Want to feel like you’re inside an adventure movie?
Take a deep-sea dive, hunt for a pearl in an ancient temple, and mingle with alien creatures at Dreamscape at AMC, the thrilling new virtual reality theater at NorthPark. Only the second Dreamscape in the nation, the theater offers uniquely immersive 360-degree experiences set within scripted stories.
Guests walk or ride through each virtual realm and even interact with it in the three shows: “Alien Zoo,” “Curse of the Lost Pearl,” and “The Blu: Deep Rescue.” For instance, you might choose to touch an alien creature or pop colorful bubbles floating by in “Alien Zoo.”
A still from "Alien Zoo."
Anyone who is at least 10 years old or four-feet tall can buy a $20 ticket and suit up in the company’s proprietary gear: body-mapping sensors for hands and feet, an 11-pound backpack of electronics and a virtual reality headset for sight and sound.
A maximum of six people experience each showing. Two attendants teach you how to don the equipment, and they stick around, invisibly, in case anyone needs assistance during the 10- to 15-minute virtual reality experience. Guests can always see each other and interact in the virtual realm, each appearing as the avatar they that selected during registration.
You’ll look appropriately dressed for each respective voyage without changing a stitch of clothing. In “The Blu: Deep Rescue,” for example, everyone appears in scuba suits and gloves during the mission to free a trapped baby blue whale.
A still from "Curse of the Lost Pearl."
Which show to try first? “Curse of the Lost Pearl” is an action packed Indiana Jones-style adventure, while “The Blu” is a beautiful, self-directed dive into a deep trench with plenty of sea life. “Alien Zoo” is an exotic trip reminiscent of “Jurassic Park,” through a series of habitats populated with playful, occasionally dangerous alien species.
A still from "The Blu."
The wraparound audio, visual, and tactile experiences were created by Dreamscape’s impressive slate of Hollywood talent, including co-founder and “Men in Black” producer Walter Parkes and CEO Bruce Vaughn, who formerly ran Walt Disney Imagineering, which designs and builds Disney’s theme parks, attractions, and more. Singular director and DreamWorks Pictures co-founder Steven Spielberg is an investor. AMC Dreamscape debuted in Los Angeles in December and runs the same three shows as NorthPark, though a spokeswoman says new ones are expected within a few months.
At NorthPark, Dreamscape is easy to locate on Level Two between Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom.
It’s the perfect way to take a quick, mind-bending trip into a new world. Tickets are available at dreamscapeimmersive.com.