image credit: Norman Wilkinson - The Illustrated London News, May 15, 1915. P. 631.
The worlds of theme parks and virtual reality give us all kinds of opportunities to experience adventures that are out of the realm of possibility. For example, you can go to Universal Studios and tour the Hogwarts castle while waiting to go on a ride that simulates flying on a broomstick like you’re Ginny Weasley playing Seeker for Gryffindor. Or you can wander around the museum that is supposedly a replica of Noah’s Ark. Or, in the near future, you’ll be able to sink on the Titanic.
While most sane people do not want to actually experience being on a doomed ocean liner as it plunges slowly into icy waters, there is apparently a market for people who want to have an imaginary Titanic experience where they get all the tragedy but none of the actual dying.
I assume these are people who have that Celine Dion song as a ringtone.
A company is building just such an imaginary Titanic in China's Sichuan province. The $145 million dollar project will be part of a tourist resort and will be permanently anchored in a reservoir off the Qijiang River. The boat, which is under construction as we speak, will be based on original Titanic designs including the famous ballroom plus modern conveniences like WiFi.
If the real Titanic had had Wifi, the Tweets would have been off the hook. Just sayin’.
The ship will also offer a “hit the iceberg experience”, with audio and visual technology to give guests the experience of the famous disaster that sunk the unsinkable ship. There is no word if guests will also be able to stand on the prow of the ship ala Leo DiCaprio and Kane Winslet.
For guests who prefer something a little less disaster-y for their vacation pleasure, the rest of the resort will have other attractions such as replicas of European castles and a "6D Holiday Experience.” No opening date has been set.
