Key Points:
- The Sphere Experience is split into two parts – Time in the atrium interacting with AI robots and a screening of “Postcard From Earth”.
- “Postcard From Earth”, and the venue in general, lived up to my lofty expectations – Unreal.
- That being said, I’m not sure it was worth the $134.52 I paid, however, cheaper tickets are available on select dates.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’re familiar with the newest addition to the Las Vegas skyline – The Sphere.
While the exterior LED screen and big-name headliners like U2 and Phish get most of the buzz, there’s another way you can get inside: The Sphere Experience and “Postcard From Earth”.
The Sphere Experience is screened multiple times per day, and you can walk to The Sphere via an enclosed walkway from The Venetian.
I had the chance to snag a last-minute ticket to the Sphere Experience and thought it would be helpful to share my experience here to help you determine if it’s worth slotting into your itinerary.
What Is The Sphere Experience?
The Experience has 2 parts.
The first takes place in the main atrium, where guests are invited to gawk at futuristic art and decor, grab a drink, and interact with AI-powered bots that can carry a conversation, share their knowledge, and even answer “goofy” questions.
This part of the experience starts at the time stated on your ticket. Darren Aronofsky’s “Postcard From Earth” starts 1-hour after entry, so you’ll have time to mill about, explore, and grab a drink.
Next to each humanoid bot was a human “handler” that helped to facilitate the conversation.
While I felt the bots were both interesting and cool, the massive crowds gathered around each made it somewhat challenging to hear the discourse.
At certain AI bot stations, unique technology was on display.
An example of this was at the “Innovation” station, where the bot invited guests to move between 4 circles illuminated on the floor.
The moment you stepped into a new circle, you’d hear a message in one language and when you took 2 steps to the next, you’d hear a completely different language with no bleedover.
My take on the AI Robots: They’re certainly fun to watch and interact with. They understand questions and give sensible responses that are also commonly humorous.
While cool, they aren’t much different than interacting with Chat GPT or Google’s Bard on your computer.
There were also 3 stations where you could make a digital avatar of yourself, which was then electronically delivered.
The lines for this experience were substantial, so I skipped it, but it sure looked popular.
The atrium area where this is all taking place is truly impressive as well, feeling like a spaceship with futuristic art, sculptures, and unique visuals everywhere you look.
Of course, lining the atrium are several bars with drink prices that are… elevated… to put it kindly.
You can expect to pay close to $20 for draft/canned beer, and $20 and up for cocktails.
After scoping out everything in the atrium portion of The Sphere Experience, I headed up to my seat for “Postcard From Earth”.
Best Seats for “Postcard From Earth”
Before the show started, I milled about the Sphere’s seating to get a feel for where the best view would be from.
In my opinion, the best seats at The Sphere are up near the top of the venue as the entirety of the screen is in front of you. I feel you’d have to do too much straining (looking up & around) in the first few rows to get the full effect.
In fact, I had seats in the first few rows of the upper level but moved up toward to top of the venue to a bank of empty seats because I liked the perspective better (and the legroom).
I sat on the far right side (as you’re looking at the screen) of section 407 – You’ll see from the pictures below that it’s a great vantage point.
One last note on upper-level seating – You enter the section from the very top of the venue and the stairs are steep. Be prepared to have a little shot of adrenaline as you prepare to descend.
The Show
The plot follows the story of 2 astronauts who land on a foreign planet and are awoken from their slumber.
It seems as though they had been sleeping for an extended period, and so they needed to be reminded of where they came from (Earth) and why humans had to leave.
I found the storyline to be awesome, sad, and oddly ironic.
See, the reason humans had to leave Earth is because our harmful habits, growth, waste, and disregard for the planet destroyed it… Yet here I was sitting in a $2.3 billion theater which is the definition of human excess.
Anyway, I digress.
Now, I didn’t do a ton of “pre-research” on “Postcard From Earth” before attending and was so confused as to why the show wasn’t initially using the entire screen, rather, it was being shown on a typical movie theater-sized portion of the spherical screen we all came to see.
To my relief, the film expanded to the entire usable screen space in dramatic fashion when the space travelers were reminded of their home planet, Earth.
From there, the narrator took us around the planet, showing off Earth’s impressive landscapes and landmarks, both natural and man-made, highlighting human activity’s impact on her health.
Here are some of my favorite pictures:
The theater experience itself is one of the best I’ve had.
The star of the show is the wrap-around spherical screen which lived up to the hype. It was overpowering in the best way and had a crystal clear picture.
Additional theatrical touches that enhanced the experience included an amazing sound system, vibrating seats, and small yet noticeable audio bits that draw your attention to certain parts of the screen (birds chirping, motor revving, children laughing, etc.).
In all, the entire show lived up to my lofty expectations. I left impressed.
Is The Sphere Experience & “Postcard From Earth” Worth the Money?
As you know, I thoroughly enjoyed “Postcard”, but is it a good value? That’s a separate question entirely.
Tickets to The Sphere Experience vary by day and start at anywhere from $79 to $119 when booking directly through their website.
Before booking, I also recommend you scope out pricing on Vegas.com, which can sometimes be a smidge cheaper.
I bought my ticket on Vegas.com for $134 ($118 ticket + $16.52 fees), which was slightly more expensive than booking directly with The Sphere (I had a $100 gift card to burn, received as part of a previous promo).
As for the “Is it worth it?” question… I have to say, for the price I paid, absolutely not.
There’s a 0% chance that I’d take my family of 4 to this show for $536. Nada. I could treat them to an entire day at a Disney theme park for that price.
Was I blown away? Yes… just not $134 per person blown away.
I think that current pricing reflects the fact that there are a lot of people vying to get into The Sphere to check it out and will come down (significantly) with time as the “newness factor” wears off.
One way it appears you can save money on tickets is by booking in advance. I was able to find many more tickets in the $79-$89 range if I looked at dates well into the future. That’s a bit more palatable.
Now, I don’t mean to dissuade you.
After all, I went into this knowing I’d be overpaying but didn’t care because I wanted to see The Sphere. I’m guessing many of you are in the same boat.
If that’s the case, check it out and enjoy the show!
I’m a former software salesman turned Vegas aficionado. While the craps table is my preferred habitat, I pull myself away to explore new attractions, shows, restaurants, and outdoor activities around Las Vegas with the intent of sharing my experiences.
Ultimately, I just want to help folks plan a better trip and save a few bucks in the process.