‘Dopamine Land,’ designed to trigger happiness, opens first US location in DC
The one-hour walk-through experience is at 5333 Wisconsin Avenue in Northwest by the Friendship Heights Metro stop.
There are other Dopamine Land experiences in London and Madrid.
Why pick D.C. for the first Dopamine Land location?
“Washington, D.C. is just an incredible cultural capital. The other places we were looking were L.A. and New York and Chicago, but at the end of the day after doing all of the comparisons and things, we thought that D.C. was going to be the most exciting location to start doing this experience in the U.S.,” Anna Driftmier, creative director for global immersive events at Fever.
Visitors walk through a series of rooms with names like The Decompression Room, Infinity Bliss, Lucid Dreams and Pillow Fight. The interactive museum is filled with illuminations, optical illusions, and sound effects, all designed to trigger the hormone dopamine.
Fever calls Dopamine Land “the ultimate sensory overload” that encourages visitors to connect with their emotions.
“It is all through interaction, surprise and the act of creation. Whether it comes to music, to drawing, to shadows, to sights and smells and the five senses and touch, we basically have lots of different activities,” Driftmeir said.
You start and end the experience in the Bubble Bar.
“Oh my gosh, the Bubble Bar. The Bubble Bar is where you enter. It is also where you hang out when you end. And the whole entire space is themed around bubbles. When you enter, there is an oxygen bar. We have a ball pit playing off the idea of bubbles,” Drifmier said.
At the beginning and at the end of the walking tour, visitors can spend time at the Bubble Bar for refreshments and snacks.
Tickets are $19 for children and $25 for adults. Dopamine Land in Friendship Heights is open Thursdays through Sundays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Fever operates several other experience-based museums in D.C., including Titanic: The Exhibition at National Harbor, and Dinos Alive and Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience, both at the Bryant Street, Northeast development in D.C.’s Edgewood.