Today is the first day of Spring Break, and at the City's newest major tourist attraction, ‘Battle for Texas, the Experience' at the Shops at Rivercenter, General Manager Ryan Latham says it will be the opportunity to build on the success his unique attraction enjoyed after opening last year, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
Latham says he plans to add more re-enactors to allow visitors, who have come from all around the world, to get even closer to the iconic figures in Texas' incredible history.
“Folks can brush shoulders with the likes of Davy Crockett, Bowie, Travis, General Santa Anna, Emily Morgan,” Latham says. “They can learn to load and fire a musket, and feel what it was like to move a cannon into firing position.”
In addition to never before seen museum-quality artifacts from early Texas, ranging from items from an 1820s Austin Colony homestead to items personally owned by Sam Houston, Latham says the key part of the attraction is what visitors are looking for today, the opportunity to be part of the experience.
He says the most popular portion of the exhibition includes sound, light, even smells that put the visitor inside the Alamo on March 6, 1836, where they run into an Alamo defender.
“And he is basically surprised to see somebody inside the Alamo, because the Mexican forces have already breached the walls,” he said. “His job is to take you through the Long Barracks in the final moments of the 13th day of the siege, and try to get you out of the Alamo safely.”
He says part of the success of Battle for Texas is the fact that it focuses on all of the people who helped make Texas what it is, from the Native American cultural artifacts, to one of General Santa Anna’s uniforms, to the realistic meet-up with both pioneer families and Alamo defenders.
Latham is excited about the plans for the future of Alamo Plaza. The plan is to close Alamo Street to traffic and turn it into a ‘passageway’ connecting the River on the other side of Commerce Street past the Menger and the Shops at Rivercenter, into the Plaza, the museums, and the Alamo itself.
“This is only going to further establish and cement the rich history that San Antonio has, but also the type of experience that people can have here.”