What is Virtual Reality?

March 6, 2018

Learn about this immersive technology and what you can expect with Battle For Eire, our new action VR ride.

While virtual reality (VR) is still relatively new to the theme park scene, Battle For Eire™, our all-new Action VR Ride is the first of its kind in North America to combine virtual reality with a motion simulator ride. VR is something you won’t truly understand until you’ve tried it yourself, but we will do our best to explain the overall experience.

Battle For Eire is not 3D

First, let’s talk about what Battle For Eire is not. It is not your standard 3D ride. Many of you are probably familiar with this from watching 3D movies or from motion simulator rides such as Corkscrew Hill, the attraction that used to inhabit our Ireland village.

The way a 3D movie or ride works is by projecting two images from two perspectives. That is why without 3D glasses, the picture looks blurry. By using the 3D glasses, it combines the image, creating the illusion of depth and adding a third dimension.

While it can give you the feeling that images are popping out at you, 3D does not offer the immersive interaction of virtual reality.

Battle For Eire is VR

Battle For Eire is Busch Gardens’ first-ever virtual reality attraction. Unlike Corkscrew Hill or Europe in the Air, this attraction’s custom designed VR headset offers an otherworld experience, taking you from the reality of everyday life and placing you in a virtual world, where anything is possible. Unlike 3D glasses, the VR headset completely envelops your eyesight including your peripheral vision.

Battle For Eire's Virtual Reality Headset

It’s interactive and immersive. The VR headset tricks your brain into thinking everything around you is real. If you look down while riding Ollie, the dragon guardian, you can see the Otherworld environment below you. Depending on where you are looking, each time you ride could be a completely different experience. You are sure to find something you didn’t see before.

A fun trick to understanding the difference is that a 3D ride offers the illusion of characters coming into our world; whereas on a VR ride, you are stepping into their world.

Immerse yourself in the Otherworld on Battle For Eire, opening this April at Busch Gardens.