Here are 27 of the most groundbreaking, thrilling, and thought-provoking experiences that we think will define the future of experiences.
All 27 opened late 2022 or are opening in January 2023.
This list was selected by the WXO team, from experiences submitted by our friends, followers, and members.
We’ll be sharing more extraordinary experiences opening in 2023 later this month, and every month.
So if you’re working on an experience you’d like us to consider, please share YOUR Extraordinary Experience here.
We’d especially love to see entries from around the globe – while we love our home city of London, we know that extraordinary doesn’t just happen in big cities!
1. Wonderland Dreams by Alexa Meade
Opened: Oct 2022
Location: New York City, US
Experience Sector: Immersive
If you fancy going down the rabbit hole in the Big Apple then hoof it to Wonderland Dreams, a trippy immersive art experience masterminded by storytelling specialist Catching Flights, which takes place in a 26,000-square-foot space in midtown Manhattan boasting 20 themed rooms painted by contemporary artist Alexa Meade.
Among the interactive installations is a living art gallery that puts visitors inside the frame, a secret rose garden and an Instagram-worthy Queen of Hearts throne. If you’re thirsty after all that mind-bending co-creation, head to the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party-themed bar for colour-changing cocktails, tiny cupcakes and giant cookies. This year looks set to be a huge one for genre-bending immersive experiences. Curiouser and curiouser…
2. Alice’s Adventures Underground
Opens: March 2023
Location: London, UK
Experience Sector: Immersive, Experiential Dining
Speaking of Wonderland, in March Londoners can get their Lewis Carroll fix at Alice’s Adventures Underground, the first show to debut at dedicated immersive theatre space Labyrinth, nestled beneath Waterloo station. Created by Les Enfants Terribles, the 90-minute experience merges storytelling, music, circus and puppetry, and puts the audience at the heart of the action, allowing them to choose their own adventure.
If you’re feeling peckish after your mind-bending encounters with the Cheshire Cat and pipe-smoking caterpillar, then swing by the venue’s in-house restaurant, the Rosarium, inspired by the English gardens of Carroll’s era, before grabbing a cocktail at the Underland bar.
3. Dot Swoosh
Opened: Nov 2022
Location: Virtual
Experience Sector: Metaverse
Having made a splash in the much-hyped metaverse with the acquisition of NFT studio RTFKT in 2021, Nike has upped its Web3 presence with the launch of digital marketplace .Swoosh, where fans can snap up its virtual products. The experimental digital space will launch its first virtual collection of trainers, clothes and accessories in January.
On the platform members will be able to collect and trade the virtual items with cash rather than crypto, with all transactions logged on the Polygon chain. Adding to its allure will be the chance for competition winners to co-design a pair of virtual kicks for the online store and bag a percentage of the royalties – just do it!
4. Avora London
Opened: Nov 2022
Location: London, UK
Experience Sector: Experiential Dining
If you like your cocktails with a dash of adventure then Avora might be for you. Housed inside the Rosewood Building in London’s Hoxton, the venture claims to be the world’s first carbon neutral immersive experience. Chiming with the trend for eco-friendly experiences, on arrival, visitors don jumpsuits before entering an ethereal, Avatar-esque world being exploited for its natural resources by a fictional billionaire.
Guests are given the choice of working for the malevolent mogul or rebelling against him in a bid to save Avora. Along the way there are chances to create your own cocktail from freshly foraged ingredients, enjoy a zero-waste drink in an edible cup, and sip on a colour-changing cocktail to help you acclimatise to Avora’s atmosphere. A tree will be planted within reforestation projects for every ticket sold.
5. Columbia Pictures Aquaverse
Opened: Nov 2022
Location: Thailand
Experience Sector: Themed Attractions
Entertainment giant Sony has plunged into the attractions arena with the launch of The Aquaverse, a theme park and water park rolled into one in. Set across 14 acres in Pattaya, in Thailand’s developing Eastern Economic Corridor, Columbia Pictures Aquaverse features attractions inspired by popular Sony Group movies, including Jumanji, Ghostbusters, Bad Boys, and Hotel Transylvania.
The park boasts a mix of land attractions, water features, themed zones, restaurants and live entertainment, and is expected to attract over a million visitors a year. The venture marks Sony’s foray into location-based entertainment, making it a direct competitor with Disney and Universal Studios.
6. Monopoly Lifesized
Opened: Dec 2022
Location: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Experience Sector: Competitive Socializing
With the trend for competitive socializing heating up, there will be no more fighting over who gets to be the Scottie dog, as a real-life version of Hasbro’s popular property game Monopoly has opened in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia following the success of the London original.
Masterminded by the Path Entertainment Group and Saudi’s Al Hokair Group, Monopoly Lifesized is an 80-minute on-your-feet version of the family favourite, played on a 15m x 15m life-sized Monopoly board. Players compete against the clock in a series of tasks that take place in various challenge rooms for a chance to buy properties in Saudi’s plushest districts, solving murder mysteries and code breaking along the way. Head to the Top Hat restaurant afterwards for a post game debrief.
7. Tokyo Art City Brussels
Opened: Dec 2022
Location: Brussels, Belgium
Experience Sector: Immersive
Created by Japanese digital art company Naked Inc. and Belgium’s MB Presents, Tokyo Art City takes visitors deep into the heart of one of the world’s most fascinating and idiosyncratic cities. The interactive light, sound and VR show featuring never-before-seen digital projections is centred around the Yamanote Line – Tokyo’s busiest urban train line that shuttles over 4.5 million passengers a day – taking visitors past the towering Shinjuku skyscrapers and cherry tree-filled Ueno Park via the rainbow bridges in Odaiba and the crowded streets of Akihabara.
Putting guests at the heart of the action, in keeping with the current trend for co-creation, body movements are transformed into art using cutting-edge tech, allowing each visitor to make their mark on the experience by engaging with the projections.
8. MAGENTAVERSE
Opened: Dec 2022
Location: Miami, US
Experience Sector: Immersive
The annual announcement of Pantone’s Colour of The Year has become something of an event. Keen to be down with the kids, the firm has gone a step further than having its latest hue appear on phones and sneakers, creating an immersive experience at Art Basel Miami around its chosen shade for 2023 – magenta.
A 10,000 square foot, two-floor space has been dedicated to the vivid pink hue, which symbolises the “unconventional time” we’re living in. Designed by Artechouse Studio, the US$1 million exhibition – named MAGENTAVERSE – features a cornucopia of multisensory experiences, including a room inspired by NASA’s moon landing, and a space where magenta is used in a series of LED animations. After Miami Pantone will be taking the show to New York and Washington.
9. Universal’s Great Movie Escape
Opened: Dec 2022
Location: Orlando, US
Experience Sector: Competitive Socializing
Universal Orlando has launched a duo of escape room experiences for 2023 in an Art Deco-inspired theatre. Dubbed Universal’s Great Movie Escape, the attraction is based around fan favourites Jurassic World and Back to the Future. The brains behind the venture worked with filmmakers and escape room experts to create detailed themed surroundings and original storylines, allowing visitors to feel like they’re living inside the movie.
Each adventure includes eight environments featuring customised challenges that can be adjusted based on skill levels. In Jurassic World: Escape you can get busy splicing dinosaur DNA in a secret lab on Isla Nublar while avoiding being eaten by an apex predator, or be transported to 1993 at Back to the Future: Outatime, to help Doc Brown thwart Biff’s efforts to disrupt the space-time continuum.
10. Immersive Gatsby
Opens: March 2023
Location: New York City, US
Experience Sector: Immersive
The UK’s longest-running immersive show – Immersive Everywhere’s hit production of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s famed novel The Great Gatsby – will make its US debut in New York this spring following a successful seven-year run in Britain.
The immersive experience, boasting a 14-strong cast, will open in the ballroom at Park Central Hotel on Seventh Avenue in March, which has been transformed into Gatsby’s mansion, transporting visitors back to the wild nights of the Roaring Twenties, complete with bootleg liquor and jazz beats. Guests are invited to dress in 1920s attire and are free to either become part of the storyline by interacting with the cast, or watch the action unfold from the sidelines as Jay Gatsby is inclined to do.
11. Fairgame
Opened: Dec 2022
Location: London, UK
Experience Sector: Competitive Socializing
Londoners seeking to indulge their inner kid should head to Fairgame in Canary Wharf, a “first -of-its-kind immersive fairground experience” for adults. The brainchild of Gymbox founder Richard Hilton, who is keen to capitalise on the competitive socializing trend, at the adults-only playground stressed City workers can cut loose after a long day in the office.
Featuring fairground favourites like whack-a-mole and duck shoot, players don RFID wristbands, allowing them to log their scores, track their performance and battle it out for a giant pink teddy – and the bragging rights that go with their win. The amusement park features a giant hook-a-duck floating installation, a trio of bars serving fairground-themed cocktails, and oodles of street food stalls.
12. Astra Lumina
Opened: Dec 2022, closes 15 January 2023
Location: Los Angeles, US
Experience Sector: Immersive
Created by the magnificent minds at Canadian collective Moment Factory, Astra Lumina LA is the 17th experience in the Lumina Night Walk series. Taking place until 15 January across the 87-acre South Coast Botanic Garden, the enchanting night walk features nine light, sound and projection installations connecting amblers to the stars above their heads.
During the one-hour journey you’ll venture through scenes that interpret the arrival of the stars: archways pulse with light and mist, lanterns spell out a stargazing journey, shooting stars dart down a cylindrical frame, and shimmering bulbs blanket the forest floor amid atmospheric fog and coloured lasers. The lighting and sound are top notch, and the installations are well paced, so be sure to check it out while you still can.
13. Time
Opened: Dec 2022 (until 23 April 2023)
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Experience Sector: Immersive
Melbourne street artist Rone has taken over the iconic Flinders Street Station in an ambitious immersive installation that runs until 23 April. Called Time, the building takeover sees eleven rooms across the hidden upper levels and ballroom transformed into a nostalgic mid-century time capsule. The work honours the blue-collar workers of post-WWII-era Melbourne, who passed through the station each day to work in nearby factories, offices and shops.
To create the optical illusion, Rone used old photos and worked with composer Nick Batterham, set builder director Callum Preston and set decorator Carly Spooner to piece together a vision for each room, from a library and classroom to a newsagent. The aim is for visitors to be unsure where the artwork ends and the building begins.
14. DuckTales World Showcase Adventure
Opened: Dec 2022
Location: Florida, US
Experience Sector: Themed Attractions
Fans of Huey, Dewey and Louie are in for a treat this year as a new DuckTales game has opened at Epcot. Dubbed the DuckTales World Showcase Adventure, visitors to the park can take part in the interactive scavenger hunt via the Play Disney Parks app. The aim is to help Scrooge and his family hunt down the 7 Plunders of the World, with missions in the Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, Japan, France and UK pavilions.
Taking in thieves, villains and supernatural guardians of ancient artefacts, the missions take around 25 minutes, culminating in a final mission once all seven are completed, with each finished mission unlocking an achievement in the app to encourage you to continue your quest.
15. Banksy Was Here: The Exhibition
Opened: Dec 2022
Location: Philadelphia, US
Experience Sector: Museums & Attractions
Elusive English street artist Banksy is the subject of a dedicated immersive exhibition in Philadelphia. The multimedia show, called Banksy Was Here: The Exhibition, shines a light on the vision, impact and mystery surrounding the artist. Taking place at the Philadelphia Fashion District, the brainchild of Fever and Exhibition Hub features over 80 Banksy artworks – including Girl with Balloon – sculptures, installations, videos and photos from private collections.
While parts of the show have toured separately, the Philly run marks the world premiere of the full exhibition, which takes attendees deep into the world of the Bristol-born street artist, offering an immersive educational journey through Banksy’s controversial career. Expect to come up close and personal with his portrait of Lenin, Fallen Angels and Monkey Detonator.
16. Museum of the Future
Opened: Dec 2022
Location: Dubai, UAE
Experience Sector: Museums & Attractions
Ever wondered what the future might look like? A bold new exhibition at the Museum of the Future in Dubai aims to answer that question. The brainchild of German studio Atelier Brueckner and Killa Design, Journey of the Pioneers takes you forward in time to 2071 and is split into three sections focusing on life in space, bioengineering developments, and the future of wellbeing.
Each district was designed using different materials and methods to represent their distinct but interconnected narratives. In the space section, which features 3D printed surfaces, visitors can marvel over a digital image of Earth 50 years from now. An immersive ‘digital Amazon’ meanwhile, comes complete with rain sounds and dancing clouds, while in the wellbeing section visitors can relax and reconnect with their senses, turning the trip into a functional experience.
17. INTER_
Opened: Dec 2022
Location: New York City, US
Experience Sector: Immersive
In keeping with the current trend for brain-boosting functional experiences, Manhattan’s latest immersive art experience, INTER, is more meditation retreat than gallery by design. The multi-sensory museum in Soho takes guests on a journey into a heightened state of contemplative awareness through a sound bath, light installations and digital art with a side dish of meditation.
Aiming to blur the lines between the visitor and their environment, the space, masterminded by artist Pete Sax, questions how memory is experienced. Inside a sensory dome, abstract generative art fills the walls with images representing connection and birth to an ambient soundtrack and 360-degree projections that respond to visitors’ movements, while audio cues help you to stay present. The venue also features a vibrating gong room and gallery space exploring the collective memory of the experience.
18. Ferrari World
Opened: 12 Jan 2023
Location: Abu Dhabi, UAE
Experience Sector: Themed Attractions
Adrenaline junkies listen up, as Ferrari World Abu Dhabi has just launched a 5D “immersive mega coaster” that combines special effects with stunning sets. Called Mission Ferrari, the speedy ride isn’t for the faint-hearted, being the first roller coaster in the world with a sideways drop.
The heart-thumping attraction is the latest addition to the motoring-inspired theme park’s numerous record-breaking rides, including the Formula Rossa – the world’s fastest roller coaster. Annual pass holders are being given exclusive access to the ride ahead of its official opening on 12 January. To calm your nerves afterwards, you can wind down during a roof-walking experience at the site, which takes in sweeping views of Yas Island.
19. Apaches de Paris
Opened: 13 Jan 2023
Location: Paris, France
Experience Sector: Immersive, Experiential Dining, Competitive Socializing
Part immersive theatre, part themed bar and part life-size role-playing game, Paris Apaches transports you back to the murkier side of Belle Epoque Paris. Set in 1907, the two-hour adventure at Café Grevin is full of unexpected twists and turns, and includes two vintage drinks, from Absinthe to Suze, to get you in the mood.
The brainchild of Sculptures de Rêves, revellers are at the heart of the action, which sees two rival gangs: the Wolves of the Butte and the Tombeurs of the Goutte d’Or attempt to take possession of the bar to make it their new HQ. Given the chance to influence the narrative, expect to become a master at street fighting by the end of the evening, while polishing your dancing skills.
20. Saint Jude
Opening: 16 Jan 2023 (until 11 March)
Location: London, UK
Experience Sector: Immersive
An exhilarating, genre-bending interactive experience combining immersive storytelling with cutting-edge AI that blurs the line between fantasy and reality, Saint Jude is the latest offering from immersive entertainment pioneers Swamp Motel. Hot on the heels of Swamp Motel’s last offering, The Drop, the location-based experience, which features both live actors and AI-powered characters, was created in partnership with AI specialist Charisma.
Taking place in a mysterious government building in Westminster, fictional firm St. Jude’s provides comfort and conversation to people in lifelong comas. Encouraging visitors to influence the narrative, audience members can communicate directly with the brainwaves of the coma patients via AI software that transforms brainwaves into speech in seconds, allowing attendees to unravel the stories behind their condition.
21. David Hockney: Bigger & Closer (not smaller & further away)
Opening: 25 Jan 2023 (until 23 April)
Location: London, UK
Experience Sector: Museums & Attractions
He may be 85, but English painter David Hockney is down with the kids when it comes to tech, creating landscapes and portraits on his iPad as well as giant canvases. His latest exploration into the digital world is an immersive exhibition in London. With immersive art on fire right now, Hockney has played a pivotal role in the creation of the show, called ‘Bigger & Closer (not smaller and further away)’, which launches on 25 January at Lightroom in King’s Cross.
The show spans six themed chapters that take visitors on an immersive journey through Hockney’s colourful career, from his birth in Yorkshire and LA stint in the ‘60s to his current abode in Normandy, via polaroid collages, iconic artworks like his cool blue California swimming pools, set designs and commissioned pieces accompanied by a Nico Muhly soundtrack and commentary from Hockney.
22. The Alchemist
Opening: Jan 2023
Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Experience sector: Competitive socializing
The team at Dutch escape room company Sherlocked, the brains behind existing experiences The Architect and The Vault, return to Amsterdam with their “most magical adventure yet”. Over three years in the making, this live escape room comes “bursting with technomagic, smoking potions and a dangerous ritual”.
In the six weeks leading up to launch, people could compete in series of Instagram puzzles, with the winner getting – alongside a VIP tickets and backstage tour – a two-night stay at aparthotel Zoku, the site of Sherlocked’s innovative lockdown project (read the full case study here). The competitive socializing trend shows no signs of slowing down, and we think these Dutch pioneers are one to watch in the escape room sector.
23. The Gunpowder Plot
Opening: Jan 2023
Location: London, UK
Experience sector: Immersive
This explosive event at Tower Vaults inside the iconic Tower of London tells the story of Guy Fawkes’ infamous 1605 plot to blow up parliament. Starring Harry Potter pinup Tom Felton, The Gunpowder Plot Experience sheds new light on the well-known tale. Putting the audience at the epicentre, the 360-degree performing space delivers a fully immersive experience blending live and virtual actors. Theatregoers can don VR headsets and take a boat trip down the Thames to explore the Houses of Parliament and Tower of London as the events of Fawkes’ story on the fateful night of 5 November are re-enacted. The goal for writer Danny Robbins is for visitors to feel like they’ve been transported back to Jacobean London and are part of the story.
24. Disney Animation: Immersive Experience
Opening: Jan & Feb 2023
Location: Across the US & Canada
Experience sector: Immersive
Disney Animation has partnered with Toronto-based Lighthouse Immersive Studios to launch an immersive live experience built around its iconic back catalogue of films, offering “an unprecedented behind-the-scenes look” at how they were created. The Disney Animation Immersive Experience debuted in December at Lighthouse’s original facility, a former printing press bay for the Toronto Star.
The experience will be rolled out to 10 US cities this spring, and a further 10 cities later in the year, followed by an international rollout. Lasting 90 minutes, on entering the venue visitors don a wristband that triggers various interactive experiences featuring imagery and music from Disney hits like Frozen, Moana, The Lion King, Rapunzel and Encanto, alongside older classics like Fantasia and Snow White, allowing you to see the hand of the animators in each.
25. The Guardians of the Mountain
Opening: Jan 2023
Location: Paris, France
Experience sector: Immersive
Masterminded by French sound experience specialists Onyo, The Guardians of the Mountain takes attendees on an aural journey that encourages you to question current norms and take action in order to protect the planet.
Exploring the link between nature and the human body, the audio is experienced as a lived journey, with participants sitting in a circle, eyes closed, pebble in hand, to help strengthen the connection to the natural world in the narrative. Utilising cutting-edge spatialised sound, an interactive light sculpture and immersive writing that puts the participant at the centre of the story, the evolving soundscape aims to “free the imagination and reinforce our living connections”. (WXO Members interested in hearing more should make sure to attend our WXO Campfire on 25 January, when Onyo’s Co-Founder Charlotte-Amélie Veaux will be talking about Regenerative Experiences That Reimagine The Future.)
26. Emergence
Opening: Jan 2023
Location: London, UK
Experience sector: Immersive
Regular readers of Radar and our trend pieces will know that we’re really excited about the developing trend for functional experiences: those that make people smarter, happier and more fulfilled. So we’re intrigued by this immersive audio-visual installation by This is Loop, which premieres at Canary Wharf’s Winter Lights Festival.
The large-scale sculpture combines moving light and a soundscape by the all-female NYX choir to create a meditative “moment of escape” for those passing by.
This is Loop co-founders Harriet Lumby and Alan Hayes borrowed ideas about the positive effects of light on wellbeing and the mood-shifting powers of light and sound (see fellow sound and light-based experiences Dreamachine and The Hum for more on this topic). Emergence is free and accessible to all members of the community and is a truly collaborative artwork.
27. Bob Marley One Love Experience
Opening: Jan 2023
Location: Los Angeles, US
Experience sector: Museums & Attractions
An expansive immersive experience celebrating reggae legend Bob Marley, complete with photographs, oodles of music and a pair of Bob’s shoes. The ‘Bob Marley: One Love Experience’ will open at Ovation Hollywood, following successful runs in London and Toronto. The 15,000-square foot experience includes unseen photographs, concert videos, lyric sheets, and rare memorabilia like guitars, a football jersey, trainers and art that highlight Marley’s influence. There’s even a Marley-branded pinball machine, a jukebox and foosball tables.
Produced by the Marley Family and Terrapin Station Entertainment, the show includes a huge One Love Forest, which promises to take visitors on a trip to Jamaica via a multi-sensory environment featuring a cannabis garden. Fans are greeted with headphones at the Soul Shakedown studio to bliss out to a curated playlist in the silent disco.
More Extraordinary Experiences coming soon. To submit your Extraordinary Experience, fill out our form here.
