{"id":10581,"date":"2023-08-08T17:23:03","date_gmt":"2023-08-08T17:23:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mrericsir.com\/blog\/?p=10581"},"modified":"2023-08-08T17:23:05","modified_gmt":"2023-08-08T17:23:05","slug":"review-meow-wolfs-house-of-eternal-return-no-spoilers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mrericsir.com\/blog\/misc\/review-meow-wolfs-house-of-eternal-return-no-spoilers\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Meow Wolf&#8217;s House of Eternal Return (No Spoilers)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"House of Eternal Return No Spoilers\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ChOwn6QP0_E?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you read my previous posts about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mrericsir.com\/blog\/misc\/review-omega-mart-no-spoilers\/\">Omega Mart,<\/a> it shouldn&#8217;t come as any surprise that I had to travel to Santa Fe to check out Meow Wolf&#8217;s original permanent installation: <a href=\"https:\/\/meowwolf.com\/visit\/santa-fe\">The House of Eternal Return.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As you may have heard, this installation was built in a defunct bowling alley building and was sponsored initially in large part by <em>Game of Thrones<\/em> author George R. R. Martin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This review will be free of any major spoilers. Look forward to a very spoiler-y companion post in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/mrericsir\/53096445369\/in\/dateposted\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/53096445369_bced311009.jpg\" alt=\"House of Eternal Return\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>What is The House of Eternal Return?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The House of Eternal Return starts out as a modest two story family home &#8212; both in facade and interiors &#8212; although it becomes quickly clear that something isn&#8217;t quite right. Parts of the home are damaged, warped, and seem to be advertising a self-help program that sounds like a cult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Clearly there&#8217;s something more going on here, and as a participant it&#8217;s up to you to uncover the truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Or at least, whatever counts as &#8220;truth&#8221; in a place like this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/mrericsir\/53101336476\/in\/dateposted\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/53101336476_4507e6bd38.jpg\" alt=\"House of Eternal Return\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Practical stuff<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The House of Eternal Return is located in a part of Santa Fe that realistically isn&#8217;t walkable from where most tourists (or even locals) will be staying. Most people drive or take a taxi\/rideshare. It&#8217;s technically possible to take public transit but good luck with that in Santa Fe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tickets are available in advance, with various upsell options. I&#8217;d recommend buying the tickets ahead of time, which is what most people do. The upsell options include some silly &#8220;3D&#8221; glasses, &#8220;arcade tokens&#8221; that you can also buy on site, and other unnecessary stuff that you can safely skip. I borrowed the 3D glasses from someone who paid extra and didn&#8217;t see any particular difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The House of Eternal Return allows phones, personal cameras, and (empty!) water bottles which can be refilled inside. Small lockers are available for a fee, and weapons of any kind are not allowed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bathrooms, the cafe, and the gift shop are all located within the building but outside of the exhibit area. You&#8217;re free to enter and exit the exhibit once you&#8217;ve been checked in and have a wristband &#8212; however you cannot re-enter once you have exited the building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Those with physical disabilities may encounter problems. There are no elevators to the second floor and many passages are narrow. I saw a few people who seemed to get by with a cane, but if you need a walker or wheelchair this won&#8217;t work for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Aside from certain nights this is an all-ages experience. However, younger children must be supervised and may not get much out of it. The story involves some patience to understand and seems written for a young-adult audience and above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mild content warning: the death of a family pet is involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/mrericsir\/53095704332\/in\/dateposted\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/53095704332_9ca517aca5.jpg\" alt=\"House of Eternal Return\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>My experience<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I knew I had to come here after visiting Omega Mart a couple years ago. What I was a little surprised to find were the similarities: a story set in a semi-sane physical space with numerous secret passages that lead to wildly imaginative and absurd spaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The main difference is in the storytelling methodology. Although the House of Eternal Return includes some straightforward video elements (as of 2023) the greater story details require a much greater deal of time from the audience to sit and read physical documents. Whether or not that&#8217;s a desirable aspect is going to depend entirely on your personality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I visited twice, both for about four hours each. This was more than enough to decipher the major plot points. My second visit was for a scavenger hunt (their first ever &#8212; I beat it but did not win the prize raffle) but was also an excuse to capture photos and video footage after most people had left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That said, some of the spaces are so well hidden that I only discovered them well into my second visit. And there were spaces I&#8217;m nowhere near flexible enough to fit into (note to self: do more stretching exercises.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">From what others have told me, this entire exhibit has gone through multiple iterations. I found various details like web links and even a phone number that no longer appear to function, presumably leftovers from the past. These were inconvenient but the story seemed complete without them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>My recommendation<\/strong>: This is an amazing space with a truly creative story that unfolds in great depth as you explore. I recommend going during off-peak hours (early or late) to get the most of it. If you have to choose between <em>House<\/em> and <em>Omega Mart<\/em> I&#8217;d say this has a more satisfying story but Omega Mart has an easier to follow story and is more physically accessible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you read my previous posts about Omega Mart, it shouldn&#8217;t come as any surprise that I had to travel to Santa Fe to check [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","slim_seo":{"title":"Review: Meow Wolf's House of Eternal Return (No Spoilers) - MrEricSir.com","description":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ChOwn6QP0_E If you read my previous posts about Omega Mart, it shouldn't come as any surprise that I had to travel to Santa Fe t"},"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","autoblue_publish_document":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1300,1473,38,1486,222,322],"class_list":["post-10581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-misc","tag-immersive","tag-meow-wolf","tag-photos","tag-santa-fe","tag-travel","tag-videos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mrericsir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mrericsir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mrericsir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mrericsir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mrericsir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10581"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.mrericsir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10581\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10588,"href":"https:\/\/www.mrericsir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10581\/revisions\/10588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mrericsir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mrericsir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mrericsir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}