Over its first year, AREA15 already offered an array of immersive experiences that play with perceptions and stimulate the senses. It’s now added Liftoff, a new outdoor attraction that allows up to 16 people to get high in one session. The ballooning experience provides a view of Las Vegas that can only be had at the magical mall just west of the Strip, joining Meow Wolf’s Omega Mart, Lost Spirits Distillery and The Beast by Todd English as major draws and giving visitors another reason to return for deeper dives into the multiversal destination.
The triple-helix tower that ostensibly prevents Liftoff from ascending into the sky with its gondola full of passengers is exterior to AREA15’s exit doors and can be accessed immediately by making a left U-turn upon entering the building. Turn right instead to enter Lost Spirits, an arena-sized distillery and adult amusement park that could have sprung from Willy Wonka’s pure imagination.
It might be best to promenade around the bi-level building first and take in the entirety of AREA15’s offerings. Easily accessible virtual reality experiences that don’t require substantial time commitments or complicated suits—from flying like a bird to indoor golf—await. English’s Beast Breath Smoke House menu offers dry rub brisket, ribs and a half-pound hot link served with five fiery sauces. Spicy Korean hot dogs and a five-patty cheeseburger called The Kraken provide incentives for a follow-up visit.
Head up the main staircase and turn left to go back to the future or right to enter a pair of infinity-oriented installations. Both Museum Fiasco’s Cluster exhibit and Wink World’s walk-through funhouse make use of mirrors, illumination and music to expand and distort audiovisual perception, as reflective surfaces stretch space and strobe effects meddle with motion.
The left turn leads to the Emporium Arcade Bar, which resembles an early ’80s recreation room with gloriously rundown pinball machines and vintage arcade games. DJs control the audio at night, but Emporium is open for Skee-Ball sharpening sessions beginning at 2 p.m. Downstairs, Oddwood functions as a center bar and begins serving craft cocktails at noon beneath the canopy of a digital forest.
It’s a good place to pause before entering immersive experiences inside The Portal dedicated to Van Gogh and Klimt or hitting Omega Mart and getting lost in surreal wormholes and warrens. Perusing sardonically conceived but legitimate consumer goods (impulse buys at checkout include packs of Doomed Exploration Arctic Madness chewing gum and Healthy Wolf Lonely Hiker Protein Feast dog food) can easily take up an hour of time, but there are several pseudo-secret passages that lead to Meow Wolf’s alternate dimension. A guided tour of the conspiracy underlying it is available. Prepare to spend hours unraveling the mystery.
Liftoff is last on the counterclockwise stroll around Area15, but it literally rises above the rest of the experiences—130 feet to be exact. Once the balloon reaches its summit, the gondola rotates 360 degrees, enabling a one-of-a-kind panoramic view of the Strip and greater Las Vegas. It’s so safe even people who fear heights have a good time, as long as they don’t look straight down.
3215 S. Rancho Drive, area15.com
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