From the faux Venice canals at the The Venetian , to the awe-inspiring fountain show at the Bellagio and a sky covered by LEDs on Fremont Street, Las Vegas has long immersed its audiences. These immersive experiences run from the streets right into the bars, from sitting under a replica of the Eiffel Tower, as at , to being surrounded by thousands of tonnes of ice as with the Cheri Rooftop at Paris Las Vegas at Mandalay Bay. As you sip from a glass made of ice, no less! Minus5 Ice Bar There’s often a level of interactivity at play, too. Minus5 , for one, offer a treasure hunt through a QR code, designed to reward the more explorative of patrons. Our reward was a fancy new beer cozy! And then there’s Flight Club Social Darts at The Venetian , which took me somewhat by surprise. On paper, a darts bar sounds like nothing original – darts are as ingrained in bar culture as pool tables. But this takes it to another level, with groups given a private dart board, while a server regularly makes trips to provide food or drink. What makes it so special is the technology that sees scores marked on a screen in a similar way to a ten-pin bowling match, across a variety of different games that you can play with a few darts, the board, and friends. Victories would be commemorated with videos on the screen, capturing you jumping for joy as you beat your opponents. It was very, very fun. And from bars to theatrical experiences, few do immersion quite like Cirque du Soleil , and they continue to perform shows nightly across 6 venues on the strip. In Beatles’ Love you’ll have Lucy flying over you – in a Sky with Diamonds, across an “In The Round” style stage set up. In the spectacular O , characters come down from the ceiling in a more traditional theatre, and “clowns” run through the stands, as the floor of the stage opens up to a massive, technologically baffling underwater experience. And don’t be surprised when performers are flung over the audience in Michael Jackson’s One . But for those who want to be truly enveloped by the performative experience, look no further than , which opened at Superfrico The Cosmopolitan in September 2021. Founded by Australian producer Ross Mollison’s contemporary circus company Spiegelworld , Superfrico brings in flavours from their Burlesque shows, into what they call “an Italian American Psychedelic restaurant inside the ultimate Las Vegas house party.” And this is a company that knows how to throw a party – they are the folks behind shows like Absinthe , Opium and their latest, Atomic Saloon. At Superfrico , performers walk through the fantastical restaurant, interacting with guests – one sat down with me while my partner went to the bathroom, swigging from a bottle of champagne as he promised me good time if they didn’t come back. Others show off their unique skills as the DJ plays their soundtrack, as you’d see at any burlesque or variety show. They just happen to be doing it right above your table. And even some of the food comes with a show – for one dish, they’ll make mozzarella right at your table. While we didn’t order this ourselves, watching others take it on was a show amongst itself. We did the Yes Chef Tasting menu, which offers an Italian feast, featuring items on and off the menus. It was delicious, and would have been worth the visit even without the show. Though this does show some evolution of the way Vegas is immersing their guests, ultimately these are leaning on the tried and true qualities of the Las Vegas experience. But modern technologies and the changing interests of the attending crowd, are expanding this to a wealth of new experiences both on and off the Las Vegas Strip. The tip of the iceberg is the incredible Sphere – Madison Square Garden’s new live music venue and theatre. It’s breaking just about every record in the books from a technical point of view. It’s the largest spherical structure in the world, with the largest LED screen in the world on both its exterior and interior. This provide a level of grandeur and immersion unseen since the introduction of IMAX back in 1970 at the Expo 1970 Osaka. U2 just wrapped the debut residency, with the show praised for its use of the 280 degree screen. And there’s also a film screening – Postcard From Earth – with haptic seats, wind effects and more. The only thing the experience is missing are the seats flying up into the air, as in the Soarin’ rides at Disney Parks. But given this is more than 5 times the duration, it’s probably for the best. As I wrote in my recent article on the film, you mightn’t need to fly into the air to experience motion sickness with a screen this size. Though if you do want to fly in the air – don’t worry, you can do that too. The Soarin’ ride technology is being used at FlyOver Las Vegas – a recent (September 2021) introduction to the Strip. This spectacular 25-or-so minute experience is not exclusive to Las Vegas – I rode this in Vancouver a couple of years back. In each city, at least one film tends to be developed for that location, with Las Vegas no exception, screening Wonders of the American West . The experience starts with a 360 degree video pre-show and briefing, before you get the opportunity to fly over the American West and Las Vegas itself in the signature film. Two other films are available – Legendary Iceland , from their Iceland location, and Windborne: Call of the Canadian Rockies , from their Vancouver location. So there really is a chance to fly all over the world here. If interactive immersion is more your style, Vegas has a burgeoning new scene of this as well. On the strip, is the new Arte Museum – a large scale digital art gallery from Korea, which opened in Las Vegas at the end of November 2023; their first location in North America. The experience is the best take on immersive, projection-based art that became popular during Covid (see things like the Immersive Picasso exhibition) – I’ve ever seen. There’s more than a dozen works in the gallery, and as impressive as it all was, it was the interactive pieces that stuck with me. Like the one where you get to colour in animals and see them come to life on the screen. Or a moon emerging in your delicious cup of tea, surrounded by flowers that all disappear once you finish the cup! Off the strip, all signs will point to AREA15 , a massive warehouse that’s filled with a myriad of individual immersive projects, and described as a “space mall”. The “space mall” is full of experiences, but the most talked about – and popular – is This is third location for Omega Mart. Meow Wolf , the interactive, immersive art collective that previously launched in Denver and originated in Santa Fe. A new location just opened up in Grapevine, Texas, and they will expand into a fifth location in Houston later this year, with each attraction sitting behind a unique theme. It’s a collaborative endeavour between hundreds of artists (325 in the case of Vegas’s Omega Mart – including music from the likes of Beach House and Brian Eno ), all sitting behind a unified vision and experience under the “Meow Wolf” banner. For Las Vegas, the collective have designed an out-of-this-world supermarket, called Omega Mar t, where you can actually buy the items they have on display. They are essentially individual art pieces of their own – just look at these Cage-Free Toes! But the supermarket is only the entrance to the overall experience. Guests will walk into one of the many secret passages in the store to find a hidden world that accompanies it – and even a bar where they may serve you a cocktail out of a Windex spray bottle. As you do! You could be lost here for an entire day, and still not find every secret in this powerfully inventive world. Meow Wolf have taken immersive storytelling to a whole new level. In the same AREA15 complex, you’ll find , where you’ll don special glasses that create a powerful light effect in the light and sound experience Museum Fiasco Cluster: An Immersive Audiovisual Symphony . It could just as easily be an EDM nightclub. Speaking of, one of their on site music venues is called The Portal , and it has 360 degree projections along the walls – no doubt making for some incredible parties. You can also fly over the space in a zip-line-esque contraption, dubbed , ensuring every inch of this facility has been decked out with experiences. Haley’s Comet Across the road from the main building, you’ll find where they offer a couple of immersive cinematic experiences. The signature attraction is Illuminarium, , which gives you a 360-degree experience of the history – and future – of space travel. Projection technology is used to a dynamic effect here, with an hour-or-so production on a loop, that not only takes over the walls of the space, but the floor as well. SPACE: A Journey To The Moon & Beyond Here, guests can see their footprints leave a mark on the Moon’s surface as you walk around the space, during certain parts of the production, and enjoy other interactivity in others. All with a great soundtrack: David Bowie, Radiohead and The Verve are amongst the featured playlist. It’s a spectacular experience that no fan of space travel should leave Las Vegas without. And that’s not all. The AREA15 complex – which in some three years has welcome 200 live shows and more than 5 million guests – looks set to continue to expand in the years ahead. There’s a new Universal Studios permanent attraction Horror Unleashed currently being built, iFLY Indoor Skydiving and other experiences still to be announced. Keep an eye on their official website for updates, and to see what else they have on offer now. TL;DR Immersion is nothing new in Las Vegas, but with the wealth of new technological advances, incredible attractions like AREA15, FlyOver, Sphere and even Flight Club have launched in recent years to ensure that there’s an endless array of both family friendly and adults-only immersive, interactive experiences to be had on your next trip to Las Vegas. And so much more still to come! The only question is, how much can you fit in? For More Information FlyOver Las Vegas – https://www.flyoverlasvegas.com/ AREA15 – https://www.area15.com/ Flight Club Social Darts – https://flightclubdartsusa.com/las-vegas/the-strip Superfrico – https://spiegelworld.com/superfrico/ Minus5 Ice Bar – https://mandalaybay.mgmresorts.com/en/nightlife/minus5-ice-bar.html Sphere – https://www.thespherevegas.com/ Arte Museum – https://lasvegas.artemuseum.com/ Meow Wolf: Omega Mart – https://meowwolf.com/visit/las-vegas Cirque du Soleil Las Vegas – https://www.cirquedusoleil.com/las-vegas-shows While in Las Vegas, the author stayed at the brand new Fontainebleau Resort. All photos by the author unless otherwise credited.