Calgary Stampede 2019 Stranger Things Review

July 9, 2019 at 7:06pm
By Jason Stettner

With the latest season of the Netflix Original series Stranger Things 3 having released, there’s a special tie-in with the biggest outdoor show on Earth. That’s right, the Calgary Stampede 2019 features a unique takeover event with the show. I was at the event today and that was one of the highlights I was looking to take in.

I was honestly a bit disappointed with how this was setup. You’ll see large scale imagery of the characters around the amusement park area, with benches also carrying the special hashtag as well. There’s a large gate as shown below, but it doesn’t lead to anywhere. It is just a large gate that’s there.

I had assumed this special integration would be a small area, or structured as to have everything together content wise. It seems like they instead randomly posted signs on some rides across the entire large scale Stampede Park. Below the gate is a special fun house themed ride you can do, but it’s really just a reskinned one. That’s fine, I’m not complaining about the ride as I usually go through it each year.

I’m just wondering why that’s the only one with the theme that’s in the same area. Beside it are motorcycles and axe throwing. If you go further to another area there’s a ferris wheel that says Stranger Things on it, nothing too wild decoration wise there. There’s also a painted spider type ride which was neat and a slide with some decorations. The final aspect of this take over is a balloon popping targets game you can play. This is an alright set of tweaks for the show, I was just expecting something more in-depth. Perhaps even a setup that was more together, and thematically styled after the show.

I felt a minor fenced in area would have been nice for this. Still, it’s great they did this as it was fun to see. Hopefully for future themed areas they go a bit wilder as there was more potential with this one. Read our review of third season below, or check out the city hub for additional coverage on local event and establishments.

Read our Stranger Things 3 Review
View our Calgary Hub