On
Sunday, my husband, Andrew and I had an “otherworldly” experience that
definitely lives up to its name. Otherworld is a new out-of-this-world
interactive and hands-on sci-fi/fantasy experience that is a mixture of experiences
for all ages.
For
those of us who grew up in the 80s, part of it felt a bit like being trapped
inside a video game (“Tron”)
Fear
not, Otherworld is far from needing an ‘R’ rating. There’s one room kids (of
all ages!) will love that is straight out of “Monsters Inc.” However, it makes
more sense when entering the bedroom first. Otherwise, if you go in the back
door
you will literally crawl out from under the bed,
 |
| Entrance |
 |
| Exit |
which, depending on how
busy the room is and where your travel companion is, could scare the crap out
of someone not expecting to see someone suddenly emerge from underneath the
bed. Actually, it’s really not that scary as a small child could just about
stand up under the bed as it’s somewhat raised off the ground to make a tunnel
more feasible. Sorry about the spoiler alert, but you still need to see if for
yourself.
Not
sure which room was my favorite – but I did quite like the one designed like an
office complete with a desk and a couple bookshelves (with appropriately
strangely titled books).
There’s also a laptop where apparently ‘visitors can
access hidden files…..including telephone numbers that trigger actions
elsewhere in the space when dialed from the nearby phone.’* I also liked the
book art hanging from the ceiling (having recently seen a similar installation
in San Francisco near the City Lights Bookstore). *Andy
Downing (Columbus Alive, June 6, 2019)
If
you wanted to visit Yayoi Kusama’s many mirrored rooms installation at the
Cleveland Museum of Art last year and weren’t able to snag tickets (the tickets
for that sold out faster than you can say “Hamilton”), fear not, many of the
rooms in “Otherworld” seem heavily influenced by master Kusama, and tickets to Otherworld
cost less than her installation and is like 100x bigger.
In
case you get weary of going from room to room in the 32,000 square foot
building, there are many comfy places to rest (making me wish for my own room
like this at home).
I also found the virtual aquarium area to be peaceful and
relaxing.
There’s
so much you could say about this place, and the excitement gradually builds as
you wander further and further into the maze of rooms. I doubt anyone leaves
feeling they didn’t get their money’s worth. I would only caution that anyone
with limited mobility might not get the whole experience of being able to utilize all the tunnels and small spaces, but I can say that most, if not all, the
rooms are wheelchair accessible. I would also suggest allowing at least two to
three hours to try and see as much as possible, though there are so many
details that’s nearly impossible in one visit.
For
more information, be sure to check out:
Here’s
a link to my flickr photos from Otherworld: https://www.flickr.com/photos/authorwannabe/
Website
for Otherworld: https://otherworldohio.com/
Location:
5819 Chantry Dr, Columbus (Reynoldsburg), 43232
July
hours: Thurs & Sun 11am – 8pm, Fri & Sat 11am – 10pm, Mon-Wed closed
Ticket
prices: Children 3-12 $18, Seniors & Military $20, General Admission $22
No comments:
Post a Comment