Earthquake strands thousands at Tokyo Disneyland & DisneySea

by Joel Bullock on

Thousands of guests were stranded in Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea after the massive earthquake that rocked the island nation on Friday. Park employees have been giving out humanitarian aid including blankets, heaters, plastic raincoats, food, and water. While Disney has reported only a few minor injuries and minimal property damage, other reports state that the earthquake has liquefied the parking lot. Authorities suspect that shaking from the earthquake caused water from the coastline to mix with the soil. The Disney parks were built on a landfill making the parks susceptible to flooding.

According to Disney, Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea will remained closed to allow for a thorough inspection of the attractions and facilities. Inside the Magic has pictures from social media sites of the stranded guests and damage to the park. Below is a video of park guests experiencing the earthquake while they were waiting for a parade.

La Brea tar pits still pumping out history

by Chris Owen on
The La Brea tar pits, just 7 miles west of downtown Los Angeles, have been a treasure trove for paleontologists for decades. Producing more than a million bones since their discovery, the sticky ponds that trapped living creatures tens of thousands of years ago are still pumping out history.

Work over the past few years has involved sifting through 23 boxed deposits and some 16,000 bones reports the Associated Press. Chief curator Dr. John Harris and lead excavator Carrie Howard have been going through the find, discovered in 2006 during the construction of an underground parking garage close to the tar pit location.

“We’re still trying to piece everything together” Harris said estimating it would take five
years to sort through, so long that work has been stopped on another area, Pit 91, where scientists have been working since 1989.

Pit 91 measures 28′ x 28′ and about 14 feet deep. 3′ square grids are used for excavation and after fossils are excavated, they are cleaned, identified, labeled, catalogued and put in storage where they have been made available for research by professionals and students from around the world.

Called Project 23: New discoveries at Rancho La Brea, the Page Museum, part of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, believes this find has the potential to double their collection by three to four million specimens.

Gadling listed the La Brea Tar Pits as one of the World’s Strangest Natural Wonders and it looks like the La Brea tar pits will still be pumping out history for some time to come.

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Flickr photo by jkritchter

Day at the Pits from Andy Chen on Vimeo.

Another London eye-like wheel attraction is coming, this one to Florida

by Chris Owen on

Just a few days ago it was Las Vegas getting a London Eye-like Ferris wheel & amusement park. Now, add Orlando to that list as a Madame Tussauds wax museum and a 425-foot Orlando Eye observation wheel will be part of a new tourist complex in central Florida.

At 425 feet, the Orlando Eye wheel will be almost as high as the 443-foot tall London Eye and be part of a sprawling dining, drinking, shopping and entertainment complex to be called “I-walk Orlando” set for a 2013 opening. To be located in the center of tourist crazed International Drive, developers are looking to make this the next “must-see” attraction in Central Florida.

Merlin Entertainments, the people who will bring LegoLand to Orlando this year, are behind the new I-walk Orlando complex in a partnership with two other developers. Up next? You guessed it: Asian LegoLand Amazing what they can do with Legos. Not long ago, they even built a cruise ship out of them: The Lego Love Boat.

Flickr photo by damo1977

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Las Vegas to get a London Eye-like Ferris wheel & amusement park

by Joel Bullock on




In an effort to boost Las Vegas’ family appeal, Clark County commissioners have approved plans to build a new amusement park on the Las Vegas Strip. Located at the former site of the Cloud Nine Balloon near Mandalay Bay, the 9-acre attraction will include shops, restaurants, and several roller coasters.

The new amusement park’s biggest draw will likely be a massive $100 million dollar Ferris wheel in the vein of the London Eye. Like that attraction, developers hope Vegas’ wheel will be as popular and as iconic. The 500-foot tall Ferris wheel will feature air conditioned, family room-sized gondolas. The amusement park and Ferris wheel are set to open in 2013. Las Vegas’ KTNV has more.

This seems to be part of a growing trend as similar observation wheels have been proposed at the New Jersey Meadowlands and in downtown Atlanta. Cities likely see them as strong revenue producers thanks to the success of the London Eye, one of London’s top tourist attractions.

[Image credit: Flickr user – Wilfried.b]

Largest mall in the world is a Chinese ghost town

by Justin Delaney on

Watch the full episode. See more POV.

While China recently announced 45 new airports due to booming travel growth, several of their development projects have been enormous duds. The New South China Mall is twice the size of Minnesota’s Mall of America, but hovers at around a 1% occupancy. The rows of empty shops are piped with serene elevator music, and guards police the empty halls with echoing footsteps.

Announced in 2005, the mall is located in Dongguan in the Guangdong province of southern China. The location is between Guangzhou and Shenzen in an area that may one day be considered the world’s largest mega city, estimated to have a population near 50 million. Today, the mall has yet to live up to any distinction associated with mega cities, and is a sobering example of what happens when idea implementation precedes growth. Separated into seven districts modeled after international cities, the mall boasts an Arc de Triomphe, Venice canals, and even a mini Egypt. Of the 2,350 leasable store spaces, around 50 are actually in use. Check out this award-winning video directed by Sam Green and Carrie Lozano for PBS that showcases this bizarre mall.