Southwest investigates scribblings on its planes

Southwest has been puzzling over mysterious jottings on its 737s and is working with law enforcement to discover their origins. (Matt York / Associated Press)

By Jim Forsyth Reuters

7:20 p.m. CDT, September 22, 2011

Southwest Airlines is investigating mysterious markings that began appearing on the bellies of its jets earlier this year and have been described as “similar to Arabic writing,” an airline spokeswoman said?Thursday. However, law enforcement officials have said that the markings do not present a threat.

“The markings have no affiliation to any known group or activity,” said Southwest spokeswoman Brandy King. “The markings at this time are being considered vandalism, and Southwest is conducting an internal investigation to determine who is responsible.”

She said the markings have been appearing on the airline's signature 737 jets the past several months and vary in appearance.

The FBI and other law enforcement agencies all concluded that the markings, described “as similar to Arabic writing,” do not present a threat or a safety hazard, King said.

Officials have not confirmed whether the markings are messages or whether they are words or simply scribbling. King said it was also not known whether they were made on purpose or were the result of some type of mechanical issue.

King said Southwest Airlines, which exclusively uses 737 aircraft in its routes, had determined that there was no danger to the planes or?passengers.

“We obviously take the behavior very seriously, and we will continue to involve local and federal law enforcement as needed until the situation is resolved,” King said.

View the original article here

Vegas resort to open Jimmy Buffet-themed casino

By Associated Press

4:01 p.m. CDT, September 22, 2011

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A Las Vegas resort is opening a 15,000-square-foot casino inspired by the lyrics of singer Jimmy Buffett.

The Margaritaville Casino at the Flamingo is set to open Oct. 1.

The Flamingo on the Las Vegas Strip was already home to Buffet's Margaritaville restaurant.

Under the new renovation, the resort's casino floor got a Buffet-themed makeover, complete with indoor palm trees and tropical colors.

The casino will celebrate its grand opening by creating the world's largest margarita.

Guinness World Records officials are slated to watch as the casino mixes the 8,500 gallon beverage starting on Oct. 11.

The giant drink will hold more than 2,000 gallons of tequila.

View the original article here

Whose car rental bill is this, please?

Q: I recently rented a pickup truck through National Rent-a-Car in Berkeley, Calif., for a one-way move to Walla Walla, Wash. The two-day trip went smoothly, and we loaded and unloaded the truck without incident.

When I returned the vehicle to the rental agency, I did a thorough walkaround, and found not one iota of damage. I cleaned the interior, and opened and closed the back gate to check for any left-behind items, and found the truck bed in exactly the same condition I rented it in.

I brought the keys to the counter, and the agent accepted them, and told me they would send me my final invoice. No one was in the lot to check the condition of the truck with me and verify the condition of the truck.

A few months later, I got a call from a collection agent at Enterprise, which owns National. He said there had been $750 worth of damage to the truck's back gate and left rear side.

I was shocked. When they finally sent me the documents, they showed massive damage to the rear gate. There also appeared to be some sort of collision damage. The repairs were executed months after my rental.

I told him I couldn't have done it. They refuse to hear from me or treat the case as anything but an opportunity for monetary gain, and I was dumb enough not to have photographed the truck or have them do a full inspection.

As of today they will be sending the bill to collections, so unless they hear reason I will be harassed and my credit possibly damaged. This is really a nightmare for me, in part because I find myself so helpless to the wolfish and questionable practices Enterprise Holdings and National Rent-a-Car has employed.

How is the allowable, legally? What are my options for pressing my case? -- Dan Anthony, Eugene, Ore.

A: National's efforts to collect damages from customers who damage its cars is completely legal. Coming after you, however, is another question.

Here are a few things that concern me about your case: First, the timing. A lot of time had passed between the time of your rental and the repairs and subsequent damage claim. That's highly unusual. Damages to a rental car should be identified at the time of your return, and the repairs should be made promptly -- not months later.

Second, I'm troubled by what you say was National's attitude. An ethical damage claim must include a credible appeals process. It sounds to me as if your complaints were simply dismissed.

National should have shown you time-stamped photos of the damage to the truck immediately after your rental, a repair estimate, and an invoice from the body shop. It sounds to me like there were some paperwork problems.

And not just on the car rental company's part. As you say, you should have photographed the truck, both before and after the rental. Use the digital camera on your phone or shoot video, but whatever you do, get some evidence of pre-existing damage or of the fact that you returned the car in good condition.

Also, you shouldn't have accepted the agent's assurance that everything was fine and that an invoice would be sent to you. Next time that happens, ask for a manager and conduct a walkaround. Get the manager to sign the receipt and, if possible, to indicate in writing that the vehicle was returned in acceptable condition. That limits any future claims.

No one is trying to get out of paying a bill, here. It's just that you want to make sure you're paying your bill, not someone else's. I asked National about your case, and a representative contacted you, and said proper procedures hadn't been followed in your case. They dropped their claim against you.

Christopher Elliott is the author of "Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals" (Wiley). He's also the ombudsman for National Geographic Traveler magazine and the co-founder of the Consumer Travel Alliance, a nonprofit organization that advocates for travelers. Read more tips on his blog, elliott.org or e-mail him at chris@elliott.org. Christopher Elliott receives a great deal of reader mail, and though he answers them as quickly as possible, your story may not be published for several months because of a backlog of cases.

View the original article here

O'Hare has a new garden right in Terminal 3; aeroponic produce to supply airport restaurants

By Associated Press

12:26 p.m. CDT, September 22, 2011

CHICAGO (AP) — Dining at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport couldn't get any greener.

That's because vegetables and herbs used at some airport restaurants will be grown in a garden in Terminal 3.

The city Department of Aviation says it's the world's first airport aeroponic garden. That is a method that uses air or mist to grow plants instead of dirt.

The new garden is a joint project with the travel dining group HMSHost. Produce including lettuce, peppers, green beans and herbs will go to that group's restaurants at O'Hare, including Tuscany, Blackhawks Restaurant and Wicker Park Seafood & Sushi.

The garden will provide year-round cultivation, and will feature an exhibit promoting the benefits of aeroponics.

View the original article here

Pedicabs have arrived in New Orleans but controversy continues

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Pedicabs have arrived at last with great fanfare among New Orleans officials, but they are raising anxieties among operators of the iconic mule-drawn carriages that take wedding parties, conventioneers and other visitors on tours of the historic French Quarter.

Touted as a transportation option for tourists that will also provide new jobs, the vehicles that look like a cross between a tricycle and a rickshaw were unveiled last week at a news conference in the city's Jackson Square. Mayor Mitch Landrieu was one of the first passengers.

"We expect that over 100 full and part-time jobs will be created by the three pedicab companies, which is significant in this economy," Landrieu said.

Carriage owners, however, fear the pedicabs will only divide, not add to, the number of transportation customers. "There's always a limited number of discretionary dollars," carriage driver Pat Logan said Thursday as fellow drivers tried to entice passing tourists in the Quarter to climb aboard for $15-per-person tours.

"We're still recovering from Katrina," carriage business operator James Lauga said, referring to the August 2005 storm that breached levees, flooded most of the city and all but halted commerce for months. "We got set back 15 years with Katrina. We're slowly making the climb back. But it's still a struggle in this economy."

Another carriage owner, Alex Mata, filed an appeal with the City Council this week over the permitting process. Mata applied for a permit to operate pedicabs but lost out in the city's lottery for a limited number of permits. Mata said he doesn't like the vehicles and didn't relish the idea of getting into the business but felt he needed to in order to survive economically.

His appeal alleges a flawed lottery process in which applicants filed multiple applications and sometimes used proxies to increase their chances.

The city did not respond to a request for comment. A pedicab operator reached Thursday by The Associated Press declined comment.

Small numbers of pedicabs have operated in New Orleans on and off in the past but the business never took off for a variety of reasons. Talk of adding the people-powered conveyances to the transportation mix in the tourist-dependent city began again in earnest late last summer, culminating in a September 2010 City Council vote to allow pedicabs once rules and a permitting process were established.

Even then it took a year to establish the rules and issue the first permits. Hearings were punctuated by complaints about the new competition from taxi and carriage operators, and complaints from would-be pedicab operators that the lottery system proposed for issuing the permits would leave them with nothing to show for their initial investments if they lost out.

City officials opted for the lottery in what they bill as a pilot program that will initially allow up to 45 of the vehicles on the streets.

After their introduction last week, there was no evidence of the vehicles at Jackson Square on Wednesday or Thursday afternoon.

No matter, said Lauga. "These pedicabs are going to swoop in at the busiest times of the year," he said.

At first glance, the small pedicabs appear to pose little threat to the larger, high-riding carriages that are a familiar sight in the French Quarter. The carriages generally carry about eight people on extended tours of the quarter. The pedicab price structure outlined by the city, $5 per person for the first six blocks, plus $1 per passenger for each additional block, provides for inexpensive short hops within the Quarter and into adjacent neighborhoods.

"They're saying they're only going to do short routes and one to four people going a few blocks but that's not what's going to happen," Lauga predicts. "There's nothing to keep these guys from doing tours."

Aside from competition for the tourist dollar, Logan said he fears the pedicab operators will end up acting as tour guides, with no guarantee they will provide accurate information about the history and architecture in the Quarter and surrounding neighborhoods. "I have no idea if they know what they're talking about," said Logan.

Such criticisms were frequently heard about carriage drivers in years past but Lauga and Mata noted that the city now requires the carriage drivers to be trained as tour guides. "We're licensed tour guides," said Logan, who added that he practiced law for 30 years before retiring, taking a course in the city's history and obtaining a tour guide license and deciding to drive a carriage. "It turned out to be a lot of fun and, most of the time, profitable," he said.

For all his complaints, Mata said he'd drop his appeal if the city would agree to restrict the pedicabs from picking up fares in and around Jackson Square, the green space lined by St. Louis Cathedral, other historic buildings and busy Decatur Street, where the carriages line up to offer rides.

"We'd withdraw all our opposition," said Mata.

View the original article here

Fame, infamy of killer bull named 'Mouse' spreads in Spain after fatal goring of runner

SUECA, Spain — With more than 3,000 fans cheering, a hulking, black-and-white fighting bull named "Mouse" chased one daredevil runner after another, trying to flip them airborne and skewer them as he did a month ago in a fatal goring that enshrined his reputation as Spain's most feared and famous beast.

Mouse was greeted in the southeastern farm town of Sueca like a rock star: Everyone stood up at 2 a.m. Sunday in the bull ring's grandstands as he charged across the sand after loudspeakers introduced him with the eerie strains of the soundtrack to "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly," the 1960s spaghetti western starring a youngClint Eastwood.

The 550-kilogram (1,213-pound) bull didn't claim any more victims this time, but tried his hardest to gore runners. And he captured intense media coverage in what could be his last appearance before retirement amid the controversy he has generated about Spain's summertime tradition of bull versus human runs, a pastime that plays out in rings, narrow streets and plazas across the nation.

After running with Mouse, a breathless Julian Herroja said the bull is so dangerous that "if you make a mistake, he won't. You'll be a victim for sure."

More than 30 journalists were on hand to cover the event in Sueca, population 28,000, near the beach destination of Valencia. Though Mouse will make one more appearance before the end of his season this year, he will run around the ring without runners.

Mouse's owner now fends off as many as 60 cell phone calls daily from reporters.Facebook pages dedicated to him include comments from some people praising him for taking revenge against humans in a country where slews of bulls are slain every year in bullfights by matadors.

But Gregorio de Jesus is angry that Mouse has been nicknamed "Killer Bull," saying he gets blame for doing what comes naturally: Defending himself against perceived threats.

"We go to entertain people so they'll have fun, but unfortunately they are fighting bulls, and there is always a percentage of risk," said de Jesus, 42, a former bull fighter who raises 70 specially bred bulls and 300 cows.

The hype about Mouse has grown so much in Spain that de Jesus is forced to deny reports that the 11-year-old Mouse has killed as many as five runners during his career. But in addition to the 29-year-old victim Aug. 14 in the town of Xativa, he killed a 56-year-old man in 2006 and has seriously injured five more people over the years.

Mouse got his name because no one ever expected him to turn into such a raging bull, de Jesus said. As a calf, he was tormented by several youths who broke into his pen and exhausted him almost to death. Then he was nearly fatally gored by another bull at de Jesus' ranch.

Critics and bull run aficionados alike agree that security is lax at many small town bull runs, meaning almost anyone can participate — even if they're drunk, have taken drugs or aren't physically fit enough to sprint away from enraged bulls. Sueca's mayor beefed up security Sunday, and the extra contingent of police took away some suspected drunks during Mouse's run.

After the bull's last deadly goring, Valencia's regional government announced plans to study how police can be given more authority to detain runners who shouldn't be in the ring, while stressing that the overall number of bull run injuries in the region where they run dropped to 486 in 2010 from 676 in 2008.

Hector Benet, an insurance agent for the bull run industry, said the number of deaths each year in the region averages four, with dozens of serious injuries annually. While bulls in the runs aren't killed or bloodied like their counterparts in bullfights, animal rights groups say the events are a form of animal torture, with bulls terrified by the hundreds of people who taunt the animals by yelling at them, poking them with long sticks and tossing sand from the plaza at them.

"Mouse is the proof that the bull runs are barbaric and medieval," said Leonardo Anselmi of PROU, the animal rights group whose signature-collecting campaign led to a bullfighting ban in Catalonia, which neighbors Valencia. "It's excessive and cruel violence. The culprits are the politicians who allow the bull runs."

But after Catalonia banned bullfighting, politicians there put in protections for other bull-related traditions, including "correbous" — when metal rods with flaming balls of wax or fireworks are attached to bulls' horns before they are let loose to run around bull rings or plazas and chase people.

It's all part of Spain's centuries-old fascination with bulls, with animals used in public as a test of bravery and part of the national identity. Spaniards also run with bulls in northern Pamplona every year, spear them to death from horseback in a town called Tordesillas and cordon off town squares to let children dodge feisty calves bred to become top-fighter bulls.

Sueca's mayor, Salvador Campillo, was torn on whether to let Mouse perform in his small city after this year's fatal goring by the bull. In the end, he decided to go ahead because he's a bull run fan.

"Raton is a bull that gives a great show, he never stops," Campillo said with a smile.

The town's annual end of summer party also features an international paella cooking competition in place since 1961. The contest attracted chefs this year from top restaurants from Spain and France, plus one from Chicago.

Campillo said de Jesus told him that the Sueca event would be Mouse's last real run before retirement, but de Jesus insisted he won't decide until next year whether Mouse will be put to pasture to breed "some little Mouses" with a chance of inheriting the bull's agility, aggression, intelligence and speed.

Mouse's eventual retirement will probably prove lucrative for his owner, Campillo said, because cow owners who want mating privileges with the bull may have to pay as much as euro3,000 ($4,145) for each use of his services.

View the original article here

Colorado's Longs Peak: A cathedral of possibility

Reporting from Rocky Mountain National Park, Colo.—

Dawn broke high in the Colorado Rockies, the enormous blot on the horizon revealing itself slowly, regally against an indigo sky.

I dropped my pack on the frozen tundra, overcome by awe and a taut, primal fear.

Before me stood cathedral upon cathedral of stone, a mysterious citadel crisscrossed by narrow ledges and vertical walls lashed by fierce winds.

This was the sheer eastern face of Longs Peak, a 14,259-foot fortress of rock that had recently killed three climbers and has sent hundreds more scurrying in retreat.

The entrance — the Keyhole — was there, atop a tower of boulders. The massive natural stone gate was a portal to another world, a world of wind and light or, for the unlucky, a doorway to oblivion.

Make no mistake, this was no Mt. Everest and I no SirEdmund Hillary. But given the events of the previous months, it might as well have been.

In October 2009, I was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer of the tonsil. I figured I'd have a tonsillectomy, eat some ice cream and get on with my life. But it wasn't that easy; in fact, it was deadly serious. For the next six months, I endured intensive chemotherapy and radiation treatment that left me unable to speak, swallow or eat. I fed myself through a stomach tube, dropping more than 20 pounds. I lost my sense of taste, and my arms and legs turned to matchsticks.

Toward the end of my treatment, I was unexpectedly offered a job in Denver. Cancer had altered my perspective on the world and my own vulnerabilities. Newspapers, where I had toiled for 24 years, were in a tailspin. I figured the likelihood of getting insurance if I were laid off was pretty much impossible because of my preexisting condition. So I took the job and moved my family to Colorado.

I was hardly new to hiking and climbing, having spent the better part of the previous 14 years roaming the mountains and deserts of California. But I wasn't that person anymore. I was weak. My forays around Boulder, Colo., left me embarrassingly winded.

Worst of all was the prison of fear I had built for myself — the fear of cancer returning. It crept up beside me when I was enjoying a moment with my son or daughter to whisper dark threats in my ear — "Don't get too comfortable. I'll be back."

As I battled feebleness and fear, I became fixated on Longs Peak. Everywhere I looked, there it was, sitting hugely, imperiously, on the horizon, practically screaming, "I am!"

Distinguished by its enormous girth, wave-like profile and oddly flat top, Longs is the 15th-highest mountain in Colorado, the highest in Rocky Mountain National Park and one of the most popular hikes in the state. Each year, thousands try to scale this monster, forgetting that just because it's popular doesn't mean it's safe.

The fastest winds ever clocked in Colorado — 201 mph — were measured in 1981 atop Longs. Climbers have been flung from the summit and swatted from ledges. Others have suffered heart attacks on the ascent. Only three of every 10 hikers ever reach the top.

Common sense said it was too soon to take on this giant. My hands and feet were still numb from the chemo. I had a catheter in my chest. High doses of radiation had left me unable to taste food, so I remained gaunt.

Yet an idea took hold that I couldn't shake: If I could climb Longs Peak just a few months out of treatment, surely I had beaten this awful curse. The mountain would heal me, restore my strength, give me a second chance.

It was a dumb idea, but I excelled at dumb ideas. So a week after Labor Day 2010, I made my move.

I set off at 2:30 a.m. so I could get off the summit before the afternoon thunderstorms and killer lightning rolled in.

The 16-mile round trip would be done in stages: the Boulder Field, the Keyhole, the Ledges, the Trough, the Narrows and the Home Stretch.

I strapped on a small headlamp and headed into a dark forest. I hoped to experience some Zen-like oneness with the woods. Instead, I kept hearing what sounded like mountain lions, foraging bears and ill-tempered moose stalking me in the night.

View the original article here

Mexico aims to make end of Maya calendar a starter for tourism

The ancient Maya calendar ends Dec. 21, 2012, and Hollywood has wasted no time portraying the coming date as the trigger of a worldwide cataclysm.

But in Mexico, where drug violence has hobbled the nation's $70-billion tourism industry, government leaders hope to counter Tinseltown's doomsday scenario by promoting 2012 as the year of the tourist.

Several of Mexico's top tourism officials have been making the rounds in their northern neighbor, betting that an invitation to see Maya ruins will attract hordes of older, wealthier U.S. visitors keen on Mexican culture.

Whereas the Hollywood blockbuster "2012" depicts the end of the Maya calendar as the spark of a global calamity, the Mexican campaign will include a countdown to the calendar's conclusion and urge tourists to visit archaeological sites in the states of Campeche, Chiapas, Yucatan, Quintana Roo and Tabasco.

"Our interpretation of the Mayan calendar is reverse to what many people speculate," Rodolfo Lopez-Negrete, the chief operating officer for the Mexico Tourism Board, said on a swing through Los Angeles with other top Mexican officials this summer. "Our focus will be on growth and prosperity instead of the end of the world."

The campaign is the latest effort by Mexico to overcome a steady stream of negative publicity over drug-related violence that has killed tens of thousands in that country and made many American tourists hesitant to venture south of the border.

U.S. travelers made up about 60% of Mexico's 22.4 million international visitors in 2010, according to Mexican authorities.

When drug killings first began to dominate headlines in 2008, tourism to Mexico dropped steeply. But it has been rebounding slowly ever since, mostly because of international visitors from countries other than the United States.

From January to May, the number of international visitors to Mexico grew 2.1% compared with the same period in 2010, according to the tourism board.

During that time, the numbers of tourists from such countries as Brazil, Russia and China have grown by double digits, the board says. Meanwhile, U.S. tourism to Mexico remained mostly flat, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Tourism analysts partly blame the lackluster travel interest among Americans on warnings by the U.S. State Department. One warning in April said "U.S. citizens have been injured or killed in violent incidents in various parts of the country, especially … in the northern border region, demonstrating the heightened risk of violence throughout Mexico."

In an effort to deflect attention away from the violence, Mexico's tourism secretary, Gloria Guevara, and the governors of several Mexican states joined the recent swing through the U.S. to promote their country's historical destinations, particularly 10 Maya archaeological sites in five Mexican states.

"Our task is to be proactive," Guevara said during the Los Angeles stop.

But Mexico is still a tough sell among many wary tourists north of the border.

At Montrose Travel in Montrose, agent sales manager Kate Bernier said U.S. travelers are still reluctant to book flights to Mexican hot spots such as Puerto Vallarta and Mazatlan. "People will still ask, "Is it safe to go?" she said, adding that Americans seem less concerned about traveling to Mexican states near the Caribbean that are home to many of the Maya ruins.

The classic Maya civilization existed from AD 250 to AD 900, primarily in what is now southern Mexico. It relied on a calendar that began more than 5,000 years ago and runs out Dec. 21, 2012. But most scientists who have studied the Maya calendar say the end only represents the start of a new cycle.

The predictions surrounding the end of the Maya calendar have also been the subject of dozens of books published during the last two years, including the popular "The Source Field Investigations: The Hidden Science and Lost Civilizations Behind the 2012 Prophecies."

Mexican officials say they will promote their new tourism campaign on billboards and in newspaper and magazine ads, targeting affluent travelers interested in Mexican archaeology as opposed to the younger set looking to party and frolic in the sand.

Fernando Ortega Bernes, governor of the southeastern state of Campeche, said he expects the campaign to promote not only Maya ruins in his state, including the ancient city of Calakmul, but also other popular attractions such as hunting, fishing and bird watching.

"This is an opportunity," he said, "to [position] Campeche in the international marketplace."

hugo.martin@latimes.com

View the original article here

The World at 40

ORLANDO, Fla. — Back in 1971, Disney promised us the World. And that's precisely what it delivered — in spades.

Walt Disney World's castle door flew open Oct. 1 that year, unwrapping an entertainment complex that would go on to vastly overshadow its Western sibling, Disneyland.

I was there, as a youngster, during that inaugural year, after begging my parents to take me.

I clearly remember my first Mark IV monorail ride, excitedly sliding across the car's seats, the four swinging doors loudly clacking open. Then my first wondrous glance at the gleaming turrets of Cinderella Castle. I was hooked!

The Walt Disney World experience became indelibly entwined with fond memories of fun, friends and family. Very moving and truly magical.

That's by design, of course. Walt Disney's design, fulfilling his biggest dream, transformed some 40 square miles of orange groves and woods into a paradise.

A vivid memory from my first visit was the Disney promise: that Walt Disney World would never be complete. It would be ever evolving, constantly growing, continually updated.

The magic of that promise has come to pass in glorious fashion.

When the World opened, it consisted of the Magic Kingdom theme park, two themed resorts at the Contemporary and the Polynesian, and the Fort Wilderness campground.

Today the San Francisco-size property houses four theme parks, two water parks, 25 Disney-themed resort hotels (seven with Vacation Club digs), the Downtown Disney entertainment district, Disney's Wide World of Sports complex, a cruise line, a wedding pavilion and more.

After 40 years and hundreds of millions of guests, that promise continues.

Far behind Cinderella Castle, a monumental project is rising from the Pixie dust: It's the stunning Fantasyland expansion, the largest in the history of the Magic Kingdom. When complete, Fantasyland will be doubled in size. Various phases will open throughout the next two years.

Amid the lush green forest covering the former 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea site, a castle of another sort spikes dramatically into the air. The central point of a new Belle neighborhood, the Beast's majestic castle will house Be Our Guest, a 550-seat restaurant presenting three dining themes: the lavish ballroom, gallery and West Wing from the classic "Beauty and the Beast" film. There will be fast food by day and table service by night.

Nearby, Maurice's cottage will beckon guests to Enchanted Tales With Belle, an interactive meet-and-greet. A 21/2-foot Audio-Animatronic Lumiere magically whisks guests through a mirror and into the Beast's library to join Belle for a retelling of their story. Elsewhere in Belle's village, guests can enjoy a rousing visit to Gaston's Tavern.

Turn the corner, and you will approach Prince Eric's castle and the seaside home of Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid, a sweeping attraction retelling the story of Ariel. Guests board clamshell omnimovers to bob above and below the waves, reliving the great scenes from the film, encounter an ominous 7-foot-tall Ursula and enjoy hundreds of singing and dancing Audio-Animatronic sea creatures. It's all topped off with a meet-and-greet with the "real" Ariel, a live character, and Scuttle's Scavenger Hunt, an interactive game for kids.

Smack dab in the center of the new Fantasyland forest will be the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, a cross between a family coaster and a dark ride. Featuring an innovative new ride system with vehicles that sway from side to side responding to the track's every twist, guests are whisked inside and out on a rollicking jaunt through the Dwarfs' diamond mine to Snow White's cottage with, perhaps, a visit from the Evil Queen and Snow White herself.

Once the Dwarfs are in their new home, Snow White's Scary Adventures becomes Princess Fairytale Hall, a new meet-and-greet royal court for live characters Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and all the princesses.

On the former site of Mickey's Toontown Fair, the new Storybook Circus area will boast a Double Dumbo. That's two carousels of Dumbo the Flying Elephant whirling guests on the classic flight from behind pachyderm ears. Straddling the Dumbo wheels, a Big Top tent will burst with interactive games.

Next door, the Great Goofini, a re-imagined Barnstormer roller coaster starring Goofy, will swoop guests on a daredevil mission.

View the original article here

For a Wis. cheese tour, let your taste buds plan

MILWAUKEE—

Only at an airport in Wisconsin can the phrase "half my bag is cheese" attract nothing more than a shrug.

But in the Dairy Land these days, there's a lot of cheese to be had and tourists are eating it up.

The state's milk marketing board keeps adding more dairies on its cheese map for tourists who want to tour the state on a sojourn of cheese. Last year they distributed some 220,000 maps listing more than 115 dairies and creameries. When the next map goes out next year, it will have some 130 listings.

I didn't realize how big my appetite was for the cheese -- and how wonderful and fresh the selection is in Wisconsin -- until I moved to New York last year. There's a lot of great food in New York, but for me, Wisconsin is my favorite place for cheese.

On my first trip back to the state last fall, I snagged 7 pounds of cheese curds, chunks of aged cheddar and unique artisanal blends in just 48 hours. And that's not even counting the cheese I ate. In all, my bag weighed 14 pounds when I checked it through at the airport in Milwaukee.

Now, whenever I go back to the land of the Cheeseheads, I let my taste buds do the planning. Here's the cheesy take on tourism from an insider, where to go, what to eat and how to get it home:

THE CHEESE MAP

The Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board's map of the state with 116 cheesemakers and retail stores, is the perfect way to begin planning. They list where you can find the country's only licensed Limburger maker (Chalet Cheese Cooperative in Monroe, Wis.), and other places to visit in every part of the state. You can order a map from their website for free, or print one out: http://www.eatwisconsincheese.com/wisconsin/travelers--guide.aspx.

The map has been around for about eight years and originally included wine and beer. But now it is exclusively dairy.

"Three years ago we had so many cheesemakers and cheese shops that we decided only cheese," said Heather Porter-Engwall. spokeswoman for the milk marketing board.

Next year's revision, with a planned spring release, will feature yogurt and ice cream, she said.

The board also maintains an extensive directory of cheese-related events: lectures, festivals, visits to dairies. So see what's curdling when you're there: http://www.eatwisconsincheese.com/events/default.aspx.

CURD DAY

Among the many listings on the map is this author's favorite, Curd Day. If you haven't spent much time in Wisconsin, chances are you have not tried the almighty curd. That salty, moist funky little nugget of squeaky goodness comes in simple flavors like cheddar, all the way to savory dill and garlic and burn-your-mouth jalapeno. Curds are made every time someone makes cheese, but they're not eaten much outside of Wisconsin.

On the first Saturday of every month, curds are celebrated at Beechwood Cheese Company, a tiny creamery that is more than 100 years old located in the Kettle Moraine, a region of glacier-made ponds and lakes in Sheboygan County.

Every first Saturday of every month, the cheesemaker makes some 2,200 pounds of curds, and its tiny store connected to the factory is descended upon by cheese-o-philes. They sometimes drive for hours to attend and have to wait outside just to get in.

Why? The secret to curds is freshness. If they're not eaten within a few days of creation, then they don't squeak. And the squeak is a major part of their appeal.

Think of curds like pre-cheese. Curds are the milk solids that are separated from the milk liquid -- or whey -- in the cheesemaking process. They're salty and moist, much more so than regular cheese. It's this saltiness and moistness that makes them squeak against your teeth. (More delightful than it sounds!) They come in little nuggets and odd shapes since they're formed so haphazardly, which also makes them fun to eat.

For curd fans, they are an addiction that cannot be cured. Details at the milk marketing board's curd site at http://www.eatcurds.com.

View the original article here