BEIJING, May 8, 2013 (City Weekend) — If it weren’t for a tiny red lit-up sign on the main drag, it would be easy to miss the 得瑟 (Dèsè) 5D Theater, located on a dingy alley off Gulou Dong Dajie that some may need to suck in their guts and turn sideways to walk down.
But nobody should miss this experience—and it is an experience. It’s great as a pre-prandial date activity, something to pass some time if you can’t find a taxi on Gulou and a great way to possibly terrify and scar children for life. (Note: don’t go here after a large meal. Your gastrointestinal system will hate you.)
Upon walking in, the affable proprietor—a huge fan of Google Translate—will greet visitors and open up a Word document containing a bilingual list of all the 5-D films on offer, as well as prices for viewing the 10-minute thrills (one movie for RMB30; two for RMB46; three for RMB57; four for RMB68).
After making selections, visitors are ushered into a small room with walls draped in velvet and dotted in furry plush hearts with four seats facing a screen.
From a booth in the back, he’ll say, “One, two, three. Ok!” Then, the video starts playing, often resembling something from an arcade game, and the seats teeter, totter, turn, lunge forward, fly back. Jets in the ceiling spray cool air into moviegoers’ faces as they try their best to contain giggles and not fall out of the seats.
We highly recommend the Eagle Fortress selection. Of the four we tried, the seat movements on this gem were best synced to the movement in the video, making us feel like we might really be on a broken wooden rollercoaster, riding towards certain death. Also, the eagles were much more terrifying than the mummies in Ghosts of Reproduction and less monotonous than the blocks of ice being moved around somewhat perilously in Abandoned Ice Factory.
Regardless of what video is chosen, visitors are given the rare chance to experience the fifth dimension in Beijing. Not only does it put 3-D to shame, but moviegoers will be singing “The Age of Aquarius” for days afterward.
DETAILS
What: 得瑟5D Theater
Where: 286 Gulou Dong Dajie, 鼓楼东大街286
Tel: 5229-3009
It's Mikala! 