Bubble Planet: Is the Newest Immersive Experience Worth It for Families?

I made the mistake of telling my daughter about Bubble Planet when tickets first went on sale in February. I thought it would build excitement, sharing photos of the vibrant and colorful space filled with — you guessed it — bubbles. The pictures showed bubbles of all shapes, sizes and colors. Her eyes widened as she saw the giant bubble bath-themed ball pit, and her excitement grew. As we neared the March opening date, she asked with every car ride, “Are we going to see the bubbles now?”

More than once, I had to burst her bubble. The March opening was delayed, so we set our sights on mid-April. While I was nervous we’d face another delay — and nearly did, as the experience opened later in the day than expected on April 18 — we were still able to visit opening weekend.

We headed to Bellevue on a Saturday morning to see if Bubble Planet was worth the wait. (Spoiler alert: It was.)

Interactive and immersive experiences in every room

There are 10 immersive rooms in Bubble Planet, designed to engage all five senses. We arrived at 10 a.m., checking in at the ticket booth for our passes and a photo in front of a green screen. We then walked down a rainbow hallway, the anticipation building.

We first stepped into the LED Room, an underwater world with turtles, manta rays and hammerhead sharks projected onto the floor. My daughter discovered that her steps on the floor prompted bursts of light or speeding sea animals. She watched in awe as the lifelike animals swam beneath her feet, and I loved seeing the sparkling light trailing after her. The mirrored walls made the room feel as if it went on forever.

The next room — Bubble Ocean — was by far my daughter’s favorite. Gigantic pink latex balloons surrounded her the second she stepped in, piled higher than her pigtails. I lost sight of her completely more than once, tracking her movements under rising waves of balloons. She’d occasionally throw a balloon up in the air and watch it float, her smile wide, her hair sticking up with static. I think she could have stayed in this room all day — and we returned to it later — but there was still so much more to see.

My daughter wasn’t sure about the Giant Bubble Room. The geodesic dome with mirrored floors invites visitors to feel as if they’ve stepped inside a huge bubble. Speakers around the bubble amplify the voices of everyone inside, echoing around the dome. My daughter tentatively stepped across the mirrored floor, crouching down to peer at her reflection and the colorful moving projections. A lot is going on all at once here, and I think it made her nervous. (We didn’t stay long in this room initially, but came back to it later. She was more comfortable the second time.)

Snack and drink break

About halfway through, we found ourselves in an open room with multiple options. My daughter headed straight for the kid-size ball pit, filled with all the colors of the rainbow. She waded through with other preschoolers and toddlers (and a staff member hunting down a lost item).

This room had a snack bar with chips, cookies, candy bars and other packaged snacks for sale. Bottled drinks were also available for purchase, including juice, water, soda and Starbucks coffee. This is the only room where food and beverages were allowed, and it was nice to take a short break at one of the tables.

This open room also had Instagrammable selfie sets, ranging from a bathtub filled with rubber duckies to a whimsical rope swing with balloons overhead. My daughter slipped her shoes off to step into the rubber ducky tub, giggling as the duckies squeaked beneath her. And the swing really swings!

A small room off to the side, filled with giant silver balloons and color-changing lights, offered another sensory experience.

To leave this room, we headed back toward the Giant Bubble Room, veering to the right and walking up a ramp in a bubble-themed hallway where a short line had formed.

A giant bubble bath and more kid-centric activities

The huge Bubble Bath Pit is perhaps the star of the show — or at least the most recognizable. The pool-size ball pit is filled with clear balls to look like a giant bubble bath, making it the world’s largest bubble bath ball pit. Doubling down on the theme, a large inflatable man is in the tub, his gigantic feet sticking out of one end and his head at the other. Bubbly clouds hang overhead.

There are cubbies along the wall in this room for shoes and other personal items. The multiple points of entry into the ball pit included pool ladders and stairs. As tempting as it may be for kids, jumping straight into the ball pit is not allowed (or safe).

At 3 feet deep, it is easy for smaller kids to get lost in the sea of bubbles. As I followed my daughter in, I was surprised at the depth. She was thrilled, essentially swimming around the ball pit and even occasionally disappearing under the bubbles. (This part gave me the most anxiety, from worrying that other people in the pit might run into her, to considering the germs and other risks. I stayed within arm’s reach of her and encouraged her to keep her head above the plastic bubbles.)

Kids will also have to resist the urge to climb on the inflatable man in the ball pit. His knees rise above the bubble balls, but the inflated fabric structures are not intended for climbing.

After our time in the bubble-themed ball pit, we got our shoes back on and headed to the Infinity Room, a room with hanging lights and mirrored walls. The staff member at the entrance warned us it was easy to get lost — or even run into the wall — so we stayed close to the central path. The changing colors of the lights and the endless display were mesmerizing.

We then walked through a room with machines blowing bubbles overhead and entered the virtual reality room. Here, we sat in bubble-shaped hanging chairs and wore VR headsets to enter a bubble-themed world. While kids ages 8 and older can do this 10-minute experience on their own, I let my young daughter peek inside my headset to see the bubbles and animals. (She was more interested in it than I expected her to be!)

The Sketch and Post Room is connected to the gift shop. Here, kids can choose one of several underwater-themed coloring pages and color it at the long table. Once their design is complete, they can slide it under a projector to see it pop up in an underwater world on a big screen. My daughter opted for a submarine coloring page and was thrilled to see it float across the screen.

More interactive stations line one wall, including one where you can blow into a megaphone to see bubbles on a screen, and another where you can pump up an on-screen bubble over the portrait of Mona Lisa.

There are also large signs throughout the experience that offer in-depth descriptions of bubbles of all kinds — from bubble gum to underwater bubbles to human cells.

The gift shop is where you can see (and purchase) the green-screen photo taken at the entrance. You have a choice of four different bubble-themed backgrounds, and the printed photo costs $15.99. (An oversize rubber ducky set us back another $10.)

Tips for visiting Bubble Planet with kids

• Plan for two hours here with kids. It’s feasible to see every room in 60–90 minutes, but there are several where kids will want to stay and play as long as possible. I wasn’t sure I’d ever get my daughter out of the Bubble Ocean or Bubble Bath Pit.
• Depending on how busy it is, there may be a short wait to get into each room. Staff members stationed at entrances keep track of room capacity and let you in.
• Wear or bring socks. No shoes are allowed in the ball pits, and socks are required. (You’ll need to get in the Bubble Bath Pit with little kids and stay close, it’s deeper than you might expect.)
• There is hand sanitizer at the entrances and exits of each room. I also noticed staff wiping down and sanitizing the tables in the Sketch and Post room.
• These rooms are designed for photo ops. Have your phone or camera at the ready to capture the experience (but hold on tight to them in the ball pit, we saw more than one person wading through looking for a lost item).
• If you have a latex allergy or sensitivity, be sure to inform the staff. The Bubble Ocean Room, in particular, involves contact with latex balloons.
• It’s worth noting that not every room on the Bubble Planet map online made it to the Bellevue location. This is a worldwide experience, and each location differs in which rooms it features. While my daughter had hoped for a robot-led bubble show and bouncy, inflatable clouds (my mistake!), we didn’t find them here.
• To exit, you’ll walk through the VR experience and gift shop, so prepare the kids in advance if you want to make it through without an added expense. Or, opt for the VIP experience as it includes both VR and a poster from the gift shop. (My daughter chose the Bubble Ocean poster — a way to remember her favorite room.) You can also scan a QR code in the gift shop to leave a review and get a free bottle of bubbles.