Taking the Kids: Meow Wolf Convergence Station is a totally otherworldly experience

Last February, Meow Wolf opened their second permanent installation Omega Mart at AREA15 in Las Vegas. There you explore an extraordinary supermarket that transports you to surreal, unexpected worlds, including a supernatural factory where a mysterious substance called Source is causing unexpected effects. Look for mysterious ingredients in the Omega Mart products and secret passages through drink coolers and other store displays.

Next up will be two Texas locations, one in Grapevine near Dallas next year in the Grapevine Mills shopping mall followed by Houston in the Fifth Ward cultural district in 2024.

In Denver, every room has a different story, but it isn’t necessary to follow the complicated plot line. The idea is to look, look some more and immerse yourself in what surrounds you — the colors (purple, pink, blue), the art, some made from repurposed materials. Maybe your favorite will be a see-through cathedral complete with stalactites or perhaps a swamp world or the gigantic Cosmohedron.

“It’s just so cool,” said Lahela, 12, who was visiting.

“You could come back 100 times and see something different,” opined a Boulder, Colorado, mom. “Definitely worth the money.” (It’s $45 for non-Colorado residents; $40 for seniors, children and military.)

To celebrate its “Convergiversary,” Meow Wolf is hosting a giant intergalactic block party Sept 17 with $15 timed admission. (A portion of the proceeds will support local nonprofits. In its first year, Convergence Station has invested over $615,000 to local Denver arts organizations and partnered with more than four local vendors for their HELLOFOOD café.) Those 21 and older can dance their way through the exhibits during a late-night party complete with DJs on several stages ($99).

The backstory of Convergence Station: Four alien worlds were joined together a generation ago. Since then, the people of these four worlds have been forging new lives together. You can listen to live music in Rocket Cars, transform your voice at the Ears of Numinal, explore the ancient library in the subterranean world of Ossuary, and unlock the stories hidden in the QPass experience. (Though not required, the RFID passport can give you a deeper dive into the worlds, enabling you to interact with certain hidden alien technologies. There is a $3 charge for the pass that enables you to collect MEMS, fragments of memories that have been lost. The more MEMS you collect, the more stories and secrets you reveal.)

The adventure begins outdoors with the Plethodon, a salamander-like creature with a new garden, courtesy of the Denver Botanic Gardens and their Horticulture Outreach Program. The “Alien Dream World’ garden will change with the seasons and echo the Plethodon with blues, glimmer, geometric patterns and more.

Plethodon is a creature burrowed into the ground one hundred million years ago as the Rocky Mountains were forming, intending only to re-emerge once change had stopped coming to the world around it. That day never came, and the Plethodon was itself changed by the heat and pressure of the Earth. When four alien worlds converged together, creating Convergence Station, it forever changed the bustling metropolis around it. The Plethodon was unearthed.

“Every room has new experiences you wouldn’t see anywhere else,” said Tatiana, 10. “The people who put this together did a really good job.”

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(For more Taking the Kids, visit www.takingthekids.com and also follow TakingTheKids on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram where Eileen Ogintz welcomes your questions and comments. The Kid’s Guide to Philadelphia and The Kid’s Guide to Camping are the latest in a series of 14 books for kid travelers published by Eileen.)