Après la cérémonie, la "dinde nationale", un oiseau de 15,7 kilos, et son compagnon, seront escortés par la police jusqu'à un aéroport de la région de Washington et voyageront en première classe dans un avion.
A Disneyland, les volatiles seront les invités d'honneur d'une parade organisée jeudi pour Thanksgiving, selon le site Internet de la Maison Blanche. Les deux dindes couleront ensuite des jours heureux dans un ranch appartenant au célèbre parc d'attractions.
Habituellement, l'animal désigné "dinde nationale" et son acolyte passent le reste de leur vie dans une ferme de Virginie.
Source : AP
L'Aquarium de Georgie, qui ouvre ce mercredi, se présente comme la synthèse du Louvre et de Disney World. A l'affiche : plus de 100.000 poissons, crustacés et mammifères évoluant dans l'eau, douce ou salée. Et beaucoup d'animations.
Avec plus de 100.000 animaux marins et d'eau douce présentés et plus de 30 millions de litres d'eau répartis dans plusieurs bassins, l'Aquarium de Georgie, qui ouvre ses portes mercredi à Atlanta, est présenté comme le plus grand aquarium en intérieur (indoor) du monde. Le précédent record était détenu par l'Aquarium de Chicago, qui n'abrite "que" 20.000 poissons dans 19 millions de litres d'eau.
Il faut dire que le site georgien accueille deux hôtes imposants : Ralph et Norton, les seuls requins baleines visibles dans de telles conditions hors d'Asie. Ces poissons, qui sont les grands au monde (la baleine étant un mammifère), évolueront dans un bassin de 23 millions de litres d'eau salée. Autre attraction : cinq bélugas, ou baleines blanches, dont deux ont été rapatriés d'un parc d'attraction mexicain. Requins, hippocampes, tortues de mer, méduses, mammifères et poissons en tous genres complètent la longue liste des espèces exhibées. Quant aux spécimens trop imposants pour vivre en bassin, ils bénéficient d'espaces de présentation virtuelle.
"Le Louvre à Disney World"
Eduquer et divertir, telle est la mission affichée du site qui est organisé en cinq grandes "galeries". Chacune d'elles est dédiée à un environnement spécifique, des rivières aux mers tropicales, en passant par les océans et les rivages de Georgie. Le public pourra y admirer le ballet incessant des poissons, assister à des spectacles de sons et lumières, consulter des bornes interactives ou visionner des films en reliefs. Ce que les organisateurs résument par des formules choc : "Imaginez le Louvre rencontrant Disney World. Ou le Ritz à 20.000 lieues sous les mers".
Tout est dans la démesure dans ce projet. Son initiateur, Bernie Marcus, le co-fondateur de Home Depot, une chaîne de magasins consacrée à l'habitat, y a investi 200 millions de dollars. La ville d'Atlanta, qui abrite déjà le siège de CNN et de Coca-Cola, espère que ce "Nemoland" relancera le tourisme local. Deux millions de visiteurs sont attendus pour cette première année d'exploitation.
Source : TF1
But first, David Marcus said, the city must do something about the sad state of its potential attractions, starting with an inventory of those places.
"Currently, if you want to take your family to visit an historical site such as Concordia Cemetery, or one of the missions in the Valley," Marcus said, "you would have nowhere to take your child if he or she has to go to the bathroom unless you visit the local gas station, nowhere to buy them even a bottle of water if they are thirsty, and nobody available in an organized way to show you the site, or give you accurate information on the cemetery or the missions.
"If it were my family, and somebody warned us of this in advance, we wouldn't go."
He said the Tourism Cabinet, established along with other cabinets to work with the mayor and City Council after the city's Economic Summit in August, proposes to develop a list of potential attractions and to come back in six months with a small budget to make them more "tourist-friendly."
The Old West theme park would be a longer-term project that might take 10 years.
"We are not proposing an amusement park, but rather a large theme park that wold capitalize on our shared history of a vibrant 1800s Western town on the Mexican border," he said.
Marcus, a CPA who has long been active in civic affairs, said the Cabinet would like to see the city issue a request for proposals from theme park developers around the country. The Cabinet requested and received the City Council's authorization to continue with its work, which includes coming up with a long-term tourism goal or development proposal.
El Paso, he said, needs to do something, because now the city is merely a place people pass through on their way somewhere else. Although generally supportive, several council members voiced reservations about an aggressive tourist plan.
"For every person who wants to make this city great," East Side city Rep. Presi Ortega said, "there will be nine or 10 who will say we can't get it done."
Source : Borderlandnews
| Un mini-Homomonument en construction |
Source : Tétu
Hersheypark to add water rides
Hersheypark officials got the green light Tuesday to add several water-related rides in time for the amusement park's 100th anniversary in 2007.
Derry Township supervisors passed the plan contingent on approval from the Dauphin County Conservation District.
Park officials have offered few details on the plan, which includes a water-play device, three pools, a waterslide, a water playground and a fountain.
Hersheypark officials said they could not yet release specific information on the rides because of competition between theme parks.
The attractions will be built during 2006 and open in 2007.
Source : Associated Press
More than a million people have so far visited Disneyland's newest theme park in Hong Kong since its opening in September, Disney said in a statement issued from its California, US headquarters.
'Since the beginning of our soft opening, while we were not open every day to the public, Hong Kong Disneyland has welcomed and entertained well over one million guests eager to experience our immersive world of fun, fantasy and adventure,' the statement said.
It also claimed that customer surveys found the park's cleanliness, hotel experience, entertainment experience and staff attitude had all rated well above 90 pct.
The statement comes days after a report in the local South China Morning Post newspaper that the park was operating at well below half its 30,000 daily capacity.
In an investigation, four SCMP reporters counted customers entering the park and found only 12,972 people visited on Sunday November 13 and 11,399 on Wednesday November 16.
The government, which owns a 57 pct stake in the 3 bln usd venture, has said it expects 5.6 mln visitors in its first year of operation, or an average daily attendance of 15,342.
'The bottom-line is this: attendance is ramping up well, which continues to give us confidence that we are on track to achieve our long-term attendance goals,' parks and resorts chairman Jay Rasulo said.
'Average daily attendance calculations by the media, especially over a short period of time, have resulted in misleading and faulty conclusions, and paint an oversimplified picture that doesn't reflect either performance or guest enjoyment of the Disney entertainment experience.
'One must always remember in the tourism industry to take seasonality and fluctuation during peak and non-peak times into account, which makes simple daily averages meaningless,' Rasulo added.
Hong Kong Disneyland became the company's first Chinese resort when it opened on September 12, with the government aiming to attract a third of visitors from China, a third from overseas and the balance from home.
Disney, meanwhile, hopes the park will be a springboard to sell its other products -- including movies, merchandise and clothing -- in the growing Chinese market.
Source : AFX
Design : Hitmaaan
