Come with me Wybers, as I take on the fully immersive experience of The Wizard of Oz in 4D at Sphere with an interior that is 366ft high & 516ft wide in Las Vegas Valley. This is like 4DX mixed with IMAX that breathes new life into a classic 87-year-old film making the most jaded of viewers watch with a kind of childlike wonder.
Walking into the atrium you have a sepia color toned experience like Dorothy in Kansas at the start of the film. Then you are led into the main auditorium the screen is made to resemble Radio City Music Hall in NYC. When the film begins with the curtain rising, we see The Cowardly Lion in the MGM logo where Leo the Lion would be. During the tornado scene where Dorothy & Toto are taken to the land of Oz our seats rattle and you can feel the fans on full blast with fake leaves landing on the audience. The Apple Orchard scene when Dorothy & Scarecrow deal with the Angry Apple Tree the audience in certain parts of the stadium has red foam apples fall on them from the ceiling. We get fake snow falling on us during the scene where Glinda the Good Witch of the North lifts the sleep spell in the field of the poison poppies. There is a full pyrotechnic extravaganza where you can really feel the heat from the flames during the scene in the Wizard of Oz’s throne room. When the flying monkeys attack Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Man and The Cowardly Lion there are life-sized flying monkeys that hover over the audience. This version of the film is 75 minutes long versus the film’s original 102 minutes, so it does feel like the greatest hits abridged take on the story, but it works for the amusement park ride feel experience. When you leave the auditorium, the atrium is now in different shades of green for an Emerald City vibe and there is a life-sized replica of the Wizard’s throne room with an interactive element. This is an experience you won’t soon forget!
