Flight simulator ride to open at Busch Gardens

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. -- Busch Gardens plans to introduce a new flight simulator ride when the amusement park opens in late March.

Europe in the Air will be in the Williamsburg theme park's Ireland section. Riders seated on a moving platform will swoop, dive and float as if flying in a helicopter over the European countryside and such landmarks as Stonehenge in England, Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany, and the Coliseum in Rome.

The new ride replaces Corkscrew Hill, another simulation that opened in 2001 in the same building. It followed a fantasy story that made riders feel like they had shrunk to fit inside a boy's pocket as he was being chased by a witch.