Disney World is supposed to be the “happiest place on earth”, but for about 300 people who were trapped on the monorail when three trains broke down early Sunday morning, it was probably anything but.
The system suffered a power outage brought on by a failed hard drive around 1am on Sunday. The Magic Kingdom had been open late, and the trains were carrying the last of the park’s visitors back to parking lots and other resorts. Three of the trains were not in stations at the time of the outage, so passengers had to wait for almost three hours in hot train cars until help arrived.
Firefighters used ladders to get the stranded riders down. While a spokeswoman for Disney World apologized to the guests who got stuck, it seems the incident was a minor one. No injuries were reported in the shut down and trains were back up and running by the time the park opened on Sunday morning.
I’m sure sitting in a hot monorail car for three hours is no fun, but there are worse places to get stranded in Disney World. Who hasn’t had a nightmare about breaking down on the Small World ride and being force to listen to that song over…and over…and over again? At least the stranded passengers can be thankful that wasn’t their fate.
If you visited the United States from overseas, you probably hit the ground in one of 15 ports of entry. These top first stops accounted for 84 percent of all entries from overseas in the first eight months of 2009– up almost 2 percentage points from the same period in 2008, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. Traffic through the major ports is becoming slightly more concentrated. This doesn’t include visits from Canada and Mexico.
New York JFK, Miami and Los Angeles continue to be the top three ports of entry for overseas visitors. Through August, these locations accounted for 39% of all arrivals from overseas, an increase of a percentage point from last year. Miami was the only one of these three to post a year-over-year increase, and it was joined only by Orlando MCO, Philadelphia and Fort Lauderdale. Meanwhile, 11 of the top 15 ports of entry posted decreases in arrivals. This is hardly surprising, given that visits to the Untied States from overseas are down 9 percent so far this year.
Chicago was hit particularly hard, losing 18 percent of its entry traffic and moving into #7 on the list, behind Honolulu. Detroit lost 36 percent of its inbound visitor share, falling to #16 — after Boston, Philadelphia and Fort Lauderdale.
To win, a kid age 13 – 18 needs to answer a simple question: Why does Orlando make you smile? The answers, which must be by video, can either be animated or in live action and can’t exceed three minutes. The winners will be announced in late February, and their films will be premiered at the film festival.
SeaWorld Orlando doesn’t seem to think the economy has suffered enough, because it just raised its prices by $4 to an insane $78.95, per person.
With just six rides and ten shows, SeaWorld assumes people won’t have a problem paying this, even though their new prices are just 5 cents lower than neighboring Disney or Universal, who have much more to offer.
Now, I won’t argue with anyone who says the park puts on a good show, and they are known worldwide for their amazing aquatic shows, but when you charge just under $300 for a family of four, you’d better put on more than just a “good show”. Once you add food and a local hotel, a trip to SeaWorld will cost over $500 for just one day.
In this economy I would expect parks to actually lower their prices, instead of raise them. Minor discounts are available to people who pre-order their tickets, but even with those discounts you’ll be spending far too much.
The park does offer a free visit on a second day, within 7 days of your first visit. If you are visiting the Orlando area and want to visit SeaWorld, Busch Gardens and Aquatica, the total bill will come to just under $550. Add their all day dining option for all three days and your credit card will take a $900 hit, and that doesn’t even include your flights and hotel. Too much? Tell us in the poll below!
Halloween is the one day a year we seek fear rather than try to avoid it. We invite the prospect of ghosts, witches and vampires, and even if we concede that they aren’t real, it’s fine to suspend disbelief for a day. To heighten the sensation, consider wrapping your next trip in the Halloween spirit. There are plenty of destinations around the world that will help the hairs on the back of your neck to stand on end.
1. Melbourne’s Haunted Bookshop Ghost-hunter and historian Drew Sinton is waiting for you at The Haunted Bookshop in Melbourne, Australia. If you’re not afraid of the written word, this starting point won’t scare you, but along the way, you’ll hit a number of spots where ghosts have been sighted. Old Melbourne Goal (jail, that is) was home to 135 hangings. One of them, Ned Kelly, is said to have resulted in a ghost that won’t leave the site of his demise. While you’re there, walk the road to the gallows. If this isn’t enough for you, look for nutty ghosts on the Beechworth Ghost Tour at what was once the Mayday Hills Lunatic Asylum.
2. Under the Royal Mile Beneath Edinburgh‘s Royal Mile, you’ll find a warren of hidden “closes” where people once lived, worked … and perished. Mary King’s Close, once abandoned and forgotten, is now open via the Supernatural History Tour. Explore one of Scotland’s most haunted locations, get the scoop on urban myths and hear about sightings that occurred as recently as 2003. A few claim to have felt ghosts brush past on this tour. Will you be one of them?
3. Follow New France’s Great Master Old Montreal‘s cobblestone streets set the scene for any supernatural encounter. The sun goes down; the wind blows off the river. You don’t know what’s gust and what’s ghost! History is the breeding ground of the other-worldly, and the Great Master will take you through the century’s that have contributed to what is now the “New France Ghost Hunt.”
4. The Darker Side of Luxury No, you won’t have to worry about peasant uprisings, but if you’re looking for paranormal trouble, you can find it at a handful of Fairmont hotels. At the Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa (where I suffered through a business trip from hell a decade ago), keep an eye open for Victoria, a now deceased member of one of the founding families of the Sonoma Valley. A former steward, now dead, of course, hangs out in the silver room at the Fairmont Royal York, and a hotel maid who fell to her death in 1908 has yet to leave the Fairmont Empress.
5. The Ghastly Side of Downtown Orlando I’m sure there’s something going on at Disneyworld, but skip it in favor of downtown Orlando (my favorite part of Florida). On the Orlando Ghost Tours, you’ll get two hours to pick up the basics of parapsychology and poke around in locations confirmed to be haunted. You’ll even get to use specialized equipment to conduct your own paranormal investigation. Who you gonna call? After this, probably yourself.