The Chocolate Factory — CANCELLED

Overview

UPDATE, March 7, 2022: Due to Brisbane's floods, Toombul Shopping Centre is currently closed — and, for now, The Chocolate Factory is no longer going ahead. We'll update you if the event reopens with the shopping centre.

How much do we all love dessert? Let us count the ways. If you have a sweet tooth, you obviously adore tucking into everything from ice cream and chocolate to doughnuts and cakes. Being mighty fond of food festivals dedicated to such indulgent treats also comes naturally. And, over the past few years, you've likely become enamoured with supremely photogenic pop-up installations dedicated to candy and its many dessert siblings — getting a sugar rush one snap and Instagram post at a time, clearly.

Brisbane has already welcomed in Sugar Republic's eye-catching spaces more than once, so it's time to kickstart your cravings at a different dessert-themed pop-up: The Chocolate Factory. This one hails from the folks that recently brought a walk-through version of Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel frescos to town, and it's making its first Australian stop at Toombul Shopping Centre from Thursday, February 17.

If your name is Charlie — or Augustus, Veruca, Violet or Mike, or even Willy — you're basically destined to spend time in the space. Everyone else can live out their Charlie and the Chocolate Factory dreams as well, of course, although this is primarily a feast for the eyes (and it has nothing officially to do with that beloved book or the films it has spawned).

Here you'll find a gingerbread town, cupcake room, bubblegum room and marshmallow world within the broader chocolate factory setup. Expect the walls to be decked out like they're made out of something that Hansel and Gretel would love, sprinkles and icing to be a big design feature, pillow shapes aplenty — and a ballpit, because that's always a part of these installations.

The Chocolate Factory will also task you with earning ingredients in each room to play games, provide plenty of spots to take those pics (of course) and let you bounce on a cupcake-shaped trampoline.

If you just know that being surrounded by all that dessert-themed decor will make you hungry, you'll need to settle for vending-machine sweet treats (and sips as well, if you work up a thirst). Given that it's nestling into a shopping centre, you'll have other culinary options afterwards, however.

Unsurprisingly, it's an all-ages affair, so expect to have company from candy-lovers both young and young at heart.