Meow Wolf

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Map
• Meow Wolf Locations, Ranked
  • 5 – The Real Unreal (Grapevine (Dallas), TX)
  • 4 – House of Eternal Return (Santa Fe, NM)
  • 3 – Radio Tave (Houston, TX)
  • 2 – Convergence Staton (Denver, CO)
  • 1 – Omega Mart (Las Vegas, NV)
• Meow Wolf Locations, Coming Soon:
  • Los Angeles, CA
  • New York City, NY
• Andrew’s Corner
• Conclusion

Introduction

What started as George R. R. Martin (yes, that one) buying a bowling alley in Santa Fe and leasing it out to a scrappy art collective, ended as the birth of what we now know as “Meow Wolf.”

From its modest beginnings in Santa Fe, Meow Wolf has evolved into a nationwide series of immersive fever dreams that somehow straddle the line between interactive art exhibit, sci-fi funhouse, and existential therapy session. Each Meow Wolf location offers a unique experience: different stories, different environments, and different places to lose your kids for 30 slightly-panicked seconds.

I’ve written about Meow Wolf before, in my Immersive & Experiential Art article. In this guide, we’re going to go deeper–I’ll discuss all five current Meow Wolf locations, ranking them from my least favorite to my most favorite. We’ll also peek at the two new Meow Wolf installations on the horizon.

Before that, though, I have to offer a few, important tips for visiting any of these locations. These tips do not have any spoilers:

• Download the Meow Wolf app and enable the “Psychic Sensor” feature before you arrive. It uses your location to unlock content, help track your progress, and keep you from missing narrative beats. (This goes for any Meow Wolf location, but for this one especially.)
• Photography Tip: Bring a good camera, but leave the long lenses and bulky camera bag at home. But, if you’re torn between brining a bigger bag of lenses and only relying on your cell phone, I’d stick with the cell phone. If you’ve got a Fuji X100VI (or anything similarly compact with low-light chops), it’s perfect. Consider bringing a small RGB LED light to add some color pop in the darker rooms. In some of the Meow Wolf gift shops, you’ll also find prism block filters for your iPhone. Weird lenses like these (and fisheyes) are a lot of fun in Meow Wolf locations.
• Secure Your Valuables. Try to work out of a fanny pack, and wear it like a sling bag. While crawling through some of the spaces (yes, literally crawling through them), it’s very easy to lose your cell phone, wallet, or anything else you may have loose in your pocket. But, if adding lenses prevents you from minimizing the size of your camera bag our using a fanny pack sling, plan on renting a locker–each Meow Wolf has a locker bay that you can rent space in.

Ready?  Let’s step into the fridge. 

Map

Meow Wolf Locations, Ranked

Before we get into the neon chaos of each exhibit, here’s a quick note on how I ranked them. This is entirely based on my personal experience.

The order reflects a mix of things: how interactive the space was, the overall quality and creativity of the art, how much fun I had, and how mindblowing the experience was. Locations have a varying degree of cohesive story to follow–in some cases, you’ll just want to explore. In other cases, you’ll probably want to lean into the story more.

In my opinion, every Meow Wolf is worth visiting. But some are just a little more “worth it” than others. In each location below, I’ll describe the “anchor spaces” (major art installations), the narrative arc (some light spoilers ahoy!) and some insider tips. If you don’t want any spoilers, it might be a good idea to read through this section, and then refer back to the specific section on the location you are visiting once you’ve done some exploring. Think of this as a way to make sure you don’t “miss” anything. (Also, the “Psychic Sensor” on the smart phone app helps with this as well, though it can be frustrating to get it to work sometimes.)

However–as with any Meow Wolf location–you can just walk through it, enjoy the art, lights, and colors, and not get too deep into the story or meaning. That’s totally fine as well. You do you!

One other note: It’s taken me quite a while to write this blog article–I’ve revisited each space at least twice, and I can tell you that some of them have dramatically changed over time. While the gist of the location likely won’t change much, you may find that some of the exhibits may have changed.

5 – The Real Unreal (Grapevine (Dallas), TX)

Situated within the Grapevine Mills outlet mall (one of the better outlet malls out there, but that’s for another article…), The Real Unreal was Meow Wolf’s fourth permanent installation, boasting around 29,000 square feet to explore. I think that they are also planning an expansion of the space. Allow somewhere between 1.5 to 3 hours exploring the maze of rooms and experiencing the sensory overload. Like with all Meow Wolf locations—the more time you give it, the more it gives back.

There are 9 anchor spaces in The Real Unreal:

• The Lobby – The part of the installation that houses the cafe, gift shop, and entrance to the…
• Front Yard – The literal front yard of…
• The Delaney House – A suburban home facade that serves as the entry point into the surreal world beyond. Inside, there’s a family room, a music room, a dining area, a kitchen, a hidden nook, an upstairs office, 3 bedrooms, and some really crazy portals, including a trippy refrigerator.
• The Portals of BRRRMUDA – A chilly, maze-like hub connecting various parts of the exhibit, and home to a trash goat named “Muffin,” who gets the party started if you leave her door open log enough. (Muffin is the first of many little “creatures” we’ll meet in the Meow Wolf universe.)
• Glowquarium – An underwater-themed space illuminated with black lights. Look for the “Holy Diver” in the space–a trippy looking alien diver with looooong windy arms.
• The Ancient Forest – A foggy, ET-style woodland with interactive surprises tucked between the trees.
• Neon Kingdom – A vibrant area filled with glowing art installations (and a stage for live performances). This is the space pictured above.
• Optic Drift – Feels almost like a classic art museum meets a 70’s acid trip.
• Lamp Shop Alley – A whimsical city street featuring capsule hotels, a gallery of light fixtures, arcade elements, and an unhinged ATM. (The ATM is one of my favorite little touches of the exhibit.) Recently, a small bar was added into Lamp Shop Alley.

The storyline centers on the Delaney family and their multigenerational home in Bolingbrook, Illinois. Ten-year-old Jared Fuqua disappears through a portal in the house, and it’s up to you to explore various dimensions and piece together what happened. (Note that this is pretty similar to the Santa Fe story & setup.)

Note that I think this is BY FAR the preachiest of the Meow Wolfs. The people running Meow Wolf are super liberal, and they’re not afraid to wear that badge on their sleeve and shove it in your face. This is really unfortunate as they don’t need to and I feel it “cheapens” the experience.

I have just one main insider tip for The Real Unreal. Look for Brain Beans. These are translucent, vegetable-looking stickers. Each one includes a number you can text with a keyword to reveal more story. Each Meow Wolf has a built-in scavenger hunt, and this is the one in The Real Unreal. There are currently 16 hidden throughout the exhibit (none are inside the house itself). Try to “Collect” them all.

4 – House of Eternal Return (Santa Fe, NM)

Opened in 2016 inside a converted bowling alley (again, the one purchased by George R. R. Martin), House of Eternal Return was the first permanent Meow Wolf installation. It’s smaller than some of the newer locations (about 20,000 square feet, though the overall building is 30,000 square feet), but what it lacks in size, it makes up for in raw creativity and weird, scrappy charm. (It is very similar in concept and execution to The Real Unreal in Dallas / Grapevine, TX, but still notably different.) Plan to spend 1.5 to 2.5 hours here, depending on your curiosity level.

There are 8 “anchor spaces” inside House of Eternal Return:

• The Selig’s House – A house that acts as the starting point for your journey, filled with portals, secrets, and information about the family. (Make sure to check out the mailbox out front. You’ll meet a hamster here–more on that later.) Similar to The Real Unreal, you’ll encounter a living room, dining room, kitchen, bedrooms, and a little office nook. The office nook has a safe in it… which you might be able to open if you could just locate the combination.
• Art City – A collection of rooms and art projects that don’t follow a specific theme, other than each being more eclectic and trippy than the previous one.
• The Portals of Bermuda – A different take on the BRRRMUDA of The Real Unreal. This is an intergalactic travel agency. It serves as a hallway into adjacent eclectic spaces.
  • Note: I think this used to be an area called “Ice Station Quellette.” It was home to a 7′ tall, imposing, somewhat creepy “space owl” that quietly stood guard as you encountered it. I kind of preferred this space… I loved the space owl. I think the artist that designed the section had a falling out with the creators of Meow Wolf. It looks like they have a website posted about the concept. I’m glad they kept the concept alive, somehow.
• The Forest – An ethereal, wooded space with glowing flora and an eerie calm.
• The Caves – A hollow, somewhat creepy space with musical mastodon bones. The Mastodon’s name is “Joyce.”
• Glowquarium – Very similar to the one in The Real Unreal. A trippy undersea environment that feels like Jacques Cousteau’s acid trip. Great for photo opps.
• Beam Space / Laser Harp Room – A dark room with playable laser beams. It’s part instrument, part alien tech.
• Fancy Town – A 2-story neon town which houses a stage and serves as this location’s performance venue.

The narrative of the installation centers around the Selig family, whose experiments with interdimensional travel tore a hole in reality. As you move through their house and the connected universes, you unfold the story.

Here are a few tips for seeing House of Eternal Return:

• Be ready to crouch and climb. Unlike some of the newer locations, this one leans a little more on physical exploration—think tunnels, ladders, and secret passageways.
• Scavenger Hunt: Look for the Hamsters – There’s at least 26. If you find enough of them, the staff will give you a prize. Along with Joyce, the hamster is one of the other creatures featured in the exhibit. The hamster is named “Nimsesku.”
• The Constellation Room Isn’t Just Lights & Buttons – It’s a puzzle. If you solve it, the room will print you a little prize.
• The Mechanical Raven on the 2nd Floor of the Forest is an Animatronic – If you hang around long enough, you’ll see it. There’s a little treehouse that affords a nice view of the raven.
• Read the documents – Again, this is true about all Meow Wolfs. The house is full of letters, notebooks, and newspaper clippings that slowly unravel the story. If you’re into lore, don’t rush. Speaking of which…
• Try to Open the Safe – I pulled this one off. Hint: The code is hidden in the will documents on the adjacent desk.
• No app focus. Unlike other Meow Wolfs, this one relies less on digital elements, but will help you make sure you hit all of the highlights of the exhibit.

3 – Radio Tave (Houston, TX)

Meow Wolf’s fifth and most recent permanent installation, Radio Tave, opened in 2024 at the southwest corner of Houston’s Fifth Ward. It’s big, bold, chaotic, and definitely “Houston.” It’s layered, diverse, and a little overwhelming. The exhibit spans 40,000 square feet. Plan to spend 2 to 3.5 hours exploring.

There are 10 anchor spaces inside Radio Tave:

• Home on the Strange / Lobby – The main entrance to the radio station and the disconnected, abstract, surreal entrance to the entire exhibit.
• ETNL Community Radio – The broadcast offices of the radio station, which really is the focal point of the whole exhibit. They did a good job of creating a quirky community radio station with plenty of subtle Texas references. (This is my son’s favorite part of the installation–he especially loves playing with the radio setup in the broadcast booth, shown above.)
• Glowquarium Trench – This is the blacklight aquarium area of Radio Tave. It’s similar to the others, but different in that the entrance to the area has more of a gradient that bleeds in a surrealist way into the more “real world” setting of a studio engineer’s office.
• Hallway – Kind of boring, honestly–but it’s a hallway with some themed doors. It’s what’s behind the doors that are cooler.
• Middling Market – This is the sci-fi futuristic street installation within Radio Tave. All Meow Wolf locations have one of these (except Omega Mart, unless you count the almost-street scene out in front of the entrance).
• Obsidiodyssey – A mostly yellow-colored area with a little artist studio (where you can almost “paint by numbers” with your finger) along with an interactive DJ booth.
• The Amalgam – A chaotic 2-story room that features a crazy tornado-like swirl of stuff barrels up to the top floor with a otherworldly truck parked nearby.
• The Bailiwick – This is the “forest” area of the space, which I like better than the others, due to the cool radio-meets-artsy references within the area.
• Theta Theater – The live performance venue of the space. Notably different than the others–this one doesn’t look like a city–it looks like a trippy “black hole sun” black light desert.
• Cowboix Hevvven – My favorite part of the whole installation. A liminal country bar meets purgatory with some death metal references thrown in. It’s actually a bar with some pretty unique offerings. While not the biggest one, I think this is the best Meow Wolf bar in all of the locations.

The story here is less “family drama” (thank God–I find those stories kind of boring and 1-dimensional) and more “cosmic frequency.” You’re navigating a fractured universe stitched together by broadcasts from the elusive “Radio Tave,” a station that seems to exist across time, memory, and vibe. The mission? Decode the signals, follow the transmissions, and manipulate the fragments of reality.

Insider tips for visiting Radio Tave:

• Use the app, but don’t depend on it. This location leans into spatial storytelling, and many of the best moments aren’t tied to screens.
• Don’t skip the corners. The tucked-away installations here are some of the weirdest and most rewarding in the entire Meow Wolf lineup. Some are pretty subtle. One of my favorites is the sound booth next to the studio upstairs in the radio station area of the exhibit. Not only is there a sleeping “Felix” character on the couch (he actually breathes–equally creepy and cute, I can’t explain it better than that), there’s a recording booth in the corner that will talk back to you if you start having a conversation in the room. Trippy.
• Scavenger Hunt: Brain Bean Sprouts – These are just like Meow Wolf Grapevine / The Real Unreal.
• The Jukebox in Cowboix Hevvven’s Secret Code – This is one of my favorite little tricks in any Meow Wolf. Look around the jukebox. You’ll see 7 7 7 above the jukebox. Maybe try popping that code in the jukebox every few minutes… 🤘 The angry looking shark cowboy in the corner is “Gilbert Waco,” but you’ll find other characters (and their phone numbers) in Cowboix Hevven.

2 – Convergence Station (Denver, CO)

Meow Wolf’s third permanent location (and first to be built entirely from the ground up) Convergence Station opened in 2021 and immediately made Denver even weirder. With over 90,000 square feet of art, architecture, and utter chaos, it’s the largest and most narratively ambitious Meow Wolf experience to date. Plan to spend 3 to 4 hours here if you want to fully explore all the realms and pretend you understand what’s happening.

The anchor spaces inside Convergence Station are:

• QDOT Transit Station – Your arrival point and base station. This is the area pictured right before the Introduction of this article. This area has some QPASS kiosks. (Pick up your QPASS here… more on that in a minute.) This is also where the cafe & gift shop are.
• C Street – This location’s city street–and the best one of all 5 locations as it’s super large and has a lot of exploring opportunities. Also, the car in the middle is so cool. It definitely has a “Blade Runner” feel to it.
• Eemia – An ancient landmark locked in a thousand-year ice age shell. The landmark is the Kaleidogoth Cathedral, which is the most impressive part of Convergence Station, I think. The castle-cathedral looking structure has multiple colorful, neon spires and a rotating dome.
• Numina – This is the “forest-like” installation of this location. It is the massive, more organic area of the installation and home to a couple of my daughter’s favorite Meow Wolf characters: an ethereal sloth named “Fig” (or “Figgy”) and a bear-ferret creature with a slight “Adventure Time” styling to it named “Bearret.”
• Ossuary – A library area of the exhibit that serves as a “repository of memories.” It feels kind of like it belongs on the Starship Enterprise.

Not an anchor space, per se, but definitely one of my favorite areas of the exhibit space is the Yawlp Research Boat, which is wrapped in a 2-story somewhat circular room which serves as a kind of surrealist musical instrument that you walk through and experience. However, the Yawlp research boat is kind of cool to poke around in for a few minutes–but the best part of the boat is the super awesome “Yawlp” character, which is both terrifying and cute, simultaneously.

The story of the exhibit is that you’ve arrived at a station where four alternate worlds (Eemia, Numina, Ossuary, and C Street) have collided due to a cosmic memory event. You’re part explorer, part memory archivist, using a “QPASS” to collect data fragments and help stabilize the multiverse.

Here are my insider tips for visiting Convergence Station:

• Get the QPASS – It’s a scannable card (or, as it’s known to Meow Wolfers, it’s this locations “boop card”, as it “boops” when you scan in). The card helps you track memories and unlock story content. Without it, you’re missing a major part of the experience. The card is it’s own scavenger hunt.
• Parking SUUUCKS here – $15, flat rate. And if the Broncos are playing (as their stadium is close nearby), you’re probably outta luck. Use public transit if you can.
• Pace yourself. This place is huge. Take breaks. Drink water. And get lost. But it is kind of overwhelming. I find the massive size of this location to be awesome, but I feel the story is kind of lacking here. Maybe I just didn’t get into it as much.
• Check for live performances – Actors sometimes wander the space and interact with guests. This is true about any Meow Wolf location, but especially this one.

1 – Omega Mart (Las Vegas, NV)

Tucked into AREA15 just off the Las Vegas Strip, Omega Mart is Meow Wolf’s second permanent installation—and its most commercially surreal. It opened in 2021 and from the outside masquerades as a grocery store selling absurd products like “Gender Fluid,” “Nut-Free Salted Peanuts,” and “Organic Moth Milk.” Behind the shelves, though, lies a mind-warping labyrinth of office cubicles, alien landscapes, and a corporate nightmare fueled by interdimensional capitalism. It’s around 52,000 square feet of fluorescent weirdness, though it feels smaller than that to me. Plan for 2 to 3.5 hours… or longer, depending on how deep into the Dramcorp conspiracy you fall.

There are 9 anchor spaces inside Omega Mart:

• The Storefront – A fully functional fake grocery store that’s already worth the price of admission.
• Employee Training Room – A delightfully dystopian onboarding video experience with glitched-out propaganda.
• The Factory – A pulsating mechanical space filled with conveyor belts, secret tunnels, and glowing vats of something… goo-like.
• The Projected Desert – A bright, desert-inspired dreamscape you somehow reach through a beverage cooler.
• The Dramcorp Lobby – Clean corporate minimalism hiding very dirty secrets.
• The Project Room – An R&D lab where timelines and logic go to die.
• The Catwalks – Overhead walkways with incredible sightlines—and just enough height to feel slightly unsafe.
• The Offices – Corporate hellscapes and personal desk shrines that make you question your own job.
• The Transit Tunnel – A surreal underground rail station built for who-knows-what.

The plot centers around Dramcorp, a sinister megacorporation using its grocery store front to extract powerful energy from another dimension, often with disastrous, ethically questionable results. You’re a shopper, but of course, you’re also part of the story. Do you join efforts with Dramcorp? Or do you join the resistance? Your call!

Insider tips for visiting Omega Mart:

• Buy the Dramcorp Employee Card. This card (a “boop” card, similar to the one in Denver but better themed here) unlocks terminals and lets you follow the full narrative arc. This adds a lot to the experience–more than the boop cards in Denver (which are totally worth it).
• Take your time in the store. The products are art. Read the labels. Touch everything (gently). Look behind things. The best part of the products in the store? You can buy most of them!
• Expect a crowd. This is Vegas—timed entry helps, but expect some chaos, especially on weekends. It’s not a bad idea to book the earliest time slot and savor the first little bit of time where the space hasn’t fully populated yet.
• This is the most accessible location for first-timers. It’s easy to explore, visually rich, and doesn’t require a deep dive into lore to be fun (though I find the story the best and most interesting here).

Meow Wolf Locations Coming Soon

Los Angeles, CA

Meow Wolf is headed to LA with a permanent installation planned at 6081 Center Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90045, in an old Cinemark movie complex. The venue is expected to open in late 2026. Rumors I’ve read indicate that the location will lean into the cinematic / movie history of Los Angeles and Hollywood. The space is expected to take 70,000 square feet or more, making it the second largest behind Denver.

New York City, NY

Meow Wolf is building the space in the historic South Street Seaport in Lower Manhattan at Pier 17, 89 South Street, New York, NY 10038. The location is said to have about 50,000 square feet. The location is supposed to lean into video game culture, and will incorporate elements of virtual reality. (I think that might be a really good or a really bad thing–depending on how they do it.) Of course, it is supposed to have a strong theme attached to the local culture that is New York City.

Andrew’s Corner

At Andrew’s request, he’d like to include his own thoughts on Meow Wolf, which I’ve agreed to transcribe here. When I told him that I’d do this, he told me, “DUDE! I’m gonna be famous… I’m gonna be Internet famous!”

We’ll see about all of that. Without further ado:

Hi! I’m Andrew. And my favorite Meow Wolf areas are:

• C Street (Convergence Station) – They have a flying car model which kind of looks like the DeLorean from Back to the Future, but not really. And I like to drive inside it. It’s really cool.
  • I really like the downtown area at every single location, though. But C Street is my favorite.
• The ETNL Radio Station (Radio Tave) – I like it because there’s like a voice room where there’s like a deep voice that talks to you. It’s really cool. Also the radio station equipment is so cool to play with.
• The Factory (Omega Mart) – So, the factory is like a control panel, and there’s buttons and levers to push and pull. Yeah. That’s why I like the factory because I like factory equipment.
• The House (The House of Eternal Return) – Umm, because like there’s a bunch of old stuff, and different things. Also, I realized that there was a connection between every single Meow Wolf. They have like a website where it’s like there’s a rhombus guy. It’s called like Rhombus’ secret corner. Probably.
• The House (The Real Unreal) – There’s a bunch of cool rooms. There’s a bed. And overall in an elderly guy’s room, there’s shirts that look like bricks. Which is super detailed.

Even though Meow Wolf is weird, it’s a sanctuary for imagination to run wild. This is Andrew from Andrew’s Corner–we’ll catch you next time.

Conclusion

Whether you’re solving a mystery, exploring a surreal swamp, or crawling through a fridge into another dimension, each Meow Wolf gives you a reason to visit, and a reason come back. You’ll always find more, and not just due to the fact that they continue to develop their existing installations. Looking at the Dallas installation compared to the original Santa Fe location, I worry about the re-use of concepts between locations. I hope that the new locations in Los Angeles and New York will be distinctly different than the others and will give fellow travelers like myself a great reason for going to explore those locations as well.

Whether you’re an immersive / “experiential” art junkie, a family looking for something weird-but-kid-friendly, or just someone who is looking for something completely different, all of these locations are worth checking out. Just remember to keep your mind open, your camera ready, and your eyes peeled. You never know what’s waiting behind the next vending machine.