Exploring Meow Wolf Houston: A Personal Review and Visual Journey

I visited Meow Wolf Houston — known as Radio Tave — in late October on a press preview with my husband ahead of the exhibit’s Halloween opening date. We walked into the tour as Meow Wolf fans, having visited other locations in Grapevine and Las Vegas. Meow Wolf Houston skillfully met my high expectations for a satisfying, immersive journey into art and storytelling.

Seeing Meow Wolf’s creativity blend seamlessly with Houston’s arts and culture was a delight. I’m thrilled that Houston locals and visitors can explore Meow Wolf’s curious multisensory experience.

Read about what we enjoyed the most at Meow Wolf Houston and why it’s worth traveling to Houston to experience the Radio Tave installation.

Visiting Meow Wolf Houston

Here’s what you need to know about visiting Meow Wolf Houston.

Hours

• Monday through Thursday: 12 to 8 p.m.
• Friday: 12 to 10 p.m.
• Saturday: 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
• Sunday: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

We recommend you purchase tickets before you visit, or at least check the ticketing section for availability and special events. For example, some Thursday evenings are 21 and up after 7 p.m.

Tickets

Meow Wolf Houston ticket prices depend on the date and time you visit.

General admission tickets start at $40 for adults and $25 for children 4 to 12. Military tickets for active duty or veteran service members start at $35.

The Totally Worth It Bundle starts at $56 for adults and $41 for kids. It allows you to enter the exhibit anytime on the day you select and includes a collector ticket with a souvenir pin and ChromaDepth glasses.

Timed tickets are available up to 90 days in advance. Meow Wolf recommends arriving 5 to 10 minutes ahead of your timed entry. If you’re more than 30 minutes late, entry depends on capacity when you arrive.

Hot Tip:

Use one of the best credit cards for entertainment when you purchase your Meow Wolf tickets. You can earn bonus credit card rewards, such as 3% cash-back on entertainment and dining, with the Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card*×Information collected independently. Not reviewed by Capital One..

Portal Pass

If you plan to visit Radio Tave multiple times throughout the year, you can purchase an annual Portal Pass starting at $84 for adults and $54 for kids.

A Meow Wolf Houston Portal Pass gives you unlimited access for a year, including Adulti-Verse events for passholders 21 and up. Passholders also get 10% off additional general admission tickets, gift shop merch, and food and beverages.

Meow Wolf Portal Passes are only good for a single location. However, passholders can get 10% off tickets to any Meow Wolf location.

Getting In

Meow Wolf Houston is at 2103 Lyons Avenue, Building 2. Google Maps directions take you to the front of the building on Lyons Avenue, but you can’t park there.

Parking is behind the Meow Wolf building in the lot at the corner of Semmes and Opelousas. If you’re coming from Lyons Avenue, turn onto Semmes, then turn into the parking lot past the Meow Wolf building.

There is no free parking. The rates were not published when we visited, but we were at Meow Wolf for about 2 hours and paid $17 to park.

The parking system captures your license plate number to calculate how long you’ve parked and how much you owe and there are payment kiosks near the parking lot entrance where you can pay as you leave. Note your license plate number before you leave your vehicle, as you’ll have to enter it at the kiosk to pay.

From the parking lot, you’ll walk under an open pavilion. To the right is the Radio Tave event entrance. Keep going to reach the main entrance.

A front entrance facing Lyons Avenue was still under construction during our visit. Visitors could use this entrance for ride-share drop-offs but not parking.

The bright yellow, green, and blue arrows lead guests to the main entrance.

Inside, there is a short security check, including walking through a metal detector.

Once you pass security, you’re in the main lobby, which has ticketing, restrooms, lockers, and a gift shop.

There are a few seating areas in the lobby.

A ticketing line is directly past security. There are QR code signs for the Meow Wolf app, which you can download for more interactive content as you explore Meow Wolf.

Visitors had to visit the ticketing booth either to purchase tickets or confirm prepurchased tickets before entering the exhibit. Meow Wolf Houston is cashless. There was a cash-to-card kiosk in the ticketing area.

Prohibited Items

Meow Wolf Houston prohibits many items, including weapons and outside food and beverages (though empty water bottles are OK). Service animals are permitted.

Meow Wolf recommends guests leave prohibited items elsewhere during a visit. The facility offers storage lockers and stroller parking but can’t store prohibited items.

Meow Wolf has a code of conduct for guests. In general, guests are expected to respect others and the art and not visit while visibly intoxicated.

Within the exhibit, outside of the Cowboix Hevvven bar, is an additional sign reiterating the code of conduct.

Restrooms

Restrooms are in the lobby and within the exhibit next to Cowboix Hevvven. Both feature water fountains. There is a family/all-gender restroom in the lobby, and all restrooms are accessible. An adult changing table is available upon request in the first aid room.

The restrooms within the exhibit are in the room next to Cowboix Hevvven, which is also accessible by the event space Theta Theater.

Just like the rest of Meow Wolf, the restrooms are artful.

A water fountain with a bottle refiller is near the restrooms.

Gift Shop

The lobby gift shop has Meow Wolf merchandise, including apparel, pins, toys, and art kits. Some of the merchandise is exclusive to Meow Wolf Houston, but there are also items from other Meow Wolf locations, including The Real Unreal, House of Eternal Return, Convergence Station, and Omega Mart.

Accessibility

Meow Wolf Houston is ADA-compliant and accessible. Though the exhibit features stairs in some areas, elevators and ramps are available, and there is almost always more than one way to get to a particular spot within the exhibit. Most of the exhibit is navigable by wheelchair, scooter, walker, or crutches.

Some of the accessibility features enhanced the exhibit beyond functionality. I got the impression that accessibility was thoughtfully integrated into the design of Radio Tave. For example, a local artist designed an accessible ramp with a subtle slope and handrails.

Assistive devices and apps are available for visitors who are blind or have low vision and those who need assisted-listening devices. Visitors with sensory sensitivity can request information about low-sensory rooms to visit and check out sensory items such as sunglasses, fidget spinners, and noise-canceling headphones. Meow Wolf Houston accepts requests for other accommodations, as needed, by email.

It was easy to find seating throughout the exhibit, and much of it blended with the rest of the experience. The forest had rock walls with resting spaces.

Much of the seating is an art-of-experience feature, like a bench in one of the artist rooms upstairs featuring old tech encased in resin. The artist told me she collected these tech artifacts from friends, family, and a local college.

Diversity and Inclusion

All guests are welcome at Meow Wolf Houston. The installation is in Houston’s historically diverse Fifth Ward, and I noted the diversity in the featured artists and staff. A plaque at the entrance pays respect to the indigenous people with ancestral homelands at the Meow Wolf location.

How Long To Visit

You should arrive at least an hour and a half before the exhibit closes. However, you’ll need more time than that if you want an interactive experience or a stop at the on-site bar and restaurant Cowboix Hevvven. We recommend planning at least 3 to 4 hours, including breaks. The experience can be mentally draining, and the floors are mostly concrete, so it’s good to sit and relax now and then.

Family Friendly

Meow Wolf Houston is family-friendly. We didn’t bring our kids to the media preview, but our experiences at other Meow Wolf locations have been consistently kid-friendly. I found myself saying, “The kids will love this,” repeatedly as we went through the exhibit.

Visiting with very young children might be a challenge because you can’t bring a stroller inside. Parents should be prepared to carry children who can’t walk through the exhibit. It’s also a sensory experience, which can be overwhelming. Meow Wolf recommends earplugs or noise-canceling headphones for visitors who are easily overstimulated.

Older kids may get more out of the visit because it’s very hands-on and interactive. You’re encouraged to explore and investigate everything that catches your eye (or ear). Curious kids can spend hours fiddling with musical trees, singing creatures, radio station equipment, phones, and more.

Although you can’t ride a slide through a washer here like you can in The Real Unreal at Meow Wolf Grapevine, there’s so much more for kids to explore, including an arcade on constant free play.

Beyond Meow Wolf Houston’s inherently interactive and curious nature, the installation has family-friendly features, including high chairs at Cowboix Hevvven, family restrooms, and storage for strollers and big bags.

Traveling to Meow Wolf Houston

Meow Wolf Houston is in a fantastic location east of downtown Houston, which is excellent for travelers. If you’re visiting Houston intending to see Meow Wolf, I recommend flying into William P. Hobby Airport (HOU) and staying downtown.

Hobby Airport is less than 12 miles from Meow Wolf Houston (about 20 minutes by car). George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) is also convenient and offers more flight options as Houston’s largest airport. It’s only 19 miles away (about 20 to 25 minutes by car).

With Meow Wolf’s location practically on the edge of downtown Houston, you can stay nearby to take advantage of the wealth of hotels, food, and entertainment. Downtown Houston is convenient for visiting major attractions, including Discovery Green, Graffiti Park, the Houston Theater District, George R. Brown Convention Center, Houston Museum District, Minute Maid Park, Shell Energy Stadium, Toyota Center, and POST Houston, which features a food hall, rooftop garden, and live concert venue.

Some downtown Houston hotels Upgraded Points recommends include Thompson Houston, C. Baldwin, and Hampton Inn Houston Downtown.

Hot Tip:

You can get a free ride to Meow Wolf Houston if you stay at Thompson Houston. The installation is within the hotel’s 3-mile radius for complimentary rides in the house car. However, you need to arrange a ride back to the hotel.

Meow Wolf Houston is practically across the street from Saint Arnold Brewing Company, a Houston institution and Texas’ oldest operating craft brewery. It features award-winning craft beer, cider, hop water, and a full food menu. You’ll also spot some of Houston’s legendary art cars and art created by local graffiti artist GONZO 247, the artist liaison for Meow Wolf Houston. Saint Arnold is one of my all-time favorite breweries, and I highly recommend visiting it!

Though there’s much to do near Radio Tave, there’s more to come. The Meow Wolf Houston building has ongoing construction, and the developer plans to make it an entertainment destination with additional restaurants and attractions. The plans sound much like Area 15 in Las Vegas, where Meow Wolf’s Omega Mart is.

Meow Wolf Houston Experience

Hot Tip:

If you want to be surprised by the interactive elements of the experience, stop here, thanks for reading, and enjoy your visit! If you’d like more of a preview of the full walk-through, including some spoilers and tips, keep reading!

Meow Wolf Houston starts in a radio station lobby of ETNL Community Radio in the fictional but believable West Texas town of Little Thicket.

As we explored the radio station, we learned a bit about the characters of the Meow Wolf Houston story. I found it interesting that Radio Tave’s story was less of a mystery to solve and more of a curiosity to explore.

At Meow Wolf Grapevine, we were on a mission to find a missing person and then realized we needed to find a missing family. Meow Wolf Houston didn’t have a crisis to solve. Rather, it was more in line with what we experienced at Meow Wolf Las Vegas, where we explored Omega Mart and the spaces beyond to learn about what happened — but didn’t necessarily have a goal to work toward.

Like most spaces at Radio Tave, the station lobby had much to explore and interact with. We could open doors from the station lobby to find new spaces, including multiple studio and broadcast rooms. Many of the elements in these rooms were interactive, particularly the microphones.

Even seemingly boring rooms like the break room next to the lobby had numerous interactive elements, like doors that led to dead-end art spaces, a vending machine full of unusual items, corkboards and books to read, and cabinets to open.

The refrigerator door led to another space, and the glass doors led to a musical forest.

Still in the radio station upstairs, we explored the offices and met some of ETNL Radio’s creatures. Opening a file cabinet revealed a creature with a headset and a coffee cup.

We recognized one of the employees from the lobby photos audibly napping on the couch.

Touching everything in the radio station was sometimes rewarded with playful features, such as a cat face illustration that came up in the lights of the control room boxes when we mashed enough buttons.

But Radio Tave expands far beyond the radio station. I couldn’t get enough of the musical forest space beyond the break room doors.

We met Meow Wolf sound designers, who told us guests should feel welcome to create music in this space and consider themselves composing with the artists as they interact with the controls.

Some music elements were less obvious, like a light-up touchpad at the bottom of a tree.

Touching the pad activated motion and sound in the metallic leaves above, creating a beautiful jingling sound and visual effect.

Touching the heads of the dozen or so animal statues in the forest activated fun sounds and contagious smiles, each with a unique personality.

Musical interaction extended beyond the forest, like the DJ table in one of Janell Langford’s Obsidiopolis rooms that sped up or slowed down the music and adjusted the video dancers on the adjacent screen.

The sensory experience wasn’t always limited to visuals and sounds. Some rooms featured smells, like a room with old toy advertisements that had a faint but distinctive scratch-and-sniff scent.

There were seemingly endless art rooms, many featuring local Houston artists such as El Franco Lee II.

Food and Beverages

Outside food and beverages aren’t allowed inside Meow Wolf Houston, but there is a bar and restaurant within the exhibit — Cowboix Hevvven, a West Texas afterlife dive bar.

Cowboix Hevvven was a highlight of our visit to Meow Wolf Houston. It features characters, a pool table, a jukebox, and a $5.99 Lone Star Beer and hot dog special. The bar is part of the exhibit, but it would be worth it to visit Cowboix Hevvven as its own destination. (You have to pay regular entry even if you’re just going to the bar, but this is where a Portal Pass could come in handy.)

Cowboix Hevvven is full of afterlife characters — at the bar, in the band, and a pool shark that heckles your shooting skills.

Everything works at Cowboix Hevvven like a regular bar, including the pool table.

There’s a working photo booth that delivers Cowboix Hevvven-themed photo strips.

A jukebox in the back adds to the dive bar vibe.

Hot Tip:

Press the right jukebox buttons to trigger death metal mode and change the music and lighting in the bar.

A band of characters is in the corner, and the bar’s atmosphere changes when they play.

A functional bar and restaurant, Cowboix Hevvven serves sandwiches, hot dogs, desserts, and more.

The main menu includes basic drinks, but there’s also a Fancy Schmancy cocktail menu for those who want more than the dive bar options.

During our visit, we sampled menu items such as the fried malarky sandwich, hot slop, wedgie salad, and couch potato cookie.

The fried malarky sandwich is a grilled bologna and cheese sandwich topped with potato chips that hit the spot.

Hot slop is a Frito pie, otherwise known as a walking taco. It’s heavy on the onions, cilantro, and crema — easily my favorite sample of the day. A vegan option features vegan chorizo and refried beans instead of chili and omits the crema.

Another favorite is the wedgie salad — a take on a steakhouse-style wedge salad featuring iceberg lettuce, blue cheese dressing, cherry tomatoes, and fried onions. This salad has a generous dressing, and the fried onions kick it up a notch.

Meow Wolf Multiverse

All of the Meow Wolf locations are somewhat thematically connected. As we made our way through Radio Tave, we recognized elements of Meow Wolf Grapevine and Meow Wolf Las Vegas, which we visited before seeing the Houston installation. For example, a minifridge in the radio station featured Omega Mart drinks — a nod to the Meow Wolf Las Vegas Omega Mart installation.

The space featuring the arcade reminded me of Lamp Shop Alley at Meow Wolf Grapevine, which also featured an arcade in the same spot.

We also saw a revival of the Glowquarium, one of our favorite features at Meow Wolf Grapevine. Houston’s Glowquarium featured Aaron, one of the ETNL staffers, as an interactive element.

Other Meow Wolf Locations

Meow Wolf has 5 locations open now and a sixth location under construction:

• Convergence Station in Denver, Colorado
• House of Eternal Return in Santa Fe, New Mexico
• Meow Wolf Los Angeles (expected in 2025)
• Omega Mart in Las Vegas, Nevada
• Radio Tave in Houston, Texas
• The Real Unreal in Grapevine, Texas

Service

Visiting on a press tour, we predictably experienced excellent service. Our tour guide walked us through the exhibit, offering explanations, background information, introductions to artists, and helpful hints for making the most of our visit — though he didn’t give everything away. We spent some time exploring after the press tour broke, and our staff interactions in the bar, throughout the exhibit, and in the gift shop were consistent with the supportive and friendly service we’ve encountered at other Meow Wolf locations.

Final Thoughts

Meow Wolf Houston brings a unique and immersive art experience, blending local culture with Meow Wolf’s signature touch of fantastical, imaginative spaces. Radio Tave is a journey through an otherworldly story full of discovery. Every space allows visitors to explore, interact with, and appreciate art. Whether you’re already a Meow Wolf fan or new to their universe, this enhancement to Houston’s vibrant art scene is worth visiting.