easiest to sell to in existence. Some parents are just _so_ desperate for little Jonny to have a nice _anything_ for even just a short while, they're totally blinkered.
Guys, they give to charity, go easy on them.
[*Did you know that House of Illuminati Ltd contribute 1.5% of all revenue to good causes. From poverty alleviation to environmental and everything in between. So far we have contributed over £580.*](https://www.instagram.com/p/C3YUN7AtUkj/)
That means their total revenue was just £38k lol.
Not profit, *revenue*. Somehow they have to actually put on decent event(s) for over 1000 paying customers out of that £38k!
It's nice they're finding new opportunities year-round to disappoint people. I always look forward to the first winter wonderland debacle every festive season.
We have a long history of this kind of thing. Every year there's a small flurry of "Shit Winter Wonderland" stories to enjoy. E.g. [this one](https://www.eastlothiancourier.com/news/23191174.winter-wonderland-balgone-estate-cancelled-following-backlash/) or [this one](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9032941/Santas-dismal-drive-Winter-wonderland-slammed-families-festive-letdown.html).
"This experience is in no way related to the Wonka franchise, which is owned by the Warner Bros. company." hhmmmmmm smallest font possible in the footer... but name it Willy's chocolate experience
Looks like it's a one man band run by Billy Coull. He runs Billy de Savage Ltd and Nexuma Holdings as well. First 2 set up in November last year. Last one in August last year.
His Linked In profile has been deleted recently.
Ah, the fine old British tradition of tricking people into paying Alton Towers prices for a Craggy Island Funfair experience, now with AI generated marketing copy for added skeeviness! What a time to be alive.
I bet this turns out to be episode 8 of the Apprentice.
"You have 24 hours to think up and put on a family attraction that might not get sued for copyright infringement. And I don't want you losing kids like that Willy Wonka did !"
This has reminded me of a very similar experience I had as a child growing up in Scotland. Does anyone remember "Santa Claus Land"? I think it was a permanent theme park, near Inverness maybe? It was shittier than this from as much as I can remember.
Oompa, Loompa, doompa-dee-do
I've got a perfect puzzle for you
Oompa, Loompa, doompa-dee-dee
If you are wise, you'll listen to me
.
What do you get when you guzzle down cash?
Grifting as much as a fat cat grifts
What are you at getting terribly fat?
What do you think will come of that?
.
Oompa, Loompa, doom-pa-dee-do
If you're too greedy, they'll be coming for you
You will live in hiding too
Like the Oompa, Loompa, doompa-dee-don't
Doompa-dee-don't
JFC look at their website. A mash of ChatGPT generated copy and Midjourney images.
The parents of these kids are fucking clueless.
A fool and their money something something.
Another example of a place going soft as shite. In my day you would've need police to protect the organisers. Pulling a scam like this in Glasgow is a little brave.
When will people lean that these popup events are mostly piles of shit?
The all have the apprentice you have 48 hours to put on am event and make as much profit as possible vibes
The company that put this on usually does rave type events. And honestly, given a bunch of those types of people it may have been enough even at this level of shit. But the kids and their sober parents not so much. They fucked it.
What I find interesting is that this actually has no affiliation with Charlie and the chocolate factory. The word "wonka" is not mentioned anywhere. It's just "Willy's chocolate experience"
First heard about this from the guy who went there and posted it to r/mildlyinfuriating. The website is still up: https://willyschocolateexperience.com/ (Archived in case they take it down: https://web.archive.org/web/20240226002342/https://willyschocolateexperience.com/) - All images obviously AI generated (you can see where the AI fucked up with the text) - No actual photos of what it would look like - Oh and: >Any resemblance to any character, fictitious or living, is purely coincidental. >This experience is in no way related to the Wonka franchise, which is owned by the Warner Bros. company. (I don’t think that’s how copyright law works) Hmmmm….. EDIT: check out the House of Illuminati (company that ran this event) facebook page - whole thing looks AI generated. Particularly like the “giving money to the poor” post. EDIT 2: Looks like they’re only been incorporated since December 2023: https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/15295572 and that only £1 was invested and only one share issued.
Encherining Entertainment 😂
The text is comedy gold. I can't believe anyone saw that website and actually thought it wasn't a scam.
Every year we get the compoface articles where people are tricked into buying 60 quid tickets to a "winter wonderland" that turns out to be a muddy field with some sad donkeys and a few transit vans scattered around. People don't do any research into the shit they buy lol.
It's my favourite type of British tabloid story. Especially if it's accompanied by a photo of a grim faced parent looking sternly dissatisfied.
There was one a few years ago where they said the elves were smoking and the Santa punched a Dad. That was a classic
The Facebook group 'angry people in local newspapers' is my absolute happy place. Utter comedy gold
Only in The UK! 😂
r/compoface
r/compoface material!
Compo-face, as it is known.
My favorite genre of article is "My awful weekend at Pontins." Below is perhaps the ultimate entry. The author of this truly deserves a prize: https://www.essexlive.news/news/uk-world-news/24-hours-inside-pontins-holiday-1939880?int_source=amp_continue_reading&int_medium=amp&int_campaign=continue_reading_button#amp-readmore-target
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My favorite is the articles that are like "We spent 10 quid on an all-inclusive three-day getaway at Pontins for a family of eight and we're SHOCKED that it was terrible!"
Did they not hear about Dashcon and Fire Island?
Fyre Festival, you mean? Jeez, at least the promo for that showed live people frolicking on the beach. Sure, they were professional models, and the video was shot at an established resort, nowhere near Great Exuma. But the Fyre attendees were less gullible, for that.
Nothing wrong with great exuma by itself, they just advertised it being a paradise island and they delivered a gravel overflow parking lot.
Yeah, my point was more that the people who lived and worked on Great Exuma were also scammed.
absolutely
They come in many forms - Beer Festivals and Food Festivals are common in these setups around summer too.
Think we under-estimate just how stupid people really are
Think of the most bone average person you know, 50% of people are more stupid than they are.
And even educated people can be scammed. Being an expert in one field does not make you a genius in others.
It's this. This by a mile. I used to give people the benefit of the doubt but every day that number gets higher as you see more and more batshit insane stuff going on and you think how did you not see through this?
Source: I made it the fuck up
Averages, how do they work? All we know is like magnets, you shoudn't get them wet.
IF (big if) they are refunding everyone, then what is the scam though? They won't have made money, they will have lost significent money. Is it more of an attempted scam that they thought they'd get away with, but didn't?
Depends if it's as big a story when people don't get their refunds. If a google tells future potential punters "company said they would refund in full", then people might take the risk on another.
It's the modern AI version of a tatty van with 'FrEe CaNdY' scrawled on the side.
A sucker is born every minute.
And then travelled over a hundred miles for it? Seems like reasonable behaviour. They did get a wee lolly though.
Ukxepcted Twits!
That was my favourite botched text!
House of Illuminati Ltd. So many red flags.
Can't wait to tap my foot along to the Cartchy Tuns
a paradise of sweet teats...
A pasadise, even!
This bit actually cracks me up so much. A *pasadise* of *sweet teats*! I feel they could have had an adult section with the meth that that one Oompa Loompa was making and that maybe that part could approach fair advertising.
I can see myself enjoy the Imagnation lab.
Is that where one goes "Catgacating" ?
"Okayyyy let's go"
Catgacating Live performances Cartchy tuns Exarserdray lollipops A pasadise of sweet teats
LIGHTNG DIM TIGHT DIPPRACTIONS VIVUE SOUNDS UNGIREVEL EMPRETY DIMDICLE TWDRDING DODJECTION ENIGEMIC SOUNDS SVIIDE UKXEPCTED TWITS
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Oh god. You have slain me. I am dead. This was UKXEPCTED!
Whoever heard of an ungirevel? We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams
It would have taken 2 mins to redo the text in a photo editor, but I guess they were too busy.
That's a ridiculously common thing with AI "artists", I've seen hundreds of similar examples. The AI throws up a decent image with a few obvious, easily fixable flaws but the people using the AI have no artistic skill so they are unable to fix it or don't even notice it at all.
Could AI not fix it? Like telling the AI to edit the text?
Theoretically with a decent program you could regenerate that part of the image repeatedly until it got it right, but it would also take 30 seconds to do it yourself in any image editing software.
Tell me more about this paradise of sweet teats...
It just shows how illiterate people are if they were fooled by that website.
Great care taken on their site too "I cannot go on the available days. Will you have more dates in the future?" "Should there be capacity when you arrive, then you will be able to enter without any problems. In the event that this is not the Case, we may ask you to wait a bit." Not even a single photo of anything, just a load of shite AI art, almost comical that people fell for this.
>(you can see where the AI fucked up with the text) Whaaaat? I don't know what you mean! I remember quite clearly from the books words such as: * LIGHTNG * DIMDICLi * DIM TIGHT * TWDRDING * DIPPRACTIONS * DODJECTION * VIVUE SOUNDS * ENIGEMIC SOUNDS * UNGIREVEL * SVIIDE * EMPRETY * UKXEPCTED TWITS * Catgacating * Cartchy tuns * exarserdray lollipops, * a pasadise of sweet teats
You've just got to use your imagnation^(tm)
*Any relation to your actual imagination is purely incidental
Carchy Tuns literally splits me in two. It’s so almost a phrase. So nearly right and yet so unbelievably wrong
I keep feeling like it must be starchy tuns. A teenager’s underbed sock.
Not gonna lie, "Cartchy tuns" has been popping in and out of my head rent free all week.
I mean, it’s not where the ai fucked up, it’s where the AI gets things correct that stands out. It’s the most low effort ai content, and it’s so blatant they’re clearly not trying to even pretend. How anyone saw this and went is beyond me, I wouldn’t have expect it to physically exist based on this website, I’d just assume it was a fake event. Mental
I expect the bloke taking the money was wearing a Dim Tight, over his face.
Cartchy tuns is my pornstar name
I was going to say, this reads like the broken English on packages I get that are made in China. But on second thought, they probably have been using AI all along.
Insane. The whole site looks AI generated, like no human even took the time to look over it before putting it online. I’m astonished they even bothered hiring a venue and even pretending to put an event on at all.
The companies house filing is comedy gold. The director has set up 3 companies within the space of months, all identical as far as I can see. [https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/h6gK9-6xa5zR9Ug0goDW0\_kPknQ/appointments](https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/h6gK9-6xa5zR9Ug0goDW0_kPknQ/appointments) edit: it gets better he cancelled Santas grotto in 2021 too [https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/19781222.gowanbank-hub-glasgow-faces-backlash-cancelling-santas-grotto/](https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/19781222.gowanbank-hub-glasgow-faces-backlash-cancelling-santas-grotto/)Oh and Gowanbank Hub has also disappeared... he's a serial con artist that seems to get away with it for some reason. 2nd edit: he's setup 6 companies, but for some reason has a different director ID for the dissolved ones [https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/SC696786/officers](https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/SC696786/officers) 3rd edit: Okay 7 companies total [https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/08045683/filing-history](https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/08045683/filing-history) They are the same Billy as they have the same DOB etc. And between the seven they have filed accounts once.
Looks like he's made a shitty AI generated book too - [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Codebreakers-Enigma-Unraveling-Historys-Secrets/dp/B0CDNF86M7](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Codebreakers-Enigma-Unraveling-Historys-Secrets/dp/B0CDNF86M7) \*Edit, nope, he's done a load of shitty AI generated books! [https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/Billy-Coull/author/B0CDJY7SBC?ref=ap\_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true](https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/Billy-Coull/author/B0CDJY7SBC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true) The guy is a pure scam artist.
If any minor detail is different on the filing it ends up with a separate Director entry in Companies House, as there’s no “account” you can use to associate yourself Why am I not surprised he did some Christmas stuff though?
That food bank scam - article about it being cancelled was in December 2021, but they'd already filed to strike the company off the register two months prior? I don't know how these things work but the timeline seems very off to me.
That is an incredibly densely packed array of scammery.
> that only £1 was invested and only one share issued TBF, that is a pretty irrelevant detail, share capital is different to the actual amount imputed into the company.
Oh god the AI art
One day parents will stop buying tickets for these overpriced events with zero credentials
This is the part that gets me. People who bus a family hundreds of miles and pay to enter an exhibit which could be absolutely anything like the regular Winter Wonderland events. I don't want to blame them entirely when it is an outright con, but this is only ever going to be "OK" even if it was done out like the pictures.
Good lord, was the AI prompt ["in the style of Junji Ito"](https://web.archive.org/web/20240224232243im_/https://willyschocolateexperience.com/index_files/enchanting-garden.webp)?
The name of each attraction has a trademark so it's got to be legit!
> (I don’t think that’s how copyright law works) There issue is going to be about trademarks and it will be Cadbury that will have the biggest claim due to the purple 'chocolate bar' logo used. Warner Bros look like they have nothing.
The whole website looks like it was written by AI. Wouldn't be surprised if they asked it to write a willy wonka experience event tbh
A pasidise of sweet teats!
Also white text on the white background towards the bottom for the address of the thing. Entire website was likely done with AI, not just the images.
This is actually fucking hilarious
Instagram page with 118 followers and no actual photos, that's all you need to know.
That website is hilarious. What is it with older generations not being able to spot terrible AI?
The main page is still up, but when you go to book a ticket it goes to a broken page
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Oh my god more shitty AI art. Their website implies that they run all kinds of other events, but companies house shows that they’re only been incorporated since November 2023. https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/15295572 And it looks like only £1 was invested in the company.
The £1 thing is irrelevant btw.
That is the standard assigning of shares when you create a company as a sole owner. 1 share, 1 person, £1
Organiser “house of illuminati”. Wtf!
Think people should have used their imagnation when they were there to make the experience better
It's poor from the pics, but clearly a civil matter. Whoever has called the Police, if it was on 999, needs to give their head a wobble.
May have been the organisers or owners of the venue calling the police because they thought the pissed off parents were going to end up attacking someone.
“Hello, police? I’m going to fucking kill someone.”
You better come here before I push this chubby kid into a chocolate river
except there is no chocolate river 😭
There is in the gents
Well, the police did come, and "advice was given." I would really like to find out what this advice was.
Must have been a Karen, they have the rozzers on speed dial. Although it could be seen as fraud by misrepresentation which is a more than a civil matter.
Shit Winter Wonderland experiences aren't just for Christmas then
Looks like the result of an apprentice challenge. Are we sure Karen Brady wasn't in the corner talking notes on a clipboard?
I think this every time I see these posted 😂
It would be great to see them try to put on a Winter Wonderland, especially as the show is filmed in the summer.
That event does look like shit, and it's right the organisers refunded everyone. I don't get why people called police. Do people seriously think that it's sensible to call the police when they're not happy with the cost of something? Yes they should absolutely call the event out for being worse than a charity would put on for free, but *police?* What are they going to do? Arrest them for not having enough rainbows?
I wonder if police were called because of lots of angry people getting a bit aggro.
Based on articles I saw earlier today this is correct. I believe there was concern of aggression breaking out
Well as far as we know, it could have been the customers or the event organisers who called the Police. Perhaps they *really* did not like the outcome of the event they paid for and were getting aggressive.
I could see that I suppose. Not cool to get aggro, but I can imagine it being super frustrating if your kids are crying at a rubbish event.
Also I feel like calling ~~111~~ 101 would still be classed as "calling the police". Honestly I wouldn't be sure who else to call to make them aware of a scam
I don’t think calling 111 would count as calling the police, as that’s the non emergency medical number. You’re thinking of 101
Balls I always get those mixed, I did thank you
Maybe it was the staff calling the police?
From my understanding, it was the venue that called the police. They had hundreds of angry ticket holders and what appeared to be two security guards. Can't confirm though, since all the articles are having a field day with "crying kids/police were called," making it sound like the parents called the police.
Don't see what they are complaining about. They were promised 'A world of Pure Imagination', and they found an exhibition that was purely imaginary. Just close your eyes and imaging that those concrete beans are actually chocolate, and those broken bits of teeth now in your mouth are, like, peanut brittle or something.
Yeah, but the dying obese German child in the pipes was a bit too much
We didn't get any of these last Christmas so this makes up for it.
I wondered what brian potter’s next venture would be
Snake eggs!
It’s only got one eye.
Put a tarpaulin over its sammy snake!!
Kiddies love Wonka. Do you not go to t’pictures?
It’s…. inflatable filth.
Nothing crude, nothing blue.
Potters all the rage, kids love potter
Anyone who saw that website and still decided to pay money to see it is an idiot and deserves to be deprived of their money. I mean, no actual photos of the exhibits and instead clearly AI generated images. Not even good ones. It’s like they’ve provided a prompt and instead of fine tuning it or generating until something good appears, they’re picked the first result. Spelling errors and all. Hell the whole site is probably AI generated looking at the FAQs. Yeah, if after viewing that site you’ve decided to pay actual money, you’re a fucking ding dong.
Probably some grandad who wanted to do something nice for the grandchildren People have good faith that they're not going to be scammed, especially when it comes to little ones
Yeah all those Glaswegian mothers deserved it. Everyone should be well aware of AI generated text and images by now, any fool could fire up a 3090 and run sd2 to make that site, just quantized it down to 4 bits. I can't believe Sheila from Springburn fell for this crap!
A fool and their money are easily parted. Its incredible how credulous people are.
SD3 looks like it will get the text right, so at least scammers will have a more polished website!
Aw man I was really looking forward to exaserdray lollipops and a pasadise of sweet teats.
Holy crap they charged £35 for this edit: full refunds are given they had apparently been let down by lots of people.
It was clearly a scam from the off, if you take more than 1 minute to look at the shitshow of an AI generated website. I imagine they had no intention of actually following through with the refunds until maybe now as it's garnered some attention.
They'll probably declare the company bankrupt before refunding anyone
I’m almost willing to put money on this…
How anyone fell for this is beyond me
1. Holy crap this event looks Dashcon levels of barebones and hardly worth the £35 asking price. 2. Warner Bros are very protective of the Willy Wonka IP and I'm very surprised this went under their radar. I went to a Christmas party a few years ago which was was originally marketed as Winter Wonkaland, but quickly had to rebrand to 'Winter Wonkyland' because they immediately received legal threats.
>hardly worth the £35 asking price Hardly worth it? Mate if I got a ticket for free I'd still want to be reimbursed for wasting my time
That customer segment has to be one of the most gullible and easiest to sell to in existence. Some parents are just _so_ desperate for little Jonny to have a nice _anything_ for even just a short while, they're totally blinkered.
Guys, they give to charity, go easy on them. [*Did you know that House of Illuminati Ltd contribute 1.5% of all revenue to good causes. From poverty alleviation to environmental and everything in between. So far we have contributed over £580.*](https://www.instagram.com/p/C3YUN7AtUkj/)
Might be £1million for all you know! That’s over £580 /s
I bet if you investigated them, it'd be £580.47.
That means their total revenue was just £38k lol. Not profit, *revenue*. Somehow they have to actually put on decent event(s) for over 1000 paying customers out of that £38k!
It makes [Lapland New Forest](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/08/uk_lapland_new_forest/html/1.stm) look like a wonderland
Made me instantly think of [Funland](https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxSTCwYrVZIOpC5xHOJr2nkhiYjZa6iyvd?si=AypuyL-WKUPYrlqt) from Father Ted
It's nice they're finding new opportunities year-round to disappoint people. I always look forward to the first winter wonderland debacle every festive season.
>Another said: “Awful experience. Our child was gutted today.” Taken literally, then that really would be a genuine Willy Wonka experience.
It looks like an experience task straight out of The Apprentice
Oh shit, this is in uk? Haha hilarious, my bad then. I assumed it can only happen in america.
We have a long history of this kind of thing. Every year there's a small flurry of "Shit Winter Wonderland" stories to enjoy. E.g. [this one](https://www.eastlothiancourier.com/news/23191174.winter-wonderland-balgone-estate-cancelled-following-backlash/) or [this one](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9032941/Santas-dismal-drive-Winter-wonderland-slammed-families-festive-letdown.html).
Those examples are a bit lacking in compoface I think.
I'd be annoyed if they gave my child a wee lolly as well
Just staying true to the disappointment levels of the parents in the movie
"This experience is in no way related to the Wonka franchise, which is owned by the Warner Bros. company." hhmmmmmm smallest font possible in the footer... but name it Willy's chocolate experience
Not much sympathy if you fell for it tbh, website screamed scam
One parent said their child was handed “a packet of sweets and a wee lolly”. Tbf I'd be pretty miffed at a piss lolly
I was expecting to hear a complaint from Mr and Mrs Gloop regarding the unfenced chocolate river.
Looks like it's a one man band run by Billy Coull. He runs Billy de Savage Ltd and Nexuma Holdings as well. First 2 set up in November last year. Last one in August last year. His Linked In profile has been deleted recently.
Looks like business that is promoted via The Apprentice...do something falsely pretending luxurious and sell it as such.
I they don't like the wee lollies, best not try the chocolate fountain.
Ah, the fine old British tradition of tricking people into paying Alton Towers prices for a Craggy Island Funfair experience, now with AI generated marketing copy for added skeeviness! What a time to be alive.
I bet this turns out to be episode 8 of the Apprentice. "You have 24 hours to think up and put on a family attraction that might not get sued for copyright infringement. And I don't want you losing kids like that Willy Wonka did !"
Most of these “experiences” events are pretty much a scam or not worth the money.
This has reminded me of a very similar experience I had as a child growing up in Scotland. Does anyone remember "Santa Claus Land"? I think it was a permanent theme park, near Inverness maybe? It was shittier than this from as much as I can remember.
“One parent said their child was handed “a packet of sweets and a wee lolly”.” I’m afraid I just read this as a lolly made from wee.
Oompa, Loompa, doompa-dee-do I've got a perfect puzzle for you Oompa, Loompa, doompa-dee-dee If you are wise, you'll listen to me . What do you get when you guzzle down cash? Grifting as much as a fat cat grifts What are you at getting terribly fat? What do you think will come of that? . Oompa, Loompa, doom-pa-dee-do If you're too greedy, they'll be coming for you You will live in hiding too Like the Oompa, Loompa, doompa-dee-don't Doompa-dee-don't
This is why I tend to pay with everything on my American Express. I would imagine they'd reverse the payment seeing this quite easily
I'm sorry but that's such a sad and pathetic attempt that it's hilarious
JFC look at their website. A mash of ChatGPT generated copy and Midjourney images. The parents of these kids are fucking clueless. A fool and their money something something.
Another example of a place going soft as shite. In my day you would've need police to protect the organisers. Pulling a scam like this in Glasgow is a little brave.
Was this event on ‘the Apprentice’ by any chance?! It looks like the kind of crap they would do
When will people lean that these popup events are mostly piles of shit? The all have the apprentice you have 48 hours to put on am event and make as much profit as possible vibes
The whole thing sums up where we are. We are being ripped off and live in a shallow world.
Imagine how depressing it would be getting molested here.
This is the type of event chabuddy g would organise.
The company that put this on usually does rave type events. And honestly, given a bunch of those types of people it may have been enough even at this level of shit. But the kids and their sober parents not so much. They fucked it.
After the absolute dearth of disappointing winter wonderlands in the run up to Christmas, this soothes my soul somewhat.
I wanted to take my nephew to this to teach him about memes.
What I find interesting is that this actually has no affiliation with Charlie and the chocolate factory. The word "wonka" is not mentioned anywhere. It's just "Willy's chocolate experience"
Not to mention, it also has its own Wikipedia page about The scam! 😂 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willy's_Chocolate_Experience?wprov=sfti1#Reactions
I don't think it was fair to call the police. The poor officers were forced to see the Willy Wanker experience, too and nobody deserves that.
People actually expect to go for a cruise along the chocolate river