It’s summer. The kids are off of school and you might just be searching for a remedy to “I’m bored.” You want a little Disney magic without traveling to a Disney park. Maybe your kids are playing Keepy Uppiy, love Unicorse, or refer to cheese and crackers as more than just food. For any of these, Bluey x CAMP is an epic way to spend part of your day.

What is CAMP?

As they say on their website, CAMP is determined to answer the question “what should we do today?” It’s this unique blend of a store/play experience with just a few locations around the US. The idea is like being at a short summer camp and inside the Chicago location, there are some camp vibes with an old pick up truck, fake trees, and an art room.

You enter into the store part of CAMP. But the main part of the experience is based on the store’s current theme. CAMP has different themes and they tend to change every 3-4 months, depending on popularity. The Chicago location is their newest and currently is Bluey x CAMP. Other CAMP themes have included Disney’s Encanto, Doodles, Trolls x CAMP, and The Little Mermaid,

Fun fact: CAMP and Disney have partnered from CAMP’s beginning. CAMP was in the 2021 cohort of the Disney Accelerator program. The store part of CAMP is truly that, a store. One that encourages playing with the merchandise! Make sure to spend a little time looking as there is merchandise exclusive to Disney X CAMP and the specific theme. Where the magic happens is when you go behind the bookcase…

SPOILER ALERT! If you’re already planning a Bluey X CAMP experience, proceed with caution if you want surprises. We’re digging into all the details of what you need to know when you and your pups visit Bluey X CAMP. 

The CAMP Experience: Getting Into Bluey’s House

The first step to visiting Bluey’s house is buying tickets. This is highly recommended and you can do it online. The costs vary based on the day of the week and the location: weekends and holidays are a higher cost.

We went on a Tuesday and our tickets for anyone over the age of 2 were $38.00 a person. That included about an hour playing inside Bluey’s house with counselor-led activities. You don’t have to do the activities, my grandson was overwhelmed by them, but it is part of what you pay for.

It’s cheaper than a day in a Disney park and much less than a trip to Australia! The counselors do NOT watch your child. You are responsible for your kid and all children must be accompanied by an adult.

Despite the cost, the tickets sell out often. I highly recommend you book online in advance. You can enter the store anytime without tickets, but to have the full CAMP experience and get behind that magic bookshelf, you need tickets.

The CAMP team is pretty prompt so plan to arrive prior to your time to pick up your wristbands and be ready when they call your group. After a short chat about traveling to Australia, a very high-energy counselor opens the magic bookshelf and everyone wanders inside.

We had about 20-30 people in our group and it was primarily adults. It seemed the ratio was about 2-3 adults per child that day. Bluey is quite popular with kids of all ages. Our first stop was a room with an interactive musical floor that plays the Bluey theme and a Bluey cartoon. Before going inside the house was the restroom, an important place to know. Even those doors looked straight out of the show.

The excitement built as the counselor shared a story about playing hide-n-seek with Bluey and Bingo once inside the house. Then we were in! First stop, the kitchen/dining room area. This is when things got louder and warmer as a few other groups were already inside playing and exploring.

Bluey’s House: The Layout

Here’s a rundown of the different parts of the Heeler home and some of the activities that you’ll find.

• Kitchen/dining room: open all the cabinets! You never know what you’ll find inside. We also saw a CAMP counselor serving a “pavlova.”
• Living Room: Sit on the couch. Turn on the TV. This is a room to touch everything.
• Playroom: Find the kiwi rug and play games like Keepy Uppy with the counselors.
• Bluey & Bingo’s bedroom: Glowy stars on the walls, a watermelon carpet on the floor, this room is chock full of details. Before the lights go out, the counselors have storytime with puppets, which Unicorse unsuccessfully tries to ruin.
• Incredible Blanket Fort: This is next to Bluey & Bingo’s bedroom and was my favorite room in the space. There are fun details inside the blanket fort like fancy restaurant and a selfie opp with the Hammerbarn gnomes Jeremy and Gerald.
• Dad’s office: Not surprising, Bandit’s office has been taken over by the little heelers. There’s a slide and some friends hidden in the Fish & Chips shop / Doctor’s office cardboard box castle.

Tip: The day we went was a beautiful day outside, around 73 degrees. Not sure if they were trying to keep it authentic, but inside Bluey’s house was very warm. No arctic Disney air conditioning in this space! I so wish the fridge opened for a blast of cold air.

Photo by Trisha Daab

Last stop! Behind a bookshelf in the living room, through a closet, and now we were in for…

The Ultimate Surprise in the Backyard

Bluey and Bingo! Human-size in their backyard. I mention human size because some kids, like my grandson, were a bit shocked at seeing these two characters. They’re usually on TV or toys the size of his hand. Here they were bigger than mom! That took some processing.

Unless you’re first through the door, prepare your child and your nerves for waiting in line while everyone gets photos. Make sure to hang in the backyard and check out the garden shed. We loved the Jeremy and Tony garden gnome ring toss and would have totally bought this if they sold this toy!

Visiting Bluey’s House with Kids of All Ages

The experience will be totally different for each kid, but here are some general suggestions based on the age of the kids you’re visiting with.

• Toddlers: My grandson was about 2.5 when we visited. A long time Bluey fanatic he really just wanted to wander around and explore at his own pace. The forts were his favorite spots.
• Younger kids (4-7): This age group was the one to get into the games. There was a very raucous game of everyone dressing up like Granny Rita and searching for cans of beans.
• Elementary-school kids (7-10): Another group that played games with the counselors. Keepy-uppy even got a little competitive at times!
• Tweens/Teens: Almost all the kids we saw in this age group were there with younger siblings. Some tried chasing and keeping up with the little ones. A few hung out on the couch looking at their phone but most seemed to eventually get into it.

For my teen, they’ve watched more than a few Bluey episodes with their nephew and they and the other grown-ups appreciated all the detail in the space – like the tape on the cardboard boxes in the fort in Dad’s office.

Bluey X CAMP is the perfect response to “I’m bored.” Well that and “Hello bored. I’m hungry.” It’s clear this space is created by serious Bluey fans with kids and playing in mind. There’s something magical about playing inside a cartoon and we will absolutely do the next theme when it comes to town.