Landlovers living in the 21st century can now get a better look around the Titanic thanks to a virtual reality experience inside the International Drive attraction.
The Titanic: Artifacts exhibition introduced add-on VR activities to the walk-through exhibit, which showcases artifacts and replicas related to the famous ship that sank in 1912.
At the I-Drive attraction, visitors don headsets and look up, down, and around them at a recreation of what passengers saw during the ride. This may include new tile floors to match the period or passing icebergs.
“It’s like a 360-degree view, so you see something everywhere you look,” says Ross Mumford, general manager of the Titanic: The Artifact exhibition. “This is such a nice and accurate depiction of the ship that we can actually see things that we don’t have on film.”
The 12-minute presentation includes below deck views of the gangway doors, first class lounge, Turkish bath, grand staircase and third class common areas. Viewers also ascend to the lookout vantage point of the crow’s nest and lifeboat.
It’s not just the appearance and structure of the ship. VR users can also see passengers and crew members onboard.
“Sometimes the hardest things to recreate digitally are humans,” says Matthew DeWinkeler, manager and historian at Vintage Digital Revival, which is producing the video game project “Titanic: Honor and Glory.”
“In the background, there are some people in period clothing appropriate for the Titanic, appropriate for the Edwardian era, walking around on deck, sitting and playing, playing cards in the smoking room. … There are people washing the deck, and the sailors wash the deck every day.”
“There are also a few third-class rats,” DeWinkeler said.
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The VR experience features a narrator as a guide with information that enhances the actual walkthrough experience.
“This shows several different items related to the artifacts we recovered, so we can see them in context,” Mumford says.
DeWinkeler says the challenge is getting the Titanic’s details right, since tools already exist to recreate virtual reality.
“We relied solely on the primary document, the photographs, from 1912 about the construction of the Titanic,” he says. “The most difficult part is that even though Titanic is now one of the most famous ships in the world, it wasn’t well documented because it was her first voyage. … And she took all the information with her.”
Plan B involves investigating other ships built at the same shipyard and analyzing the wreckage. This includes information from Olympic, a nearly identical sister ship built alongside Titanic at the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
“To rebuild the Titanic, you have to put the parts together,” DeWinkeler says.
Artifacts from the ship helped clarify factors such as color issues, Mumford said. The stained glass in the smoking room used to be red, reminiscent of the Olympics, but was changed to yellow, reminiscent of the Titanic.
The VR movie also seeks to emulate the lighting of 1912, DeWinkeleer said.
“Light bulbs back then had much warmer colors, but they were also darker,” he says. “So if you’re exploring the ship at night, it’s pretty dim.”
Visitors interested in VR options typically join before the walkthrough portion. A room with seating off the lobby is dedicated to virtual reality experiences. Guided tours allow you to explore several areas of the ship.
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The VR segment costs $8 in addition to general admission ($5 if reserved online in advance). General admission is $37.36 ($30.94 for ages 4-12). A discounted rate of $33.08 is available for Florida residents, students, military personnel, and visitors age 65 and older.
The long-loved I Drive attraction includes an authentic interior recreation of the ship, with a gallery featuring a first class area, cafe and grand staircase. It houses approximately 200 artifacts recovered from the wreck site. The finale includes a two-ton section of the ship’s hull dubbed “The Little Piece.”
For tickets and more information, visit RMSTitanicInc.com.
