After walking through a giant illuminated portal in the woods, with Blade Runner-esque futuristic music playing in the background, you’re greeted by a sign that says “Welcome to 2099.”

So begins “Terra Lumina: An Enchanted Night Walk Into a Bright Future,” the immersive light show that the Toronto Zoo is counting on to bring in additional visitors and revenue throughout the frigid winter months.

And despite a mixed track record, including the financial failure of a similar light show that launched in Kingston in 2016, the zoo’s CEO says he’s confident in the project’s success.

“I think you have to look at examples like that and say ‘what can we learn from that?’ We did our homework and we still felt really confident moving forward,” Toronto Zoo CEO Dolf DeJong told the Star.

The program is about allowing people to think about the world differently, he said in a speech Thursday evening at a media event previewing the display.

The show opens to the general public Friday and ticket prices run at $30 for adults and $25 for children.

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“It will cause you to pause and reflect on your role in the natural world,” he said.

Elements of that natural world on display on the 1.5-kilometre walk through the zoo grounds include a projection of an animated bison among the trees, telling visitors “Plant your hopes for tomorrow with strong roots in today. You are the seeds of change.”

Indeed, the program at the zoo is all lights and no actual animals.

Other projections feature a polar bear among the rocks of the real polar bear enclosure, and wolves running among the trees.

Signs with similar messages are scattered throughout the walk, telling visitors to “Change your perspective” and “We make change together.”

There are also a number of Indigenous elements, including music and illuminated teepees. (A sign at the end indicates the project included collaborations with representatives of Indigenous communities.)

There’s an interactive drum circle, where another voice booms: “Use the drums to rediscover the rhythm of nature.”

Terra Lumina was designed by Quebec-based Moment Factory, which has sold similar Lumina shows across the country.

A Lumina nighttime show was a financial failure for Fort Henry in Kingston, the Star reported in October. An internal government audit showed substantial losses in the first two years of operation, finding that attendance forecasts were overly optimistic and not enough consideration had been given to economic downturns and the weather.

Moment Factory previously told the Star it does not comment on the financial viability of its shows.

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Company partner and executive producer Eric Fournier said Terra Lumina is Moment Factory’s first permanent project in Toronto, and the company plans to open an office here next year.

“It’s very important for us to showcase Canadian creativity in Toronto,” he said in his speech, and that Terra Lumina will hopefully “get the kids to think outside the screen and really appreciate this world around us.”

The zoo is using funds from its charitable arm to finance the project, after its $5 million loan proposal was met with resistance at City Hall earlier this year.

“There’s always an element of risk when you get into this but this project is a mission-based project, talking about a brighter future,” DeJong told the Star.

“We found a way to make this happen that’s no risk to city taxpayers and we’re tremendously proud of that and we’re looking forward to getting people out and enjoying the program.”

About 45 minutes later, after having briskly walked through the “future,” with all its twinkling lights, smoke, projections of animals and inspirational signs, a woman’s voice welcomes the visitor back to the present.

“What is your vision for the future?” she asks. “Your future awaits you. You’ll be seeing it again soon.”

Terra Lumina is expected to run until April and again starting in fall 2020.

With files from Francine Kopun