Magi-Sphere Saves Houston’s Retail Santa

HOUSTON—The annual holiday tradition of meeting Santa is continuing in the Greater Houston area this year thanks to Flight School Studio. Visitors will be able to safely interact with Santa like never before through a holographic snow globe housed in a giant wrapped gift.

The installation dubbed Santa’s Magi·Sphere was unveiled on November 27 in Sugar Land Town Square, where it will serve as a seasonal focal point for the 1.4 million-square-foot mixed-use district through Christmas Eve. The technology will enable Santa to project his three-dimensional presence in real-time to guests who can share holiday wishes while maintaining social distance.

“This is truly a unique and remarkable way to interact with Santa, and I know families will remember it for years to come,” explains Brandon Oldenburg, chief creative officer of Flight School Studio. “The use of emerging technology allows us to make storytelling and experiences much more extraordinary. This is especially impactful when re-inventing such a longstanding holiday tradition.”

Reservations for Santa’s Magi·Sphere can be made on-site at Sugar Land Town Square or in advance at SantaSugarLand.com.

“The Flight School Studio team custom designed this magical interactive Santa experience specifically for the family-oriented community of Sugar Land and its Houston neighbors, where through Santa’s Magi·Sphere, families will be able to personally and safely interact with Santa in a magical experience like never before,” Fallon Johnson, Rebees director of marketing, tells GlobeSt.com.

Flight School Studio specializes in creating experiences through mixed-reality technology and animated content. The activations have dazzled fans at global events such as the Super Bowl, NBA All-Star Game and US Open, GlobeSt.com learns.

The introduction of this activation is a precursor to what can be expected from Flight School’s upcoming brick-and-mortar endeavor at Sugar Land Town Square, a location-based mixed-reality entertainment venue slated to open at Sugar Land Town Square in early 2021.

The approximately 9,000-square-foot venue, formerly home to Z Gallerie, will offer an immersive and interactive adventure, merging physical sets and digital technologies such as projection mapping, augmented reality, 3D animation, haptics, motion tracking, lighting and sound. It is the anchor attraction among a number of enhancements that are part of a multi-phase remodel of the central business district that first opened in 1996.

“Sugar Land is home to many of Houston’s forward-thinking business, medical and technology innovators, which we believe makes Sugar Land Town Square the perfect platform for introducing remarkable storytelling experiences,” said Kyle Clark, CEO of Flight School Studio. “We can’t wait to show the world more of what we have in store, while also putting our home state of Texas and the Houston area at the forefront of both mixed reality and how the retail environment is being reimagined for the future.”