As our world rapidly evolves, so do our entertainment options, offering us a dizzying array of experiences to choose from. From virtual reality to sensory-rich exhibitions, it seemed like there was nothing left that could surprise me. Yet, just when you think the world’s creatives have thought of it all, let’s just say a new immersive experience bubbles to the surface. Prepare to pop all expectations, as we welcome the all-new immersive experience Bubble Planet to Singapore!
After making its world premiere in Milan and expanding to the USA, Brussels, and London, Bubble Planet is debuting in the Asia-Pacific for the very first time right here on our sunny island on 31 August 2024!
Like many immersive experiences, it’s easy to dismiss this as something for the kids but Bubble Planet will not only indulge in your actual children but your inner child too! This surreal and colourful experience is an otherworldly escapade to tons of bubbles and whimsy, a place where all your senses will be engaged and your imagination will run wild!
Bubble Planet sounds like the perfect way to be in my own little bubble away from the stresses of my normal day-to-day life so you know I had to give this a shot! So here’s a full guide on what awaits you at Bubble Planet.
Location and Attire
Bubble Planet is currently found in Hall 8B of the Singapore EXPO. Judging by how it is mentioned on the immersive experience’s website that the experience can be completed within 60 to 90 minutes, it makes sense for it to take up a huge space!
In this multisensory experience, you’ll be travelling through fantastical landscapes and imaginary metaverses chock full of optical illusions, tactile fun, and photo opportunities with 11 uniquely-themed areas! That’s right, if the bubble theme has yet to convince you, then maybe the opportunity to take your shots for Instagram or to dive into the metaverse might!
As for what to wear, of course, you can dress how you want for the Instagram-worthy photos, but it’s recommended to wear pants as some areas in Bubble Planet have mirrored floors and wear socks for an area that’ll require you to remove your shoes.
We’ve got 11 areas to cover so I’ll get right to it! Allow me to guide you through what each area has in store for you and once it’s over, I’m sure you’ll be bubbling over with excitement to plan your trip to Bubble Planet!
LED Room
If you haven’t gotten it already, the theme is bubbles, but let’s just say bubbles are interpreted quite freely. You’ll see what I mean when we enter the first area: the LED Room! In the LED Room, dive into an underwater world where colourful sea creatures glow and swim beneath your feet as you are surrounded by glass walls most likely meant to simulate the feeling of being in the expansive sea.
While I will say most areas make for pretty Instagrammable spots, the LED Room is where you’ll snag the coolest mirror selfies! I wasn’t too interested in this area as to me it was just a quick photo spot, but it’ll most certainly keep the kids entertained as I saw many little, curious explorers immediately go straight to the ground in attempts to “catch” the various sea dwellers.
In short, this first stop is pretty much your standard LED floor room. One suggestion I would make is to make the LED animations on the floor interactive as I noticed just how many kids had attempted to interact with the animations without success. This would take it to a beyond-average status as it harkens back to many similar LED rooms from other immersive experiences I’ve seen online!
Bubble Ocean
Up next is one of the areas your kids (and even you!) might just be completely absorbed by, Bubble Ocean! The name speaks for itself as you’ll be in a room flooded with balloons! Throw the pink-coloured balloons around, “swim” through them, or simply let yourself be surrounded by them.
You’ll also notice that an inflatable flower stands tall in the middle of the room, where its petals periodically open and close while various colours dance on its surface. I wasn’t sure what the purpose of this inflatable was but it was an interesting centrepiece nonetheless.
I initially thought the Bubble Room was more suited for kids, but I unabashedly admit that even I got a little too carried away with the simple yet engaging activity of playing with balloons. This is truly one of the areas where your inner child can be let out too as we spent quite a bit of time here mindlessly running around and tossing the pink, lightweight spheres of childhood.
However, do note that if you fear the sound of exploding balloons, this area guarantees a burst or two. Regardless, Bubble Ocean is for everyone no matter how old you are!
Giant Bubble Dome
Swim your way out of the sea of pink and enter the mini version of the iconic Sphere of Las Vegas aka Giant Bubble Dome! I have yet to see the Las Vegas landmark in person, so maybe the Giant Bubble Dome can be a decent alternative.
Unlike the Sphere, the Giant Bubble Dome has no LED displays on its exterior. Instead, you can find beautiful projections of circles and spheres within the bubble itself, flashing all over the interior!
You can also compare this area to an igloo of sorts, except with giant, comfy round cushions inside and a cool, wacky feature where if you speak your voice makes a strange echo. Both entertaining and absurd, the best way to enjoy yourself in the bubble is to lie flat on the mega-sized cushions and watch as a kaleidoscope of colours washes over you from above.
Selfie Room
You can’t visit Bubble Planet without a selfie for keepsakes and it seems that Bubble Planet read my mind as following the Giant Bubble Dome is the Selfie Room!
The Selfie Room is every influencer’s dream, with six mini areas that are goldmines for Instagrammable shots! Allow me to describe what each mini area has to offer!
First, we have a fun little illusion that requires you to crawl into an impossibly tiny hole and emerge out of another hole to appear like you’ve popped out of a table! I was thoroughly amused that no matter how small one’s figure can be, it makes for a tight squeeze but the entertaining photos you can get out of this area are worthwhile nonetheless.
Beside this table illusion, you can enter a room with a bathtub filled to the brim with rubber ducks, a cheeky nod to the bubble theme. I was a little bummed I couldn’t actually sink into the bath of rubber ducks fully but you can still get some fun photos.
The next room requires a little more effort for some cool snaps as you’ll be making your very own bubble! Be careful as you step onto a slippery platform placed within a bucket of soap water. Here, you’ll also notice a couple of ropes around you. These act as a lever where once you or someone else pulls onto it a giant bubble will be formed around you!
Afterwards, we have other simpler areas like a swing, an optical illusion that appears to be stairs to heaven, and a bubble illusion. Overall, the Selfie Room is pretty much a mini version of familiar experiences like the Trick Eye Museum. While some illusions weren’t as impressive as others, it’s still a cool photo spot you’re never too old for.
Bubble Bath Pit
Next to the Selfie Room is the Bubble Bath Pit, which is where what you see is what you get! I felt as though I was shrunk to become bug-sized as I dove into the swimming pool-like pit bursting with clear plastic balls meant to mimic well, a bubble bath.
As you swim (or sink) through the plastic balls, you’ll also notice that you’ve actually invaded a larger-than-life statue’s bubble bath as his head rests on one end of the pool and his propped-up feet pop out of the bubble bath on the other. The statue’s stoic face was quite unnerving, to say the least, but Bubble Bath Pit was still one of the areas we had the most fun in.
Maybe age is catching up to me, but diving headfirst into the pit without realising how deep the pit truly was had me fear drowning for a hot minute and trudging through the deep pool of balls had me catching my breath more than once. So on that note, I must warn you that sinking in is inevitable, so make sure that if you’re bringing your little ones, that you keep an eye on them!
Balloon Getaway
Thankfully, after the Bubble Bath Pit was the Balloon Getaway, which is the perfect place to rest in its hot air balloon installation! As soon as I stepped in, I was transported to the world of the tear-jerking Pixar film “Up”, where Balloon Getaway is an exact replica of the hundreds of colourful balloons used to lift Carl’s house.
Pretend you’re soaring through the clouds as you sit or stand in the hot air balloon, as projections of various scenes shine on the walls surrounding you. Balloon Getaway is more so a photo opportunity than anything but you can always hang around a little longer to see the walls flit between stunning projections.
Infinity Room
Once we’d gotten our must-have photos from Balloon Getaway, the next area, Infinity Room, blew me away. We stepped into what felt like The Matrix, as strings of lights seamlessly transitioned to various colours and the mirrors on the walls gave the illusion of an infinite space.
Of all the photo opportunities you can get out of Bubble Planet, the Infinity Room is probably the most aesthetic of them all, as dazzling the lights illuminate the space to make you feel as though you’re amongst millions of twinkling stars.
Do note to watch where you’re going as the trippy, infinite image produced by the mirrors can be disorienting! To leave the room, you’ll have to turn a corner so be extra careful when you’re ready to leave.
Virtual Reality
Possibly one of Bubble Planet’s highlights is the Virtual Reality area which is right after the Infinity Room! When we took in our surroundings, something about the clear, bubble-shaped chairs suspended from the ceiling using chains and the faceless mannequins wearing the virtual reality headsets on higher-placed chairs was highly dystopian and unsettling to us.
As for the virtual reality experience itself, you’ll be in the perspective of a bubble, where you’ll travel through the wackiest of places like the inside of a clam underwater or in a bubbling glass of champagne! While the cloud-like chairs were comfortable to sit on, my mind can’t say the same as the virtual reality experience was both strange and disorienting!
At one point, I even thought the seat itself was part of the immersion, as I felt as though I was bobbing up and down in my seat as I floated above the sea of boats in the virtual reality experience. But no, it was my mind playing tricks on me. Also, the virtual reality experience supposedly lasts for 10 minutes, but I couldn’t even finish it as it felt like I was stuck in the experience forever. Yes, that was how absorbed I was into the virtual reality world.
While my head wasn’t spinning after taking off my headset, some might feel dizzy so make sure to adjust back to “real life” slowly. Overall, the Virtual Reality area is the most unique experience I had so far and it’s definitely worth coming back to should you have the time.
Soap Bubbles
Talking about an immersive experience without actual bubbles coming into play just doesn’t feel right, and Bubble Planet must have thought so too as one of the final areas, Soap Bubbles, is full of them!
In this small space, bursts of bubbles are periodically blasted from above so go ham on popping them all! As we played with the bubbles, we also got to experience a futuristic robot-led bubble show up close, where the robot slowly blew giant bubbles.
A cactus statue also stood in the centre of the room, which was yet another installation I couldn’t understand the significance of. Was it meant to pop the bubbles with its prickly thorns? At this point, I’ve come to the conclusion that you’ll never know what to expect when it comes to Bubble Planet so I didn’t give it too much thought. Soap Bubbles is simple in nature, but it’ll most certainly awaken your inner child as you play with the soapy spheres.
Sketch and Post
Last but not least, the final area is the Sketch and Post, a place to let your inner artist shine and your creativity run free! Choose from a variety of colouring templates where you’ll be given crayons to colour in to make your masterpiece!
Once you’re done with your piece, you can bring it to a machine that’ll scan the QR code on your paper, and in the next moment, your piece will come to life on the wall projection! Since it’s Bubble Planet, the images you can choose from to colour in are mostly sea creature-themed so you’ll be seeing your coloured sea critters swimming through the projected ocean.
Aside from the Sketch and Post area, there are also other mini-games to explore which also follow the bubble theme of the experience! Some games we tried included one which required us to blow as hard as we could through a straw into a hole on a stand, to blow up a balloon shown on screen.
Interactive Shop
Before you leave, take home a memory of Bubble Planet at the Interactive Shop! This is probably the one-stop to grab all your Bubble Planet merchandise! Personally, nothing much caught my attention but the shop is also collaborating with another Fever exhibition Art of the Brick so you can snag some Lego sets for yourself while you’re there.
And if you’re feeling peckish, you can also head to the No.17 tea kiosk. From croffles to bubble tea (see what Bubble Planet did there?), both you and your stomach are sure to leave Bubble Planet satiated.
Bubble Planet Details
I had initially gone into Bubble Planet thinking I was not the target demographic but I came out of the experience with my expectations being blown out of the water and myself blown away. Bubble Planet was the much-needed reminder that age is just a number and that I should let my inner child out to play carefreely!
So if you need that reminder too, then get your tickets before Bubble Planet is no longer available in Singapore!
🗓️Date: Various sessions from 31 August 2024
📍Location: Hall 8B, 9 Somapah Road, Singapore Expo, 487370
💲Price:
- From S$21.90 for adults
- From S$14.90 for children
⏰Time:
- Monday to Thursday, 11am to 9pm
- Friday and Saturday, 10am to 10pm
- Sunday, 10am to 9pm
To get your tickets to Bubble Planet, head over to Fever’s website to purchase them. For more information, check out Bubble Planet’s website and socials on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
Photos by Pauline Caoile and Russell Loh of the DANAMIC Team.
