staywild23
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When the NYC Immersive Experience was announced I was determined to go. But with some medical issues cropping up, it became impossible for me. Then, as if the universe was intervening in my sadness, a number of unexpected things happened and I could go! But then, as soon as I tried to get tickets on Thursday night I realized they were all sold out, so I was once again devastated. However, the stars aligned when I found out a fan friend I met on Facebook was heading to the event and had a spare ticket since someone in her group got sick. I was able to grab a last minute bus to NYC and join her there, and I became the happiest fan! This is all to say it truly pays to be friendly with strangers on Facebook 
Anyway, I went to the event and WOW! It was seriously so fantastic. I cannot even describe how amazing it was to see lines down the street of people waiting to get in, people of all ages, races, nationalities... everyone celebrating Michael and everyone enjoying the hell out of this really wonderful event. it was just beautiful!
I took a ton of photos and videos, so as soon as I got back on the bus I threw together a VERY shoddy video of the experience and uploaded it on YouTube. To be honest, I did not take any of this footage with intentions of sharing it. If I had, I would have done a MUCH better job. But I thought it would be nice to let other people see what it was like!
A few things I want to mention:
1) The event was TRULY immersive. My video doesn't fully capture that. But each room was filled with a variety of ways to interact with the sets. There were actors portraying "characters" from every short film. In the Billie Jean room, there was a set up where you be recorded dancing like MJ (think the MJ Experience game style) and you'd get a QR code after to download the video, which the kids in attendance were loving. But the real highlight was the light up floor. It was beautiful and people were having a great time! The Thriller room was just exceptional. The entire thing was filled with fog, trees, gravestones, etc. with a whole performance of the Thriller dance by dancers who were awesome and very committed to the role. The Beat it room had pool tables and arcade games from the 80s (which actually worked and were heavily used) as well as a whole performance. They were also giving away free water, juice, and soda, and snacks.
2) Beyond the exhibits for the short films, there was also an area promoting the 360 audio, with stations set up to listen on headphones to the different songs, as well as a room that was filled with surround sounds speakers where you could listen to a song from Thriller. In this room they had a QR code offering everyone 4 free months of Amazon Premium music, which I thought was kind of cool. Right by these, there was a huge screen with song titles from Thriller. When you stood in front of it and waved your hands, you could wipe away the title and, in bursts of glitter, images of Michael would appear below. It's hard to explain, but it was super cool. There were also a ton of photo booths set up, and plenty of spaces for cool photo opportunities.
3) The event was filled the entire time, but never packed (despite a line down the street all day). I think this is because they staggered the times for entry. Though online they had 30 minute time slots, my group spent 2 hours going through everything and visiting the gift shop. Each of us dropped a decent amount of money because the merchandise was just awesome. Seriously 1000x better than any of the stuff on the website.
Overall, the entire thing massively exceeded my expectations. The fact that it was free blows my mind, because I definitely would have paid to go in. I'm not sure if my photos or videos will really capture how cool it was, but I promise everyone was having a great time and smiling ear-to-ear. It was a fantastic celebration of Michael and makes me really hope someday they do a Bad immersive experience. But they really could do it for Michael's entire career, which after attending this, I think might be one of the best ways to honor him.
Anyway, here are some photos!
Here is my YouTube video
Anyway, I went to the event and WOW! It was seriously so fantastic. I cannot even describe how amazing it was to see lines down the street of people waiting to get in, people of all ages, races, nationalities... everyone celebrating Michael and everyone enjoying the hell out of this really wonderful event. it was just beautiful!
I took a ton of photos and videos, so as soon as I got back on the bus I threw together a VERY shoddy video of the experience and uploaded it on YouTube. To be honest, I did not take any of this footage with intentions of sharing it. If I had, I would have done a MUCH better job. But I thought it would be nice to let other people see what it was like!
A few things I want to mention:
1) The event was TRULY immersive. My video doesn't fully capture that. But each room was filled with a variety of ways to interact with the sets. There were actors portraying "characters" from every short film. In the Billie Jean room, there was a set up where you be recorded dancing like MJ (think the MJ Experience game style) and you'd get a QR code after to download the video, which the kids in attendance were loving. But the real highlight was the light up floor. It was beautiful and people were having a great time! The Thriller room was just exceptional. The entire thing was filled with fog, trees, gravestones, etc. with a whole performance of the Thriller dance by dancers who were awesome and very committed to the role. The Beat it room had pool tables and arcade games from the 80s (which actually worked and were heavily used) as well as a whole performance. They were also giving away free water, juice, and soda, and snacks.
2) Beyond the exhibits for the short films, there was also an area promoting the 360 audio, with stations set up to listen on headphones to the different songs, as well as a room that was filled with surround sounds speakers where you could listen to a song from Thriller. In this room they had a QR code offering everyone 4 free months of Amazon Premium music, which I thought was kind of cool. Right by these, there was a huge screen with song titles from Thriller. When you stood in front of it and waved your hands, you could wipe away the title and, in bursts of glitter, images of Michael would appear below. It's hard to explain, but it was super cool. There were also a ton of photo booths set up, and plenty of spaces for cool photo opportunities.
3) The event was filled the entire time, but never packed (despite a line down the street all day). I think this is because they staggered the times for entry. Though online they had 30 minute time slots, my group spent 2 hours going through everything and visiting the gift shop. Each of us dropped a decent amount of money because the merchandise was just awesome. Seriously 1000x better than any of the stuff on the website.
Overall, the entire thing massively exceeded my expectations. The fact that it was free blows my mind, because I definitely would have paid to go in. I'm not sure if my photos or videos will really capture how cool it was, but I promise everyone was having a great time and smiling ear-to-ear. It was a fantastic celebration of Michael and makes me really hope someday they do a Bad immersive experience. But they really could do it for Michael's entire career, which after attending this, I think might be one of the best ways to honor him.
Anyway, here are some photos!
Here is my YouTube video
.
poor souls
I would have been happy to stay dancing with the light up floor tiles 
