MENTOR, Ohio — Wonder Cleveland, a new interactive museum recently opened at the Great Lakes Mall in Mentor.
Unlike traditional museums, Wonder Cleveland invites guests to explore, touch, climb, solve challenge and interact with everything in sight.
“There’s something for everything in here. Every age, every interest, every background,” said event coordinator Jason Percival. “We want this really to be like a dream world when people come into it.”
The Cleveland-themed pop-up turned permanent museum now includes 16 full-sensory interactive art exhibits.
“We started with this in 2019 as a Christmas pop-up. That was a great time, we had so much positive feedback,” Percival said. “I said ‘gosh we’ve got to do this again,’ Because the energy here is just incredible.”
Wonder Cleveland is the only experience in Northeast Ohio in which the exhibits will interact with the guests using interactive video components and projection mapping. Guests can expect to view creatures, people and objects from a different time and dimension through the Museum’s augmented reality app.
“It’s about what is going to give people the most fun. It’s not about,’ what can we do?’” Percival said. “It’s about what’s going be the most fun and then we’ll figure it out later.”
The most picturesque exhibits will be furnished with photo equipment and assistance designed to help groups take the perfect “selfie” or Instagram-tailored image to document and post their experience.
“The trend of experiential museums began as selfie museums. It’s getting more and more away from social media and it’s just about the experience,” Percival said.
Exhibits include:
• A floating crescent moon for a picture over the Cleveland skyline and the northern lights.
• A motion-tracking reflection display which gives guests the ability to see themselves with wizard-like powers in a parallel dimension.
• A massive laser projection scene transporting guests to a magical beach environment for an enchanting mini-vacation.
• A mirrored neon infinity room for stunning selfies.
• An attention-grabbing perspective-altering selfie scene in which guests step inside an
action figure box and become the newest life-size surprise gift.
“I was also looking for something that’s multi-generational. It’s hard to find those, usually there’s something that the kids like, something the teenagers like or the parents or the grandparents.” Percival said. “It’s hard to find something like this that everyone is into.”
Guests can purchase tickets online and select from several arrival time slots for their group. Each time slot is limited to a small group of people to ensure a quality experience.
Walk- up tickets can be purchased when available.
RELATED: WonderCleveland, a new experiential museum, opens July 1 at Great Lakes Mall
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