Tanganyika Wildlife Park gets a helping hand

by Chris Owen on
Tanganyika Wildlife Park in Wichita, Kansas is a non-profit specialty zoo charged with educating the public about endangered species. At the park, visitors are invited to get up close and personal with kangaroos, giraffes and other wildlife not exactly roaming the plains of the great Midwest on a normal day. Today, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, and Azamara Cruises employees are on the scene as volunteers making a difference.

Over 150 volunteers will spend today cleaning, planting and handling other projects as part of Royal Caribbean’s 14th annual “G.I.V.E.” Day (Get Involved, Volunteer Everywhere) and this year will help prepare the wildlife park for its summer season, assisting the park’s small staff with such laborious tasks as erecting fences, laying sod, cleaning animal enclosures and tackling other landscaping projects in the wildlife park.

What is a cruise line doing in Kansas? Royal Caribbean maintains a remote call-in center in Wichita that travel agents and consumers might get connected to when inquiring about a cruise vacation.

“Our company is committed to supporting and helping the communities in which we live and work,” said RCL’s Director of Trade Support & Services Mike Semler. “We hope the personal satisfaction and fun of assisting our neighbors on G.I.V.E. Daywill help inspire our participants to pursue volunteer and public service opportunities throughout the year.”

Indeed, it was not all that long ago that Gadling reported ongoing efforts by Royal Caribbean in Haiti where the line is making a difference.

Flickr photo by Jobar6721

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Kings Island’s New Dinosaurs Alive! Attraction

by Joel Bullock on

Following 2010’s critically-acclaimed Diamondback roller coaster, Cincinnati area theme park Kings Island recently announced their new Dinosaurs Alive! attraction. Touted as the “World’s largest animatronic dinosaur park”, it will feature 56 animatronic models in an outdoor setting.

While my forte is roller coasters and I wouldn’t consider myself a themed attractions expert, this is the first time in recent memory that I can remember seeing a regional park introduce an attraction like Dinosaurs Alive!. I’ve always been a big dinosaur fan and Dinosaurs Alive! looks pretty cool. Unfortunately, it will be a few years before I visit Kings Island and check it out as my young daughters would likely be terrified of these massive dinosaurs.


Hawaii destinations close for repairs, new resorts prepare to open

by Chris Owen on

Kona Village Resort, one of the iconic vacation destinations and resorts of Hawaii, announced this week that it will close for an extended period of time due to the significant structural and property damage it sustained during the recent earthquake-generated tsunami. But while some Hawaii destinations have closed for repairs, other new resorts prepare to open.

“We are very sad to close Kona Village Resort for an extended period of time, but the damage to the property from this natural disaster is severe enough to render it inoperable,” said Patrick Fitzgerald, President and Chief Executive Officer, Hualalai Resort/Kona Village Resort. “We are fortunate that our guests and employees were evacuated safely. Our hearts are heavy with this decision’s impact on employees and loyal guests who have visited us over the years. Our thoughts also are with the people of Japan during this difficult time.”

The 45-year old Hawaii resort sustained significant structural damage from the storm surge including damaged buildings and attractions at the 82-acre property.

The Four Seasons Resort at Hualalai, the first and only AAA Five-Diamond and Forbes Five-Star resort on the Big Island also closed for repairs but reopened this week.

Meanwhile, construction proceeds full speed ahead at Disney’s massive new Aulani Resort and Spa scheduled to open August 29, 2011.

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Flickr photo by Luckypines

Seattle’s Safeco Field gets food concession with local ingredients, menus by award-winning chefs

by Laurel Miller on

Buh-bye, limp hot dogs in soggy buns. Baseball season starts April 1st, and Seattle’s Safeco Field–go, Mariners–is celebrating its first home game on the 8th with some serious food.
Centerplate, the leading hospitality provider to North America’s premier sports stadiums, has developed a partnership with award-winning Seattle chef Ethan Stowell, as well as chefs Roberto Santibañez, owner of Brooklyn’s Fonda/culinary director of Hoboken’s The Taco Truck, and Bill Pustari, chef-owner of New Haven’s Modern Apizza.

The revamped Bullpen Market at Safeco Field will feature fresh, local ingredients and easy-on-the-budget prices. In addition to an Apizza outlet, there is chef Stowell’s Hamburg + Frites, and La Crêperie, and Flying Turtle Cantina/Tortugas Voladoras from Santibañez.

Says John Sergi, Chief Design Officer of Centerplate, “Our mission was to create a restaurant-style experience–the anti-fast food–in a concession environment. We (brought in) Ethan as our consulting chef…in order to help us make the food ‘restaurant-real.’

Stowell is the executive chef and owner of Ethan Stowell Restaurants, which includes Tavolàta, Anchovies & Olives, and How to Cook a Wolf. He is the acting chef at eight-month-old Staple & Fancy Mercantile, in Seattle’s gorgeously revamped Kolstrand Building in the Ballard neighborhood.

Best-known for his use of local ingredients and simple, seasonal food, Stowell was named one of the 2008 Best New Chefs in America by Food & Wine magazine and has been honored with multiple James Beard Award nominations for “Best Chef Northwest.” Santibañez and Pustari were added to the line-up to create programs featuring the signature concepts for which they are both nationally acclaimed–Mexican food and pizza. I might get into sports if this is the future of stadium food.

Five ways roller coasters have changed since you were a kid

by Joel Bullock on



Roller coasters have evolved immensely since they were patented in 1898. Advances in technology in recent history have also triggered a number of exciting changes in the way we enjoy today’s thrill rides. In the past two decades roller coasters have reached greater heights and speeds than ever. In 1991, the looping coaster boom was winding down. Throughout the 1980’s amusement parks added roller coasters that turned riders upside-down on both a large and small scale. There was a good chance you could find a roller coaster with a loop or even two. The next craze was just beginining as theme parks created what’s been called The Coaster Arms Race as parks battled to create the tallest and fastest roller coasters. Rather than emphasizing loops, most of these coasters emphasized height and speed. Twenty years ago, in 1991, the new contender to the height and speed championship, Steel Phantom, opened at Kennywood.

Launch coasters revolutionized the industry
Probably the most noticeable technological advancement in the the past two decades is of the birth of launch roller coasters. Originally, driven by powerful magnets, these coasters don’t need a traditional lift hill to generate speed. Instead, they rocket guests to blistering speeds in only a matter of seconds. In, 1991 Steel Phantom set a new speed record of 80 mph thanks to a drop down a natural ravine. Today, Formula Rossa at Ferrari World uses a hydraulic launch that accelerates riders from 0 to to an unprecedented 150 mph in under 5 seconds.

Riders experience every riding position imaginable
If a roller coaster fan from 1991 entered a theme park in 2011, they would marvel at the wide variety of roller coasters. A number of new seating positions have created exciting new experiences that were not around a few decades ago. Today, riders find themselves below tracks on ski lift-like inverted coasters and face down in a Superman-like flying position all while being thrown into a variety of loops and maneuvers. The most unnerving new ride position can be experienced on 4th dimension roller coasters like Six Flags Magic Mountain’s X2. Like the combination of a spinning amusement ride and a moving roller coaster, these thrill machines place riders outside the track in seats that spin on their own axis. Meanwhile, the roller coaster travels enormous heights and insane speeds.

Roller coasters achieve lofty heights and provide unbelievable drops
The aforementioned Steel Phantom boasted a once record-breaking drop of 225 feet. Currently, the World’s longest drop (and tallest roller coaster) can be found on Kingda Ka at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey. It nearly doubles Steel Phantom with a 418′ drop from a 440′ tall tower where riders are said to be able to see both Philadelphia and New York City on a clear day.

These are not your father’s wooden roller coasters
Even wooden roller coasters have seen changes. El Toro at Six Flags Great Adventure features an ultra-smooth and un-wooden like ride with super steep angles. The Gravity Group designed roller coasters like Hades and The Voyage have featured extreme 90 degree banking that hadn’t been seen on wooden coasters until recently.

Steep drops have gotten a whole lot steeper
That stomach dropping feeling has been taken to a whole new level with today’s ultra-steep roller coasters. Rides like the new Untamed at Canobie Lake and Dare Devil Dive at Six Flags Over Georgia are so steep that the coasters actually travel back up under the crest of their drops. Currently, the United Kingdom’s Mumbo Jumbo at Flamingo Land holds the record with an unreal 112-degree drop.
Roller coasters have changed in so many ways over the years and these were just a few. Do you think that they’ve changed for the better? What’s your take?

Photo Credits: MrProgrammer, Six Flags, & Chrkl