Many Americans will be eager to travel again after the pandemic, and the Ark Encounter in Williamstown, Ky., will be ready for them. The popular attraction has opened a high-tech $3 million virtual reality experience known as the “Truth Traveler.”
Wearing state-of-the-art VR headsets with studio-quality headphones, visitors sit in special-effects motion seats that move, vibrate and interact with them for an enhanced experience. Guests time-travel back almost 4,500 years to see Noah and his crew building the ark, watch the animals entering the massive ship, experience the flood’s dramatic beginning, ride in the ark as it floats on the water and also see the ship perched at rest on the mountains of Ararat.
“I’m excited about this fantastic high-tech VR addition,” said Ken Ham, CEO and founder of Answers in Genesis, the organization behind the Ark Encounter. “As people have come to expect at the Ark Encounter, the bar of excellence is set extremely high, as it is again with this experience.”
Ham, who appears as a hologram at the beginning and end of the program, added: “This 4K VR experience is like no other. While its quality of production and immersive feel are what you would expect from Walt Disney World or Universal Studios, the message is different. ‘A Flood of Reality’ presents Noah’s ark and the flood as factual history and reinforces the truth of the Bible.”
More than a million people a year have flocked to the attraction since it opened in 2016. Constructed according to the dimensions given in the Bible, the ark contains three decks of exhibits.
The VR experience requires a timed ticket that can be purchased onsite in addition to the regular Ark admission fee. The ark’s sister attraction, the Creation Museum, continues to add exhibits, as well as a $1.2 million planetarium using laser projection that opened in June. The first one-third of the upgrades to the museum’s 75,000-square-foot space opened late last year, entirely funded by donations.
–Dwight Widaman | Metro Voice
