Now that I'm back in school for graphic design a few days breaks may happen here or there but I will always go back and make sure that those days get updated with pictures so that every day has a post.
Ironically enough, my first day back really does makes me feel like I'm back in action as the attraction we will be looking at today at Busch Gardens Williamsburg is one that I operated during my 2011 internship with the park!
The ride you will see below is a Red Baron airplane spinner style flat ride manufactured by Zamperla. These kinds of "Dumbo" rides have been popular for ages and allow children to have the experience of flight all at their own control by means of a pull lever in both the front and back seats of the cockpit.
From firsthand experience, it is no easy feat instructing the little ones (3-4 year olds) to pull up on the stick to go up and to push down on the stick to go down! More often than not it takes them two tries, one without leaving the ground and one stuck sky high with the lever pulled all the way back, before they figure out that their entire range of up and down motion is controlled by the pull of that stick. When they do figure it out, however, their reactions are priceless and the fun you can see them having shines right through their faces. For a child there are few feelings better than achieving flight.
Up first is my little brother Steven at the controls of his own Red Baron plane! Who's the Red Baron you say! The Red Baron was a legendary World War I fighter pilot who fought for Germany during that war (hence its location in the Oktoberfest, Germany section of the park). For more on the Red Baron click here. You can see the pull lever sticks in both the front and rear seats of the plane in the image below. They are connected so that when one gets pulled up (or down) the other goes right up (or down) in sync with it.
From the above image I was able to figure out that the Red Baron seen above is not in its current location at the park today. The Red Baron today sits to the front left of the Bumper Car building.
A little bit of research showed me that on these 1983 and 1987 park maps of Busch Gardens Williamsburg that the Red Baron used to sit in the location that is currently occupied by The Curse of DarKastle and has had the different names of Der Roto Baron, Red Barons, and Red Baron throughout its lifetime.
From this 1997 park map I was able to discern that the Red Baron was relocated to the site of the former Remote-O-Cars where it still resides today.
Our send off picture for today...
...this stud! Cue The Danger Zone and send me off!
Alright folks! That wraps things up for today but be sure to come back tomorrow for some more great photos from Busch Gardens Williamsburg, 1998!
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