Café Odyssey You are sitting at a table on a comfortable veranda next to the vast Serengeti Plain. The brilliant daylight catches the surface of a nearby lake as dozens of flamingo fly in, graze for a few moments and then take to the sky. A small herd of zebra amble by. The baby is especially cute. Less than a hundred feet behind them a lioness keeps a constant watch on the herd.
Elephant (the singular is used for plurals of wild animals) visit the lake on its far side as the shadows grow long. Sunset lights the sky with vivid colors and night settles in. The veranda's lights catch the eyes of distant game. Butterflies and moths attracted to the light flit over the moonlit scene. Look, a shooting star!
It's a grand illusion that dominates the Serengeti Room at Café Odyssey in the Mall of America near Minneapolis. A battery of video projectors provide movement, color, lighting and animation to a specially painted mural which comes alive with all the elements of a Serengeti day. Widebeast, elephant, lion, antelope, hippo, flamingo, eagle, cape buffalo, giraffe, ostrich... all make appearances as day flows to night and back to day on the huge panoramic screen.
Other rooms of Café Odyssey feature bas-relief sculpture that comes to life in the Machu Picchu Room and realistic views into the ocean home of the Atlantis Room.
(Opened June, 1998)
Recipient of a 1999 THEA Award.