Do you love animals, but hate seeing them in person on account of that one time a giraffe ate your straw hat on a zoo trip and you’re still a bit nervous about losing another one?
Perhaps you’d really like to go on an African Safari, but prefer to travel only within the confines of a suburban shopping centre.
Well we’ve found the solution to all your problems!*
The Hologram Zoo located at the Canon Hill Shopping Centre, is a futuristic animal theme park, that’s soothingly close to a Woolworths. See all your favourite creatures recreated with lasers, and wave at them in delight.
Why are we still standing about! Let’s get hologramming!
(*all your problems must be zoo related)
… *puts on a creaky old wise-woman voice* … Is it a zoo you seek, child? Are you looking for an animal wonderland where you can travel back in time and see the dinosaurs, or explore the ocean currents with whales and penguins? Or perhaps wave at a mammoth?! Though .. is that a dinosaur? … we may have covered that.
Anyway, you will find what you seek deep in the Brisbane suburban (not Keith Urban) jungles of Cannon Hill. Follow your heart, and the directions on the website, and you’ll find the entertainment centre just inside the shop behind the Autobarn.
Like most zoos in the world, the Hologram Zoo is suitable for any ages – though I’m not sure how you’d go getting the 3D glasses on a baby. I went with a giggle of my family (5 people) and we range in ages from ‘young boy setting out on his first quest’ to ‘Matriarch, Queen of the 7 Kingdoms’.
We took advantage of the ‘Group Special’ where you pay for 3 people and the rest are free – up to a maximum of 5 people. A regular morning ticket will set you back about $39 per person, so a deal is the way to go. We also upgraded our experience to have ‘double the fun’, meaning we got twice the amount of tunnel and room experiences for only more money!
A breakdown of pricing per person can be found on the zoo website, and there are further discounts if you go after 2pm or in the evening – as the laser animals are more popular in the morning when they’re fresh.
You will get to choose your experience at the front desk, and the wonderful staff will help you when you look confused and all want to pick something different. They’ll let you know what’s suitable for your group, and highlight any that might spook your young adventurers.
We chose the ‘Africa’ and ‘Arctic’ experience for the 20m hologram tunnels, where everything projects around you. We then selected the ‘Underwater Adventure’ and ‘Dinosaur thing’ for the hologram experience room. Don’t quote me on the name of those experiences – I was quite excited, and wasn’t paying attention.
The lovely zoo attendant will then ask if you want to be shown an introductory video for one or both of your tunnel experiences. You may, like us, accept both and then get a little bored and wonder if THIS is the hologram tunnel when you are obviously not in a tunnel and it hasn’t started yet. Just relax and let the floating blue hippo tell you facts about himself. You’re allowed to leave early if you don’t want to see the second one.
You’ll be given some 3D glasses and they’ll be calibrated to make sure that you can see properly out of your zoo goggles. These can go over any human glasses you may need to wear. You’ll also be given swipe cards for the experiences that you’ve chosen.
When you’re done being confused with your informative video and are ready to move on, flag down one of the attendants and they’ll show you to one of the tunnels. If the thought of a tunnel is scary to you, don’t worry – they’re just normal rooms that you walk through, with sheets over the entry and exit doors. No caves or underground dwelling required.
We were lucky when we visited, that it was pretty quiet so we didn’t need to wait at all to access one of the tunnels. All tunnels are the same, the swipe card you’re given will let you access your chosen experience. Tap your card on the tapper, and you’ll be given a count-down to let you know how long the group in front of you has still to go (if you’ve joined a queue) and when it’s time to go in.
When you’ve finished your first walk-through, come out and rejoin the line. You’ll go through 5 times for each card you have – each one showing a different setting. When you’re done, the attendants will take you on to your next activity.
There are instructions on the screen in the tunnel, that will tell you when to walk and when to stop and marvel at the creatures. If you stay between the floating cubes, you’ll get the best view when the projections pop out at you. It took us a little while to figure this out. I’m also a ‘rule follower’ so found it quite stressful when everyone wasn’t staying between the cubes. That’s something I’ll unpack later – and nothing to concern yourself with right now.
The website notes that all the animals look real and solid, but they are actually made out of laser light! I can’t say that I ever mistook any of the animals as ‘real’, but I also can’t say that I didn’t reach out to touch them.
It was tricky to take photos of the experience, but I’ve included a few images of the animals taken through a pair of one of the glasses. This obviously doesn’t give you the full experience, so pay your $39 and go meet a sea lion in person to see it for yourself.
Each tunnel projection was pretty quick to walk through, but as you have 5 turns for each card, you’ll get the hang of it pretty quickly.
The youngest member of our expedition, noted that it would have been better if the tunnel was set out in a circuit so you didn’t have to keep rejoining the same line. While this is true, rejoining the line each time means that you don’t have other groups wandering in after you while you’re mid-penguin.
Once the tunnel experience is finished, move on to the hologram room!
The hologram room is set up purely for your group. You’re asked to take a seat, and one member of your group can ‘interact’ with the experience at a time.
This is aimed mostly for kids. You’re given a pointer/hammer kinda thing and there are games or activities to do in various parts of the experience.
In the pictures below, I am battling a large dragonfly and later saved the world’s sea creatures from garbage. You’re welcome.
We liked that this part of the experience was more interactive. The room is curtained off from the rest of the warehouse space – so we did find it hard to hear a lot of the commentary, and easy to hear other people having other experiences outside our room. Note that my ears are not as young as they once were though, and I don’t hear as well in the dark next to a holographic parrotfish.
With only one person at a time wearing the special ‘hologram room’ headset, it would also be a lesson in patience if you had a group of kids with you. You can still wear your normal 3D glasses and see a version of what they’re seeing though, so the group can still yell at the one wearing the special glasses and ‘help them’ with their gaming.
As a group, we gave the Hologram Zoo experience about a 7 out of 10. It’s something different to do as a family, or with a group of friends – and there are a variety of different experiences that you can choose from.
One of us wished that there was a cafe; another wished that the dinosaurs were actually real; one of us thought it was super cool and all of us got a laugh out of it.
As we were leaving, we were each given a 3D puzzle kit to take home with us – could choose out of two, which was a nice touch to end the experience with.
We also got to pose with a dinosaur (not real) in the little gift shop, and all put our hands in its mouth for some reason. Must be an evolutionary response.
Would I recommend you go and check out the Hologram Zoo? Yes. And when you’re finished, if you could pick me up some milk and bread from the Woolies, that would also be appreciated.
