THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 25, 1994 TAG: 9408250625
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KEITH MONROE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines
Busch Gardens hosted a dog and toga show Wednesday to unveil plans for its next big attraction - Escape from Pompeii.
General Manager Keith Kasen and Marketing Vice President Ed Dreistadt appeared decked out in Roman garb, including hard hats wreathed in laurel. To the strains of ``The Heat is On'' and ``The Fire Down Below,'' they conducted a tour of the site in the Italy section of the park.
Now, the Pompeii ride is a 70-foot-tall tangle of girders rising from mud, but by April 30 it may be a very hot attraction. Literally.
Billed as the most ambitious ride in the park's 20-year history, Escape from Pompeii purports to take visitors on a water ride through the subterranean ruins of the city that was destroyed by the volcano Vesuvius 1,915 years ago.
But shortly after the boat enters the archaeological dig, the volcano begins acting up again. Its quaking will turn the trip into a sort of tunnel of love with lava.
Riders will be subjected to volcanic sound effects, teetering bridges, falling beams, statues that explode and topple and a special effect with the disquieting name of ``brain fire.''
The biggest thrill may be a burst of flame 15 feet long and 8 feet deep that Larry Giles, vice president of design and engineering, promises will deliver a burst of radiant heat more intense than most people ever have experienced.
As the ride ends, boats will enter a room filled with smoke and the steam formed when hot lava hits cold water. Then, suddenly, the boats will burst from pitch darkness into light and a startling 50-foot plunge to splashdown. That's a considerably bigger drop than the 35-foot drop of the existing log flume ride.
In fact, Jeff Havlik, of the design firm that created this ride - Peckham Guyton Albers & Viets Inc. - says the goal was to give riders the sensation of the bottom dropping out as the boats hit the final drop. To that end, the heavier boats of Pompeii will assure a faster fall than most ``shoot the chutes'' rides, and a bigger splash at the end.
Planning for Escape from Pompeii began in January 1993, and the ride was drawn on storyboards as if it were an action sequence in a motion picture. The aim is to put riders in the middle of a narrative, what Giles calls ``a surrounding experience.''
The Pompeii idea was tested on Busch Gardens patrons through focus groups. They gave it high marks. Water rides are popular, as are concept rides that take patrons on a physical adventure. Pompeii will combine both and, as Dreistadt points out, also will allow families to share the experience, since each boat will seat 20 people. As one of the park's largest rides, it is designed to accommodate 1,600 riders an hour.
KEYWORDS: BUSCH GARDENS
by CNB