Wizard of Oz at the Sphere Review

This week’s newsletter shall be my review of the Wizard of Oz, as seen at the Sphere. However, before getting to that, I present the usual weekly logic puzzle.

Logic Puzzle

The following is an argument that 2=3. Where is the flaw?

Step 1: 4 - 10 = 9 – 15

Step 2: Add 25/4 to each side: 4 - 10 + 25/4 = 9 - 15 + 25/4

Step 3: Factor both sides: (2 - 5/2)² = (3-5/2)²

Step 4: Take square root of both sides: (2 - 5/2) = (3-5/2)

Step 5: Add 5/2 to both sides: 2 = 3

Wizard of Oz at the Sphere Review

On October 5, 2025 I attended the 5:00 showing The Wizard of Oz at the Sphere. This would be my second visit to the Sphere after seeing Postcards from Earth about two years ago. Let’s start with the basics.

The cost of a ticket at the time of this writing ranges from $109 to $276. This includes fees but not taxes.

The location of the Sphere is behind the Sands Convention Center. From the passage between the Venetian and Palazzo there were plenty of signs directing foot traffic how to get to the Sphere. Expect to walk about 15 minutes from the time you arrive at the Venetian or Palazzo.

As I understand it, there is very limited parking at the Sphere and a reservation should be purchased in advance at the time you buy the ticket. Unless you have mobility issues, my advice is to park at the Treasure Island for free and take the long walk.

When I got to the passage between the convention center and the Sphere there were three lanes. None of them were labeled. The one on the right was a non-working moving walkway. It was obvious the left lane was for people leaving from the previous show. The middle lane had a long line and the other two were clear as far as I could see. Not wanting to look like a line-cutter later, I chose the longer line. There are fewer kinds of people I find more annoying than line cutters. As I expected, this was a mistake and those taking the empty line on the right simply merged with my line later. It is a situation I’ve seen many times before in my life.

Another annoying thing everybody must experience is you must download the Ticketmaster app on your phone to get in. I hate to download an app to use just one time, but I had no choice. Most venues will give you a QR code as your ticket after the purchase, but not for the Sphere. I found this out the hard way when my first visit to the Sphere and that policy has not changed as of the time of this writing.

After getting through the metal detector and what seems like random wand screenings for some people, you enter the lobby of the Sphere, which I must say is amazing. It is enormous. Long escalators take customers to the higher levels. There are interactive things to see and do in the lobby. I would allow plenty of time to explore the lobby a bit and find your seat. Including such exploring, from the Venetian or Palazzo I would start walking about an hour before showtime. The movie did start right on time with no previews.

From the theater, the Spere is an enormous curved screen. You see the movie from your entire field of vision, including peripheral. As I understand it, AI was used to expand the movie on the sides of the screen. Nothing essential to the story but it was an amazing experience to see the movie in about 180 degrees from my seat in the nosebleeds. This would be even more from the more expensive the lower seats in the middle.

At times in the movie, effects outside of the screen are used to add to the experience. This is best done in the tornado scene as huge fans blow at the audience. In the flying monkey scene, models of said creatures moved about the theater. In the poppy scene, what seems like snow falls from the ceiling. By the way, in the book, mice hauled Dorothy out of the poppy field with a cart hundreds of them pulled.

I was asked after I saw the movie if I got hit with a foam apple. I was not. You may recall Dorothy, I believe after finding the tin man but before the cowardly lion, tries to pick an apple from a tree. This angers the tree and a struggle ensues, in which many apples fall from the tree. Based on discussion in my forum at Wizard of Vegas , apples only fall on the more expensive seats. I wish I could tell you which sections get the apples, but I don’t know, other than section 407 in the nosebleeds does not.

It should be noted the run time of the original 1939 movie was 102 minutes. The Sphere version is 75 minutes. From my memory of the original, which I haven’t seen in decades, nothing pertinent to the plot was removed, but it seems were a lot of choppy edits, where one scene did not logically follow from the previous one. At least they didn’t cut out my favorite song – The Lollipop Guild.

In summary, you should decide for yourself whether to go. If you have never seen the original movie, you should probably watch that first on a smaller screen. The motive to see the Sphere version should be the experience feeling like you are actually present in Oz as opposed to following the story. Tickets are expensive. Then again, it seems everything in Vegas lately. I did not regret going and Mrs. Wizard seemed to enjoy it as well.

Logic Puzzle Answer

The flaw is in going from step 3 to step 4:

Step 3: Factor both sides: (2 - 5/2)² = (3-5/2)²

Step 4: Take square root of both sides: (2 - 5/2) = (3-5/2)

Taking the square root of a positive number should result in both a positive and a negative result. In step 3 we have 0.25 = 0.25. Taking the square root of both sides should give us

+/- 0.5 = +/- 0.5

Simple dropping the exponent incorrectly gives us:

- 0.5 = + 0.5

It just goes to show to be careful when taking square roots to not forget the negative value.