An immersive world that is true escapism in its most detailed form as you step out of Bristol and into the world of Meridia, a world of scholars, alchemists and scientists who are tackling very similar problems to our own in the real world. Polluted oceans, forest fires and more affect the world of Meridia as the greatest minds come together to tackle this universal issue. Here’s our Wake the Tiger review.

When I first heard about Wake the Tiger I set my bar so high that I thought it was going to be unreachable. Just one trailer on YouTube raised the stakes so high with this beautifully themed world that must have cost a fortune.
I’m talking a million pound and then some attraction located within a warehouse on an industrial style estate in Bristol.
Exploring the world they have created not only did it exceed the very high standard that I set for it but it eclipsed it to the point where I didn’t want to leave. I was more than happy to sit there, sleep there and live there until they expanded it even more so!

Wake The Tiger comes from the same minds behind the Boomtown Festival known for its gigantic set pieces and 5-day festival where art pop-ups, costumes, acts and more come together for a mind-blowing experience.
The team wanted to harness their work and condense it into a family-friendly all year round art and events orientated attraction and thus Wake the Tiger was born.

A statement from their website reads as follows:
Having spent over a decade creating one of the most large scale immersive festival experiences in the world, we wanted to expand and diversify our creative potential by establishing a year round arts & events venue where our audience can experience the work in a non-festival environment. From this Amazement Park our creative community can evolve and explore an ongoing, collaborative process together.
The Journey to Meridia 

Your journey starts out in the real world in a marketing suite where luxury apartments are for sale and you are the buyers.
These homes are a little quirky and strange but have hints towards sustainability and unusual methods of practicality. Whilst we tour the development site there’s a tree that is posing a problem for the developers as hippies are protecting it and claiming it holds a magical power.

It is here where we meet one of those who believe the tree has a magical property to it and it is here where we step inside the tree and travel to Meredia.
Our journey begins through this immersive and interactive art display that takes guests through various themed environments featuring many interactive sections and side quests where you can unlock secret rooms and experiences. It’s a whole world to explore with puzzles, guilds and wonder.
The World of Meridia

Those who possess a curious mind will be lost in a sea of puzzles, games and jaw-dropping scenery with no expense spared to truly catapult you into this world they have created it. Some people finish in 40 minutes and post their reviews online but those aren’t the reviews I care about.
I wanted to indulge in every corner of this world, soak up every bit of theming and spend as long as I could making sure I didn’t miss a single thing.

Over two hours were spent inside Meridia where I felt as though we had explored everything the attraction had to offer and immediately I was praying for a future expansion of this world. For over 120 minutes I completely forgot there was a world outside of this building, a real world.
I left every care and problem at the marketing suite door and had escapism unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before. It was tranquil, beautiful and transcendent. 

Exploring a world that works for all comes with the same challenges as our own world. Melting ice caps, forest fires, polluted oceans and more and whilst you’re in this other world entirely the problems they face are equal to our own.
A strong message of togetherness and looking after the planet is relayed throughout but it certainly isn’t rammed down your throat. It’s themed within the spaces and the message is very clear for the adults but for children they will be far too busy indulging in this playground of lights, theming and beauty. 

There are many places to sit and just relax including seats in ice caves, bean bag chairs and even little pods you can enter and interact with screens in front of you. Various puzzles and telephones unlock riddles and conversations and secret passageways are fun to discover.
Leave no book unturned, no hatch unlifted, really dig deep into your exploring and you’ll appreciate the attraction so much more as they’ve thought of even the tiniest details.

Meridia is home to a group of four guilds themed around each element (Earth, Air, Water, Fire) but guests are asked to indulge in the school of thought, to discover the fifth element that will lead them to enlightenment.
It’s powerful stuff but the original story we were weaved at the beginning does tend to fade out rather quickly after your actor interactions.

You are greeted the second you walk into Meridia and then are greeted once you have found your guild at the finale before the cafe and shop area. It’s a shame more inhabitants weren’t dotted around the attraction wearing clothing around their own guild elements.
Having two actors in this very large world seemed a little short. Another four actors would have been perfect and they would have fit wonderfully into their own respective areas.
What is An Amazement Park?

Wake the Tiger is listed as an amazement park as amusement and amazing combine for a highly themed experience. It’s a feeling you’ll get quite familiar with as you walk around, in complete amazement.
It’s designed to impress and It’s an experiential experience where the more your curiosity takes you the more you’re going to get out of your visit.

Prices vary in the week Vs Peak Time but always hover around the £15-£20 mark. A great price point for what you’re walking in to and for how long you can stay in there.
There really isn’t a time limit you could stay in there all day if you liked but we were all wrapped up and done with seeing and doing absolutely everything in there after 2 hours.

Wake the Tiger is a raw experience and in a world of short attention spanned people I can imagine quite a large portion of people simply walking through obvious to 99% of what the attraction is about, snapping a few photos, uploading them to Instagram and leaving quite quickly.
It’s a shame because it defeats the whole object of what Wake the Tiger is about.

Before and after the event I was questioning why the attraction was called Wake the Tiger so I hopped onto Google and did a little research. It turns out that Wake the Tiger is based on a book called Waking the Tiger which is all about finding your inner self.
I quite like this deeper meaning of the attraction and understood more about why it was called this despite absolutely no reference to the name of the attraction or even tigers in general within the entire experience.
Highlights of Wake the Tiger

There are many highlights and things to take away from your experience at Wake the Tiger. Some will go away with a heightened appreciation of the world around us and how we can do our part towards protecting it.
Others will leave the attraction simply for the fun aspect of exploring new realms and indulging in every fascinating corner and side quest that the attraction lies before you.
 
Finally others will leave relaxed and peaceful and I found myself in the latter. It was a strange feeling having my brain just entirely switch off from the outside world. A simple warehouse in Bristol transported me into this headspace where it was just me and Meridia and I’ve never had that before.
Theme parks across the world have always brought me that escapism in a sense but you always know where you are. Meridia took me to a whole other dimension of awe and wonderment that it almost made me feel like a child again. 

Exploring every nook and cranny of this beautiful world and making me want to explore even more. It’s a huge space but I’m here already wanting an expansion or some sort of underground addition to explore even more of this world.
We read in a review that the attraction had a slide once, more for children (or even big kids like me) but that is now being replaced with another experience. Just hearing that another experience was being added piqued my interest and I’d be more than happy to return when it is ready to be experienced.

Some of the highlights for me during my experience was the street, the opening meeting place as you step into the world of Meridia, it felt like a Harry Potter realm and a Game of Thrones realm had collided together and what we stood in was the result of this collision.
Other rooms such as the Galaxy Room complete with a clever mirrored object certainly catapulted me into the future, the mushroom focused brain of Meridia was another relaxing and quite wonderful space and a storm room where a simple puzzle activates a thunder and lightning storm before your very eyes.
Wake the Tiger Final Thoughts

Don’t just wander through Meridia and exit. Take your time and really appreciate your surroundings. Search every corner, lift everything that can lift (don’t force anything) and you will find a much deeper appreciation for the attraction you’re in.
If I had one even slight niggle of the attraction I’d say that I’d want it to be even bigger (but that’s just me being greedy) and I would have liked more actors themed to their individual elements roaming their own space within Meridia. More interactions with the characters would have made it feel more like a world than a walkthrough an abandoned themed space.

What I did notice throughout the attraction was that other than a few projections on the floor most of the floors themselves weren’t themed. I’d have loved to have had different themed floors. Different materials that you could feel under your feet, bark on the floor or a similar material for the forest.
The theming is fully encompassing of the area yet the floors didn’t have anything on them. It would have completed the 360 degree immersion and it would be something that goes above and beyond what many attractions do.
Every highly themed environment I’ve ever walked through has the walls covered and the ceilings yet no one pays much attention to the floor and the materials they could add to it to change how the environment feels under your feet.

Another sense that eluded Wake the Tiger was smell. There were no smell pods throughout the attraction which would have amplified the immersion tenfold. Whether they just weren’t working on our particular visit or they’re not included at all having a smell linked to Meridia would have been wonderful. 
Imagine walking into the Dream Factory and you could smell what our greeter was cooking or any other scent linked to this introductory world. The mushroom brain room filled with a scented fungi aroma or the submarine section with a sea breeze smell wafting through the hull.
Sight and sound and touch are very much catered for within Meridia, but smell would have taken the attraction up another level entirely.

Wake the Tiger is photo ops galore and the cafe’ at the end of the experience has all you could want from vegan food to CBD infused drinks. It’s a large cafe’ and there are plenty of places to sit down. Enjoy a little train riding around above your head or gaze at a giant magical compass displaying all four elements of each guild. 
The merchandise was a little pricey with T-Shirts for sale at £24 and hoodies stretching past the £40 mark. There were some unusual items such as mushrooms (not those kind) for sale and scented candles.
I’d have much preferred scented candles to replicate smells of various rooms within the attraction, I think that would have been a nice touch.

Take as many photos as you like and indulge in this incredible attraction. I’d say that Wake the Tiger has the best theming of any attraction in the United Kingdom. There is free parking available outside for 3 hours and open times vary so please make sure that you check the website for all future updates.
There is nothing like this in the entire UK and I’d go as far as saying there is nothing quite like this in the entire world.

We paid for our own tickets so we haven’t been given free tickets for a nice fluffy review (not like we would anyways) but we’d happily pay again, and again and again if it meant stepping into a world where stress and worries are left at the front door.
Wake the Tiger is transcendently beautiful world where the only limit is your curiosity.
You absolutely must add this attraction to your bucket list. You’ll regret it otherwise!
             Visit the official website at https://www.wakethetiger.com/ for more information