In summary
Minecraft Experience: Villager Rescue is a 45-minute immersive experience that uses projectors to give you a sense of stepping inside the world of Minecraft. It invites you to journey through the iconic biomes and interact with mobs to help save the villagers from a grim fate.
When did we visit?
I visited with my husband and my two sons, Odhran, 9, and Reuben, 6, on a Saturday morning during the school Easter holidays. It was sold out and really busy, as you might expect for a kid-friendly experience in London that opened right before the school holidays. The experience is open daily 9am - 6pm (doors close 15 minutes after the final session starts). It's currently running until the end of August 2025.
Where is it located?
The address is: Corner Corner, Canada Water, Maritime Street, London, SE16 7LL. It's right next to a shopping centre, where we were able to park for free. The Minecraft Experience building is painted entirely in green, with Minecraft signage emblazoned on the front. Entrance is round the back. Corner Corner is a newly-opened multi-use space that includes a small food and drinks hall, entertainment, café, and community space, and even an indoor farm, growing produce to supply the food hall and restaurants across London. The nearest Underground station is Canada Water, on the Jubilee and the Windrush line. The experience is in a nice area by the water, with cafés around.
What does the experience involve?
Kids love a themed activity and if your child is into Minecraft this experience will undoubtedly be on your radar. So, here's exactly what it involves...
You book a time slot for your visit, but when we arrived we had about a 20 minute wait in the queue. I'd left coats and my bag in the car to avoid paying £3 for a locker. We were then each given an orb - a light-up cube to use once you enter the experience. It allows you to engage with the projections on the walls and on the floor by breaking down blocks, defending yourself from hostile mobs, and collecting resources. It vibrates, lights up and changes colour depending on the action and context. For example, when you collect lava it turns red.
Reuben had hoped for a pickaxe, in keeping with the Minecraft video game. Before entering the experience, you have your photo taken and are given a ticket should you wish to purchase the image at the end, but you are allowed to take your own pictures throughout.
We then stepped into the first area, which contained props of many of the Minecraft inhabitants you'd expected to see, such as a Creeper, an Iron Golem, a square shaped bee, and a chicken. Grab lots of pictures here, as the experience involves moving from one room to the next you won't get a chance to come back around.
In this first room, we were encouraged to test our orbs by waiving it up and down in a chopping motion to hack down the trees on the wall projection. We instantly found the orbs to be glitchy, and our actions were only sometimes reflected on the screen. But at times when we did manage to chop the tress, projections of apples and other items were released on the floor, which we were encouraged to step on to add to our inventory.
I thought it might be useful to have these items at a later stage in the experience, but it turned out to be of no consequence. There were plenty of guides around but their job seemed more about shuffling the crowd along rather than engaging everyone in the activities along the way.
The experience describes itself as an 'epic immersive adventure' and explains that you've got to 'team up to save the villagers' and engage in activities such as building your way out of a portal. This makes it sound like a co-ordinated activity with a really clear objective, and I envisioned an immersive experience that was a bit like an escape room, where you'd have to come together as a team and use skill to complete the mission. In reality, we waived orbs around and most of the time had little clue what we were supposed to be doing to 'save the villagers'.
The rescue storyline that the experience promised didn't come to anything. The mission to save the villagers seemed forgotten about as we were quickly shuffled along to the next stage. In one room, we tapped screens on interactive tables. In another, we used our orbs to gather resources and place them in order according to an arrangement on screen, and later, we tapped our orbs on lava and water blocks and combined them to create obsidian (the orbs change colour accordingly).
But as the experience moved along, I noticed a lot of the adults' interest begin to wane, and they started standing back and just watching the kids waving their orbs about and stomping on floor projections. But the kids seemed to be leaping around and enjoying themselves.
At the Mineshaft Arcade we took aim against mobs by tossing small balls at the wall projection. This was fun but there were too many people to enjoy it properly. The child in me wanted to take part, but I felt I had to stand back and leave it to the little ones. Odhran and Reuben were delighted to reach the Nether, but the experience was over too fast.
At the end, after returning our orbs, we were given a card with a unique code to redeem a digital character cape for use with Minecraft Bedrock Edition. Reuben was excited about the idea of having a cape for his skin in the online game, as the came is available only to those who've attended the Minecraft Experience.
You leave the attraction through a food court, where you can grab a drink or a bite to eat. Here you'll also find toilets. Thankfully, you can avoid the gift shop if you want to, which was a pleasant surprise, as most attractions force you to walk through. We took a peek in but found the gift shop to be pretty pricey, with a magnet costing £8 and a zombie pin costing £10.
How long will you spend there?
It's a 45 minute experience. We felt quite rushed through, and when we got to the final room, Odhran was a little disappointed and asked me 'Is that it? Is it over?' It could have benefited from being a few minutes longer.
What age is it suitable for?
All ages are welcome but prams and buggies are not allowed to be brought into the experience, and we didn't notice anywhere to leave them on arrival. When we visited there was a mix of families, couples, and groups of young adults in attendance. Anyone aged 15 or younger must be accompanied by adult (18+).
How much does it cost?
Prices start from £20 for a child and £24 for an adult. Under 2s go free (no ticket purchase necessary). I'd recommend you book online in advance, particularly on a Saturday or Sunday, as popular events to enjoy with kids in London can book up fast. It is possible to try get a ticket on the door, but this will be subject to availability. Family bundles offer reduced price entry for four tickets, but these sell out quickly. We had a look ahead at prices for a weekend during the May half term and during this busy peak time you're looking at £32.50 per adult and £27.50 per child.
Take a Break's verdict
Reuben, 6, said: 'It was great and I thought it was loads of fun. I thought we were going to get a diamond pickaxe, but we were given a cube to mine. My favourite part as the Nether, where we got to fight skeletons, spiders and zombies. I think lots of my friends would enjoy this experience.'
Odhran, 9, said: 'It felt like you were actually in Minecraft. But it was really short and the gift shop was overpriced. Sometimes the interactions didn't really work and some of the biomes were missing, like the desert, and I didn't see a Nether Fortress. But I'd recommend the experience to kids who are really into Minecraft.'
But myself and my husband thought the experience was rushed and not thought through. We'd have liked more of a storyline and clear objective. There was no sense of being on a mission to save the villagers, and no skill required to complete any task. No matter what you did you were going to move along to the next room when your orb started glowing to indicate that it was time to move on.
There was a big discrepancy between the rating the boys gave the experience and how many stars myself and my husband felt it deserved. The boys rated it a 4 and a 5 out of 5, but my husband and I felt it was more a 2 star experience. So overall, we'll sit in the middle and give Minecraft Experience: Villager Rescue a rating of 3 out of 5. Find out morehere