Illuminique Under the Dome

We recently enjoyed the Nutcracker — Illuminique Under the Dome & it was a fab foray into the holiday season!
Every 30 min, during the evening hours, the music is cued up, the lights come on & the festival begins for about a 5 minute holiday treat
See ballet dancers leap, prance, & twirl all around the dome, while the Nutcracker plays its quintessential holiday melody
There is a La Boulange directly under the center of the Dome & there are also white leather-​esque benches for people to sit (or lie) to drink in all the action all around the Dome
Makes Westfield Mall that much cooler — Happy Holidays everyone!

Illuminique Under the Dome is exactly the 5-​minute respite needed after a hectic day of Christmas shopping. Kids laid out on seats, couples huddled together – all taking in the enchanting light & music show. Short, but adds an extra dash of magic and fun to San Francisco’s holiday atmosphere.
Plays every half hour beginning at 5pm.

Illuminique Under The Dome is on Level 4 of the Bloomingdale side Westfield Mall on Market/​Powell Bart Station, FREE show. It’s something to do when you’re tired & just want to rest a bit.
The FREE light show is only 6 min long starting at 5pm for the Holidays. Plays on the half hr.
M-​Sat 5, 5:30, 6, 6:30, 7, 7:30, 8
Sun 5, 5:30, 6, 6:30

This is an exciting new tradition for San Francisco. It is a new holiday light show projected onto the old Emporium Dome at San Francisco Centre. They use about eight projectors on the fourth floor and these project onto the dome giving the illusion of one continuous dome projection. What makes this specatular is that the projections account for support beams, windows, and contours and accent them instead of merely project an image onto them.
The light show is like being in a Williy Wonka toy factory complete with music. The toy factory sequence runs about 4 minutes complete with music and plays every half hour. A lot of people stood under the dome before the show to get a good spot but almost any spot under the dome will do. After the show, there was a a lot of applause and cheering, as if something magical had just occurred. When the main light show isn’t playing, the dome is still decorated with different light sequences (aurora, stained glass, snowflakes) as if it were in screensaver mode.
A couple of negatives: the four minute show is a bit on the short side. The light show is so fast paced that it is over before you know it. Second is that the show is scheduled only after 6PM which might be harder for younger kids. Hopefully, they can extend the length next year and start the show a little earlier in the day.

I had the special privilege of attending a private party where they gave us a preview of the brand new light show. When I read the invitation, I had no idea what they meant by «holiday light show.» WOW! This is definitely going to become an annual tradition for families in San Francisco. We were a party full of adults, no kids, yet the light show display is so cute and impressive, there were multiple OOHS and AHHS, lots of laughter, cheering, and clapping. I can only imagine what a crowd full of kids will think when they see it. This holiday light show is adorable, technically impressive, and a fantastic use of Westfield’s historic dome architecture. A new Christmas tradition for San Francisco!