Welcome to this month’s round-up of Extraordinary Experiences across all experience sectors and around the globe.
Christmas is coming and the geese are getting fat. The year may be drawing to an end, but this month’s roster of new experiences is as compelling as ever. Festive events are, of course, in abundance, with Manchester playing host to a Polar Express train ride featuring dancing chefs and singing storytellers, while in London, Charles Dickens’ classic, A Christmas Carol, has been turned into an epic immersive feast complete with Victorian-inspired cocktails.
The mysteries of space are being put under the spotlight this month at two very different experiences. In Las Vegas, Interstellar Arc at Area15 fuses cinematic storytelling with advanced immersive tech to take visitors on an journey into humanity’s future in space. Across the globe in Aix-en-Provence, Cosmos pays homage to American astronomer Carl Sagan via an ‘80s-themed experience that propels visitors to the edge of the known universe.
Technology’s ability to bring history vividly to life is being put to good use all around the world this month. In California, the life of Jesus is charted in a new experience that shines a light on his life, death and resurrection, taking you deep inside the tomb he rose from. At the Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza, you can marvel at the treasures found in boy king Tutankhamun’s tomb, including his dazzling gold mask, throne and chariots, while the 7 Wonders VR experience in London lets you explore Giza’s Great Pyramid in glorious detail.
American history is also being explored this month, with Moment Factory creating the Perpetual Story Machine in Washington D.C., which brings the American Dream to life through gameplay, live-action video, animation, original music, voiceovers, and soundscapes. Across the pond in London, the works of American Romantic poet Edgar Allan Poe are being turned into liquid form at a pop-up speakeasy in Camden, where narrative poem The Raven is reimagined as a jet-black drink humming with ‘secret spices’.
18. Meow Wolf Phenomenomaly
Open now until 4 January 2026
Location: Houston, US
Experience Sector: Immersive Entertainment
The crazy cats at Meow Wolf Houston have launched their first full-scale performance season inside Radio Tave, turning the collective’s newest exhibition space into a living stage. Called Phenomenomaly, the series will run at weekends until 4 January. Inside Radio Tave, performances unfold continuously, meaning revellers can turn a corner and encounter a local brass ensemble echoing through an alien landscape, or a troupe of dancers grooving on a desert planet. Every path becomes its own story, every interaction a moment of theatre.
Each weekend features performances by Houston-based artists across music, breakdance, and spoken word, from the heartfelt storytelling of The Mighty Orq to the high-energy sets of the Hot City Brass Band (expect bold horns, syncopated grooves, and pure joy). Look out for Hopera, a Houston collective reimagining opera for a new generation. “Phenomenomaly invites guests to move through Radio Tave like actors on their own stage,” said Aaron Johnson, GM of Meow Wolf Houston. “It’s an immersive theatre in its purest form.”
17. Beast Land
Open now until 27 December 2025
Location: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Experience Sector: Immersive Entertainment
In time for the Riyadh Season, YouTube star MrBeast has opened his own theme park called Beast Land. A first-of-its-kind destination inspired by the challenges of MrBeast, visitors to the Saudi Arabian attraction can expect a world of rides, games, merch and food designed for fans to enjoy the full Beast experience. The park features custom made games inspired by MrBeast’s videos and is home to the world’s largest prize wall. Among the games is Tower Siege, where you load balls into catapults and earn points by landing them in 60 foot tubes.
In Drop Zone six people stand on trap doors. A button lights up in front of each player and whoever presses it last gets dropped, with the last remaining scoring the most points. In zip line-inspired game Airmail you have to drop a weighted bag onto a target below. The closer players get to the middle, the more points they get. “I didn’t want this to be like a typical theme park. I thought of things from first principles and created games I would love to play. Tons of original games have been created alongside rollercoasters and rides,” MrBeast said.
16. Believe! The Polar Express Experience
Open now until 31 December 2025
Location: Manchester, UK
Experience Sector: Immersive Entertainment
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, in Manchester at least, where Believe! The Polar Express Experience has chugged into town. The immersive activation gives guests all of the festive feels, transporting them to the North Pole and bringing the magic of the movie to life. Created following the success of The Polar Express Train Ride, this new multi-room walkthrough experience brings the world of The Polar Express off the tracks and into a hands-on environment. The story begins in Hero Boy’s bedroom before visitors step inside the train itself, enjoying hot chocolate and cookies, and getting their golden tickets punched.
Passing through enchanting winter landscapes on their journey to the North Pole, including the Caribou Forest and icy lakes illuminated by a dazzling Northern Lights display, familiar faces from the film pop up along the way, from the Conductor to the mysterious Hobo. During the voyage you’ll be entertained by dancing chefs and singing storytellers. Once you’ve disembarked at the North Pole you can send a note to Santa at the Letter Writing Station, let loose at the Pyjama Party, ask the Naughty or Nice Machine what list you’re on this year, craft your own Christmas decorations, and meet the big man himself.
15. Chroma: Tales Between Hues
Open now until 14 December 2025
Location: New York, US
Experience Sector: Themed Attractions
Colour me happy! New Yorkers are being invited to escape the slate grey skies of the city for a few hours by stepping inside the colourful world of Korean folktales at Genesis House in the Meatpacking District. Called Chroma: Tales Between Hues, the immersive installation was inspired by the Obangsaek colour spectrum; Korea’s traditional palette representing the five cardinal directions, elements and cosmic balance. Created in collaboration with Korean actress and singer Ashley Park, the experience is set across six vibrant themed rooms.
You start by following a light-dappled sandy path into a log-filled area where you’re told the story of a woodcutter in the forest who was rewarded for his honesty. Next you follow the birds mounted along the ceiling to a vivid red-lit space where you’ll encounter the story of the cowherd and weaver girl, celestial lovers who reunite once a year. The show’s highlight is an LED-filled room where swirling light in primary colours moves from the floor to the ceiling, putting on an spectacular show. It ends in a room filled with moving multicoloured crystals.
14. The Beginning Of The Moomins
Open now until 4 January 2026
Location: Hong Kong
Experience Sector: Themed Attractions
Finland’s finest, the Moomins, have landed in Hong Kong. To mark the curious creatures’ 80th birthday, Moomin lovers can head to the Kai Tak Sports Park, where an immersive, exhibition has been created in their honour. Called ‘The Beginning of The Moomins’, the cartoon wonderland features a historical corridor detailing the Moomins’ evolution since 1945 alongside seven themed zones recreated from origin story, Moomin and the Great Flood, which come complete with interactive installations and many a photo opp.
In a life-sized recreation of Moominvalley, the experience begins in a black-and-white forest, where you can seek out hidden creature Sniff using flower-shaped flashlights. It moves on to a luminous scene populated with Hattifatteners sailing on a red boat, where you’ll observe the Moomins’ encounter with these mysterious creatures first-hand. In the flood scene, flickering lights stand in for soaring waves, and visitors have to climb onto floating furniture to retrieve Moominpappa’s message in a bottle. The exhibition also features Moominmanuscripts, memorabilia, a postcard station, and a pop-up shop selling Moomin merch.
13. Seven Wonders Of The World
Open now until 28 February 2026
Location: London, UK
Experience Sector: Virtual Reality
How many wonders of the world have you ticked off your bucket list? In London you can ogle them all at an epic new VR experience deigned by Exhibition Hub. The travelling show, 7 Wonders of the World: An Immersive Experience, made its debut in the UK. It takes visitors on a journey through time and across continents, showcasing the world’s most remarkable architectural marvels and providing an in-depth look at both the ancient Seven Wonders and modern architectural feats that showcase the human achievement behind each marvel.
By combining advanced 360-degree projection mapping, spatial audio, and VR, the experience is both engaging and informative. The VR gallery allows visitors to walk through virtual reconstructions of the seven wonders, experiencing the sights as they originally appeared. Inside you can amble through the ancient streets leading to the Leaning Tower of Pisa, roam around the Great Pyramid at Giza, and take a tour of the expansive gardens of the Taj Mahal. Through cutting-edge tech these ancient marvels feel thrillingly immediate, offering a portal to the past. This is cultural storytelling at its most powerful.
12. Club Drosselmeyer
Opens: 5-14 December 2025
Location: Massachusetts, US
Experience Sector: Live Events
Billing itself as an immersive Nutcracker in swing time, Club Drosselmeyer is back with a bang this festive season at the Cambridge Masonic Temple in Massachusetts. Part immersive theatre show, part interactive puzzle hunt, expect actors, vaudeville routines, cocktails, vintage outfits and glittering company. Featuring compelling storylines, original music and many a mystery, guests are invited to step back in time by donning their fedoras, dusting off their dancing shoes and taking to the ballroom dancefloor, with dressing up encouraged.
Set in a 1940s nightclub, inside you can grab a drink, watch the floor shows, listen to a live eight-piece swing band play original swing-time Nutcracker arrangements, and dance the night away. Your level of engagement is up to you – there’s the chance to speak with various characters throughout the club, from Herr Drosselmeyer to Dr. Clara Stahlbaum, to figure out the story and help them solve puzzles and complete tasks. Putting the power in your hands, the decisions you and your fellow audience members make changes how the story plays out.
11. Luminiscence
Opens: 11 December until 31 January 2026
Location: Brussels, Belgium
Experience Sector: Immersive Entertainment
Everyone loves a light show, and this one in Brussels looks particularly brilliant. Taking place inside the vaulted environs of the Cathedral of Saints Michael and Gudula, Luminiscence is an immersive sound-and-light experience created by LOTCHI, which has toured much of Europe and the US. The Brussels launch, its 20thshow across 18 global cities, forms part of Gudula26, celebrating the cathedral’s 800th anniversary, transforming the iconic Gothic space into a living artwork through 360° video mapping, original music and live choral performances.
Tracing eight centuries of history, the show invites audiences on an emotional exploration of the monument. The journey begins with a sensory prelude and historical panels before the 45-minute main event, narrated by the cathedral’s ‘guardian spirit’. On select evenings, the Luminiscence Orchestra and regional choirs will elevate the experience with live music. After Brussels, the show will light up Nuremberg’s Lorenzkirche from 6 February 2026 and will return to Nice’s Basilica of Notre-Dame with a new show called The Celestial Odyssey.
10. Edgar Allan Poe Speakeasy
Opens: 11-12 December 2025
Location: London, UK
Experience Sector: Immersive Entertainment
Boston born Edgar Allan Poe’s poems and short stories dealing with the mysterious and the macabre continue to delight and intrigue their readers nearly 200 years on. A central figure of Romanticism in the US, he was one of the country’s earliest champions of the short story. Ripe for reinvention, four of his works are being turned into liquid form at a pop-up speakeasy for two nights only in London’s freewheeling borough of Camden. Inside you’ll find Poe historians who will retell and reimagine a four of his most famous works.
A macabre mixologist will be on-site to transform each of them into a cocktail experience that brings poems including The Tell-Tale Heart and The Black Cat off the page and onto the stage. Among the cocktails is Edgar’s Twisted Brandy Milk Punch, a decadent digestif made with equal parts Kentucky Bourbon and French brandy mixed with vanilla cream and milk syrup. We like the sound of The Nevermore, inspired by Poe’s narrative poem The Raven, a jet-black cocktail featuring orange and peach blossom vodka, lime juice, and ‘secret spices’.
9. Perpetual Story Machine
Open now until 31 January 2026
Location: Washington, US
Experience Sector: Immersive Entertainment
Multidisciplinary entertainment studio Moment Factory has joined forces with the Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream (MCAAD), a new cultural institution in Washington, D.C., to create the Perpetual Story Machine, a two-part installation designed to bring the American Dream to life through a fully immersive and interactive experience. The cutting-edge installation within the Kenneth C. Griffin Holodeck features a multi-room, 360-degree environment that weaves together numerous stories through gameplay, live-action video, animation, original music, voiceovers, and soundscapes.
The journey unfolds in two stages. In the first room, guests participate in a collaborative pre-show game across three interactive LED walls, where they’re invited to repair the Perpetual Story Machine’s broken mechanisms to safeguard its treasured stories from being lost. Once the problem is solved, the doors open to reveal the centre of the magical device: a 360° immersive core. Guests journey through three distinct stories, travelling across different eras and regions of America, encountering first-person accounts inspired by true events. To keep things fresh, each story immerses visitors in a unique environment with a distinct aesthetic.
8. Cosmos
Open now until 31 January 2026
Location: Provence, France
Experience Sector: Immersive Learning
Budding astronauts should head to Aix-en-Provence this month, where Mirage Makers have created Cosmos, an immersive experience that pays homage to American astronomer and writer Carl Sagan. Born in 1934, Sagan was famous for popularising science. Author of Cosmos and creator of the TV series of the same name, he made the mysteries of the universe accessible, imbuing them with both clarity and wonder. Inviting people to look at the cosmos with curiosity, his work remains a bridge between science and humanism.
Taking place an ‘80s setting, the headphones on experience takes space lovers on an intergalactic adventure where they can join young neurolinguist Nora Voss and her team as they’re thrown into the void of space to discover its origin. On a mission commissioned by the UN, during the experience, which takes place across seven themed rooms of sound and light installations, you’ll travel with them to the edge of the known universe where the laws of physics bend and strange entities from another dimension are waiting to be understood.
7. The Key Of Dreams
Opens: 4 December until 28 March 2026
Location: Monmouth, Wales
Experience Sector: Immersive Theatre
Taking place inside a sprawling 17th century manor house in deepest, darkest Wales, The Key of Dreams is an epic, weekend-long immersive experience inspired by the works of American horror/sci-fi writer H.P. Lovecraft. The story unfolds over twenty four hours in a historic manor house where the lines between fact and fiction are muddied. During a sumptuous seven-course dinner in an oak clad banqueting hall, you’ll be tasked with investigating occult objects, solving strange puzzles, and uncovering the stories of the characters lurking inside.
Join secretive organisations and take part in dark rituals where each glorious vista, snatched musical refrain or hushed conversation with one of the many characters might unlock a moment of revelation. As is the case in all great immersive experiences, your actions have consequences, so you have to choose your path wisely in order to learn the motives and agendas that drive the characters and use it to your advantage. Once in the driving seat, you can kick back with a cocktail and enjoy the action as it unfurls in this strange, liminal place.
6. Shroud Of Turin Experience
Open now
Location: California, US
Experience Sector: Immersive Learning
With no story seemingly immune from the immersive treatment, Jesus is the focus of a new exhibition that tells the story of the Turin Shroud, a 14-foot linen cloth bearing the faint image of a crucified man, which many believe to be the burial cloth of Christ. Costing US$5m to create, The Shroud of Turin: An Immersive Experience takes place within a 10,000-square-foot museum on the chancery campus of the Diocese of Orange in Southern California. Created by Papaian Studios, the experience takes place across three themed rooms and tells the story of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, with a focus on the Shroud of Turin.
Through 360-degree projections, shroud replicas, interactive kiosks, a life-sized corpus, and a variety of artworks, expect to see Jesus walking on water and through the streets of Jerusalem. You can also peer inside his tomb at the moment of the resurrection as if it had just happened. The first room tells a dozen stories from Jesus’s life selected to show Christ’s connection to the supernatural. The second room tells the story of the shroud, and includes proof of its authenticity. The final is devoted to the resurrection of Christ and features reproductions of items relating to the passion of Christ, including a whip and crown of thorns.
5. Lost World Aquarium
Open now
Location: Dubai, UAE
Experience Sector: Themed Attractions
One of Dubai’s best-loved attractions has had a glow-up. The Lost World Aquarium has been transformed with custom-curated tech 17 years after making its debut at Atlantis, The Palm. The marine-themed entertainment destination now hosts new immersive storytelling, live mermaid performances and Insta-friendly projections. Visitors are surrounded by immersive projection mapping and a precision-engineered soundscape, using over 140 speakers to conjure the feeling of entering an underwater world. Behind-the-scenes tours have been revamped to demonstrate how the animals are cared for and how visitors can help them.
The new look aquarium includes 14 themed rooms featuring bespoke content and an original score. A live mermaid show is held multiple times a day in the 10-metre deep Ambassador Lagoon, where a team of five professional underwater performers demonstrate advanced breath-holding skills, choreographed movements, music and storytelling. While you’re exploring the aquarium, look out for an interactive trident, which unlocks 20 additional experiences including secret messages and multi-sensory effects. With a focus on learning, every marine habitat now features interactive digital displays with facts about each species.
4. The Great Christmas Feast
Open now until 4 January 2026
Location: London, UK
Experience Sector: Immersive Dining
In what has become a staple of London’s festive calendar, The Lost Estate‘s iconic immersive festive experience, The Great Christmas Feast, is returning to a former factory in Marylebone for an eighth year. Travel back in time to Victorian London on Christmas Eve in 1843, and enter the home of Charles Dickens to witness the birth of his Christmas classic. Unfolding throughout the evening is a one-man staging of A Christmas Carol shot through with live music, and accompanied by a three-course feast and Victorian-era drinks, including the Smoking Bishop, Pear Tree Cup, and the Rumfustian.
Through intricately crafted sets by Darling & Edge, guests are drawn into a richly atmospheric world. Director Simon Pittman of National Theatre fame shapes the production’s theatrical heart, with David Alwyn reprising his role as Dickens, serving as narrator and guide through the story. Composer Steffan Rees has created an epic original score, weaving classic carols into a cinematic soundscape brought to life by a live orchestra. The food is looked after by Ashley Clarke, and includes potted smoked salmon, confit Gressingham duck with garlic roast potatoes and mulled cabbage, and a decadent sounding figgy pudding with brandy ice cream.
3. Art Basel Miami Beach
Opens: 3-7 December 2025
Location: Miami, US
Experience Sector: Immersive Art, Live Events
It’s that time of year again when the great and good of the art world descent on Miami for five days of decadence and art appreciation. Much more than simply admiring paintings on gallery walls, Art Basel Miami has morphed into a bigger beast, and the annual event now features everything from museum shows and music festivals to culinary pop-ups, outdoor installations, wellness events and brand activations celebrating the arts. Faena Art marks its 10th anniversary this year with a site-specific commission from British artist ES Devlin called Library of Us; a 50-foot kinetic sculpture that rotates within a reflective pool filled with 2,500 of the books that have shaped Devlin’s approach to art and life.
Transforming Faena Beach into a shared space for reading and reflection, you can take a seat at the 70-foot reading table, where some chairs remain still while others rotate. Also taking place during the fair is Art With Me Miami, an immersive art and wellness festival that brings together art installations, workshops, and live DJ performance from CamelPhat, Sofi Tukker and Eric Prydz alongside fire dancing, acrobatic displays and light shows. Factory Basel, meanwhile, is a dance music festival complete with immersive art and live performances from legends like Tiesto and Skepta. Don’t miss the Beach Towel Art Show, which invites the public to create artworks on beach towels and exhibit them on South Beach.
2. Grand Egyptian Museum
Open now
Location: Cairo, Egypt
Experience Sector: Immersive Learning
The wait is finally over – having majorly run over, the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), billed as the world’s largest archaeological museum, has finally opened all of its exhibits close to the Great Pyramid of Khufu in Giza. Hoping to be a cultural highlight of the modern age, the 500,000 square metre space is packed with over 100,000 artefacts covering seven millennia of Egypt’s history, from pre-dynastic times to the Greek and Roman eras. Its exterior is covered in hieroglyphs and boasts a pyramid-shaped entrance. Look out for the 4,500-year-old funerary boat of Khufu, one of the oldest and best-preserved vessels from antiquity.
The main draw is the entire contents of the intact tomb of boy king Tutankhamun, which is displayed together for the first time since it was discovered by British Egyptologist Howard Carter. Among the ancient treasures on display are Tutankhamun’s dazzling gold mask, throne and chariots. Other highlights include a 3,200-year-old, 16m long suspended obelisk of the powerful pharaoh Ramesses II, and his towering 11m-high statue. On an upper floor a giant window offers a framed view of the Giza pyramids. Costing £910m, the museum is expected to attract up to eight million visitors a year, giving a huge boost to Egyptian tourism.
1. Interstellar Arc
Open now
Location: Las Vegas, US
Experience Sector: Immersive Entertainment
Taking visitors to infinity and beyond is this bold new activation at Area15 in Las Vegas. Called Interstellar Arc, it’s the brainchild of Felix & Paul Studios, a pioneer in creating virtual, augmented, and mixed-reality experiences. Fusing cinematic storytelling with advanced immersive tech, the attraction draws on NASA research and takes visitors on an journey into humanity’s future in space. Housed in a 20,000-square-foot venue, the experience boasts state-of-the-art visuals, interactive environments, and sensory world-building that pushes the limits of VR storytelling and blurs the line between what is imagined and what’s real.
Set in the 25th century, you begin the journey by boarding the Interstellar Arc spacecraft at HEXO Spaceport One. You’re then placed into cryogenic sleep and wake 262 years later. In a weightless environment, passengers rediscover their purpose as explorers of a new world. “Exploration drives humanity forward. Interstellar Arc imagines how intergenerational collaboration and advancements in science and technology will propel our future among the stars,” said Felix & Paul Studios’ co-founder, Félix Lajeunesse. The experience has been praised for its emotional depth, sense of shared connection, and awe-inspiring scale.
