The annual Sydney Festival is now on and I have been planning to see the above installation for quite a while.
However don't believe everything you read about it on it's website as the information on it is not only deceiving but confusing and incorrect. The event is meant to be a free event as advertised however it is only free for a few hours each day and is actually shut for cleaning and maintenance on one of the days with only specific paid sessions open which means no free entry on that day at all. Also don't book online as they charge an additional booking fee, there is no booking fee if you turn up earlier ( at least an hour earlier) and book a session I recommend a minimun of 2 sessions in advance on the day you would like to attend if you can't make it into the free entry sessions. If you do pay to get in you are limited to half hour time limits ( we were told when queuing up for entry into our session 15 minutes) and it says you don't have to line up but you still do so turn up to your paid session half an hour earlier. The free sessions end at 4 pm and paid sessions start at 5.30 pm therefore don't turn up like I did at 5 pm thinking you could get into the free session - the website is deceiving with daily free session times. There is a limited capacity of 80 people per session which the organisation somehow oversold for the 5.30 pm session - how I don't know as it was allocation exhausted for the 5.30 pm session when I tried to book a ticket online for this session - over sold and late - VERY poorly organised!!!!!!
I arrived at 5 pm but when I arrived the free sessions had already closed at 4 pm which I argued was not even specified on their website and the next paid session was at 5.30 pm with allocation already exhausted. I asked if they could fit me into the 5.30 pm session as I was on my own but they said they could not so 6 pm session it was. At $20 for half an hour - it better be worth it! How do they even know if your ticket is for the 5.30 pm or 6 pm session there isn 't anything written on it.
Very poor organisation I rate it a weak 5/10 . There is a viewing platform in front of the ICC building - I went up to have a look - a view of what? There is nothing to see, the installation is all enclosed. I think this is another one of my don't bother to visit events. Warning to parents it is only free entry for kids under 3 years of age! Where does it specify this? Therefore sorry parents who have more then 1 child!
5.45 pm snd I am still near the end of the line for the 5.30 pm session. Good thing I lined up at 5.30 pm! The line is moving
VERY slowly!!!!!! Yes I snuck in! Just as well as the 5.30 pm session did not enter until the 6 pm session and therefore this delayed the 6pm, 6.30 pm and 7 pm sessions.
The couple behind me just left - they went to the box office to see if they could get an exchange for their tickets for another day or time as they had dinner reservations tonight. It is now 6 pm! Still in the queue and it has hardly moved. Hope it doesn"t start to rain!
Looks like shoes off socks on off we go. So strict my shoes were moved from a cubby hole between two cubby holes to one lower down.
Sorry I just lost another full description of my experience inside - my blog crashed yet again!!!!!
I can't be bothered rewriting what I just wrote whilst inside so will summarise. F***ing blog site crashing yet again!!!!!
A small number of people are let into the inflatable structure's entrance at a time. We sit in the 'airlock' chamber and are give a short talk about tge installation and the dos and don't whilst inside it - ie you can sit and lie down inside but not jump on structures as tgey are delicate and can burst due to the amount of foot traffic passing through it.
A number of giant inflatable chambers linked by circular tunnels illuminated ceilings using the natural light from outside ambient meditative music playing in the background - looks like a spaceship from a 1970's sci fi movie - a little dissorientating after sometime inside it - each chamber a different colour - fake single coloured stainglass windows - lots of little nooks to sit in and relax in. From the outside it looks like a giant inflatable weird shaped jumping castle but inside it is an inflatable maze - a little weird but wonderful. Half an hour stay time limit inside enforced - I staying to the max hope I haven't missed anything! We were told to be out as a group by a little after 6.30 pm - I think I did overstay as there was noone else in my group exiting at tge same time I did.
End of my visit - time to head home but not before I haave a look at the outdoir cinema also in Darling Harbour and part of the Sydney Festival.
Photos below also refer Youtube video upladed.
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