Welcome to this month’s round-up of Extraordinary Experiences across all experience sectors and around the globe.
We’re half way through the year and World Cup mania has reached fever pitch. But aside from all the footie action taking place across the US, Canada and Mexico, we have a plethora of exciting experiences to pique your interest this month. Science is being spotlighted in London and Paris, with cosmic VR experience Smithsonian Starstruck landing at the Science Museum in Kensington, while Science Expériences in Bercy Village explores STEM through an entertainment lens.
There’s also plenty for art lovers to sink their teeth into. At the Tate Modern in London, revolutionary Mexican artist Frida Kahlo is the subject of a major retrospective that delves into how Frida became one of the most influential artists and cultural icons of all time. After you can head to the gallery’s restaurant for a Kahlo-inspired meal devised by KOL’s Santiago Lastra. In New York, the Balloon Museum has found a permanent home at the Tin Building where works by Marina Abramović and Martin Creed will set tongues wagging.
The mysteries of our oceans are highlighted at two experiences this month. Created by Cocolab, Sea of Cortes in Cabo San Lucas uses 360° floor-to-ceiling projection, sand underfoot, layered sound design, and a four-act narrative to allow visitors to feel like they’re roaming around in ‘the world’s aquarium’. At the National Geographic Museum of Exploration in Washington D.C., Moment Factory has transformed the courtyard into an immersive experience that highlights the ocean’s raw power and remarkable biodiversity.
Immersive entertainment is in abundance this month. In London’s Battersea Park you can see Kaiser Chiefs frontman Ricky Wilson make a cameo as Teen Angel in Secret Cinema’s Grease: The Immersive Movie Musical, which is back for a second bite of the apple this summer. While you’re in town you can enjoy the thrills and spills of a sumo wrestling match at Tokyo Nights in Greenwich. And if all that action has made you hungry, head to immersive fine dining restaurant Eatrenalin at Europa-Park in Germany, which has just been awarded a Michelin star. Inside you’ll be whisked through 10 themed rooms on patented floating chairs.
18. Museum Of Ice Cream
Opens: 3 July 2026
Location: Las Vegas, US
Experience Sector: Immersive Entertainment
With summer in full sizzle, what better place to cool off than at the shiny new Museum of Ice Cream, which has just opened its pastel-coloured doors at AREA15 in Las Vegas. Joining venues in New York, Chicago, Miami, Boston and Singapore, the Vegas version is the franchise’s biggest and best yet. The 30,000-square-foot flagship features 14 immersive installations inspired by Las Vegas vibes. Guests enter the venue through an ‘ice cream hotel’ and move through interactive rooms filled with desserts, games and Insta-worthy displays.
Highlights include the Golden Scoop Buffet, the world’s largest all-you-can-eat ice cream buffet where you can gorge on over 20 ice cream flavours and go nuts with the toppings. Inside you’ll also find the Iconic Sprinkle Pool with two-story slides, an ice cream-tasting magic show called Big Top Taste, and multiple slides including the longest double-helix slide in Vegas. Ice cream lovers can even tie the knot at the cake-shaped Little Pink Chapel then swing by the Cone-sino before getting an ice cream-themed (temporary) tattoo at the in-house parlour. When the sugar high wears off you can crash out on a marshmallow bed.
17. TOCA Social
Open now
Location: Guatemala City, Guatemala
Experience Sector: Competitive Socialising
If you’ve been gripped by World Cup fever and are keen to test your ball skills then competitive socialising juggernaut TOCA Social’s latest outpost in Guatemala City might be for you. A first of its kind for Guatemala, the new HQ in Paseo Cayalá fuses football, tech, entertainment and gastronomy. Suitable for footie fans of all ages, inside family and friends can participate in digital and interactive football games, enjoy a varied food and drink offering, and experience the excitement of the beautiful game from a fresh perspective.
Beyond the regular visitor experience, TOCA Social Guatemala offers the opportunity to host social and corporate events: from birthday parties and gatherings with friends to corporate team-building activities and private viewings of top sporting events. One of the world’s most innovative social entertainment concepts, the TOCA Social franchise is operated in Guatemala by BOCO Entertainment, a local company with extensive experience in the experiential entertainment sector responsible for brands such as Sky Zone and Bounce City.
16. The Timewalk Exhibition
Opens: 23 July until 30 September
Location: London, UK
Experience Sector: Immersive Entertainment
If you grew up watching Back to the Future on repeat and dreaming of time travel, then this ambitious, globe-spanning immersive experience will be right up your alley. Created by DEM Museums, Timewalk takes visitors on a journey through some of humanity’s most influential civilisations, from the world’s earliest known temple complex to the pyramids of Ancient Egypt and the giant stone heads of Easter Island.
Telling the story of civilisation through a contemporary lens, the goal is to make you feel like you’ve stepped into these ancient worlds rather than reading about them on a museum wall. Taking place at entertainment Mecca Immerse LDN, the fully immersive walk-through experience uses large-scale visuals, surround sound, cinematic storytelling and interactive environments to bring thousands of years of human history vividly back to life.
The journey begins at Göbeklitepe in Turkey, one of the world’s oldest known temple complexes dating back 11,000 years. From there you’ll move through a series of ancient cultures that helped to shape the world, passing through the city gates of Babylon, sailing along the Nile, exploring the rituals of Ancient Egypt, discovering how the Mayans used astronomy to understand the cosmos, and learning about the Moai statues on Easter Island.
15. The Obama Presidential Center Museum
Open now
Location: Chicago, US
Experience Sector: Immersive Learning
While its stark Brutalist design has come under fire, the intentions behind the Obama Presidential Center Museum in Chicago’s Jackson Park are pure. Designed by Ralph Appelbaum Associates for people of all ages and abilities, the museum spans four levels and 35,000 square feet, and tells the inspiring story of Barack and Michelle Obama, highlighting their historic roles as America’s first Black President and First Lady. Covering the themes of history, democracy, public service, and the collective power to enact change, visitors can delve into American democracy, explore the achievements of the Obama presidency, and reflect on the collective responsibility to build a better future for the next generations.
Using artefacts, state gifts, immersive media, storytelling, and tactile interactive experiences, at its heart the museum is a story of possibility and how individual actions can come together to create collective change. Highlights include Power of Words, an 88-foot media canvas featuring speech, sound, images, poetry, and art, illustrating how words can inspire action. The YES WE CAN campaign is represented by a dynamic circular gallery showcasing a panoramic installation of volunteer voices alongside crowdsourced campaign artefacts, immersing visitors in the energy of the 2008 grassroots movement. Democracy 101, meanwhile, is an interactive civics exhibit that lets visitors explore how democracy works.
14. My Museum
Open now
Location: Beijing, China
Experience Sector: Immersive Learning
My Museum, China’s first immersive museum that brings together life sciences, philosophy and art, has opened its doors in Beijing, Designed by space experience design firm VAVE, the project transformed a complex academic space into an accessible, emotional, and immersive experience. Grounded in life science and guided by philosophical inquiry, My Museum invites visitors to explore the story of life, from evolution, genetics, medicine, and the human body, to questions of existence and meaning via human physiology and medical progress. Multimedia exhibits and guides are available in Chinese, English, and Spanish.
VAVE’s scope included content curation, spatial design, multimedia R&D, and the development of a visitor journey through which scientific knowledge can be experienced. The result is a space for everyone to ask life’s big questions and reconnect with themselves. Located within Sinovac Life City in Beijing, the museum experience is built around a single question: Who am I? Inside are seven immersive spaces decked out with 23 multimedia installations. The visitor journey guides you through four dimensions: evolution of life, human physiology, health protection, and philosophical contemplation.
13. Smithsonian Starstruck
Open now until 31 August 2026
Location: London, UK
Experience Sector: Immersive Entertainment
If black holes and supernovas get you going then head to the London’s Science Museum this month for Smithsonian Starstruck, a fully interactive virtual reality experience that begins at the Smithsonian’s Whipple Observatory before launching visitors into space aboard one of the world’s most powerful telescopes. Created in collaboration with the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Starstruck transforms astronomical data and imagery into a breathtaking exploration of the universe. Blending cutting-edge immersive tech with science and cinematic storytelling, Starstruck brings the cosmos within tantalising reach.
The first-of-its-kind VR adventure doesn’t just show you the universe, it places you inside it., The experience takes visitors on a dazzling journey through the cosmos, from shimmering galaxies to the edge of a black hole. You’ll meet your guide, Astro, on the summit of Mount Hopkins in Arizona from which you’ll explore the far reaches of the galaxy. On the way you’ll take a detour to the Sun and enjoy feeling the energy that powers all life on Earth. Next you’ll explore Janssen the ‘diamond planet’, an alien landscape covered in molten lava, and witness the dying blast of red supergiant star Betelgeuse as it erupts in a spectacular supernova.
12. Daydream – Air Becomes Art
Opens: 15 July 2026
Location: New York, US
Experience Sector: Immersive Entertainment
Having floated through cities across Europe, North America, and Asia, wowing over eight million visitors in the process with its inflatable installations, the Balloon Museum has found a permanent home at the Tin Building in Lower Manhattan’s Seaport. Created by Lux Entertainment as a fun, unexpected way to experience art, the pop-up museum started life in Italy and soon became a global phenomenon encompassing experiential design, monumental site-specific works and ambitious commissions developed with renowned artists.
The NYC museum will launch with inaugural exhibition Daydream – Air Becomes Art. Featuring a host ofacclaimed names, the show takes visitors on a concept-driven sensory journey where the familiar gives way to the surreal. Designed as a sequence of surreal settings, it features works that use light, sound, colour, reflection, volume, and air as materials, redefining the relationship between body, movement, and space.
At its heart is Marina Abramović‘s new installation, where visitors move through a field of tall inflatable grass and swirling artificial snow, immersed in a glowing white world reminiscent of a wintery meadow. Turner Prize winner Martin Creed fills a room with hundreds of blue balloons, creating a playful encounter with density and absence, while Alex Schweder’s giant mirrored ball transforms air and light into architectural media through fabric-covered lungs that rise and fall as it breathes. In Black Hole Horizon, Thom Kubli releases soap bubbles that drift through the room in a shifting choreography.
11. Disney Immersive MRI Experience
Opens: 15 July 2026
Location: New York, US
Experience Sector: Immersive Entertainment
Hoping to make scans less intimidating for children undergoing diagnostic imaging, Royal Philips have collaborated with Disney to bring its characters and storytelling into MRI suites. The initiative will see Disney-themed content incorporated into Philips’ Ambient Experience for MRI platform at healthcare facilities in 87 countries around the world. The immersive environment combines lighting, sound and visual elements to help children feel more comfortable during procedures that require them to keep still for extended periods. Children will be able to choose from a range of Disney franchises, including Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Marvel superheroes, Star Wars characters and Disney Princesses.
Encouragingly, a study involving six European hospitals found that stress levels among children aged 6-10 fell by 43% following scans using Disney-themed Ambient Experience settings. The research also reported a 63% reduction in scan pauses compared with standard procedures. Among the first hospitals to adopt the tech are Rady Children’s Health in San Diego and Calderdale Royal Hospital in Halifax. Over 100 NHS sites with the Philips MRI scanner will be eligible to incorporate the Disney content at no extra cost to the NHS.
10. Kynren – The Storied Lands
Opens: 15 July 2026
Location: New York, US
Experience Sector: Immersive Entertainment
Taking the idea of the theme part to dramatic new heights, Kynren – The Storied Lands will be the UK’s first live-action historical park when it opens in Bishop Auckland in Country Durham on 18 July. Instead of adrenaline-pumping rides and rollercoasters, the park will keep visitors entertained with live shows and immersive experiences that tell spine-chilling tales from Neolithic Britain, the Vikings and Victorian England. Inside the park you’ll find a giant oval-shaped arena designed to resemble a bird’s nest, which will host ‘The Lost Feather’ show featuring 300 live birds.
Don’t miss the stunt-filled performance telling the legend of the Lambton Worm, in which a man called John Lambton battles with a giant worm-like creature that has been terrorising local villages. Topping them all will be ‘Fina’, an epic spectacle where medieval knights clash on horseback, and a fearless female warrior’s courage and skills are put to the test in an epic display of horsemanship, daring stunts and pyrotechnics. Experiences inspired by Robin Hood, Excalibur and the Tudors will launch at the park later in the year. “You won’t just witness history – you’ll live it, feel it, and be moved by it,” says CEO Anna Warnecke.
9. Smithsonian Dreams
Opens: 17-18 July 2026
Location: Washington D.C., US
Experience Sector: Immersive Entertainment
Refik Anadol is very much the man of the moment. The in-demand digital artist has leant his talents to the Smithsonian Castle in Washington D.C., which is set to be transformed this month into an AI-driven immersive art experience called ‘Smithsonian Dreams’ by Anadol. The free, large-scale, multi-sensory experience on the National Mall will be shown for two nights only on 17 and 18 July from 9pm, transforming the historic building into an immersive spectacle of light, sound and visuals. The installation uses a custom AI system to reinterpret nearly two centuries of Smithsonian collections and research.
The project drew on millions of digitised items, including specimens, manuscripts, photos, artworks, objects and records, turning the data into a continuously evolving visual experience projected across the building. The Smithsonian’s collections contain over 157 million objects and specimens, 2.1m library volumes, and around 156,000 cubic feet of archival materials, which formed the base for Smithsonian Dreams. “For me, data is a form of memory,” Anadol said. “Smithsonian Dreams asks what might emerge if that vast memory could become dynamic, if the castle could learn from its collections and dream through them.”
8. Sea Of Cortes
Open now
Location: Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
Experience Sector: Immersive Learning
Created by OG WXO member, Cocolab, the Sea of Cortes is a new immersive show at the Discovery Center on the Marina in Cabo San Lucas. It was built around a simple idea: what if instead of showing people the Sea of Cortez, you let them cross into it? The vision was created through 360° floor-to-ceiling projection, sand underfoot, layered sound design, and a four-act narrative that takes you from the shoreline to the depths of the ocean. The Sea of Cortez holds one third of the world’s marine mammals and 900 species of fish in waters surrounded by arid desert. Cocolab’s founders felt that paradox deserved more than a film.
Jacques Cousteau called it ‘the world’s aquarium’, and the currents that feed it are the reason hundreds of thousands of creatures converge there in a single, recurring instant. That convergence, that miracle in motion, is what you can experience at the Discovery Center. From the threshold of stillness that opens the journey to the participatory sanctuary that closes it, every moment is built for visitors to leave feeling part of something larger than themselves. Available for international touring, the Sea of Cortes is a multisensory immersive experience designed not to show you that ecosystem, but to let you cross over into it.
7. Tokyo Nights
Open now until 8 July 2026
Location: London, UK
Experience Sector: Live Events
If you’re a fan of sumo, sushi and sake then you’re not going to want to miss Tokyo Nights, which brings the thrills and spills of a sumo match to Borough Hall in Greenwich. The event unites former professional sumo wrestlers in the UK capital. To heighten the feeling that you’re in Tokyo, the venue has been retrofitted with neon, screens, and a dohyō ring.
While watching the sporting giants tussle you’re encouraged to pick a side while you sip sake and chow down on a three-course Japanese meal whipped up by Sticks’n’Sushi. Expect sumo mania to ensue. Design elements are inspired Ryōgoku, Tokyo’s sumo heartland, and mix neon street energy with the formality of traditional sumo competition.
You can pick from three seating zones – the balcony seats up in the gods keep you at a safe distance from the action, while the more dare devil action zones give you a front row seat to the drama – close enough to feel the impact when a wrestler hits the clay. Adding to the interactive nature spectators are cast as members of a heya – the training centre where wrestlers live, eat colossal amounts of food and practice their craft, turning what could be passive event into something more exciting.
6. Iris Van Herpen: Sculpting The Senses
Open now until 6 December 2026
Location: New York, US
Experience Sector: Museums, Immersive Fashion
The Brooklyn Museum is shining a light on Dutch designer Iris van Herpen at its bold new show, Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses, which celebrates one of the most forward-thinking fashion designers working in the industry today. Featuring no less than 140 eye-catching haute-couture creations, contemporary artworks, objets d’art and scientific artifacts, it’s a must for fashionistas. The designs on view include the avant-garde, sculptural garments that have made van Herpen a catwalk disruptor. Her ethereal, futuristic pieces celebrate classic craftsmanship and cutting-edge tech such as 3D printing and laser cutting.
A pioneer in the use of new technologies, van Herpen transcends conventional clothing norms while embracing both traditional couture artisanship and innovative techniques. Ranging from the micro to the macro, the exhibition explores the body’s place in space, its relationship to clothing and its environment, and its future in a rapidly changing world. Along with garments that have been sported by cultural icons such as Beyoncé, Björk and Lady Gaga, Sculpting the Senses also features rare archival materials and a soundscape by composer Salvador Breed for a full multisensory experience.
5. Science Experiences
Open now
Location: Paris, France
Experience Sector: Immersive Learning
Science might not be the first thing you think of when you think of Paris, but a visit to the Science Expériences is a must for anyone who likes to geek out on STEM. During your visit you’ll get to interact with scientific mediators with backgrounds in medicine, biology, physics or chemistry, who will break down complex concepts into simpler steps. Each space within the educational experience is designed to encourage immersion and awaken the senses. Smells, sounds, scenery and special effects make for a memorable visit. You’ll move along a guided path designed to spark discovery, winding up in a practical workshop where you can put your learnings to the test.
At the crossroads between an amusement park and a science museum, Science Expériences explores science through entertainment, with the goal of inspiring wonder, curiosity, and learning through immersive and innovative formats such as virtual reality, video mapping, and multisensory presentations. The journey is an invitation to travel from the far reaches of the universe to the depths of the ocean in the abyss room, passing through the centre of the Earth, and ending with a live science show. Visitors are active participants and can create artworks using their brainwaves, feel the effects of a cyclone, admire the northern lights, and, if they’re brave enough, challenge static electricity by receiving a 400,000-volt charge.
4. Grease: The Immersive Movie Musical
Opens: 22 July until 13 September 2026
Location: London, UK
Experience Sector: Live Events, Immersive Entertainment
Secret Cinema is back with a bang, turning Battersea Park into Rydell High this summer for Greece: The Immersive Movie Musical, which returns to the park for a second year running. Allowing moviegoers to become part of the action, the two-and-a-half-hour show based on the 1978 film starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John features a cast of 30 performers, which this year include Kaiser Chiefs frontman Ricky Wilson as Teen Angel, with Stephanie Costi and Giórgios Michaelídes reprising their roles as Sandy and Danny.
Giant multi-screen platforms turn the venue into a theatrical experience. With the movie playing all around you and events at every turn, you’ll live the film from start to finish. Expect a funfair, DJs spinning ‘50s tracks, milkshakes and waffle fries at Frosty’s Palace diner, and getting greasy at the auto repair shop. Laid out across multiple themed locations, the film will be aired on a series of screens dotted around the park, allowing those wanting to get involved in the interactive elements the chance to keep up with Sandy and co by training with Coach Calhoun, cheering on the T-Birds, and taking part in a choir practice.
It’s a Secret Cinema first, as in the past interactive fun came first followed by a sit down movie screening. This new format allows for a more fully immersive experience and for audience members to feel more closely connect to the film. You’ll be able to get up close and personal with the live actors playing the different characters as you navigate your way around Rydell High. Due to popular demand, this year’s event will feature even more themed Roam and Return seating, allowing audiences to explore the experience and return to dedicated seating at Frosty Diner or The Drive-In.
3. Wonders Of Our World: Ocean
Open now
Location: Washington D.C., US
Experience Sector: Immersive Learning
The much in-demand Moment Factory have worked their magic again, this time at the National Geographic Museum of Exploration, which recently opened in Washington D.C. Working both in and outside the venue, Moment Factory are behind three of the major activations there, all of which were designed to inspire awe and wonder. Outdoor after dark experience Wonders of our World: Ocean has transformed the museum’s courtyard with an immersive, 360-degree ocean-themed experience featuring video projections, dynamic lighting, spatialised sound, and an orchestral score that highlights the ocean’s raw power and remarkable biodiversity.
The 17-minute experience features footage captured by National Geographic explorers layered with custom visual effects that extend its textures, colours, and movements. Geoverse, meanwhile, forms part of the museum’s dedicated hub for hands-on education. The flexible, feature-rich space is equipped with a 270-degree projection surface, an interactive floor, and spatialised audio. It launched with ‘A Day in the Desert’, an interactive experience inviting children to explore the plant and animal life of Australia’s Great Victoria Desert through gameplay. Moment Factory was also behind Photo Ark: Animals of Earth, an immersive multi-room touring exhibition featuring over 1,000 striking portraits by explorer Joel Sartore designed to inspire viewers to help protect at-risk species from extinction.
2. Eatrenalin
Open now
Location: Europa-Park, Rust, Germany
Experience Sector: Immersive Fine Dining
Proving that fun and fine dining aren’t mutually exclusive, Eatrenalin, the madcap multi-sensory restaurant within Germany’s Europa-Park has just been awarded a Michelin star. Serving 16 diners at a time, guests take their seats on patented floating chairs by Mack Rides and are whisked through 10 themed rooms where an eight-course menu is served. Created by Europa-Park managing partner Thomas Mack and Oliver Altherr, CEO of Marché International, the restaurant opened in 2022 and is now under the culinary guidance of chef Peter Hagen-Wiest, who has held two stars at Ammolite – House of Light for 12 years.
Since Hagen-Wiest took over in May 2025, Eatrenalin’s food offering has gone up a gear, with Michelin describing a meal there as “a unique, almost futuristic gastronomic experience”. The star has spurred its founders on to expand the Eatrenalin concept internationally. Dinner begins with an apéritif and amuse-bouches in the Champagne room, then moves to the Waterfall room (complete with an LED waterfall) where diners are introduced to their AI host, Lina. In the Discovery room diners are assigned their floating seats that carry them from room to room, rotating and tipping back to guide diners’ attention to certain special effects. In the Ocean room yellowtail sashimi is served to dreamy projections of drifting jellyfish.
In the Taste room the chairs tip back to draw diners’ attention to the graphics on the ceiling, while in the Universe room people eat beneath a giant hanging globe. In the Japanese-inspired Umami room you’ll be served black cod with a sweet miso glaze, and duck gyoza with shiitake mushrooms paired with plenty of sake. Next you’re taken into the control room of a spaceship and are rocketed into the cosmos, landing on the moon, where you can enjoy a heart-stopping view of Earth while you eat your main course in the near-dark. For a final flourish, dessert descents from a light fixture suspended from the ceiling. The experience ends in the Incarnation room where AI assistant Lina has transformed into a human.
1. Frida Kahlo: The Making Of An Icon
Open now until 3 January 2027
Location: London, UK
Experience Sector: Immersive Art
I’m old enough to remember the last time the Tate Modern put on a major retrospective of revolutionary Mexican painter Frida Kahlo. It’s current blockbuster show – Frida: The Making of an Icon, highlights how the world has changed over the last 20 years in our social media era. This year’s spectacle tells the story of how Kahlo became one of the most influential artists of all time, a cultural phenomenon, and an internationally recognised commercial icon that many different communities claim as their own.
Perhaps disappointingly for die-hard Frida fans, you’ll only get to see 34 original works at the exhibition, as, given her rising popularity, her paintings are proving harder for galleries to loan. The paintings and drawings that are on view demonstrate the many faces of Frida Kahlo: the wife, the intellectual, the artist, and the activist. Alongside treasured garments, jewellery, photographs and memorabilia, the show features works by her contemporaries and the artists she inspired from later generations, celebrating her lasting impact on those who continue to reimagine and reclaim her remarkable story.
Look out for Mary McCartney’s striking photo of artist Tracey Emin dressed as Frida lying on a bed. The show ends with an exploration of ‘Fridamania’ and Kahlo’s transformation into a global brand in a section that includes over 200 commercial objects that encompass her art, image, style and persona. We’re imagining plant pots, socks, tote bags and tea cups aplenty. For the full 360-degree experience you can top off your visit with a Frida Kahlo-themed lunch at the gallery’s restaurant created by Mexican wunderkind Santiago Lastra of KOL.
