Willy Wonka Experience

Am I a bad person for not feeling sorry for anyone who purchased tickets or were hired?

Poundshop Wonka. What did people expect? Hope the organisers are properly investigated and that people owed are reimbursed.

Not sure many would agree with you there.

One thing that show did have was lots of set.

Apparently the actors were instructed to give the kiddies only a single jelly bean each, and a quarter of a cup of off-brand lemonade 🤭

To be honest, anything marketed as Willy's Chocolate Experience is a bit of an eyebrow raiser.

The 'trademarked' "Imagination Lab" with accompanying graphic entitled "Imagnation Lab" kinda sums this whole farce up. 


"Encherining Entertainment"... Sorry, what does this even mean?!   

House of Illuminati?  More like the House of Illiterati.

I feel sorry for the innocent staff. Or did, except now they have a great story to tell for years to come. I wouldn't be surprised if there were thousands of people claiming to have worked there by the end of the year.

I'm less concerned for those who went. Partly because now they too have a great story to tell. But also the original story of Willy Wonka is that accepting a golden ticket is a dangerous thing, and less fun than you had hoped it to be.

The Dune 2 experience looks like a real money-spinner!

I must admit I was scratching my head about the set comments - I recall that the Drury Lane set was sumptuous. The big Oompa Loompa factory that descended to the stage, the "bad nut" machine, the Mike Teevee studio, the factory itself, the ramshackle house/grandparents bed etc.  I thought it was great!  (The glass elevator lift was an issue as we know, but this was still a production I enjoyed hugely!)

It sucks for the legitimate entertainment groups based in Scotland. The prop hire company have released a statement for example, and are getting hit with 'hilarious' hire requests from the general public. They also do 'wonka theme' stuff for weddings and kids parties, etc, so they've gotten some of the splashback here. Same goes for folk like Northern Frights, who are having to work hard to avoid people cancelling on them in a panic that their events might also be a scam.

The general public are stupid.

The bloke behind this fiasco is apparently Billy Coull, a peddler of dodgy scams, anti-vax books and other low-effort, potentially harmful computer generated crap.

All that said; "I can't believe it's not Harry Potter' / Wizard School style events aren't uncommon in Scotland, and I can see how whipping something up online then bunging a load of props in a room sounds easy on paper.

Joe Public looks at stuff like Comic-Cons, 'Wizard School' events and Santa's Grottos and assume that it's raking it in. They don't consider the skills needed. The idea of something as simple as a rehearsal or safety briefing wouldn't even cross their minds.

Seriously, more kids need to do theatre and events stuff growing up. It wouldn't have stopped Billy Coul but maybe less people would have gone to the event.