Dublin's best new entertainment hotspots - from VR to "mind-blowing" illusions

Irish Daily Mirror

a day ago

We're past the halfway point of the school summer holidays and boredom is setting in.
The annual sun getaway abroad is behind many of us and most parents have to work full-time.
Kids can do summer camps, but teens can be tricky – and costly – to keep entertained.
These spirited youngsters want to do stuff on their own, which is handy; but it's also nice to join them occasionally, when time allows.
Surprisingly, one of the best places for family activities to suit teens is Dublin city centre. With a number of new attractions, it's become a teen-friendly capital.
It's now home to some brand-new top entertainment options. These attractions – all opened this year – have positioned Dublin as a great city for family fun.
I went out with my son Luc, 15, and his pals, to try them out. Here's what we thought of them. Little Museum of Dublin (L-R) Sarah Clancy, CEO Little Museum of Dublin, Mary Stack of Fáilte Ireland, Emma Blain, Lord Mayor and First Citizen of Dublin
The capital's quirkiest museum has just re-opened after a €4 million renovation that took a year to complete.
It's a new-look, modernised refit that brings the museum – located in a Georgian mansion on iconic St Stephen's Green – into the 21st century. However, it has retained its ethos as a 'hospitable, historic and humorous welcome to Dublin.'
Visitors are first brought into a special screening room for a fully immersive introduction video, which features a cheeky Molly Malone.
The tour is a crash course in Dublin history, carried out with wit, wisdom, eccentricity and charm.
It's an educational and entertaining activity for teens - a bit wacky and never boring.
The tour is less than an hour, moves at pace and is easy to grasp, with soundbytes like how Dublin went from 'Irish village, to Viking Town, to English city, to proud European capital'. The "Tara's Palace" dollhouse which is on display at the Little Museum of Dublin. It's a large, Georgian-style dollhouse, inspired by Irish houses, that took master craftsmen over 20 years to build and furnish. (Image: SAM BOAL/COLLINS)
There's plenty of humour, and the teens were delighted by effervescent young guide Saul, a world-famous Irish dancer who treated us to a jig around the room.
It's highly cultural, with plenty of mentions of some of the city's most impressive figures.
These include Brendan Behan, Oscar Wilde, Maureen O'Hara and legendary U2 frontman Bono.
It also reveals lesser-known tales of the city, such as how both the British and Irish sides in the 1916 Rising agreed to a ceasefire every day to allow the ducks to be fed in Stephen's Green.
This one will amuse young culture vultures.
I enjoyed the nostalgia of artefacts from the recent past, such as Callcards and Dublin Millennium milk bottles.
Family tickets are €45; student entry is €16. littlemuseum.ie Lane7 Lane 7 Dublin
Stepping into Lane7 on Dublin's Clarendon Row is like stepping back into the 1980s.
This is a bowling and gaming venue with a retro vibe, which the younger gang seem to find amusing.
For me, it's nostalgia – for them, it's 'Leisureplex, but 80s' as they deemed it.
Lane7 is far more swish than Leisureplex and is definitely set up for a night out, or a place to bring a date, or just a cool hangout. It's all graffiti walls and neon lights and funky bar areas.
All the old-skool games are here, many with an American flavour. There's a bowling lane, a photo booth called the Kissing Booth, and beer pong.
There's also darts, which was the biggest hit with this competitive bunch, and it's interactive, so the board does the 'math' for you. Lane 7 features state-of-the-art bowling lanes, immersive darts, retro arcade games, and a cocktail bar
Classic arcade games include Space Invaders and you can also shoot hoops in a basketball toss game or play ice hockey on a board.
The bar serves food and drink – with a large cocktail venue – but has a very strict age policy for alcohol, so no worries there for younger visitors. The Dundrum venue is bigger and has more games such as pool and shuffleboard, but to have a place like this to go in the city centre is special.
A great, budget-friendly place for young people to meet friends and have fun and more social teens in particular will love it.
lane7.com World of Illusion World of Illusion Dublin
This is a place for young scientists, or those with curious minds.
A trip to the World of Illusion at Dublin's Central Plaza will leave you fascinated by how our perceptions of the world can be changed by our environment – light, colour, patterns and movement.
Up to 70 mind-blowing visual illusions and interactive exhibitions are here to experience.
We all loved the Vortex Tunnel, which is simply a static bridge in a dark room. However, add swirling lights and it creates the illusion of movement. So those crossing it feel like they're being thrown about, even though nothing is moving.
The infinity mirrors in the Infinity Room is mesmerising: you're in a room the size of a large cupboard, but it feels like it goes on forever.
The large kaleidoscope allows you to see your face as a kaleidoscopic pattern, while in the Ames room, you appear to change size, depending on what position you're standing in.
The gravity-defying exhibition makes it appear as though you're being blown in the wind, while the head-on-a-platter installation makes it appear as though you're about to be eaten for dinner.
The entire visit to the World of Illusion takes no more than an hour and a half, and there is plenty of wonder to discuss afterwards.
Student entry is €18.70, while a family ticket is €63.75. For more info, see worldofillusion.ie Sandbox VR Sandbox VR is a socially immersive gaming experience combining full-body motion capture and high-quality haptic
It's amazing that a VR venue of such a size is in the city centre. Usually they're far out in the suburbs, involving a hike through traffic, so it's really convenient for it to be so accessible.
But Sandbox is another level. It's not just some warehouse where you go to shoot up zombies, this is a social day out in the world's most advanced virtual reality experience.
We played Red Light Green Light, based on the Netflix hit Squid Games, and it's all so hyper-real, it feels like you're inside the game.
Teens who love tech and gaming love this place. We were kitted out with the most high-tech VR headsets, 3-D precision body trackers, custom hardware, sensors and haptic vests.
All you could hear from the room was the screams of six teenagers having the time of their lives. They hadn't even left the building when they were planning their next trip back.
One of the big draws is Toni, Ireland's first robotic bartender.
After the game, players can head for the comfortable bar area for a few cocktails and mocktails.
As we drank them, we got to watch footage of our game, showing us both in the real world and the VR alternative universe.
With a total capacity of 150 people, Sandbox occupies 11,000 square feet of the new development, Grafton Place, at 39 Nassau Street, just steps away from Grafton Street. Prices vary from €30 to €50 per person, depending on whether the visit is peak or off-peak.
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