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What is Candytopia? It's a sugar rush on steroids for Dallas Instagram lovers

Candytopia, a new installation in Dallas, is a sugar rush on steroids. It sends its visitors through an ultra-sensory trip straight out of a Willy Wonka dream, then leaves them blinking outside in the sunlight, sucking on a lollipop and wondering how they're going to describe this to their friends.

But the answer is obvious: Instagram. Faster than they can count down from 5 before a confetti cannon blasts them in the face (and that really happens), Dallasites' Instagram feeds are about to be jammed with Candytopia capers.

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Candytopia is but one of many immersive art exhibits — a controversial topic among Dallasites. While all offer moments to make Instagram followers jealous, they also tend to be expensive and overconfident.

"Some of these pop-ups feature installations that are more like glorified J.C. Penney photo backdrops than compelling works of art," our Tiney Ricciardi wrote in a story analyzing the trend. Some of the immersive art exhibits that have come before Candytopia in Dallas are Psychedelic Robot, Eye Scream Wasted and Sweet Tooth Hotel (which is opening its third iteration soon).

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Another exhibit, Snap151, opens the same day in Dallas that Candytopia does: April 5. But these two exhibits are nothing alike.

Snap151

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Snap151 is a photo studio built temporarily inside a former American Apparel clothing store in Mockingbird Station. It's a 4,500-square-foot room, mostly empty beyond the 10 Instagram backdrops that owners Audrey Miranda and Dawn Snodgrass have constructed after lots of trips to Home Depot. The two launched Snap151 first in Fort Worth, then moved it to Dallas and expect to close in six weeks and head out of state next.

Snap151 has a yellow ball pit — great for Instagram.
Snap151 has a yellow ball pit — great for Instagram.(Shaban Athuman / Staff Photographer)

They expect boutique owners, Instagram models, birthday parties and couples announcing engagements will pay the $20 ticket price to spend an hour using their space for photo shoots. It's not so much a walk-through experience as it is a place to play on Instagram.

Snap151 even kept American Apparel's dressing rooms, because their guests often want to take a series of photos, in different outfits, so they can post them on Instagram on different days and make the shoots look like they took place over time.

"When we came up with this, it wasn't from an art or 'Instagram museum' perspective," Miranda says. "It was a need to create a place for photo shoots."

Candytopia

That's Dallas city council member Jennifer Gates (far right), her daughter Jessica Whitsitt...
That's Dallas city council member Jennifer Gates (far right), her daughter Jessica Whitsitt and sons Gambill Whitsitt, 5, and Gates Whitsitt, 3, at Candytopia. The pigs flanking the confetti blast are covered in gummy candies.(Rose Baca / Staff Photographer)

Candytopia is designed inside the shuttered eco-friendly home improvement store Treehouse on Walnut Hill Lane. Throughout the big space, Candytopia co-founder Jackie Sorkin, co-founder John Goodman (not that John Goodman) and their team have created works of art made out of candy.

Big Tex is a special addition to Candytopia in Dallas. It's the sixth city Candytopia has...
Big Tex is a special addition to Candytopia in Dallas. It's the sixth city Candytopia has popped up in.(Rose Baca / Staff Photographer)

Sorkin's full title is co-founder, creator and global candy artist, but she's also known as the "candy queen." Candytopia is filled with larger-than-life-sized sculptures of pigs, seahorses, sharks and more, and they're all covered in real candy that you can touch. A favorite for Texans might be the unassuming Big Tex in the corner.

Squishy is the best word to describe these sculptures. Many are made with gummy bears, peach rings and other soft candy, and believe it or not, they're not slathered in so much lacquer that they're stiff. It's a confusing, intriguing sensory experience, to reach out to touch a cute, candy-covered snail and find that those pieces bounce back a little. The jumpsuit-wearing Candytopia docents (called Candytopians, but they're more like less-creepy Oompa Loompas) tell their guests to touch anything.

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Samples of candy are placed in most of the rooms, and by the end, visitors of all ages will be buzzing.

Dallas is Candytopia's sixth pop-up, one that's expected to pack up its saccharine delights and leave Dallas in late July. These exhibits never seem to want to sit still.

William LeBlanc, 9, plays in the marshmallow pit at Candytopia.
William LeBlanc, 9, plays in the marshmallow pit at Candytopia.(Rose Baca / Staff Photographer)

Candytopia's price is $30 for adults and $23 for kids, for a one-hour window. It's pricey, but their candy-coated pitch is bound to reel in plenty of Dallasites: Want to get plowed in the face with confetti, then stand in front of a carwash-sized blowdryer to swirl hundreds of pieces of colored paper out of your hair? Want to see the Mona Lisa, without buying a plane ticket to Paris? Want to jump into a marshmallow pit the size of a swimming pool?

Unless you're on a no-sugar diet, the answer's yes. Candytopia is the definition of a guilty pleasure.

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Candytopia opens April 5 at 8021 Walnut Hill Lane (at Central Expressway, in The Hill), Dallas. candytopia.com. Snap151 opens April 5 at 5331 E. Mockingbird Lane (at Central Expressway, in Mockingbird Station), Dallas. snap151.com.

See more photos of Snap151

See more photos of Candytopia