Hi! My name is Sarah, and I am one of the moms who is a part of Smoky Mountain Moms. I live locally in the Smoky Mountains. I have two kids 5 and 3. We took the kids to Xperia Ocean Journey actually on my son’s 3rd birthday. I wanted to tell you what to expect from this place so you can decide if it’s right for your family.

What is Xperia?

I had that same question too when I first heard about it coming to Sevierville. The new Xperia is located in the Tanger Outlets in Sevierville across from the Disney Store and Direct Tools.

We were so excited to give this place a try and see what this new attraction is.

The outside of the building honestly doesn’t show what it is very well but once you walk in you can kind of get an idea. This is a timed group experience. Our time wasn’t ready to start, so we looked around at the gift shop, went to the bathroom and took some photos with the posters. They do have bathrooms in their building so you don’t have to wonder the whole Tanger Outlets looking for one. Once our time came, we lined up with around 15-20 people. We stood outside of what was to look like an elevator. We had a “tour guide” who told us a little about the experience and what we were about to walk into.

The first room was one of my favorites. We stood in a room full of screens all around us and the room was to simulate us being in a submarine going underwater. The kids both enjoyed it and were amazed at all the sea creatures. This room we were in for probably 5-7 mins if I had to guess.

The next section was a mirror maze to get to the next part. It was a little hard to get through it with all the people. The kids loved it and laughed at all the mirrors.

The next room was dark and had around 4 jellyfish all over the wall moving around. We stood in the middle to watch them swim and have a battle against each other. It was set to some music and was interesting to learn how they interact.

Once that room was over, we moved into what felt like a holding spot until the next room became available. The room was somewhat small. They had digital screens all over. They had sea lions come up to the glass to interact with you and had fishes swim by. We didn’t stand there very long but the kids thought it was cute.

Our next room was very cool. It was an interactive sea floor. The best way to describe it is the screen went all the way from the top and down into the floor. The kids could stomp on the sea floor and fish would swim around. It played maybe a short movie on it where you got to see dolphins and other fish.

The next experience room felt like another holding room. They had Xboxes connected to some TVs and you could stand back and have the jelly fish interact with different motions you do. My kids are small, so they had to be held to get the full experience. That part was just “Ok” We were ready to move on pretty quickly.

The next room was set up almost like a show. There were some “whales” sitting upright and turtles that swam by. It was a dark room and you stood against a railing to watch them swim by. The graphics were very good and did look real. We enjoyed it.

Once everyone was gathered together the tour guide would talk about the next room to let us know it was an interactive room for the kids. We went in to learn that we could interact with some sea lions. We had a screen we could do different motions and the sea lion would come up and spin or wave. The kids thought that was fun and loved it.

Our final room was also my favorite. we all received some 3D glasses and went into a dome type room. It played a fun movie and you got to see all kinds of animal’s swim and see them in 3D. The kids loved that part and talked about it for a while.

After that was over, we all ended up in the gift shop as most attractions do. Our whole tour lasted 45 mins. The only thing I didn’t understand was on the website it does say allow 45 to 90 minute. I don’t know if it was busy that we had to go in with a group, but for us, it was exactly a 45 minute experience.

This was something I don’t think you would go back to again and again. It is kind of a do it once and maybe do it again in a few years. Kids would definitely enjoy this attraction. Most adults I have talked to, that are my friends, told me the same kind of answer that “It was ok”

I would recommend going once. It is very unique and not anything else like it out there. I did hear after a few months they are going to change the theme of all rooms to space. I would definitely like to check that out as well.

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