Stranger Things: The Experience turns an ordinary evening out into a fake sleep study that goes very wrong, very fast. Guests walk in expecting a themed exhibit and walk out having been split into groups, questioned by scientists in lab coats, and chased through a recreation of the Upside Down. It’s one of the most ambitious pieces of Stranger Things marketing Netflix has ever built, and it has now toured more than a dozen cities around the world.
Table of Contents
- How Stranger Things: The Experience actually begins
- What happens once guests enter Hawkins Lab
- Where Stranger Things: The Experience has traveled
- What comes after the Upside Down portion ends
- Frequently asked questions about Stranger Things: The Experience
How Stranger Things: The Experience actually begins
Stranger Things: The Experience opens with a premise rather than a straightforward walkthrough: guests are told they’ve signed up for a sleep study being conducted at Hawkins National Laboratory. Upon arrival, they’re given color-coded wristbands — red, yellow, or blue — that divide them into smaller groups for the rest of the night, a structure Netflix and its experience partner Fever built specifically to make each visit feel more personal than a typical walk-through attraction.
Inside the lab, actors playing scientists in white coats approach each group to ask questions about sleep patterns and general behavior, while on a screen, Dr. Brenner — played by Matthew Modine reprising his role from the show — formally welcomes attendees to the study and explains what’s supposedly about to happen. According to Netflix’s own head of experiences, Greg Lombardo, the goal was to build “an immersive, narrative-based adventure” rather than a passive exhibit fans simply walk through and observe.
What happens once guests enter Hawkins Lab
Stranger Things: The Experience quickly reveals that the sleep study isn’t what it claims to be. Guests are questioned about their worst nightmares before being led into a closed room, where it becomes clear something in the lab has gone seriously wrong. From there, the experience transitions into a 3D walkthrough of the Upside Down itself, staged in a woods-like set filled with Demogorgons and other creatures lurking behind corners and closed doors.
The narrative was developed directly with the show’s creators rather than licensed loosely from existing footage, and it evolved across its multi-year run to reflect the show’s ongoing story. A later iteration of the attraction, which launched in Los Angeles, described its storyline as propelling guests into a parallel universe where they must “unlock their secret powers to help save the town,” working alongside in-story versions of Eleven, Mike, Dustin, Lucas, Max, Will, and Erica Sinclair.
“Fans love losing themselves in the world when they watch the show,” Lombardo said. “Now, for the first time, they will literally be able to live an episode from the series.”
Where Stranger Things: The Experience has traveled
Stranger Things: The Experience launched its first major run in Los Angeles in late 2020 as a drive-through event, running through June 2021 during a period when pandemic restrictions limited more traditional walk-through formats. Once Netflix and Fever redeveloped the concept into its fuller immersive format, the experience expanded rapidly, touring New York City, San Francisco, Atlanta, Seattle, Toronto, Mexico City, London, Paris, São Paulo, and Sydney.
Each new city required Netflix and Fever to build out an entirely new physical space to house the attraction — the New York run, for example, took over the 35,000-square-foot Duggal Greenhouse in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, a converted WWII-era ship facility with 70-foot ceilings that organizers described as a blank canvas for the transformation. Tickets for that run started at $54 per person and reportedly sold out during their first release window.
What comes after the Upside Down portion ends
Stranger Things: The Experience doesn’t end once guests escape the Upside Down. Attendees move into a separate area, generally branded “Mix-Tape,” styled as an 1980s-themed hangout space complete with food, drinks, themed merchandise, and photo opportunities. Later versions of the attraction let visitors order a USS Butterscotch sundae at a recreated Scoops Ahoy counter and attempt to beat Max Mayfield’s high score on a Dig Dug machine referencing her “MADMAX” arcade legend from the show.
Reviews of the experience have generally been positive, with visitor feedback on platforms like Tripadvisor praising the combination of special effects, character interaction, and the nostalgic post-show hangout area as a satisfying full night out for fans rather than a brief promotional stop. Marketing analysts have pointed to the format as part of a broader shift among major streaming platforms toward big-budget, real-world immersive experiences that translate a show’s fictional world into something fans can physically walk through, rather than simply watch.
For more on the fictional lab this entire experience is built around, Read more: The Hawkins Lab Experiments covers the real history behind Dr. Brenner’s research. And for the arcade game referenced in the experience’s Mix-Tape area, Read more: The Palace Arcade breaks down Max’s original introduction to the show.
Netflix’s own announcement of the New York run goes deeper into how the experience was built and staffed, and it’s worth reading in full here.
Stranger Things 5 | Official Trailer | Netflix
Frequently asked questions about Stranger Things: The Experience
What is Stranger Things: The Experience? Stranger Things: The Experience is an immersive, narrative-based live attraction produced by Netflix and Fever, in which guests are led through a fictional Hawkins Lab sleep study that spirals into an encounter with the Upside Down.
Which cities has Stranger Things: The Experience visited? Stranger Things: The Experience has been held in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Atlanta, Seattle, Toronto, Mexico City, London, Paris, São Paulo, and Sydney.
Do any Stranger Things actors appear in The Experience? Yes. Matthew Modine reprises his role as Dr. Brenner through filmed segments shown during the attraction, alongside live performers portraying other characters and scientists.
How much do tickets cost for Stranger Things: The Experience? Ticket prices have varied by city and package, with the New York run starting at $54 per person for standard admission.
Is there anything to do after the Upside Down portion of the experience? Yes. Guests move into a post-show area called Mix-Tape, an 80s-themed space with food, drinks, themed merchandise, and interactive elements like a recreated Scoops Ahoy counter and a Dig Dug arcade machine.
