Have you ever wanted to visit a Park but were too worried about the logistics such as transport, fees, and other things it would cost to transport yourself to the location physically? Do you wish you could experience and take in the sights and sounds of a park without leaving the comfort of your home? Thanks to covid-19 and the closure of most entertainment spots, many businesses have been forced to go online. Parks are no exception. These are the 20 best parks offering virtual park tours.
1. Yellowstone Park
This Park has the honour of being the first-ever National Park in the world. Its most famous attractions are its beautiful hydrothermal characteristics like its geysers. With Google Earth, you can virtually transport yourself to this location and walk through the Park’s various locations virtually just by using direction controls. It gives you a first-person perspective so you can see what is in front of you as you embark on a Yellowstone National Park Virtual Fieldtrip. Before you embark on this virtual tour, you might want to have a peek at what it entails.
2. Yosemite National Park
A beautiful location most notable for its waterfalls, this Park is much more than just that, as you would also get to experience its valleys, trees, and meadows in Virtual Reality. You also have the opportunity to view the Park in different weather conditions. A Yosemite National Park Virtual tour is one you would surely enjoy as you even get to hear the birds chirping merrily and sounds of water flowing as if you are presently in that location.
3. Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
In Hawaii is located this Park, which takes up almost 525 square miles and, as the name implies, houses volcanoes which, if you are willing to, can observe and experience from the comfort of your homes. You can feel, hear and see almost everything, except the actual temperature, as that would be pretty hard to convey through Virtual Reality. This virtual park tour also comes with an informational guide and a narration of important information about different locations and is best enjoyed with headphones.
4. Redwood National Park
The Redwood National Park is home to the world’s largest and tallest trees. Physically it is a prime location for very cool, refreshing, and scenic drives and walks. These features are very well recreated in a redwood national park virtual tour. Experience the majesty of these trees and take a walk via your virtual self.
5. Redwood National Park
If you cannot see the wildlife in real life, at least you can get to see them in Virtual reality or through someone else’s lens. You can also walk through the various locations in the Park, like the Lanner Gorge, complete with the sounds of flying insects and the 360 views of the entire landscape. There also exists daily drives and safaris, which are broadcast live.
6. Globe Life Park
This $1.2 billion stadium with seats for over 40,000 is not fully open presently to fans, but you can as well enjoy and get a feel as if you are actually in the famous Park. The Globe life Park virtual tour allows you to view the entire Park from any angle and even the seat you wish, and it will be displayed as if you were physically present at that exact location.
7. Central Park
This popular New York Park is still open to the public despite the pandemic. However, suppose you cannot make it there physically and still want to enjoy some of what the Park offers. In that case, you can take the Central Park Virtual tour, which contains information and photographs about places like the Imagine Mosaic, Cherry Hill, West 72nd Street Entrance, and The Wagner Cove.
8. Walt Disney Virtual Amusement Park
This widely popular, if not even the most popular, theme and amusement park offers virtual rides and experiences for those unable to make it physically. This virtual park tours features an interactive map and layout of the entire Park, including the opportunity to experience every single attraction in Virtual Reality. From LEGO land to the Universal Orlando Resort, you can visit all these places from the comfort of your couch.
9. Death Valley National Park
This location, well known for its hot desert and extreme heat, offers interested individuals a virtual field trip and some other parks that offer California State Parks Virtual Field Trip. This particular field trip gives you a complete experience of sight and, even most importantly, the Park’s sounds to make it feel like it is you walking through the Park.
10. Big bend National Park
A well-known hiking location, the big bend offers you a vast and wide expanse of land for you to trudge upon, sprinkled in with some fauna and flora. You can virtually view the landscape from Emory peak, or choose to, through the abilities of Google Earth, trek along the Lost Mine Trail, or virtually walk through the Boquillas Canyon if you so wish.
11. Fenway Park
Fenway Park has been the stadium belonging to the Boston Red Sox since 1912. If you don’t feel like making the trip to Boston, you can digitally transport yourself to the stadium or even take a video tour if you so wish and if that is most comfortable for you.
12. Badlands National Park
This beautiful expanse of land in South Dakota contains numerous natural geological formations like spires and canyons. You can begin your virtual trail from the big badlands overlook, over the door trailhead and down to the fossil exhibit trailhead, and through the Yellow mounds and pinnacles overlook. Watch your step as you go because the road can be tricky, although in Virtual Reality.
13. Denali National Park
The Denali National Park has only one road entrance, referred to as the Denali park road, which is about 92 miles long and runs from east to west, and a lot of wildlife can be found there. You can begin your virtual tour from here or like this. You can experience a lot but the freezing temperature as you begin your virtual tour through this Park.
14. Glacier National Park
Founded in 1910, Glacier National Park is one of the coldest parks you can visit. It is filled with many lakes, meadows, and even forests. If you are itching for a visit, you log into their webcams to get a real-time view of the various locations, or you can visit through here and make it seem like you are traveling through the icy cold mountains.
15. Mesa Verde national park
This Heritage location contains important historical and archaeological geological preserves, so get your headphones and devices ready as you digitally plunge into this location. You can walk through and have a look around at the Navajo Canyon. Or if you like, you could rather visit in the form of a video, as that could also be a good experience.
16. Wind Cave National Park
This cave, which also doubles as a national park, is sure to thrill virtual visitors as you get to see the patterns formed in the caves and calcites, stalagmites, and stalactites. Watch your step and hope you are not claustrophobic as you enter into the caves virtually.
17. Zion National Park
This wonderful Park which looks like something straight out from a fantasy movie, contains the most beautiful and amazing landscapes. If you do not fancy a trip down to Utah, you can simply enjoy your adventures from your home. Be careful not to get lost, and you have all the time in the world to take in the beautiful environment.
18. Joshua Tree National Park
An enormous number of Joshua Trees are at the Joshua Tree National Park. With over 790,000 acres of land, this Park contains within it two deserts with differing elevations. A virtual tour will enable you to see and get close to the trees. Sadly, you cannot grasp or touch them virtually.
19. Oriental Science Fiction Valley
This theme park, which is the first China Virtual Reality Theme Park, opened more than three years ago and aspired to give visitors a whole new exciting and thrilling experience all through virtual reality. Many constructions and mechanisms to go along with the VR give users the sights, sounds, and even feelings of a normal theme park.
20. Grand Teton National Park
Sitting on over 300,000 acres of and containing a 40-mile range, this Park still hosts a wide array and the same type of species of flora and fauna as it did millions of pre-historic years ago. This is a good location for lovers of hiking and mountaineering as a result of its numerous trails. If you want to visit the Park but have no interest in hiking, you can also do so from here.
Virtual Reality Park Tours: Pros and Cons
Pros
· They are free, as the interested individuals would not be required to pay any money
· Many people can always view it at any time.
· Very little impact on the environment, as the viewers are not physically present
· As a result of things seen on the virtual tour, it can inspire people to plan for an actual physical tour of the place
Cons
· It is only accessible to those with capable devices and a strong internet connection
· It does not generate as much money for the physical location as physical tourism does.
· There is little, if any, at all communication between the partakers of the virtual tour.
Live Park Tours: Pros and Cons
Pros
· The individuals get to physically experience the sight, sounds, smells, and even weather and temperature of the place
· It generates income for the Park
· It is more interactive as the individuals can interact with one another freely
Cons
· It is not readily available 24/7 as most establishments have a closing time
· The individuals can disrupt the natural environment or ecosystem of the place.
· Global pandemics can put visitors at risk
The virtual Tourism industry has been around for some years now. However, it has received a huge boost due to the pandemic. According to Research and Markets and Revfine, the impact of this foretells a lot for the future. Aside from supplementing for physical tours, Virtual Reality could also be used to aid and boost tourism. If you are interested in reading further about COVIDs impact, you can click here.
All the virtual Park and virtual amusement park tours are made possible by advancement in technology. Thanks to the emergence and widely popular use of Virtual Reality, companies like Google have introduced services like Google Earth National Park Virtual Tours to fully immerse users in a full VR experience. So, you can visit hundreds of virtual parks around the world without actually leaving your couch.