London's museums and theatre experiences are beginning to reopen after fifteen long months of being shut, and I went to the opening of the "War of the Worlds" immersive experience yesterday on its opening day. This was my second visit; the last time that I visited (which you can read about here Jeff Wayne's 'War of the Worlds' Immersive Experience) was in the summer of 2019, and I enjoyed the visit. The experience was meant to be around for at least another year with some changes as the initial one had some glitches with the augmented reality headsets. Part of the experience is interaction with actors, and other experiences are through a head-set to transport you into additional scenes.
The "War of the Worlds" experience is based on the musical by Jeff Wayne's "War of the Worlds", which is then based on the science fiction story by H.G. Wells. The experience launched in May of 2019, and it has taken over 22,000 square feet of a building on Leadenhall Street in the City of London. It includes a bar/cafe that visitors off the street can enjoy without requiring tickets to the attraction and another bar half the way through the experience.
Photography is not allowed during the experience itself, but it is allowed in the bar/cafe area and in the bar half the way through the experience. The story follows George Herbert, a Victorian reporter, to the story of the beginnings of the Mars invasion and the escape from the Martians, which are large and towering beings sent to conquer the Earth for their own advantage.
The experience uses a lot of different sets with special effects and different actors/actresses to make the story come to life. There are a few augmented reality bits with a headset too. The changes from the last visit included removing a couple of these augmented reality clips and using more actors. The two that got removed included the group outside a house where you could walk around and see other "players" that were designed like Victorians and a scene where you are with the army on a bridge to attack the creatures. The second clip I felt was better and should have been included, though I think it is more difficult to do at present with social distancing. However, these augmented reality clips do tend to glitch. This time, the clip in the church glitched for everyone. Also, some of the actor interactions were rushed as they seemed to be running behind schedule.
Before the experience, we enjoyed cocktails. We also enjoyed some halfway through the experience. The cocktails were all given names that relate to the story of the experience.
At the end of the experience, we had pizza for lunch.
Overall, the "War of the Worlds" experience is still fun to visit, and we went with a few people who had never been before. It's definitely worth a visit for anyone who has or has not been before. You can read my previous write-up here: Jeff Wayne's 'War of the Worlds' Immersive Experience.
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