InterContinental opens new hotel at Walt Disney World

by Melanie Nayer on

Families, couples, school groups and friends of all ages will have another hotel option for the next Walt Disney World vacation in Orlando, Florida. InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) opened a new 14-storey, 323-room Holiday Inn in Orlando.

The hotel is located on Hotel Plaza Boulevard in the Walt Disney World Resort grounds and offers free transportation to theme parks, access to area golf courses and advance reservations at restaurants. All rooms are equipped with 32-inch televisions, complimentary wireless Internet access and an electronic safe.

This new Disney hotel is part of IHG’s global $1 billion rebranding of its hotels. More than 1,800 hotels have been relaunched around the world during IHG’s revamp of the Holiday Inn brand.

Take a custom fly fishing excursion in Colorado this summer

by Kraig Becker on

Anglers looking for a unique fly fishing experience will have some amazing new options later this year when The Little Nell, the famous upscale resort located in Aspen, Colorado, begins offering custom guided fishing tours. Visitors will gain access to the Roaring Fork Valley and its Gold Medal waters, including the Frying Pan, Colorado, and Crystal Rivers, which are well known for having the best trout fishing anywhere in the U.S.

These custom guided tours offer a wide array of exciting and unusual options. For instance, multi-day excursions are available, including overnight camping in the pristine Colorado backcountry, some of which is only accessible by horseback. Additionally, the resort’s on site equipment shop is the only retail outlet in the U.S. that exclusively sells the legendary tackle from Hardy of England, giving anglers a chance to rent or buy gear from one of the most renowned brands in the sport.

The resort’s Director of Fly Fishing (Yes, that’s his real title. How cool is that?), David Doerr has worked closely with the Aspen Trout Guides to build an extensive selection of options that can cater to any angler’s needs. These top guides, which include former Olympic skier turned pro angler Andy Mill, know all the best places to catch trophy fish and the best ways to put you in position to do just that.

If you’re interested in booking your own custom fishing experience with the Little Nell, you can do so on the resorts website or by calling (970) 920-4600.

You’re now free to carry guns in U.S. national parks

by Kraig Becker on

For nearly 95 years visitors to U.S. national parks have been prohibited from carrying firearms. In fact, the ban even extended to Teddy Roosevelt, who was once refused entry to Yellowstone while carrying a shotgun. But that ban was lifted yesterday when a new law went into effect allowing visitors to bring their guns along with them the next time they decide to visit Old Faithful or climb Half Dome.

The new law was passed as a rider bill to a credit card reform act that cleared Congress last May and was later signed by President Obama. It specifies that people who can legally own guns, and have completed the proper permitting process, can now bring their firearms with them to national parks. The law is superseded by the state laws in which the park falls however, meaning that some of the national parks will continue to have a ban on firearms.

The passage of the new law does not change the prohibition of the usage of firearms within the park, nor does it impact the ban on hunting within most parks. The Park Service also wisely points out that the ban on carrying the weapons still extends to “federal facilities,” which in this context includes visitor centers, offices, and maintenance buildings.

For their part, the NPS doesn’t believe this new law will have much of an impact on the vast majority of visitors to the parks. But just in case, they’ve updated their website providing all the specific information on each park and how the gun laws apply to that location.

Wired puts SPOT Satellite Messenger to the test – gets lost on a mountain

by Scott Carmichael on

Back in 2008, one of my first Gadling gadget reviews was for the SPOT Personal Satellite Messenger – a portable device that can transmit your location to a constellation of satellites. The device can be used for something as simple as telling friends and family where you are, or if disaster strikes, it’ll relay your location to an international search and rescue organization.

Since I’ve never actually been in an emergency, I never got to test the “help me” button, but Wired teamed up with Tahoe Nordic Search and Rescue in Tahoe National Forest to see exactly how well it works. The Wired reporter wandered 8 hours into the wilderness, starting at 3am – then he pressed the button.

Even though the search and rescue team knew the emergency request was staged for them, they had no idea where he’d be when he pressed the button. When he called for help, he was not even on the mountain they expected him to be, yet they still managed to locate him within 30 minutes.

The SPOT messenger retails for $149.99 (newest version) or $99.99 (previous generation). Service starts at $99.99/year for unlimited basic messaging. SPOT messengers are available directly from SPOT or their retail partners.

(Via: Gizmodo)