Experience Tirol: experience a country in a new way

Innsbruck has a new attraction that bears the name „Experience Tirol“ and has been open since mid-August 2023 in the Tyrol department store department store. It is not just a new attraction, but rather an experience for all the senses. Innovative "infotainment" is offered here in 60 minutes, the exciting combination of information and entertainment. Using the latest technical possibilities, the project shows the province of Tyrol in an impressive and broad spectrum.

Sometimes I am completely unprepared, or let's say "unbiased". All I had heard from the media was that there was something new at Kaufhaus Tyrol. That's all I really knew when, in mid-September, I was allowed to see for myself the Experience Tirol was allowed to make. After a "Just let it work on you" and a short welcome by the initiators Peter Margreiter and Felix Kozubek, we already started - completely unbiased and curious..

In the first of five rooms, you meet the protagonists of the story, which provides a framework for the various themes and experiences. A family story between father and daughter leads through the rooms. The father, portrayed by Gregor Bloéb, receives a tempting job offer, but it would take the whole family far away from their Tyrolean home for years. His daughter, played by Lisa Neuner, now rolls out convincing arguments to persuade him to stay.

In the first room, loving details such as family photos on the walls catch the eye, and the sophisticated technology is impressive: the projections and holograms are accompanied by a harmonious soundtrack.

But the visitors have a lot more to look forward to in terms of technology Experience Tirol visitors are seated as if in a movie theater and given virtual reality goggles. For me, wearing VR glasses is a first. The employees provide friendly help in putting the devices on correctly. By the way, this also works for people like me who wear glasses. It is important to wear the glasses correctly for an optimal and sharply focused image. It is recommended that the VR glasses fit as tightly as possible.

Now we're going on a journey through the history of Tyrol. VR technology makes this a special experience. If you look sideways, upward or downward, a wide, multi-dimensional field of view results. The tour takes you up a glacier to Ötzi, and on a carriage ride through medieval Innsbruck you sit next to none other than Emperor Maximilian I.and further on you will float over the battlefields of the Tyrolean freedom fights in the year 1809. In addition to these very classic Tyrolean themes, more difficult points such as the Brenner border, transit and tourism are also addressed.

This experience is by no means limited to the visual impressions. You get shaken up at times, an icy wind blows on the glacier, and it smells like horse manure during the carriage ride. At least theoretically, because practically my nose was not fine enough for this olfactory effect. Impressive it was in any case.

In the following room of memories one gets to know some Tyrolean traditions: These include the Carnival customs or the Bergfeuerln. The frame story becomes quite emotional when father and daughter leaf through the family album. There's also a lot of glittery fairy dust.

Then you enter a room in which an interesting selection of Tyrolean artists from the various fields of painting, literature and music are presented. Here, too, I am thrilled by the technology, because no matter where you take a seat on the many seats along the walls, you have the double projections well in view everywhere.

It gets particularly intense in the last of the five rooms, I think. The projection surface on the sides and floor of the round room is huge. Beautiful nature shots from all seasons and energetic sports scenes are shown, but also current topics such as global warming or soil sealing are dealt with. These fascinating images are accompanied by the great soundtrack of Ralf Metzler, Herbert Pixner and Denise Beiler accompanies.

Here, the story between father and daughter also comes to its conclusion. Will the girl be able to persuade her father to stay in Tyrol? That is not to be revealed here, after all, all the curious can simply find out for themselves in the Experience Tirol can simply find out for themselves.

The impressions in this room get right under your skin, probably because you're standing on the projection screen and there are moving images going on. Sometimes I tend to get land sick (yes, the word exists, it's like seasick, only on land), and here I felt a bit like that. But don't worry, it wasn't a big deal at all and didn't dampen the experience in the least. Nevertheless, I checked with Felix Kozubek, and he assured me that all rooms were accessible to all, this was also tested and medically assessed beforehand. If someone does get dizzy in the last room, it is recommended to stand in the middle and look at the ceiling, where nothing is projected. This should quickly make you feel better.

After this extraordinary experience, you have to collect yourself. I think this is true for everyone who visits the Experience Tirol visit. It's a multimedia adventure with an extremely large number of impressions in an entertaining 60 minutes that really fly by.

For me, there were a lot of wow moments, and (it has probably already come through) I was particularly impressed by the sophisticated technology. "What's possible today", you could say, and in this case you could mean it. As a big fan of Herbert Pixner i was also captivated by the fantastic soundtrack.

So a second I thought for me after the show, this new attraction is mainly something for young people, to hear at the same moment from a colleague of the generation 50+ a real storm of enthusiasm. She was perhaps even the most euphoric of all. And I agree with her when she says: "You can feel that someone has developed this who is enthusiastic about this country! Because you experience everything that also always fascinates me here as a Tyrolean: the nature and the mountains, the history and culture, the people and traditions, the sports and the arts." It's true, the Experience Tirol was really rousing, and such reactions are even more so.

About the "rules of the game": One may visit the Experience Tirol from the age of six, up to 14 years children need an adult accompanying person. Felix Kozubek tells me that he finds it particularly nice to really address and pick up everyone from young to old. Judging by the feedback, he has indeed succeeded: Felix reports of six-year-olds doing somersaults from sheer joy, of many emotions and visitors with tears in their eyes. The oldest visitor (so far) was 95 years old.

The initiators go on to say: "Our goal is for people to come out happier than when they went in. If we achieve that, we've done everything right."

After all the impressions, I am of course curious how the whole thing came about. I ask Peter Margreiter and Felix Kozubek and thank them for their kind information.

Peter came across a source of inspiration in Vienna at „Time Travel Vienna“ quasi a source of inspiration and initiated Felix into the idea of doing "something like that with modern technologies about Tyrol". Both were immediately on fire, and eventually a concept grew that would later be called „Experience Tirol“. "We wanted to explain our own homeland to both locals and guests, make them want to know more, and make a little declaration of love."

However, the schedule was tight and ambitiously set at 18 months. Felix describes the selection of topics as the biggest challenge in the project. Since the Experience was supposed to last no longer than 60 minutes, only a few minutes were available for individual points. Accordingly, it had to be well thought out what to focus on. Consequently, it was necessary to link the different areas together, and so the family history was created all around.

The next big task was to choose the right partners for the implementation in technology, architecture, content, film, virtual reality, acting, music, and so on. When I asked if Gregor Bloéb was the desired cast for the role in Experience Tirol, I got a clear "yes" as an answer. Although Peter and Felix initially "rolled over" him a bit with their idea, the entire collaboration was a great pleasure, he says.

"In total, more than 200 people worked on it," Felix reports. He emphasizes: "Each and every one of them played a big part in making it possible for us to realize this huge project," and admits: "We were surprised ourselves when we saw that so clearly in the credits."
It would go beyond the scope of this blog article to list these contributors here, of whom Felix raves in the highest terms. Please refer to the show's never-ending credits for the 200 names. In any case, a great job was done.

The Experience Tirol can be visited every day. That's a real highlight for a location in a department store that's actually closed on Sundays. Tours start every 20 minutes, and there is room for up to 30 people in each room.

The Experience Tirol is available in German, English and Italian. Again, the technology is impressive. As a "base" the German version runs in the rooms. Visitors:inside with a different choice of language are given headphones that work directly on their ears and completely block out the German soundtrack. In this way, guests with different languages can also be mixed on each tour.

Guests with the Welcome Card receive a 10 percent discount on the ticket price.

For me the Experience Tirol - as the name suggests - a new way to experience Tyrol. Exciting! There were very many impressions that reminded me as a local that it is already nice to be allowed to live where others go on vacation.
For guests who do not know the country at all, it is perhaps a good overview or introduction to get to know the region better. Hopefully, the Experience Tirol will whet your appetite for more.

Eitherway, it was really something new and a special experience!

Experience Tirol - a product of Infotainment Tirol GmbH
2. Floor in the department store Tyrol, Maria Theresien road 31, 6020 Innsbruck, Tel. +43 512 319417

www.experiencetirol.com, griasdi@infotainment.tirol

Mon.-Fri. 9am-1pm, Sat. 9am-6pm, Sun. 10am-5pm
Tour starts every 20 minutes, last admission one hour before closing time. It is requested to arrive 15 minutes before the tour start.

store.experiencetirol.com