Invasion of '75 (1975)
wve CV for here we go this [Music] ABC I'm 13 News Now meteorologist Evan Stewart and one thing you might not know about me is I've been a fan of Bush Gardens for a long time do you remember when they had the double-decker buses that served as trams to get you to the park entrance well 2025 marks the 50th anniversary of the theme park opening in Williamsburg and in this install of the 13 News Now Vault we go way back into our archives for its opening year of 1975 now some of our oldest footage was shot on film I remember that too this special presentation from reporter John Miller and photographer Doug sesny highlights the growing tourism boom in the historic triangle and features rare archival footage of both Colonial Williamsburg and the newly open Bush Gardens the old country enjoy [Music] Virginia's historic triangle enjoyed its best year ever in terms of Tourism in' 75 more than a million people came to the area visiting the amusements at Bush gardens's old country with the flavor of three European Villages like the Elizabethan Village in Britain and the tourist thr to Historic Colonial Williamsburg stepping back 200 years sampling the flavor of a on age or the victory of American forces over British troops at the Battle of Yorktown the record years for tourists meant many things but foremost it helped the economy of the area and the state Williamsburg alone visitors spent $10 million double the amount of 1974 for the next 30 minutes we'll look at the effect of the invasion of 75 [Music] more than a million people have visited Virginia's historic triangle this year that's more people than in any previous year the increase tourism at Colonial Williamsburg Jamestown Yorktown and Bush Gardens means more dollars more jobs and more headaches for nearly 50 years tourists have been coming to the attractions at Colonial Williamsburg and the historic locations of Jamestown and Yorktown well now there's a new kid in town the Bush Gardens Old Country already more than 1 million people have seen the attractions that are located right here hi Young lady three adults please the millionth visitor passed through these Gates last month by Labor Day the old country met its projection for the year of 1.3 million people thank you admission costs adults 650 and children 550 at an attendance that reaches as high as 20,000 people a day that adds up to a lot of money 6507 89 and that's passing through the gates you enter a magical world spending a day in the Old [Music] Country there's England the pageantry history and scenes of the mother country cobbled streets and Old World shops the flavor of Britain complete with beef eaters Shakespeare's Globe Theater and Elizabeth and villages [Music] [Applause] [Music] the flavor of Paris is captured with sidewalk cafes boutiques and artists the look of a French Village or a busy Paris Street [Music] and then the oapa of Germany a Bavarian Village alive with Craftsmen and the smell of [Music] beer Bush Gardens is a combination uh Amusement part from the standpoint it is very entertaining but more importantly we have tried to pick up the flare and the color and the sights and sounds and smells of European villages [Music] wooo [Music] [Applause] it cost more than $30 million to build this theme part capturing the atmosphere of the three countries represented here England France and Germany and in addition to the international flavor you also get rides like this one the log plume ride in [Music] Germany tourists hop into the log type cars ready to whisk them along a river of water and through a worrying Sawmill it's one of the most exciting rides in the gardens and it's easy to see why [Music] [Music] [Music] w from Life in the old country to life in 18th century America tourism in Colonial Williamsburg is up more than 41% during the first 7 months of this year over the same period in 74 and it's up almost 133% over the previous record year of 73 more than 200,000 people wound their way through CW in July what they call Main Street here this is this is it the blue is it within one street over Duke of yeah right and um and here's the Powder Magazine which is right in center of town with the courthouse and that right there is the courthouse that's over there right and this is the pton r house this white one which you'll see here on the map yeah we just went that fine I hope there shade up here boy because it is hot [Music] [Music] [Music] w what is the impact of Colonial Williamsburg on the economy well I guess a a good conservative estimate uh would be something like uh in excess of aund million doll in uh sales uh merchandising and services directly related to uh tourist uh visitation I think that's a a year figure for a for the community [Music] the economy is what tourism is all about every day thousands of visitors are brought to various spots to unload their wallets there's no better place in Williamsburg to spend money than Merchant Square your will be 312 retail sales in Williamsburg during July Rose more than 20% the second successive month that's happened Merchants are delighted with the increase caring the sweet song of a woring cash register uh 203 man 95 and8 check the sales tax division in Richmond to see how much money has been coming into the area in June of this year Williamsburg had more than $10 million in retail sales in June of 1974 it was like $5 million in other words we nearly doubled the retail sales business here in Williamsburg over the annual period this money gets spent over and again in fact this is in sort of Economics what we know is the multiplier effect if you count this multiplier effect it probably means that $10 million grows into something on the order of $20 million or possibly even $25 million to limit orange orange thank you uh it'll be some Li Tre sales in the park account for a great part of their revenues but there's another part of the picture just getting here helps the state's economy once again John Roberts last year we made an economic impact study and we made some projections and I believe people will now see that they're not only very true but they could have been somewhat conservative because according to the Virginia travel Council of every 11 cents spent in an attraction such as Bush Gardens by a tourist almost 89 cents is spent traveling either to the attraction or staying and lodging in the area not only are there souvenirs to take home from the various attractions but the weary tourists certainly need some nourishment Happy Days Are Here Again the above clear again let us sing a song of cheer again Happy Days Are Here Again all together shout it now there's no one who can doubt it now so let's Tell The World about it now Happy Days Are Here Again The Tourist dollar is not the only thing that's affecting the economy in this area in addition to that money there are also jobs hundreds of College of William and Mary students are employed at Jamestown Yorktown Bush Gardens and Colonial Williamsburg the last thing I will be adding to the solution is pure water and Ox bile I'm doing now is coming no streaking pulling the colors these patterns I'm forming actually look very modern but the uh marbling process actually predates the 18th century the first date we have on it is 1118 Diane handri has been employed by Colonial William B for the past three Summers she says it's good work and it enables her to continue her education is it a good job for college students uh yes it really is i u do enjoy it because you get to meet a lot of people it's a good job as far as opportunities go and moving up it's not you don't just stay put in one place um although a lot of times you have to repeat the same thing over and over again the people the questions they ask your mind doesn't vegetate completely so it's a good job and I've enjoyed it and I enjoy working with people because we have not only college students working here but people who are full-time and you get across of people you work with and it's it's enjoyable is it good money for a college student uh I found it's very good money I um am saving up money for college and I found that the paychecks are very pleasing because it is a good job good paying job all the color that is in the [Music] Basin will be lifted up with the paper it's a complete transfer process and you can see here your pattern now this is washed with water and all these although these are watercolors that we've used beeswax sets them into the paper they used it on the edges uh they would marble the edges of book they would also use paper like this on the end sheets of books they would um cover trunks boxes decorations things like this di is one of hundreds of William and Mary students employed by CW and Bush Gardens when students are looking for a job they come here see Linda Allen CW employs 150 to 200 students and Bush Gardens employs about 300 this summer is that good work for a college student it really uh Works in well with their schedules um this summer for instance students would be taking a course in the morning in summer school since that's when most of the courses were offered and then they could work the evening shift at Bush um and a lot of students were working full-time they work part-time during the year and full-time during the summer [Music] about a half a million people come to see this sport on Jamestown every year another half million visit Jamestown Island the original Landing of the first colonist that's a far cry from the numbers that first came when this park open in 1957 while there are not vast numbers of students employed here at Jamestown The Tourist industry is booming up almost 30% over last year and heading for a new record well we've had the best year here since the park was opened in 1957 it was opened you know on the 350th anniversary of the first permanent English settlement in 167 up till 1956 there were only about 125,000 people a year that went to Jamestown Island well the state opened this in 1957 and the Park Service it greatly improved what's over on Jamestown island with the result that today about a half million people come here every year and a half million people go to the island right next door we had about 54 passengers and 17 crew members on the Suz and and we had 105 people all together on all the three ships and how long did it take to cross oh about 4 and a half months with several stops along the way once in the West Indies and want of the Canary Islands to pick up the fresh water and supplies all indications it's been a banner year for tourism in the historic triangle hundreds and thousands of people have come to see the attractions at Colonial Williamsburg Jamestown Yorktown and Bush Gardens and all those tourists translate into Dollars hundreds and thousands in fact millions of dollars are pumped into the economy here in Williamsburg and across the state and if you thought there were a lot of tourists around this year you ain't seen nothing yet [Music] good afternoon Chamber of Commerce for this evening well I'm AF there're kind of few and far between how many in your party well we have um taken a survey today and we find that it that uh there are very few rooms available I'm not sure where I could um recommend frequently they have cancellations at the last minute would you like me to make a few calls for you and see if I can find something I'd like to register please what's your name sir uh it's registered Mr and Mrs Cliff asber if you have a reservation at one of the area's 25 hotels you're fortunate the city has 4500 room many they were hard to come by this year and will be nearly impossible to find in 76 and you're here for three days uh two days two days okay would you fill this out at the bottom please Hotel business has probably shown one of the outstanding increases that I've ever seen in the business in over 27 years that I have been connected with hotels throughout the country July was uh 80% ahead of last July and there's a certain Peak we can reach which we have reached we are running 99% for August in occupancy and we will run uh in October we'll run close to 99% so it's uh with those figures we can't increase anymore it appears that Williamsburg will be completely saturated the bookings that we have turned down for next year would practically refill the hotel again you turned away as many people next year in certain periods yes it's not to fill the place again that's right and this year actually in July and August we could have filled the hotel by just people walking in off the street get your hand out of face just a minute wait people okay now [Music] n there we go what will 197 6 look like that is a great question I wish I knew we can only guess of course at the moment we think it will be at least what it is this year possibly some better but I really think the great bulk of the tourist are going to be going to Washington DC in Philadelphia for example ordinarily Washington DC gets around 18 million to 20 million tourists in a year they are now expecting something on the order of 45 million tourists and the same sort of thing is true of Philadelphia as well so the great crunch is probably going to come up there but this undoubted is is going to spill over down here into Williamsburg and people maybe tired of the crunch will decide to come down see King's Dominion the restored area here and Bush Gardens as well as Jamestown Yorktown and so forth so I think we can look forward to a good year next year maybe even slightly better than this year Prov of course we don't have a horrible energy crisis or war in the midd East or some catastrophe that befalls us but buring all of that I I would say the Outlook is is very good for next year the major question everyone in the tourist industry is asking is why are the people here in such numbers this year there are many answers a better economy improved gasoline Supply higher overseas rates but almost everyone has agreed on one major cause the opening of The Old Country well bris par be beyond the shadow of a DAT is is responsible for the great increase but I think that according to our statistics that uh visitations in the Colonial area has also increased drastically it's uh uh real good for their kind ofy and and it's no knowing that Bush Gardens is adjacent to Williamsburg people are sort of making the two visits as a connection and if Colonia williamsburg's overlow when we they can visit Bush Gardens and vice versa and this is happening daily Scott Cobb lives in Memphis he brought his family to the area this year primarily to see the old country we had heard that Bush Gardens had just opened I guess this is the first year for it uh and my children actually wanted to see the Bush Gardens rides exhibits Etc and also from uh Williamsburg we wanted to see the uh educational aspects of it for their schooling as well as for myself like the other attractions in the area tourism here at the Yorktown Battlefield is also on the increase but the Big Show isn't until 1981 the 200th anniversary of the end of the American Revolution [Music] should we leave you there for a week will you behave yourself okay I'll let you out come on Daddy you can let him out now come [Music] on from Jamestown to Yorktown Williamsburg to Bush Gardens it's been a year like none other more tourists than ever before more money spent more jobs available 1975 will go down in the record books as the year of the tourist but its record will only stand a short YK Time by all indications the nation's Bicentennial will bring even more people into Virginia's historic triangle people willing to spend money to keep the area's economy strong for another year the prospects of a year even better than this one as everyone in Williamsburg grinning from ear to ear from the merchants to the hotel owners restaurant tours and The Operators of the historical and amusement attractions while the tourist industry has been an up and down proposition during the past 5 years 1975 and 76 will put the area's number one industry on strong financial footing a footing that should remain strong through America's Bicentennial celebration [Music] [Music] I can't care not for these ladies that must be woed and praised give me kind amorus the want in country made nature art disain her beauty is her own and when we court and kiss she cries foro let go but when we are where Comfort is she never will say no good have a nice day today all right that's okay than a l [Music] [Music] la [Music] la [Music]
2025-01-27 11:44
