Archive for the 'China' Category
Visit Beijing for $788, with airfare and hotel
October 7, 2009 8:30am
Winter in Beijing can be a chilly affair, and that’s why tour companies give you a break on prices then. But really, it’s not hard to warm up to $788 — or even $588, if you’re willing to pay cash — for a seven-day trip to China.
That’s the starting rate for the “China Express: Beijing Free-Style Travel” deal from China Spree, a company based in Blaine, Wash. Here’s the 411:
Deal: You get round-trip, nonstop airfare from San Francisco or New York, airport transfers, five nights at the Beijing Joy City Hotel and daily breakfast. Prices range from $788 per person, double occupancy, for departures November through January to $1,088 for departures in March. Prices do not include airport taxes and Chinese visas. Day tours of Tiananmen Square, the Great Wall, 2008 Olympic venues and other sites also are not included, but at $50 to $70 per person, they seem reasonably priced.
China: 10-day tour package to Forbidden City, Great Wall and Shanghai only $999
September 15, 2009 8:44am
The Great Wall of China. The Forbidden City. The Terra Cotta Soldiers. If those three attractions in China are on your must-see list of all time, have a look at this 10-day China tour starting at $999 including air, hotel and some meals.
The “Taste of China” package has been particularly popular with Friendly Planet Travel, and since announcing this deal, they are already sold out of several dates. Hurry, some are still available. Don’t worry, there’s no need to make such a commitment blind; the Friendly Planet Travel website walks you through what you can expect on every day of the 10-day trip, which items are optional and at an extra charge, plus it tells you which hotel you’ll be staying at.
Deal: $999 is the starting price per person based on double occupancy. Feel good about that amount (even before taxes and optional add ons) because a flight between Los Angeles (LAX) and Beijing (BJS) easily costs more than $700 per person in early December. When I tested the deal I found the package available for departure Dec. 1. After the $300 sale discount, optional tour upgrade ($165) and taxes ($120/per person), the price came to $1,284 per person, double occupancy. If you want travel insurance add on $99 per person or $1,383 per person. Plus, the itinerary shows optional tour items that must be paid on site - it will be an additional $233. So, if you wanted to do everything that they suggest for this tour and have trip insurance, the price comes to $1,660 per person, including tax but not including the visa.
Free booklet offers 101 tips for women travelers
September 14, 2009 9:02am
Where do Hong Kong shoppers go for deals? How many credit cards should you take abroad? How do you make a hotel room safer? Find the answers to these questions and more in a free booklet, “101 Tips for Women Travelers,” being offered by a tour company.
The company, Overseas Adventure Travel, based in Cambridge, Mass., gleaned the advice from customers and employees, including trip leaders. Besides the tips, the 126-page booklet offers entertaining profiles of adventurous female travelers, from the Queen of Sheba to Mt. Everest climber Junko Tabei.
You can order the booklet online or by calling (800) 873-5628 and leaving your name, mailing address and the year you were born. Why the year? Because if you’re over age 50, the target customer for Overseas Adventure Travel, the company will follow up with a letter asking if you’d like to receive its catalog, said spokeswoman Priscilla L. O’Reilly.
Theme park news: Legoland water park, Real Madrid theme park, Wizarding World DVD extras, Neverland negotiations
September 12, 2009 5:58am
A roundup of my theme park Twitter updates for the last week:
* Legoland California to open a separate-admission, 5.5-acre water park by summer 2010. (L.A. Times)
* Built in 1927 and rebuilt in 1948 and 1994, Comet coaster at Great Escape in New York gets American Coaster Enthusiasts landmark designation. (Screamscape)
* DVD extras on “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” movie to include short feature on Wizarding World themed land at Universal Studios Orlando. (Orlando Sentinel)
* Report: Michael Jackson’s family negotiating to open Neverland as a Graceland-like amusement park by Christmas. (New York Post)
* Disney: No plans to use Marvel characters in Orlando parks, no concerns about brand confusion with Universal Studios. (Orlando Sentinel)
When, where and how: Marvel characters in Disney theme parks
September 9, 2009 9:13am
I’ve heard the same refrain for the last week or so: How will Disney ever incorporate the dark and edgy Marvel comic book characters into its family-friendly fairy tale theme parks?
While at first glance the task seems daunting, upon further reflection the opportunities appear endless. It’s certainly not a question of “if” but rather “when, where and how.”
It’s been fun to imagine the juxtaposition of Marvel’s assassins, terrorists, serial killers and vigilantes mixing on Main Street USA with Disney’s princesses, fairies and army of anthropomorphic animals. But Marvel also has a deep bench of heroes and villains in its 5,000-character catalog that would blend seamlessly into Disney’s theme parks.
The early contenders will almost certainly come from the ranks of Marvel’s past films (”Spider-Man,” “X-Men,” “Hulk,” “Iron Man,” “Fantastic Four”) and upcoming releases (”Thor,” “Captain America,” “Avengers,” “Silver Surfer,” “Ant Man”). There’s even a few minor characters that would fit perfectly in specific Disney attractions and themed lands.
Disney’s done it before with “Star Wars,” “Indiana Jones,” “The Muppets,” “Winnie the Pooh,” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” and even Aerosmith.
And while Disneyland might not be the ideal match for Marvel characters, the superheroes fit like a skin-tight spandex suit in Disney’s “studio” theme parks.
So, keeping in mind that Mickey and Spidey have only been in-laws for less than a fortnight, lets take an unofficial and speculative look at how the marriage of Marvel and Disney might play out in the company’s theme parks around the world:
Theme park news: Cedar Point water ride, Fantasmic dragon debuts, Rihanna at Magic Mountain
September 5, 2009 7:16am
A roundup of my theme park Twitter updates for the last week:
* Cedar Point in Ohio unveils the $10.5-million Shoot the Rapids water ride for 2010 set amid an illegal moonshine still.
* Report: Shanghai Disneyland to open in 2013 on a site four times the size of Hong Kong Disneyland.
* Video: New fire-breathing Fantasmic dragon at Disneyland looks stunning and pleases crowd in debut but seems a bit stiff and fails to “breath” fire.
How the Disney-Marvel deal affects Universal Studios theme parks
August 31, 2009 4:08pm
Disney’s acquisition of Marvel is expected to have no effect on Universal Studios Florida, where visitors ride on attractions themed to Spider-Man and pose for photos with the Incredible Hulk at the Islands of Adventure theme park.
“Our agreement with Marvel stands for as long as we follow the terms of our existing contract and for as long as we want there to be a Marvel Super Hero Island,” said Universal Studios Florida spokesman Tom Schroder.
Marvel Super Hero Island at Universal’s Islands of Adventure, across town from Walt Disney World in Orlando, includes the Incredible Hulk roller-coaster and the Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man simulator ride as well walk-around characters such as Wolverine and Captain America.
Copenhagen’s ‘Little Mermaid’ will swim to Shanghai
August 31, 2009 10:17am
“The Little Mermaid” statue, sculpted by Edvard Erichsen and inspired by a fairy tale written by Hans Christian Andersen, has been the symbol of Copenhagen since she was placed in the harbor in 1913. But don’t look for her there from April to November of next year because she’s going to Expo 2010 in Shanghai.
The beloved statue will grace the Mermaid Pool in the Danish Pavilion during the Shanghai world event while a sculpture by a Chinese artist stands in for her in Copenhagen.
Although visitors to the Danish capital are bound to miss her, she will doubtless get an eyeful at the Expo. Shanghai is reportedly spending more on the event than Beijing did on the 2008 Olympic Games for new subways, highways, buildings and hospitality campaigns urging the people of the city to give a warm welcome to guests, not least “The Little Mermaid.”
—By Susan Spano, Los Angeles Times staff writer
Photo: Copenhagen’s “Little Mermaid.” Credit: Jan M. Olsen/Associated Press
Alien Invasion attraction landing at Hong Kong Disneyland for Haunted Halloween 2009
August 30, 2009 6:29am
Hong Kong Disneyland does Halloween in a decidedly un-Disney way — complete with jungle demons, dancing devils and menacing aliens.
In stark contrast to Disneyland’s family-friendly fall festival approach, the Chinese theme park’s Alien Invasion attraction looks downright scary: teenagers trapped in liquid-filled isolation chambers, oozing green pods with whipping tentacle tendrils, visitors drawn like zombies to a waiting spacecraft.
The storyline for the new walk-through attraction in Tomorrowland includes a tour through a spaceship and encounters with alien abductees, Alien Intelligence Agency investigators and extraterrestrials with sinister intensions.
It looks and sounds like tremendous fun. The yawn-inducing orange explosion of pumpkin and candy corn theming that layers Disneyland every Halloween has never done much for me. Just another color scheme between red, white and blue “patriotic” and “holiday” red and green. Here’s hoping the aliens invade California next Fall.
Also returning for Haunted Halloween 2009 at Hong Kong Disneyland:
Theme park news: Another Dale Earnhardt coaster, Snow White wins lottery, Hello Kitty attraction, Coney Island closure
August 29, 2009 6:27am
A roundup of my theme park Twitter updates for the last week:
POV video: Carowinds announces $23-million Dale Earnhardt-themed Intimidator coaster for spring 2010 with stadium-style seating and T-shaped lap bar.
Universal Studios Orlando unveils eight Halloween Horror Nights mazes: Saw, Wolfman, Chucky, Dracula, Frankenstein, Silver Screams, Leave it To Cleaver and The Spawning. Six scare zones: Lights Camera Hacktion, Cirque Du Freak, Horrorwood Die-In, Apocalypse, Containment, War of Living Dead. (Orlando Attractions)
Disneyland’s Snow White wins $5.2 million lottery jackpot, feels “like Cinderella.” (O.C. Register)
Busch Gardens Tampa adding Sesame Street Safari of Fun for Spring 2010: kiddie coaster, flume ride, carousel, swing ride, water play area. (Orlando Sentinel)
