The Simpsons didn't actually predict Glasgow Willy Wonka disaster

Over the years, The Simpsons has earned a reputation as the TV equivalent of Nostradamus, "predicting" real world events decades before they happened. That has now been applied to the infamous Willy Wonka Experience in Glasgow.

Children who attended the event in Glasgow were promised “a day of pure imagination and wonder”, but ultimately got some lemonade, a few jelly babies, and actors trying to make the most of a script believed to be generated by AI.

Among the viral fun being had around the car crash spectacle, many Twitter users shared screenshots from The Simpsons, suggesting that the animated sitcom had once again struck gold.

As perfect as this may seem, we probably shouldn't add this to the list of Simpsons predictions — which includes everything from Donald Trump's presidency to the mass of the Higgs Boson.

The viral tweet includes images from multiple episodes, rather than one cohesive idea for what eventually happened in Glasgow.

Several of the images come from the season five episode Bart's Inner Child, in which Homer briefly imagines opening his own theme park called Homerland after scoring a hit with his backyard trampoline.

Meanwhile, the lemonade stand image was taken from the season six episode Lemon of Troy and the most evocative image — the smoking Oompa Loompa — came from season 13 episode Sweets and Sour Marge, aired in 2002.

So while The Simpsons might have included every element of the Willy Wonka fiasco, they did it over the course of almost a decade. That's unfortunately not quite as impressive as including a gag about the Disney-Fox merger almost 20 years before it became official.

Meanwhile, the Glasgow Willy Wonka Experience continues to be a viral hit. It's certainly given the internet more fun than it ever gave its attendees.

In fact, more than 6,000 people have a signed a petition on Change.org demanding that the attraction be reopened. It reads, in part: "This petition is our collective voice asking for what we want — to bring back this magical experience that touched so many lives."

Those 6,000 people probably shouldn't hold their breath. It doesn't seem like this chocolate factory will ever dish out another jelly bean.

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