Meow Wolf: a whole new world for kids and families to explore
By Eileen Ogintz
Tribune Content Agency
Taking the Kids
SANTA FE, NM – Can you do it? “Honestly, it’s a little scary,” said Sarah Goke from nearby Albuquerque.
“It’s basically a whole new world you can step into,” offered Juniper Gauss, 9, here with her family from Los Alamos, New Mexico, and visiting cousins.
You can crawl through a washing machine, step out of a refrigerator, walk from a closet to another dimension. You might see a mushroom change colors and sounds and “dinosaur bones” make musical sounds.” Explore a tree house or a child’s bedroom. Play classic video games like Skee-Ball, Ms. Pac-Man and Mario Bros. Perch on carpet (or fake grass) on a rock-like structure.
“I have no idea what’s going on,” said Grayson Lewis,16, visiting from Idaho. “You don’t need to know… just looking at everything is enough.”
Welcome to Meow Wolf Santa Fe’s House of Eternal Return. This is an immersive experience like no other that has exploded in popularity since it opened here a decade ago. Today there are five open exhibits (Las Vegas, Denver, Grapevine, Texas, and Houston. Los Angeles is expected to open at the end of the year and NYC next year.
While the Santa Fe exhibit opened in 2016, Meow Wolf the art collective started around 2008, explained company spokesman Kate Daley. “The scale of what’s happened since we opened the Santa Fe exhibit is pretty surreal. We started out as this DIY collective of artists scavenging dumpster scraps and now, we’re building these massive, high-tech ecosystems across the country.”
We were staying at the Four Seasons Resort Rancho Encantado Santa Fe, a luxury 57-acre property about 20 minutes outside the city in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains with casita-style rooms and bespoke activities, whether a guided early morning hike, a cooking demo with the chef (make pizza) or tours including to Bandelier National Monument. Two young sisters from South Carolina staying there with their parents said Meow Wolf was the best part of their Santa Fe trip.
Meow Wolf seems to be at the top of visitors’ lists when in Santa Fe with kids or, locals told me, when relatives are visiting from out of town. “It’s fun to see how everyone experiences this differently,” said David Lerner, who lives in Santa Fe and had brought friends visiting from Ohio. “This is my fifth time, and I found new rooms I’ve never been in,” said Lerner.
And on a day when it was in the mid-’90s, it is a great indoor place to bring kids. “The kids won’t get bored, the hardest is keeping up with them,” said Casey Gauss.
Daley explained that each city offers a different experience. “Each starts with an accessible entry point,” she explained. “In Santa Fe it’s a house; In Vegas, it’s a grocery store; in Denver, a transit station.” Each exhibition highlights the work of artists from its local creative community.
Each location also has special events – live music in Houston, comedy in Denver, for example. Heirloomarium, a new room at Meow Wolf Denver, created by more than 20 in-house Meow Wolf artists, will be open to the public on September 1.
There is a mystery to solve if you choose. There are computer stations with buttons to press. There is a back story, as explained to me by Sage Susong, 7, visiting with her family from Columbus, Ohio. “The father in the house was an inventor,” she explained. “He created an invention that took their hamster to a different dimension. Then the brother disappears and then the family and they never come back.”
Sage’s little brother Elliot, 5, was challenged by a staff member (they are stationed in different rooms) to see how many hamsters he could find – and was rewarded with a sticker. “I liked getting the sticker,” he declared.
Lerner acknowledged that Meow Wolf is not inexpensive (starting at $32 for adults and $25 and up for kids) but worth the price of admission. He added he appreciates that Meow Wolf staggers admission (you make a reservation for a certain time) which means it never gets too crowded.
“It’s special because they don’t have this everywhere,” said Laine Gauss,14. A budding artist, she likes seeing how the complex installations were created.
“It’s very creative,” agreed her cousin, Porter Lewis,17, who said he also would like to know how the exhibits were built.
Meow Wolf spokesman Daley said it’s not uncommon for families to come with babies “but the sweet spot starts at three or four. They seem to love the physical exploration … like an otherworldly giant playground.”
Certainly, that seemed the case as we walked through what we thought was a multicolored underwater environment, the sounds of waves lapping and brightly colored fish and giant octopus overhead past what we guessed were supposed to be seaweed, though neon colored, and a diver in an old-fashioned scuba outfit.
Kids were climbing on the bunk bed that was supposed to have belonged to the boy who disappeared; When they climbed out of the washing machine tunnel, there were clothes hanging. There was a dining room in the house with “food” still on the table and a fireplace that beckons to enter yet another dimension. “Birds” line the house balcony chirping.
There were families with kids, teens, couples and seniors. I admit it’s rare to find an experience that suits all ages. “You just come to hang out and look,” explained Finn Gauss, 9.
But not everyone is thrilled. Sarah Goke said her 11-year-old son was given the choice where to spend the day, and he opted for Meow Wolf. “I find it very strange,” she acknowledged.
Maybe that’s the idea – to experience something totally different.
And something that is really fun. “You come just to have fun,” said Grayson Lewis.
(For more Taking the Kids, visit www.takingthekids.com and also follow TakingTheKids on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram where Eileen Ogintz welcomes your questions and comments. The fourth edition of The Kid’s Guide to New York City and the third edition of The Kid’s Guide to Washington D.C. are the latest in a series of 14 books for kid travelers published by Eileen.)
©2026 Eileen Ogintz. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.