page_title: Fantasy of Flight
section_title: Immersion environments
hierarchical_section_title: Fantasy of Flight / Immersion environments
caption_attribution_description: English: Picture of the WWI immersion environment at Fantasy of Flight in Polk City, FL. Figure represents a German soldier engaged in trench warfare.
context_page_description: Fantasy of Flight is an aviation-related attraction in Polk City, Florida, United States that takes visitors back to the pioneering days of early flight, as well as the First and Second World Wars and beyond. The attraction opened in November 1995, and houses the world's largest private aircraft collection on display. It became the new home for much of owner Kermit Weeks' collection of aircraft that were previously housed at the Weeks Air Museum in Tamiami, Florida and were damaged to varying degrees by Hurricane Andrew in 1992. On April 6, 2014, the attraction was closed to the public, though it is still being maintained and is available for private events. On January 30, 2015, Fantasy of Flight opened a scaled-down museum attraction to display some of their aircraft to the public in the interim while the rest of the facility is upgraded and planned to reopen sometime in the future.
  Fantasy of Flight was the only attraction in the world to offer daily aerial demonstrations of aircraft in its collection. Most of Weeks' aircraft are airworthy and may still be seen flying from one of the facility's grass runways or its seaplane runway.
context_section_description: The immersion environments are part of the main facility now closed to the public, but are available as part of the facilities which can be rented for events. Visitors walk through several immersion environments as they enter the attraction. From the lobby, guests walk into the interior of a World War II-era Douglas C-47 Skytrain complete with lighting and sound effects as if the aircraft were conducting paratrooper operations.  Guests pass a seated paratrooper in full kit and move forward toward the Jumpmaster figure standing at the open side hatch. Over the hatch blinks a red "Ready" light which switches to a green "Jump" light as the guest approaches the hatch. Through the hatch is the entry to the attraction.
  Other immersion environments include a "sensation of flight" simulator, followed by a celebration of the early days of flight. Then, a passage covered by heavy shrapnel-resistant curtains leads visitors into a full-scale representation of the trench warfare of World War I, complete with aircraft overhead. It was, in part, due to the development of aerial warfare that trench fighting became obsolete.
  The final immersion display includes the collection's Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress housed in a large darkened room staged to appear as a winter evening at RAF Horham, home of the 95th Bombardment Group (Heavy) during World War II. The full-scale diorama, complete with ground vehicles, outbuildings, and landscaping, represents a maintenance area and one of the B-17's engine cowlings and propellers are removed to maintenance stands in front of the aircraft.  Guests can enter the plane via the aft side hatch in the tail, walk through the bomb bay, visit the cockpit, and exit near the nose of the aircraft.
caption: WWI Immersion Experience
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