The Experience Drop #3

EXPERIENCE WATCH: 18 EXPERIENCES OPEN NOW & COMING SOON ??

Our monthly edit of new Extraordinary Experiences worldwide has arrived, and we've spotted a few experience trends popping up among them.

Experiential feasting is leveling up. There’s Victorian-era bottomless bubbles at the Cabinet of Curiosities by Eat the Cake Studio in Paris. Overnight immersive theatre with candlelight dining at The Locksmith’s Dream in Wales. Theatrical gastronomy at Journey Restaurant in NYC. And TableMation Studios ’ whimsical four-course interactive dining experience tours the US.

There's a new bloom of nature-inspired experiences. WildWoods Aglow in Atlanta is coming to the end of its awe-inspiring nocturnal wonderland. The Department of Wonder in Texas is transporting visitors to an enchanted forest. In Stockholm Fotografiska invites you to a giant indoor forest sleepover at ForRest Room. And real-life stargazing igloos are popping up at Oculis Lodge in Washington.

Finally, nightmarish experiences are bringing the thrills. Hatch Escapes continues its run of the best live-action video game in LA, The Nest. Stormjar are taking audiences on a cave-diving expedition gone wrong at The Dive at Wax Cave in Delhi. And Alton Towers Resort unveils a creepy new ride, The Curse at Alton Manor.

Got an experience you want us to shout about? Tell us about it here.

EXPERT INSIGHT: THE NEVER-ENDING STORY OF OPEN-WORLD EXPERIENCES ??

Open-world experience Phantom Peak has announced its new season/storyline for 2023, The Platypus Parade, which launches 22 March. They’ve also reimagined the entire set, introduced new games, characters and plots, and launched in-world events such as the attraction PlatyWorld, a tribute to the town’s eerie obsession with the mammal.

Phantom Peak’s Director, Nick Moran , recently told us how he’s created an experience where 70% of people stay until the very end of its 5-hour run time – and 30% come back again. The key isn’t to build big, it’s to build deep – and crucially, to build a story that can grow and evolve with your experience. The full report is now available here. WXO Members can also rewatch Moran’s presentation on WXO Connect.

EXPERIENCE REVIEW: THE MONA LISA: AN IMMERSIVE EXHIBITION ??

Talking of Nick Moran, one of the things he shared in his presentation was a wariness of “wobbly projections” masquerading as story.?

And while we agree with experience strategist Laura Hess that “some immersive art exhibits are not good, but there’s also real value in them. They can be an on-ramp into the immersive space”, we’ve also experienced some less-than-inspiring immersive art first-hand.

So we asked Thibault Paquin , founder of Celebrating Life, to give us his thoughts on Grand Palais Immersif ’s latest multisensory art show, The Mona Lisa: An Immersive Exhibition, at the Palais de la Bourse in Marseille. Wobbly projections or an ambitious new format for 3D art mapping?

EXPERIENCE TREND: INTEROCEPTION IN EXPERIENCES ??

Recently WXO CEO James Wallman was blown away by an event run by the neuroaesthetic creative genius Katherine Templar Lewis , who was part of the team behind The Uncertainty Experts series (and will be opening our next Campfire series in April...).

Templar Lewis interviewed the pioneering interoception researcher Jenny Murphy. Find out why dancing together makes people want to protect each other, why oxytocin is NOT the “cuddle drug”, and how the relationship between emotions and interoception works.

DEEP DIVE: A PATTERN LANGUAGE FOR THE EXPERIENCE OF WORK ??

This week’s WXO Campfire virtual event from Dart Lindsley , Head of Global Process Excellence for People Operations at Google, blew open our perspectives of what the experience of work might be and introduced the idea of a “pattern language” that might rewire how we approach it.

Top takeaways ahead of the full write-up:

• We traditionally see people at work as an input: an “asset”, “human capital”, “talent”.
• But people have free will: they can choose where to work and when to leave.
• This transforms people into something they’ve never been recognised as at work: customers, who exchange value with a company and are free not to.
• We therefore need to transform business models to invest in producing work experience products to win the employee customer and help them feel whole and alive.

Have you got an experience, case study, or opinion to share? Tell us about it in the comments!

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