VHB has partnered with SeaWorld, owner of Busch Gardens and Water Country USA in Virginia, for more than 40 years to help manage and expand its park assets and deliver new attractions. Throughout our years of service, we have provided technical excellence in survey and civil engineering, permitting, transportation, traffic, parking, stormwater, landscape architecture, and environmental services for over 500 projects, ranging from maintenance and improvements projects to new attractions and expansion of the park’s grounds.
VHB successfully delivered innovative solutions to SeaWorld by leveraging reality capture technology to inform the design and fabrication of replacement tracks for the legendary Loch Ness Monster roller coaster at Busch Gardens. VHB team members executed a manual climb of the coaster’s structure to laser scan 1,650 feet of select track segments to be replaced. This effort resulted in the collection of data accurate enough to create a detailed, fabrication-grade 3D model. This precise digital model enabled the manufacturer to design and prefabricate replacement tracks that were dimensionally tailored to integrate flawlessly with the existing infrastructure.
Further utilizing laser scanning, 360-degree imagery, and drones, VHB captured and modeled the entirety of the ride structure and the interior of the attraction’s "mountain" enclosure. This comprehensive dataset facilitated a virtual site walk for offsite stakeholders, allowing them to thoroughly understand the complex structural components and make informed, precise decisions about the specifications required for prefabrication and future long-term investments supporting the attraction.
