TRIP REPORT: Andrew Reiff, Spot Scholarship Recipient, Visits Busch Gardens Williamsburg

November 11, 2014

Taking on the challenge of designing an imaginative new water park, Penn State senior Andrew Reiff was the recipient of this year’s PGAV Destinations Spot Experiential Scholarship. For his outstanding design, he and his family were awarded an all-expenses-paid trip to one of five PGAV-designed destinations across the United States, and together they chose to visit Busch Gardens Williamsburg in Virginia on September 20, 2014. The following is Mr. Reiff’s report and insights on his visit.

How much a space can change in several years is really interesting!

The last time that I was able to pop on down to Busch Gardens Williamsburg was way back in 2007, the year the dive coaster Griffon was constructed. It’s been a long while; and thanks to my Spot Experiential Scholarship award, I was able to come back and spend another day in the park. Back seven years ago, the Oktoberfest area looked a lot different than it does today, but isn’t that the case with a lot of things!?

The color and happiness are what drew me to the Oktoberfest area, even with all of the Howl-O-Scream decorations. What was really clear to me upon entering the revitalized Oktoberfest area was that it was designed and built to a very high standard. Great care seemed to be taken on merging the old and the new: Das Festhaus may be from the “old” Oktoberfest, but it looks like it’s always belonged there. Finally, Oktoberfest has the festival to match Das Festhaus restaurant!! The festive-looking architecture drew me into the area’s attractions, and some of these attractions threw me into incredibly-immersive environments. It all makes for a wonderful, even somewhat isolated experience; unfortunately though, it came at a cost of one formerly nice-looking Porsche!

There’s a terrifying-looking, giant drop tower there now that produces screams the whole way down called Mach Tower.

Another one of these was Busch Gardens’ newest launching indoor-outdoor roller coaster: Verbolten!

Gerta and Gunter Schwartzwald now offer Verbolten automobile tours through the “Black Forest.” Everything in the area just bursts with color. Is a ride on Verbolten really what it’s like to drive through a dark forest? What a crazy and aggressive ride! You’re thrown one way and held down in your seat, and then suddenly thrown the other way; all within the darkness of the immersive “Black Forest” environment. Trees and other vegetation wrap their limbs around your car, completely surrounding you until they finally let go and release you into the outside world! I was particularly interested in how the “Black Forest” would start to invade the interior of the loading platform the closer you got to the front. I’m a sucker for those little details – they really tie the experience together!

Experiencing the new Oktoberfest was also important to me as a designer. The majority of my 3D visualizations in themed entertainment design end up being outdoor attractions because I just like outdoor attractions better. But in experiencing these attractions, I’ve gotten a better sense of how to integrate indoor and outdoor spaces into a cohesive experience.

I didn’t spend my entire day in Oktoberfest though. The park as a whole continues to operate at a high standard as well. From France to Scotland to Ireland and to the Wild Reserve, it’s totally apparent that Busch Gardens completely deserves the landscaping awards it gets. (Editor’s Note: Busch Gardens Williamsburg has been awarded “World’s Most Beautiful Theme Park” by the National Amusement Park Association for more than 22 years straight.) All of these environments continue to withstand the test of time and continue to look believable; and a solid roller coaster collection for adrenaline junkies like me is a pretty good bonus!

How the park transforms itself for Howl-O-Scream is incredible as well. You don’t realize that the actual Howl-O-Scream event is going on until your first scare actor pops out of wherever they’ve been hiding: the transition is that seamless. Once the sun goes down, it’s like stepping into a completely different world. The use of lighting to convey emotion and atmosphere was particularly strong here; it gets to a point where you can’t even figure out where you are in the actual park. It made me psychologically uneasy, but that was probably the point!

Because the park is so diverse, my entire family was able to enjoy the trip together. I got to ride all of the roller coasters during the daytime including Loch Ness Monster with my mom. We got to watch some great live shows in Das Festhaus together and my dad and younger sister got to take the plunge into the Howl-O-Scream mazes. I wanted the trip itself to be just as much about my family having a great time as me having a great time, and it was so much better for it!

Rhine River Cruise (yellow roof); Griffon (dark blue); Alpengeist (light blue); and Loch Ness Monster (yellow)

I’d like to again seriously thank PGAV Destinations for awarding me the Spot Experiential Scholarship this year and for sending my family and me to Busch Gardens Williamsburg. I’m inspired to keep working on my 3D visualizations so that I too may be able to create wonderful themed experiences someday. Hopefully, this won’t be the last time PGAV Destinations hears from me either!

As a side note: I also was able to meet PGAV Destinations vice presidents Al Cross and Tom Owen at the Themed Entertainment Association’s SATE Conference earlier this month as well. It was such a cool experience!

TRIP REPORT: Andrew Reiff, Spot Scholarship Recipient, Visits Busch Gardens Williamsburg

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