Where is your happy place? Is it a place, a person, a destination or a fleeting moment in time? I’m sure your happy place changes every day depending on the drama and stress levels of life. In today’s world full of selfies galore which capture a moment in time, a fleeting moment, there’s a new popup experience called Happy Place with locations in Las Vegas (perfect fit) and this holiday season in King of Prussia Mall (KoP Mall) in Pennsylvania, outside of Philadelphia. Happy Place in King of Prussia will provide the backdrop to escape the drama of life and/or escape the hectic holiday shopping season to find a happy (or silly) moment with friends and family to share on social media to your heart’s content.
Tip: Plan your outfit accordingly!
Strike a pose! This place is all about the photo shoot – posing, framing and striking the right balance to generate likes, comments and shares. Need a bright pink wall? There’s a wall for you. Need a room full of flowers? They have that too. And if you want to fall into a ball pit (boomerang moment) there’s a set up for you to do that too. For my niece, who is seventeen now (yikes it was only yesterday for our tween tour of Paris and London), this was a fun experience that takes about an hour (or less) to go through each set up and pose perfectly. If you are solo, no worries, there is a staff member who can take your photo as well as lots of folks helping each other to make sure the whole family was in the photo.
I will say that it’s quite a creative experience and on trend to go to one location and take all the cool photos with your friends, family or loved one and share the photos with the world. Happy Place photos are just fun. Don’t overthink it. Family photos are no longer stuck at the Sears Portrait Studio (we all have those family photos don’t we?). Nowadays you can create the fun photos with colorful backdrops and props.
The “Your Kiss is on My List” red room had a wall full of kisses, a massive glitter XO that you can sit inside the O and a lip shaped couch – this was a popular area and there is often a staff member to assist with photos. Many will contort to sit inside the O, while others will sit on the couch in the back of the O and take photos through the O. Everyone was nice to take turns and make sure not to photobomb each other. This was a fun room.
The yellow flowers have picture spots marked so you can easily pose – the lighting was an issue for me. A staff member took our photo in the spot she told us to stand and unfortunately while my niece looked lovely (as always), I had bright light on me (maybe I’m too tall for this, I’m definitely already too pale). So make sure you take a few photos here and if needed bend down or kneel to make the light work for you.
After you leave these front areas, there is a small play area with confetti (boomerang this) – small kids make angels and big kids pick up and throw confetti in the air.
The main attraction was yet to come as we entered a new area staged with a pool filled with yellow balls. There is a ladder to the rainbow backed platform and you can choose to jump into the pool filled with the balls or fall backwards into it (the staff member manning this area said no one had done that yet). He was there to ensure all shoes, jackets and jewelry was removed as well as take photos for people and watch timing so no one overstayed their welcome.
When it was my niece’s turn, I had the cameras ready to go – one on boomerang (hers) and one for video/photos (mine). Well she jumped and I messed up because I didn’t hold the button to boomerang. She managed to get back on the platform and jump again, this time the staff member did the boomerang and gave back to me and I didn’t save it. So the third time she jumped (she’s a good sport) I wasn’t allowed to hold her phone. It worked out perfectly. I did better with the ducky room.
The last room is a big snow globe filled with confetti. Each group enters separately and the staff member will activate the air so the confetti can fly. You can also pick up confetti to throw. They need more confetti in this feature as well as stronger air but am sure for little ones this is fine. We both did this and it was fun. The staff member took our photo. We exited laughing as we picked confetti off of ourselves and out of our hair.
This is a fun time for those who enjoy photos, selfies and snapping their “happy” in the moment to share on Instagram or other social media. If that’s not you, you probably won’t like it here or will need to play photographer only. The Happy Place King of Prussia is open daily through January 5, 2020. So this holiday season when the family needs a distraction from shopping, take them to Happy Place and escape for an hour into a world of fun moments. Tickets are $30 adult (13 yrs+), $20 children (4-12 years old) – best to buy in advance and select your time. Popup fun comes at a cost, of course.
Thank you to Happy Place King of Prussia for the press/media invitation to view the exhibit. We had fun. As always, my opinion is uniquely mine.