Archive for the 'New Orleans & Louisiana' Category
National World War II Museum rallies the troops, plus Tom Hanks, for premiere
November 6, 2009 10:14am
Everyone from war veterans to movie luminaries are rallying today, Nov. 6, in New Orleans to inaugurate the expanded National World War II Museum, which has doubled in size and added a theater with a film experience that promises to plunge visitors into the wartime world, complete with (fake) falling snowflakes, seats that shudder as munitions explode and other special effects.
Among today’s attendees is Tom Hanks, executive producer and narrator of the 35-minute movie “Beyond All Boundaries” (photo above), which will screen at the museum’s new theater. The film stars Kevin Bacon, Patricia Clarkson, Neil Patrick Harris, Brad Pitt and many others.
Today’s events were sold out, museum spokeswoman Kacey Hill said. But there was still plenty of room on Saturday, dubbed “Family Fun Day,” when a range of free activities will be offered, she added. Here’s the 411:
From haunted houses to ‘Hell on Earth’: Where to get scared in the U.S. this Halloween
October 10, 2009 11:19am
For you lovers of gory lore, creeps and costumes, and the ghostly paranormal, this is your season. In this day and age, it takes a lot to tingle the spines and curdle the blood of the public, but these Halloween attractions in the U.S. seem set to spook, and entertain, even those with the thickest of skin.
Haunted houses
At the top of the “America’s best haunted houses 2009″ list released by trade publication HauntWorld Magazine is 13th Gate in Baton Rouge, La. The 40,000-square-foot attraction may have you “crawling thought a Crematory oven and an old hearse” or “standing on a rickety bridge overlooking hundreds of live snakes,” according to the attraction’s website, and they even advise that those with preexisting heart conditions, women who are pregnant or anyone with a weak bladder should not visit.
Other haunted houses ranked highly by HauntWorld include Netherworld Haunted House in Atlanta, the Beast in Kansas City, Mo., and House of Torment in Austin, Texas. Read the rest of this entry »
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)
Get your third night free at landmark Roosevelt New Orleans
September 2, 2009 6:16pm
The landmark Roosevelt New Orleans, home to the historic Sazerac Bar and the fabled Blue Room where Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald and other jazz greats performed, recently opened its doors for the first time since Hurricane Katrina flooded its basement and shut it down in 2005.
Even better, the ornate 1893 structure, after undergoing a $145-million restoration, is making rooms available for as little as $119 per night, plus tax, under its Summer Escape Package. Formerly a Fairmont, it is now a Waldorf Astoria with 504 guest rooms. It is located in downtown New Orleans near the French Quarter.
Deal: Stay two consecutive nights and get your third night for free; two complimentary breakfasts for up to two children age 10 or under; and a discount at the hotel’s gift shop. Subject to availability, the deal is good for stays through Sept. 30. You get the third night’s cost removed from your bill when you check out.
Theme park news: Another Disney World death, Dale Earnhardt coaster, Star Tours 2.0, Say No to B.O.
August 22, 2009 6:02am
A roundup of my theme park Twitter updates for the last week:
* Walt Disney World actor dies during rehearsals for Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Investigators searching for “any pattern” in three Disney World employee deaths this summer. (Orlando Sentinel)
* Video: Kings Dominion in Virginia announces $25-million Dale Earnhardt-themed Intimidator 305 coaster for 2010.
* Katrina-battered Six Flags New Orleans to reopen as Nickelodeon Universe-New Orleans theme and water park by late 2010. Theme Park Insider: Why it won’t work.
* Dollywood’s Splash Country water park in Tennessee announces Slide Rock Racer side-by-side mat racer slide for 2010. (Screamscape)
* Disney dispatches Star Wars storm troopers to guard “imperial dignitaries” at D23 Expo. Is Star Tours 2.0 coming to Disneyland?
Gay & lesbian travel: A carbon-neutral, voluntouristic Caribbean cruise
August 15, 2009 12:00pm
Does guilt ever stop you from booking a cruise? After all, the cruising industry has long had a reputation as a big bad wolf of the eco-world. Then there’s the fact that your week, or weekend, or however long you’ll spend aboard, will be spent in purely self-serving recreation — nary a finger lifted for anyone but buffet-food-grabbing, cocktail-carting you.
That’s just too much indulgence for some of you to handle.
Enter lesbian-travel company Sweet, which is offering a seven-day western Caribbean cruise on the Norwegian Spirit, departing New Orleans on Nov. 8. The trip is designed to help even the environmentally conscious do-gooders among you feel absolutely fine about hitting the high seas.
First, the company is billing itself as “carbon-neutral,” planning to offset the voyage with the help of partner Carbonfund.org. The beneficiary of the company’s offsetting practices is a project that aids in reforesting part of a river area in Louisiana that was strip-farmed for cotton, according to Sweet’s website. Read the rest of this entry »
‘Compliment Guys’ begin their 10-city, feel-good tour
July 20, 2009 10:41am
Time to turn that frown upside down and take a cue from the “Compliment Guys.” Purdue University undergraduates Brett Westcott and Cameron Brown, who have a lot of fabulous things to say about just about everything, begin a multi-city cheer-spreading tour today, with the sole mission of helping people look on the bright side.
Last year, according to Lafayette Online, the two stood in the center of campus weekly “giving out free compliments to thousands of passersby. Initial suspicion of their motives quickly melted in the face of their enthusiasm and earnestness.”
“When I started giving compliments on the Purdue campus almost a year ago, I never expected it to be so well received all over the world,” said Westcott, as reported by Lafayette Online. “This trip will allow us to share the same good feelings with people around the country that we have exchanged at Purdue.”
The BrightSide tour begins today in New Orleans. Read the rest of this entry »
Be my guide: Social media travel tips are valuable but limited by the crowd
July 9, 2009 10:10am
View Be My Guide: Cross-country road trip in a larger map
When it comes to collecting travel tips, there’s strength in numbers. For the last two weeks, I have been traveling across the country in my 1999 Pontiac Grand Am and using the collective knowledge of readers and online social-media wanderers to lead the way.
The response was overwhelming —literally, my e-mail in-box could barely hold it all. But the tips were invaluable and led me to hidden gems that AAA or most other travel agencies would never have listed. I’ve put a lot of them on the Google map above.
For many of the 14 cities I visited, locals whispered to me via the Web, pointing me to the underground hot spots. Some of the best suggestions popped up in Chicago, Nashville, Austin and Albuquerque. The pearls in those cities were mostly small, unassuming places outside the usual downtown bar scenes. They’re hidden from the public eye.
Be my guide: Las Vegas dance clubs don’t stray from pop
July 5, 2009 5:17pm
I’ve covered many types of music in my two-week, reader-driven road trip across the country. There was soul in New York, rock in Washington, D.C., blues in Chicago, folk-country in Nashville, jazz in New Orleans, weird dance rock in Austin, Texas, and weird circus music in Albuquerque.
One genre I have avoided like a pounding jackhammer to the chest is techno. I managed to dodge the hyper dance scene in El Paso, Texas, but in the Las Vegas Strip area, there’s nowhere to run. I would have to face my fear and fist-pump my way through the crowds.
Having received no reader tips for spots to go in Las Vegas, I took a shot in the dark. A single cover fee gains you entry to four large clubs at the Palms Casino Resort, just off the Strip. So I decided that’s where I would spend my night. Let the smoky, sweaty dancing ensue.
Be my guide: Hand Grenades, Hurricanes and jazz music in New Orleans
June 30, 2009 11:50am
Leading up to my stop in New Orleans on this two-week road trip, I kept hearing from readers about how great the city used to be, before Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, and they wondered what it’s like now.
I hadn’t been to the Big Easy before. But I’m going to assume the nightlife hasn’t gotten any less crazy. Because if you turned up the notch any more, no one would survive— especially their livers. Locals confirm that the French Quarter bar scene hasn’t lost a step.
At lunchtime, a guy who runs a bar near my hotel stands in the doorway heckling people through a loudspeaker in between announcing drink specials. I dodge him to slip out of the rain and into Felix’s Restaurant & Oyster Bar, a place recommended by reader Kirby Warnock.
With a bowl of seafood gumbo, I order my first beer, a local brew called Abita, because why not? There are people already red-eyed and poorly balanced carrying drinks around city streets. The gumbo is excellent and the beer cold.
