China Opens ‘World’s Largest Building’

by Jess Moss on

A mammoth new business and entertainment space opened in Chengdu, China, this past weekend, snagging the “largest building in the world” title. Inside the New Century Global Center you’ll find everything from hotels and offices to a replica Mediterranean village, a pirate ship and a palm tree-strewn water park.

Check out photos of the new center here.

The building is huge (18.94 million square feet, to be precise), but it’s not alone in the world of gargantuan structures. Before Chengdu stole the spotlight, Terminal 3 at the Dubai International Airport held the world title for most floor space. The U.S. doesn’t appear on this list’s top 10, but Las Vegas makes a showing at #11, with the 6.9 million square foot Palazzo hotel and casino in Las Vegas. (It’s tied with the Grand Indonesia in Jakarta.)

The U.S. does have some size world records of its own, including:

…and a lot of other random giant things.

Visit the world’s largest indoor rainforest resort

by Jessica Festa on

While Europe isn’t typically known for it’s tropical rainforests, a visit to the Tropical Islands in Germany can show you that they do indeed exist on the continent. In fact, the world’s largest indoor rainforest is located right outside of Berlin in the town of Krausnick.

Located inside of a giant, 22,000 square foot dome, the indoor tropical resort is about the size of eight football fields and wins the title of the world’s largest indoor rainforest, as well as the biggest tropical sauna and spa complex in Europe. The complex is also home to more than 29,000 plants while cocktatiels, parrots, and budgerigars provide animal life for the space.

There are many other features to this tropical paradise, as well. Visitors can relax on a man-made beach, swim in the “ocean”, go mini-golfing, or partake in some overnight camping. For those who want a short break from the natural side of things, restaurants, bars, and shops are also located in the rainforest resort.

Green travelers will be happy to know that Tropical Islands is also eco-friendly, recycling swimming pool water to feed the plants as well as using natural UV light that seeps through the dome’s massive panels. Rain showers also occur naturally inside the dome, forming from the humidity found inside the structure.

For more information, visit the Tropical Islands website.

Can you finish the world’s largest burger?

by Meg Massie on

Have you ever heard of Clearfield, Pennsylvania? Neither have I. But it’s not much of a detour off Interstate 80, right in the center of the state, and the little town has a pretty amusing claim to fame.

Denny’s Beer Barrel Pub in Clearfield is the home of the world’s largest hamburgers. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, here is where you’ll find the “largest hamburger commercially available,” and if you can finish it, you’ll have a place in the record books, too.

Owner Denny Liegey has been challenging customers with his behemoth burgers since the early 1990’s. The pub challenges begin with a 2-pound burger, which seems tiny compared to 3, 6, and 15-pound versions. Those who finish their burgers (one challenger per burger, or two for the 15-pound “belly buster,” and there’s a time limit, of course) get their name and picture in the restaurant’s hall of fame, as well as a t-shirt, certificate of completion, and a discount on their bill.

According to Denny, only one person has ever conquered the “Ye Olde 96er,” which is 6 pounds of beef and 9 pounds altogether. This challenger was just “a little, skinny college girl from Princeton!”

The largest burger ever cooked at Denny’s was the 123-pound monster pictured above. Read more about how Denny makes his giant burgers here.

So, do you think you could eat the world’s largest burger? Perhaps a better question is why would you want to try?

The big burgers require several hours of preparation time, so if you’re going to take on the challenge, call ahead. Good luck!

NYC Shoe Store Gets Its Own ZIP Code

by Justin Glow on

Sounds like a marketing ploy to me, but here it is: Saks Fifth Avenue is claiming its new shoe store in Manhattan is so large it will have its own ZIP code. Just how large will the store be? It’ll be 8,500 square-feet, or roughly one-and-a-half one-seventh the size of an American football field worth of pumps, sandals and sneakers.

Could it be the world’s largest shoe store? Not quite. Reyers — the Sharon, Pennsylvania shoe store that comes up in Google for “world’s largest shoe store” — calls an old grocery store its home, clocking in at 36,000 square feet. Sharon, PA has another “world’s largest”: Daffin’s is apparently the world’s largest candy shop, and they’ve got a quarter-ton chocolate rhino to prove it.

The Saks shoe store isn’t the only store to have its own ZIP code either. It’s rumored that Springfield, Missouri’s Bass Pro headquarters is so large that it also has its own postal code.

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