Archive for the 'Santa Barbara' Category
Santa Barbara: Third night free at 22 hotels with ‘24 More’ promotion
November 17, 2009 5:55am
Who can’t use an extra 24 hours in Santa Barbara? Whether you’re heading to this popular vacation destination to get pampered in a B&B or anonymously relax in a larger resort, have a look at the following promotion. It provides great incentive to take a longer-than-usual weekender away.
Deal: With the new “24 More, Compliments of Santa Barbara” offer, you can take advantage of a third night free when you book two nights at one of 22 participating properties in and around the city.
Venues featuring the offer include Hotel Oceana Santa Barbara, Four Seasons Resort, Inn by the Harbor and Franciscan Inn. You can see your full list of options here online.
You must book directly with the hotel or other venue, referring to the promotion code cited in the respective place on the “24 More” page.
When: Valid for stays now through March 31, 2010. Read the rest of this entry »
The Michael Jackson theme park that never was, but still could be
November 5, 2009 12:29pm
Michael Jackson dreamed of a theme park based on the J.M. Barrie story of “Peter Pan,” complete with looping roller coasters, 3-D flight simulators, water rides, stunt shows, dinner theater, nighttime spectaculars and hotels.
The Disney and More blog has the full story of how the dream nearly became reality, including blueprints and concept art from the envisioned project.
In the late 1990s, the King of Pop partnered with Burbank-based Landmark Entertainment Group — the creators of the Spider-Man ride at Islands of Adventure and the Jurassic Park water ride at Universal Studios Orlando — to draft a plan for Peter Pan’s Neverland theme park.
The concept looks remarkably similar to Disneyland past and present, with all the Peter Pan parts of the park (pirate ship, dark ride, skull rock) amplified and embellished with plenty of pixie dust.
Peter Pan’s Neverland envisioned a grand entrance into Victorian London with replicas of Kensington Gardens, Big Ben, Tower Bridge and the Houses of Parliament.
On Neverland Island, reached by boat, there were six themed lands:
Read the rest of this entry »
Pacifica Hotels: 25% off, plus bring a toy for a bigger discount
October 29, 2009 5:51am
For a getaway up or down the coast, or in popular destinations inland, you might look into a stay with Pacifica Hotels. The company, largely rooted in California but with locations in Florida and Hawaii as well, has a great promotion going for late fall and early winter. See below for the scoop.
Deal: Under its current online winter promotion, receive 25% off regular rates at Pacifica Hotels properties over the next couple of months. Plus, if you bring along a new, unwrapped toy valued at $10 or more, you get an additional $10 per night off your bill at checkout. The hotel participates in the Toys for Tots program, so your gift will go to children in need.
The deal is good only in California, where Pacifica runs hotels in in Sonoma, San Francisco, Cambria, Pismo Beach, Santa Barbara, Marina del Rey, Redondo Beach, Laguna Beach and San Diego, among other locations. [Corrected at 10:15 a.m. Oct. 29: An earlier version of this post did not make it clear that this deal is good only at Pacifica hotels in California, not in Florida or Hawaii.] Read the rest of this entry »
Halloween events, from fun to frightful, in Southern California
October 25, 2009 6:00am
What are you doing for Halloween? Don’t be the last one left indecisively standing (or you might turn into a pumpkin). Here, we treat you to a bagful of Southern California options to consider for super-spooky good times. Some are great for the little children; others—like, perhaps, Scareview Farms, from where the above image originates—are not.
Balboa Park, San Diego
Museums at Balboa Park are going all out for Family Day on Oct. 31. Attractions include costume contests and parades, as well as museum-specific activities such as a science-themed pumpkin contest at Reuben H. Fleet Science Center; craft sessions to build paper pumpkins with parachutes at San Diego Air and Space Museum; and a scavenger hunt at the San Diego Automotive Museum
Queen Mary, Long Beach
Ongoing most evenings through Nov. 1, “Shipwreck: 15 Nights of Terror” at the Queen Mary seems set to scare the wits out of you (just have to look at the event website for a taste). The nighttime event —not recommended for mortals younger than 12— features vampires and ghosts, among its ship full of creepy creatures, and mazes on board and onshore. Read the rest of this entry »
Santa Barbara: Family-friendly Halloween fun with Boo at the Zoo
October 21, 2009 2:25pm
You might hear howls and growls among the boos and hisses, but Santa Barbara Zoo’s Halloween event promises to be more merry than scary. Boo at the Zoo, Oct. 23-25, is designed for adult-accompanied children, ages 2 to 12, and this year the theme is “Wild Wild West.”
Cowboys and cowgirls —as well as pirates, princesses, fairies, trolls and mermaids — will be among the more than 75 characters running rampant during the festivities, which will happen from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. each day. Mother Goose will be on hand to tell stories. Attractions will include a haunted mine and a nighttime train ride. And mazes and games and candy and prizes will all be part of the fun.
Of course, the setting itself offers its own attractions. There will be opportunities for animal encounters, and zookeepers will be giving talks. At the California Trails exhibit, which opened this year, attendees can see endangered or threatened animals, including four rare California condors.
This is a kid-centric event, and costumes are most definitely encouraged. Read the rest of this entry »
Get a third night for free at 35 California hotels
October 21, 2009 5:59am
Buy two, get one free. That’s the idea behind the Third Night Free offer at 35 California hotels run by Joie de Vivre, a boutique chain based in San Francisco. Launched to promote the company’s new “Joie of Life” micro-site that focuses on social networking, the deal isn’t being advertised on the chain’s main website. But you can book it there anyway — if you know the code.
The deal is worth hunting up because Joie de Vivre runs a lot of fun and well-located hotels in a range of prices, such as San Francisco’s Hotel Rex and Hotel Vitale, Hotel Angeleno in Los Angeles and Hotel Erwin at Venice Beach. The 411:
Deal: Pretty straightforward. You book a room for three nights in a row, and the third night is free. There are two ways to get the deal: You can book it through the Third Night Free section of the Joie of Life micro-site or go to the regular Joie de Vivre website and enter the code “JOIE” in the “Promo Code” window when making a reservation. The micro-site lists the participating hotels, with nightly rates that start at $79 to $459, depending on the hotel.
Hotel deals for Ojai-Ventura film festival, Nov. 5-8
October 8, 2009 11:57am
What’s better than watching a few good independent films? Seeing them in conjunction with a relaxing weekender, perhaps. It may be no Sundance; in fact, you may not have ever even heard of it. But the Ojai-Ventura International Film Festival, with lauded documentary “The Most Dangerous Man in America” among its features, is coming up Nov. 5-8 and is the perfect excuse to give yourself a little getaway to the charming small town of Ojai, in Ventura County.
Most of the festival’s screening venues are in Ojai, though films are also being shown at the Brooks Institute of Photography in Ventura, 15 miles southwest of Ojai.
See indie and classic flicks by night and/or day, and, out of the theaters, take in the area’s other offerings, which include good food, great hikes, day spas, a mellow vibe and spectacular sunsets. Following are a few festival-related packages being offered by hotels in the region. Contact venues directly for more details, cancellation policies, etc.: Read the rest of this entry »
Free-night offer by Country Inns & Suites
September 22, 2009 5:55am
Everyone’s serving up free nights these days. Expedia is doing it with a recently announced promotion. And Choice Hotels —with Comfort Inn and Econo Lodge a couple of the names under its banner — has offered, after a three-night stay, points applicable for a future one-night stay.
Now, the mid-range Country Inns & Suites by Carlson has joined the trend with a deal of its own, available at its hotels in the U.S. and Canada.
Deal: Through the “Free Night Fall” promotion, stay two or more nights at a participating hotel this fall and you’ll receive a voucher for a future free night that can be applied to a visit of two or more nights this winter. You can redeem the voucher at any participating hotel, regardless of where you stayed initially.
After your stay in October or November (see valid dates below), you’ll need to register online to receive your free-night voucher in the mail. Read the rest of this entry »
Santa Barbara: Foodie events and hotel specials for epicure.sb in October
August 27, 2009 10:57am
Get your palates primed for October in Santa Barbara, set to become taste-bud heaven when epicure.sb rolls in. The monthlong series of over 90 events throughout the region will feature food-and-wine-related festivals, cooking classes, special dinners, art exhibits and more.
Here are samples to note from the smorgasbord: the California Avocado Festival (Oct. 2-4) and the Harbor & Seafood Festival (Oct. 10). The Santa Barbara Beer Festival is scheduled for Oct. 17, and, happening on the same day are a Global Gardens festival in Los Olivos and a Lemon Festival in a Santa Barbara park.
On Tuesdays throughout the month, top dining establishments will take turns hosting the Santa Barbara Chefs & Winemakers Dinner Series. From Oct. 24-25, wineries in downtown Santa Barbara invite you to an Urban Wine Trail Weekend. And insatiable bookworms might be interested in the Book Den’s “Santa Barbara Writes About Food” evenings. Read the rest of this entry »
Higher fees at California state parks start today: Where to find details
August 17, 2009 5:34pm
Starting today, Aug. 17, it will cost you more to visit and camp at many California state parks. In some cases, the cost has doubled.
The increases stem from California’s budget crises, which has put the state billions of dollars in debt. “In these dire economic times, we can longer afford to keep our fees at their current levels,” State Parks Director Ruth Coleman said last week in announcing the fee hikes.
Officials waited until today to release a park-by-park rundown of the new fees for day use and camping. Among Southern California parks affected, with sample fees:
> Anza-Borrego Desert State Park: Parking went from $6 per day year-round to $5 to $8, depending on the season. Borrego Palm Canyon developed campsites with hookups were $24 to $29 per night, depending on season; now $35 year-round.
