Cedar Point delays opening of new water coaster Shoot the Rapids

by Leigh Caldwell on

Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio, has delayed the opening of its big splash this year, a water ride called Shoot the Rapids.

Cedar Point opens for the season on Saturday.

The ride was scheduled to open for a media preview on Friday, but that event has been canceled, and Cedar Point now says Shoot the Rapids will open on May 29.

Engineering problems are behind the delay. The ride cars (in this case, boats) for the ride were too long and did not fit the ride. Crews are having to alter them on-site.

“The manufacturer made the flume, and he contracted out the boats. When the boats came together, the boats didn’t fit the flumes,” Cedar Fair president Dick Kinzel told the Sandusky (Ohio) Register.

Shoot the Rapids is the park’s third water ride and its biggest investment in one, with a price tag of $10.5 million. It uses a steel track and has two lift hills. The tallest is 85 feet.

Luxe savings in Florida: New summer discount packages at One Ocean Resort

by Leigh Caldwell on

One Ocean Resort Hotel & Spa near Jacksonville, Florida, is offering two summer packages that could save you up to 39 percent at the luxury property this summer.

The Summer T-Time package is $271 and includes one night in an ocean view, non-balcony room, two rounds of golf at nearby Queen’s Harbor Golf and Country Club and valet parking.

The Summer Fun in the Sun package is $277 and includes one night in an ocean view, non-balcony room, a $100 spa credit and valet parking.

The resort is also waving its resort fee for both packages.

I recently toured One Ocean in Atlantic Beach. The whole property is decorated in the colors of the ocean and the sand, and the place is filled with water-themed art. It all reflects the white-sand beach right outside.

There is a particularly gorgeous walkway into One Ocean’s restaurant, Azurea, that does the under-the-sea thing in the most sophisticated way I’ve ever seen.

One Ocean has an interesting take on personal concierge service, which the company calls its docent program. Guests are contacted before their stay to provide feedback on their tastes.

Guest rooms are stocked with your favorite snacks and drinks, and the hotel will deliver your favorite newspaper to your room each morning.

Docents are available on each floor of the hotel to cater to the guests, doing everything from unpacking and steaming clothing to offering excursion advice and booking dinner reservations.

The One Ocean Spa is completely luxurious with the same “elegant ocean” feel. It’s the only resort in the area with oceanfront treatment rooms.

The summer packages are available from June through September.

White Collar Travel: Four ways a Kindle can improve your productivity

by Tom Johansmeyer on

I’ve known several white collar folks who have spent their last hours in the office before a business trip printing off material to read on the plane. Laptop battery lives are never long enough, and nobody wants to waste it on reading. So, killing a few trees can buy a bit more in-flight productivity. This means filling a bag until it’s almost to the point of bursting, though, as well as having to lug around a few extra pounds. Once on the plane, paper is strewn across the tray table and become sdifficult to manage. It’s a colossal pain in the ass, but absent a better alternative, trafficking in paper is the best available alternative.

It doesn’t have to be this way any more – not with the Kindle.

For travelers, an e-reader like the Kindle (or similar products from Sony or Barnes & Noble) already eases the travel load by taking the books out of your bag and sparing you some space and weight. These devices can also alleviate the paper problem. The Kindle can handle PDF files, so you can catch up on the reports, white papers and other industry information you usually put off reading until the wheels go up. You recapture time lost to printing (for you or for your assistant), and you obviate the need to carry and sift through all that paper.

There are several other advantages as well:1. Getting through security
Nobody associates paper with inefficiency at an airport security checkpoint. It doesn’t set off any alarms and won’t get you a pat-down. But, when you’re extracting your laptop out of your bag, you could wind up pulling a stack of paper out with it, which you’ll have to shove back in there while people are waiting in line behind you … impatiently.

2. Waiting at the gate
The dynamic here is similar to the one on the plane, though not as drastic because you can spread out a bit. Even with more space, you’ll still have to find the paper you want and get it back into your bag, which isn’t life-changing, but it’s a headache you don’t need when you’re traveling.

3. You get more done during the flight
You lose time sifting and sorting paper when you’re on the plane – shuffling, stuffing, trying to make it all fit again. The e-reader is a single device that’s slim and easy to fold and slide. And, you won’t have to reorganize your documents when you get to the office or your hotel room.

4. Packing to go home
Doubtless, you’ll be able to jettison much of the stuff you printed for your first flight before you return home. But, you’ll probably print out a new stack for the new flight. The last hours of a business trip tend to be packed already, so you may not have time to do all the printing you want. Even if you do, it’s still another item on the checklist that you’d probably prefer to skip. With the e-reader, your to do list gets a little bit shorter.

Read more White Collar Travel here.

Radisson’s luxury hotel Blu to debut in Chicago high-rise

by Melanie Nayer on

The first Radisson Blu hotel in the United States will open on 18 floors of a new 81-story tower in Chicago. Radisson and Carlson Hotels bought the space for $125 million and will launch the luxury-brand hotel in Aqua, the new Chicago skyscraper at 225 N. Columbus Drive.

According to Radisson, about half the $125 million will be put toward development and furnishing of The Radisson Aqua Blu guest rooms, lobby space and meeting areas. The remainder of the money will be put toward other floors containing condos and apartments.

You’ll have to wait a bit before the doors open – The Radisson Aqua Blu won’t be ready until fall 2011.

But, while you’re waiting you can watch the development take place. The new Aqua tower, which opened in 2009 and stands adjacent to the hotel, offers great views of the city from just about every angle.

Disney’s new Animation-themed resort reflects success of two recent hotel trends

by Leigh Caldwell on

A 35-foot-tall model of King Triton, the patriarch in Disney’s “The Little Mermaid,” will be the centerpiece of the new Disney’s Art of Animation Resort at Walt Disney World.

The 2,000-room hotel will have four wings, themed around four Disney movies that have become new classics over the past 20 years: “The Little Mermaid,” “The Lion King.” Finding Nemo,” and “Cars.”

The Art of Animation Resort demonstrates the success of Disney’s recent experiments with two different hotel trends, family suites and specially themed rooms.

At Disney’s All-Star Music Resort, the company converted rooms into 192 family suites in 2006. The rooms include both a living room and a bedroom and sleep up to six, thanks to a sleeper sofa and a chair and ottoman that each convert to a twin bed in the living room.

Disney has always had suites in its higher end “Deluxe” hotels, but the All-Star Music suites and the new suites at Art of Animation will be in Disney’s “Value” hotel category. Value resorts have smaller, motel-style rooms, but they still incorporate that magical Disney theming in over-the-top public areas, like swimming pools and lobbies.

Rates at Disney’s value resorts often rival off-site hotel prices. Regular hotel rooms that sleep up to four at value resorts currently start at $82 per night. The current family suites start at $190.

“This resort was designed with the needs of families in mind, as we continue the Disney tradition of providing a great guest experience for every taste and budget,” said Eric Jacobson, senior vice president of Disney Imagineering. In 2008, Disney World unveiled its first themed rooms, the Pirates of the Caribbean rooms at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort. The rooms have pirate-ship beds, treasure-chest themed furniture and a swashbuckling curtain. Earlier this year, the Orlando Sentinel reported that the pirate-themed rooms, which were located in what was the least popular area of the Caribbean Beach Resort, have now become the most requested rooms.

Specially themed rooms have become popular in Orlando in recent years, with the nearby Nickelodeon Suites Resort offering rooms featuring Spongebob Squarepants and Dora the Explorer. The Loews Resorts at Universal Orlando have also ventured into themed rooms, with Dr. Seuss and Jurassic Park-themed suites.

Disney’s Art of Animation Resort will have courtyards with “larger-than-life” icons from the four featured animated films. It is being built adjacent to Disney’s Pop Century Resort, off Osceola Parkway east of Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

Walt Disney World had prepped the site and started a couple of buildings there a few years back, when it was the planned second phase of the Pop Century Resort. But those plans were abandoned following the 2001 recession, and the buildings have sat empty and unfinished since then.

This will be Disney World’s 26th resort, and the first new hotel at Walt Disney World in seven years. (Disney has built three new vacation ownership resorts in the interim.)

The news of a new Disney hotel has energized Central Florida, with many believing that this is Disney’s vote of confidence that the tourism-supported economy here is turning around. Ground will be broken on the project later this summer, and it is expected to create as many as 800 jobs.

“This project also underscores our optimism about the future, as we continue to invest in new experiences for our guests around the globe,” said Tom Staggs, chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts.

Disney’s Art of Animation Resort is projected to open by the end of 2012.