Willy

Oompa, Loompa, doompa-dee-doI’ve got a perfect puzzle for youRemember the disastrous “Willy Wonka Experience” in Glasgow a few weeks ago? Parents paid £35 per ticket, lured in by AI-generated ads depicting a lush candy paradise only to be greeted by a near-empty warehouse with a couple dinky decorations. Now nobody trusts Willy Wonka. Perhaps we never should have. After all, this is the man who invited five children to his factory and set them up to meet grisly fates. Let’s Eat a Chocolate Xbox ControllerThis week Wonka…

Horror movies have definitely become more of a hustle in recent years, as the string of cheaply made films based on characters that have just dropped in the public domain can attest to. This has to be the most unlikely one of its kind, though: a horror movie based on the viral Willy Wonka experience. You don’t need me to recap what that was all about. The unholy love child of Wonka and Fyre Festival — complete with AI writing and art, three jelly beans per customer, and an Oompa-Loompa who looked more like an extra from…

Most of us have probably been in a slump lately and in need of some good, uplifting news. So Glasgow said: “Hold my jelly beans.” The immersive Willy Wonka Experience that went viral last week has been an excellent source of entertainment for people across all social media platforms. And while it wasn’t so fun for the actors involved or the people who bought tickets for $40, the level of absurdity kind of does make one chuckle nonetheless.For those unaware, we’re talking about the Willy Wonka “immersive experience” (the…

Even taking the base concept of The Unknown out of the equation, the world, as you’ve probably ascertained, is bad. It’s a bad place for bad people, and bad things happen in it.  Sometimes, humans like to comfort ourselves by thinking that we can contain the bad, the way that we did in Glasgow in early 2024 when a pop up called “Willy’s Chocolate Experience” was swiftly shut down by a confluence of law enforcement officers and the kinds of mothers who would like to speak to the manager. For the uninitiated, the…

Earlier this week in Scotland, dozens of families were disappointed by the Willy Wonka Experience Glasgow. While the bare-bones event left a lot to be desired, the actors put on the best show possible to try to show attendees a good time, and one has become a video game star. Despite the Willy Wonka Experience Glasgow being a complete disaster for everyone involved, those watching the chaos unfold online have latched onto one of its key characters. The Unknown is a creation of whatever AI writing program was used to…

Photo: Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto (Getty Images)Putting your phone in airplane mode when boarding a flight feels like common sense. You wouldn’t be crazy for thinking your phone signal could interfere with an airplane’s navigation systems, potentially causing a disaster. However, the necessity of airplane mode is largely a myth, and there’s another reason airlines are asking you to turn your phone off. - Maxwell Zeff Read More Photo: Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto (Getty Images)Putting your phone in airplane mode when boarding a…

Billy Coull, organizer of the now virally infamous knockoff Willy Wonka-themed family event in Glasgow last weekend, on Friday sought to calm furious parents demanding refunds for the pricey but decidedly lackluster “immersive” exhibit. In a statement shared on Facebook, he issued apologies to customers and reiterated a promise to refund everyone. “Willy’s Chocolate Experience,” the trademark-skirting name given to Coull’s botched venture, was supposed to offer young fans of Roald Dahl’s novel Charlie and the…

It’s the story that has captured the internet’s attention, giving birth to millions of memes: the disastrous “Willy Wonka experience” that took place in Glasgow, Scotland, last month and left children in tears.The exhibit went viral after photos and testimony emerged suggesting a huge gulf between how the experience was marketed (with glitzy, larger-than-life imagery) and the reality (an empty warehouse, offering as snacks just a handful of jelly beans and a half-cup of lemonade).But as much as the Willy Wonka experience…

Animal Crossing fans have recreated the viral ‘Willy Wonka Experience’ that’s taken the Internet by storm for all the wrong reasons. Earlier this week, footage of an immersive experience inspired by Roald Dahl’s Charlie And The Chocolate Factory went viral for how shockingly bleak it was. The Glaswegian event was advertised using AI-art but the reality was far from a world of “pure imagination and wonder”, with photos showing a practically empty warehouse with nothing but a rainbow arch, a mysterious masked figure hiding…

An event based on Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory made international news over the weekend after a promised world of imagination turned into a full on disaster. “Willy’s Chocolate Experience” in Glasgow, Scotland was promoted with elaborate AI-generated images of lollipop forests and jellybean waterfalls. But when families arrived, they were greeted by a filthy, barely decorated warehouse, prompting parents to call the police (see the photos here). Now, Gizmodo has a copy of the event’s unhinged AI-generated…