North Texas is morphing into a fierce competitor in the interactive-entertainment industry.
The region is already the birthplace of massive video game franchises, including DOOM, Duke Nukem, and Borderlands. In Arlington, Six Flags Over Texas is updating some of its most historic rides and expanding with a new, record-breaking giga-coaster. Frisco hosts one of three Peppa Pig theme parks in the world, and it’s about to welcome one of the first new Universal Studios theme parks outside of Florida and California.
Now Dallas is home to one of two initial locations of a new interactive-entertainment venue concept based on two hit TV franchises and a host of other movies and TV shows. It’s not the typical themed coaster park or dark-ride collection. In fact, it’s hard to categorize.
Netflix House is a 100,000-square-foot entertainment complex inside the Galleria Dallas which opened in December with two main experiences based on the network’s Stranger Things and Squid Game, plus interactive games, stores, and restaurants inspired by other Netflix shows.
The other Netflix House is in the King of Prussia Mall in Philadelphia, with two main experiences based on the comedy-drama Wednesday and the live-action remake of the popular anime series One Piece.
North Texas’ Netflix House is anchored by two walkthrough attractions that incorporate innovative new forms of immersive storytelling, live-action games, and dark ride-style entertainment that’s hard to pinpoint to one exact genre. It’s hard to really describe each in a single sentence. Imagine something that lets you experience the thrill of competing in the deadly Squid Game or investigating the dangerous secrets in the town of Hawkins without ending up horribly mutilated or eviscerated by some gruesome being from an alternate dimension.
Courtesy Allied Global Marketing
Both anchor attractions are housed in a makeshift recreation of Netflix’s studios on the ground floor of this massive two-story facility. As you walk in through the massive red square covering the façade, you’re bombarded with decorative images of Netflix’s most popular shows and franchises, an indication that maybe Stranger Things and Squid Game won’t be the only popular properties to become part of the facility. There are even tiny Easter eggs strewn about the place that reference other Netflix shows that could also become part of the experience, like the tech frightfest Black Mirror and the romantic period drama Bridgerton.
Squid Game: Survive the Trials is the more straightforward of the two main attractions. It takes you through the deadly world of the South Korean economy drama that pits people with massive, never-ending debt against one another in a series of childhood recess games with deadly outcomes for those who don’t win. Visitors take on the role of the competitors as they are guided through very detailed recreations of the Squid Game sets, from miniaturized versions of the players’ quarters to the viewing room where the world’s economic elite and the Frontman, the masked host of the deadly games, watch people play with their very lives in twisted amusement.
Stranger Things: Escape the Dark is much more story-driven but just as impressive looking and sensorially immersive. This time, visitors are transformed into a search party thrown into the doomed remains of Hawkins, tasked with finding three missing residents in an escape room/haunted walkthrough that bridges some of the gaps between Season 4 and the final season that premiered in November.
If you haven’t caught up with Squid Game as it’s about to move into its first American spinoff or Stranger Things as it sets off on its final season, the less specifics said, the better off you’ll be. Like all walkthrough attractions, it’s best to just go into them as cold as you can and let the experiences envelope your feelings and senses. However, both let you trudge through real versions of both franchises’ iconic locations like Squid Game’s Red Light/Green Light field and the Mingle room as well as Castle Byers and Eddie Munson’s trailer from Stranger Things. The producers do an amazing job of creating a competitive environment that encourages participation and exploration in ways that even the most advanced rides at Disney and Universal theme parks can’t.
Photo by Danny Gallagher
If you still have the energy to walk upstairs (there’s also an elevator for people with old-man knees like me), the entertainment doesn’t end with the two main attractions. Netflix has packed this massive mall space with an interactive game or experience for just about every major Netflix franchise you can pull up on the app. The RePLAY Arcade room includes even more interactive games based on popular Netflix properties beyond just Squid Game and Stranger Things. There’s a cooperative reaction game inspired by the animated sci-fi anthology Love, Death & Robots, carnival-style electronic games from the animated comedy Big Mouth, and an illuminated reactive floor-based dexterity game based on the reality game show Floor Is Lava. They even turned the reality series Love Is Blind into an arcade game.
No visit to a theme park is complete without some kind of walk through a concession stand and gift shop. This Netflix House is full of both with even more references to the network’s most famous and watched shows, including a Scoops Ahoy! ice cream stand, a bar complete with tasty concoctions inspired by more shows, and a gift shop with Netflix stuff you can take home by the armload. Yes, you can even buy your own Squid Game contestant uniform (assuming they have your size).
You’ll need a reservation to experience the main attractions, and you should probably plan at least a week ahead of time if going on a weekend. It’s an impressive start in a new entertainment arena for any media empire, especially one that started as a mail delivery-based DVD rental service.
