The Marvel Experience Tour – A Virtual Immersion Into S.H.I.E.L.D.

Last weekend the family and I became recruits of S.H.I.E.L.D. at the Marvel Experience Tour in Dallas.  We spent over two hours diving into the virtual world with hands-on training and 4-D interactions with our favorite Super Heroes from the Avengers.  We climbed walls like Spiderman, we avoided lasers in a maze like Black Widow, we pretended to be Hulk, we fought bad guys with Captain America and we held Director Fury with our secret mission.  Basically we became pretty cool Super Heroes ourselves.

It all started by registering for our badges.

They had computer screens lined up along two areas for people to stand in line and register.  For all adults that register, if they provide an email address their SHIELD recruit badges are emailed directly to them.  For children, there is no email option but you can purchase the SHIELD recruit badge at the end of the experience in the gift shop.  My teen actually bought hers and thought it was pretty cool.

You provide your super hero name, age, what you are – super human, alien, etc. and then take a photo for your ID.  Near the computer stations there are people handing out black rubber bracelets.  When you complete your mission you will receive little clips that go onto the bracelet.  They also sell more of these in the gift shop.  My son bought a few more to finish his bracelet collection.  Each clip features a different super hero.

When you enter the first dome you are faced with large screens above your head.  The screens broadcast your mission and welcome you as a new recruit.

The first person to appear is Tony Stark.

He tells you a little about himself and welcomes you to SHIELD.  He then demonstrates his invention, Iron Man.

We soon find out there is trouble that SHIELD needs our help with.  After all, we are the new recruits and it is time for us to start our training.

BREAKING NEWS to discuss the SHIELD domes that we are in.  The domes that are now standing at Fairpark in Dallas.  They really went above and beyond to make everyone feel like they are living this experience instead of just watching it.

Now for our mission orders given directly from Director Fury.  You see all of your favorite Super Heroes discussing a plan and expressing their concern about the ‘situation‘ at hand.  They then wish you best of luck and express their need for your help and send you off through the entrance.

This is when you enter the main dome.

The entire dome is decked out in Marvel.  It looks like you entered a training facility with various stations setup for you to participate at.

There are large chambers holding captured bad guys in the center of the room.

You can walk around and tour the equipment area.  This is where you see the various props the Avengers use.  The kids thought this was pretty neat.

There are also interactive games in this area.  The games are on tabletops that are touchscreen for you to match pieces of equipment to held build machinery to use during your mission.  These games are very simple for kids of all ages.

The Spiderman Wall featured a moving 9′ wall that you climb.  As you climb it continues to move and above your head is a screen that shows you climbing a building like Spiderman.  This was pretty cool since it moved as you moved.  There are some walls with handles like a ladder and some that were rock climbing walls.  This made the training session available to all ages.

You can even see a video I took of Noah climbing on my Instagram.

There were two stations setup to train like Iron Man and Hulk.  For Iron Man you stand in front of the screen and learn to fly and maneuver around using the jets in his suit.  These virtual interactive games were fun for kids.

There is one small room that you go into to practice your shooting skills.  This is a 3D mission so you wear glasses while aiming.  The best part was you build up a score throughout the game and it shows who won out of the entire room on the screen at the end.  Jagger won!  He was beyond thrilled to beat all the adults, especially his dad.  After we finished this training exercise we did what I enjoyed the most, the laser maze.  I went through it with the boys and we never hit a laser.  Gabby and T only hit one!

Once you are finished in the large training room, you can play each game/training exercise as many times as you want, then it’s time to venture out into your main mission.

You walk through this spaceship looking area.  It makes it seem like you take off and travel to your mission.  There are two more rooms of screens discussing your given task.  This is also the room they award you with your clips from completing your training missions for your bracelet.

The rest is top secret.  I will say that you watch a movie at the end where your seat moves.  The gift shop has a large selection and each kid spent around $10 on a little souvenir.  You can purchase your photos here as well.

Our Hulk impressions!

Do you plan to take your family for The Marvel Experience Tour?  I would love to hear your favorite part!

Full Disclosure: Our family received complementary press passes for The Marvel Experience. All opinions and photos are my own.