Atlanta’s Illuminarium Promises “VR Without The Glasses”

Atlanta is placing a major bet that people are hungry and ready for communal in-person entertainment, with the grand opening of the –described in a release as “VR, without the glasses.” The attraction will transport users to exotic destinations with the aid of immersive video, touch feedback, and more.

Visitors enter a 7,500-square-foot space surrounded by screens as high as 22 feet, where they’ll be surrounded by video and sound recorded on real locations. Think, basically, an IMAX you can walk around inside, but that’s moving way, way slower. The Illuminarium’s debut experience is Wild: A Safari Experience, which was filmed across South Africa, Kenya, and Tanzania and “showcas[es] the majestic animals in their native habitats.” Admittedly, the technology is arguably easier to understand by watching in a video than reading about–check out the proof of concept video below (and pay particular close attention to creepy uncanny valley NPCs milling about).

Tickets for Illuminarium currently run from $35 to $50, with higher fees netting visitors flexible entry time and vouchers for the onsite cafe and gift shop. There are plans to open Illuminariums in Las Vegas in January 2022 and in Miami in fall 2020. Other locations are also currently being considered for New York City, Chicago, Toronto, Montreal, Los Angeles, and Austin. International locations are also being preliminarily discussed.

Noticeably, the ability to smell the featured locations is emphasized repeatedly in a release announcing this attraction. This should also be particularly interesting since it’s already been announced that Spacewalk, “a mind-blowing journey through our Solar System where audiences will experience what it’s like to walk on the surface of the Moon and Mars.” Will our species finally be able to smell Mars?