If you’re a Stranger Things fan and live in Southern Ontario, you’ve now got a chance to visit the Upside Down with Stranger Things: The Experience.
This immersive, live-action, well, experience, places you inside Hawkins Labs as you and your fellow Sleep Study volunteers suddenly become part of an episode, complete with Vecna, demogorgons, and all your favourite characters from the Netflix series. Ok, so they interact with you via videoscreens mostly, but you really do feel a part of their action.
I took Biff Bam Pop!’s junior correspondent Anya with me, who hasn’t seen Stranger Things but is a big fan of Dungeons & Dragons and was willing to see how this experience turned out. While they weren’t totally sold at the beginning, which finds you doing some makeshift “tests,” as the story progressed I could see they were becoming more engaged with the adventure we were a part of. By the time we reached the astounding and totally immersive final moments, both of us were blown away by what was happening around us. I don’t want to give you any spoilers, but I will say that the price of admission ($79 Canadian) is worth it for the final act alone. It’s a combination of live actors and video that at times had me unsure of who was and wasn’t real.
If you’re going to go to Stranger Things: The Experience, be sure to bring you wallet, because once you complete the adventure, you enter Mix-Tape, a retro-‘80s room full of series set pieces, food, and a ton of merchandise to peruse. If you’re a die-hard Stranger Things fan, you’re probably going to walk away with a lot less money than you started with, because there is some cool stuff to buy.
While newcomers will find themselves having fun, Stranger Things: The Experience is an absolutely essential visit for fans of the series. They won’t be disappointed.
You can learn more about Stranger Things: The Experience and purchase tickets at the official website.
Thanks to the fine folks at Touchwood PR for inviting Anya and I to their recent media event.
