Theme park and attraction news, rumors and videos.
Another unique attraction is offering virtual tours in light of the ongoing global health crisis, giving people the chance to visit one of the creepiest places in the world — Bran Castle, a 14th-century castle in Bran, Romania that allegedly inspired Bram Stoker’s “Dracula.”
Google Home, the speaker and voice assistant, now has the ability to play fun, themed Disney and Pixar games with the whole family. [Read more…]
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Busch Gardens Tampa Bay and its waterpark, Adventure Island, are now featured in Street View on Google Maps.
Virtual visits are now available to all 10 SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment locations, including the SeaWorld parks in Orlando, San Antonio and San Diego; Discovery Cove, a swim-with-dolphins resort, and Aquatica, SeaWorld’s waterpark, both in Orlando; Busch Gardens and Water Country USA, both in Williamsburg; and Sesame Place in Langhorne, Penn.
In Tampa, nearly every inch of Busch Gardens was mapped using one of Google’s “Trikes.” A state-of-the-art camera automatically gathered photographs from the back of a modified bicycle. Google software then blended the images, creating the interactive and moveable 360-degree scenes Street View is known for.
“I began thinking about building a bicycle-based Street View system after realizing how many great places around the world aren’t accessible by car, but still would be perfect to include in Street View on Google Maps. The immensely popular SeaWorld parks are perfect examples of fun and interesting locations that our Trike can add to Google Maps, benefiting families and tourists around the world,” said Dan Ratner, Senior Mechanical Engineer on the Street View team & creator of the Trike.
All of the Central Florida theme parks except Disney’s are available on Google Street View (Busch Gardens, SeaWorld and Universal). Viewers can start by going to maps.google.com and searching for the park name. Then drag the orange “Pegman” icon (found at the top left of the map) for a “walking tour.”
We previously told you about being able to virtually walk through the streets of the Universal Orlando Resort via Google Maps. Now SeaWorld parks in Orlando, San Antonio and San Diego have also been captured by Google and are navigable via their Street View technology.
From worldsofdiscoveryblog.com:
Working with Google’s Street View team, nearly every inch of the parks was mapped using one of Google’s “Trikes.” A state-of-the-art camera automatically gathered photographs from the back of a modified bicycle. Google software then blended the images, creating the famous, interactive and completely moveable 360-degree scenes Street View is known for.
And the best way to make sure every show, splash, adventure and fave world-class thrill ride was mapped? The 250-pound Trike, complete with camera and GPS mounted on a mast, was pedal-powered by a Google staff member. It’s the ultimate mix of technology — both high and low.
Soon, Street View for Busch Gardens in Tampa Bay and Williamsburg, Va., Sesame Place in Langhorne, Pa., Adventure Island in Tampa and Water Country USA in Williamsburg, will be available, so be sure to check back often.
Here’s how to get started: Street View visits to the parks are accessible via Web and mobile applications. Go to maps.google.com and search for any of the SeaWorld parks, Discovery Cove or Aquatica. Then drag the orange “Pegman” icon (found at the top left of the map) for a “walking tour.” Among the highlights -– also seen in “satellite mode” — SeaWorld visitors can look for the world’s most famous killer whale, Shamu.
