Sony Just Opened a VR Theme Park and Speakeasy Outside Chicago

It’s tough to get out of the city when a world of culture and entertainment is at your fingertips, but Sony is betting big on the suburbs of Chicago with its opening of Wonderverse, a 45,000-square-foot venue that brings the studio’s most popular movies, TV shows, and video games to life.

Located less than 20 miles west of the city in Oakbrook Mall, Wonderverse is Sony's first immersive experience in the world. Uncharted, Ghostbusters, Jumanji, Bad Boys, and Zombieland are just some of the titles coming to life in the form of virtual reality, interactive installations, themed dining experiences, and exclusive merch.

“Oakbrook was chosen for several reasons,” said Jeffrey Godsick, EVP of Global Partnerships and Brand Management and Head of Location Based Entertainment at Sony Pictures. “It’s one of the top malls in the country and the space with its high ceilings allows us to create something spectacular.”

There’s the Ghostbusters Virtual Reality Academy, with two very different virtual reality experiences. In the Arena, expect to suit up and get armed with proton packs in order to outsmart mischievous spirits and join forces with fellow trainees to capture ghosts while standing. Blitz uses one-of-a-kind tech to put guests in the driver’s seat of an ectomobile-turned-hovercraft, where they compete to see who’s the fastest, most skillful driver in a high-speed race with realistic bumps and turns.

To challenge your brain, there’s three different Uncharted-themed escape rooms that drop guests right onto the movie sets Mark Wahlberg and Tom Holland navigated for hidden treasure. Guests can choose to do one as a standalone activity or all three for a connected storyline. There’s the Bad Boys Racing Club where guests ride through a high-speed chase through Miami on racing simulators and Zombieland bumper cars. In between all the different immersive activities is a playground of classic arcade games. When the need to rest and refuel before jumping back into the action hits, visit The Commissary, the casual yet surprisingly upscale on-site restaurant by Chef Scott Donaldson, where everything is made from scratch on-site.

Expect burgers, fries, salads, and chili, but keep an eye for more elevated fare tucked alongside comfort food staples. There’s a Brooklyn-style chicken parmesan sandwich served in a tomato vodka sauce and topped with pecorino cheese and fresh mozzarella on a toasted baguette. There’s a butternut squash steak sprinkled with pepitas and garnished with gremolata, an Italian condiment made of parsley, garlic and lemon zest (one of many options that are meat and dairy-free). And for meat lovers, the jerk pork tacos garnished with pickled pineapple relish and island cream sauce alongside sweet fried plantains and island rice is a standout.

The dessert selection is where it gets thrown back to Sony Pictures. “My Weakness Is Cake,” is Kevin Hart’s line in the new Jumanji. It’s also the name for a chocolate mousse fudge cake that’s served with a salted caramel ganache and chocolate mirror glaze. It’s sold by the slice or as a whole. The “Bad Boys Coffee Break” is a plate of ricotta donuts on a bed of mocha mousse, dusted with cinnamon sugar and salted sweet cream foam. Milkshakes, a chocolate waffle taco, s’mores, and a banana cream butter cake with dulce de leche ice cream are also on the menu.

A full bar selection (including mocktails) is available courtesy of the Commissary Bar helmed by mixologist Jane Danger. The selection of specialty cocktails pays homage to popular pictures from Sony that didn’t make the cut for the interactive entertainment picture. There’s You Had Me at Hello, a vodka lychee ginger beer and St. Germain concoction for all the Jerry Maguire fans. Wax On Wax Off has a beachy, West Coast vibe to it with its Malibu base mixed with honey, lime and coconut—similar to the location of Mr. Miyagi’s LA lessons in The Karate Kid. And the You Can’t Handle The Truth, a mango whiskey cocktail you can actually picture Jack Nicholson drinking while on the set of A Few Good Men.

But if you want a more grown-up vibe and the chance to escape the crowds, look for The Ghost Trap, a speakeasy-style bar that isn’t too hard to find (you just have to know to look for it). Tucked away from the arcade noise is the cozy watering hole that seats no more than 60 people at a time. With its high ceilings, leather bound books on the shelves and paintings decorating the walls, you’d think you’d stumble on a professor’s study. Take a closer look and you’ll see that might be the case if the professor in question was a fan of the supernatural. Slimer, the not-so-friendly-phantom from Ghostbusters zings around the walls and is one of the biggest clues that the bar is a tribute to one of Sony’s most successful franchises. Easter eggs are hidden throughout and include a copy of Tobin’s Spirit Guide, the encyclopedia on all-things-supernatural used by the 1984 movie’s protagonists, schematic drawings of the proton pack and a haunted card catalog that holds relics from ghostbusting adventures.

Wonderverse opened to the public January 11, 2024 and is located at 100 Oakbrook Center, Oakbrook, IL just above the L.L. Bean on level one. It is free to enter, includes a store with merchandise not found anywhere else in the world and attractions range from $6-$35 per person. Visitors are encouraged to book their experiences upon arrival since they can sell out and are not sold online. Guests younger than 16 must be chaperoned by an adult at least 21 years of age. Guests younger than 21 years old, will not be admitted after 7 pm because Wonderverse becomes an adult-only experience at 8 pm every night of the week. For more info visit WonderverseChicago.com.

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