Coming in May: UFO Fests in Oregon and New York State
Posted on 04/17/2018, 12:00 AM
The search for signs of intelligent life in the universe hasn't turned up much so far. Even here on earth intelligent life can seem awfully hard to come by. But judging from the many UFO festivals held across the country each year, there are evidently still plenty of those who believe the truth is out there. Among this spring's crop of events dedicated to alien abductions, government cover-ups...
In New York City, Rapidly Shifting Hotel Prices, Shorter Dining Hours, and More
Posted on 04/12/2018, 5:30 PM
Every year at this time, I update the book Frommer’s EasyGuide to New York City. This involves spreadsheets of pricing, hours, and more, meaning that I’m easily able to graph the trends that shape visits to Gotham. Here’s what I’m seeing for 2018 and into 2019: Good news/bad news on hotel rates: To track hotel pricing, I use several hotel booking engines, and I test dates for the slowest travel da...
D.C.’s African American Museum Tests a Change to Its Admissions Policy
Posted on 04/04/2018, 4:00 AM
The National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. is trying out a new admissions practice this month. Each Wednesday in April, visitors can simply walk up to to the building on Constitution Avenue, get in line, and gain entry to the museum on a first-come, first-served basis, starting at 10am, when it opens. That might sound like standard museum-going procedure, bu...
Arthur Frommer: A Journalist Produces the Definitive Report on Disney Cruises
Posted on 03/26/2018, 12:15 PM
Most parents are aware of the ever-expanding Disney cruise line, which enables them to join their young children on a sailing designed to fascinate. Disney currently operates four big cruise ships, and two more are reaching completion in European shipyards. Impartial descriptions of those cruises are hard to come by. Persons who write for the newspapers are loathe to criticize the powerful Disn...
Disney World Now Charges for Parking at Hotels, Decreasing Their Value
Posted on 03/14/2018, 4:00 PM
It used to be one of the great courtesies of staying in a Walt Disney World resort hotel: You got free parking, and then you could take Disney transportation for free. It was touted as one of the perks and a big incentive to choose a Disney hotel over a room located outside the resort property's gates. Since Disney hotels are two or three times as much as a room of comparable quality a mile away, ...
New Club Med Openings: Sicily, the Great Wall, and More
Posted on 03/13/2018, 2:30 PM
Club Med has embarked on an ambitious expansion project. The pioneer in all-inclusive resorts plans to add 15 new properties to its worldwide roster by the end of 2020, opening five resorts per year between now and then. Though you might associate Club Med with sunny spots in the Caribbean, major focuses of the company's latest efforts are Asia and the mountains of Europe. Openings scheduled fo...
Most Visited U.S. National Parks and Monuments in 2017
Posted on 03/05/2018, 10:45 PM
The National Park Service (NPS) has released its visitor numbers for 2017. A total of 330,882,751 people spent time at American national parks, monuments, and other sites deemed worthy of federal protection. As the NPS points out, that figure is only a smidge lower than the record-setting 330,971,689 visits the agency logged in 2016—the year of its highly touted 100th birthday. The Blue Ridge ...
Why Don't More People Think of Renting an RV from a Private RV Owner?
Posted on 03/02/2018, 9:00 PM
Probably the most misunderstood, most underused travel facility is the recreational vehicle capable of both housing and driving a family. All over America, persons own such RVs, but a good percentage of them make only a sporadic use of the vehicles they own. For much of the year, their RV remains parked in their garage or outside their home. This is such an underuse of valuable fa...
Huge New Atlantis Resort Opens in China
Posted on 02/26/2018, 10:30 PM
The world now has three Atlantis resorts to overwhelm visitors with an ocean's worth of watery amenities and maximalist architecture. Joining sister properties in the Bahamas and Dubai (another is in the works in Hawaii), the just-opened Atlantis Sanya occupies more than 130 coastal acres on China's Hainan island, a tropical spot southwest of Hong Kong in the South China Sea that's becoming incre...
This New Budget-Priced Transatlantic Airline Is Probably News to You
Posted on 02/22/2018, 5:45 AM
Most everyone by now has heard of Norwegian Air Shuttle, which flies the Atlantic at rock-bottom prices. Although Norwegian suffered a loss in 2017, it has struck fear into the hearts of the so-called “legacy carriers,” like British Airways, Iberia Airlines, and others. Result: A consortium of established airlines—British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus, and others—have recently created a brand-new ...
Arthur Frommer: My Choices for the 10 Most Memorable Destinations
Posted on 02/05/2018, 3:30 PM
As a professional travel writer, I was required to travel to far more destinations than the average American does. In my youthful years, I literally lived on an airplane, in constant motion, often traveling to several countries each week. And I loved every bit of that life—especially these 10 particular destinations. Here, based on that experience, are my choices of the world’s 10 most mem...
Plans for Cartoon Network Cruise Being Drawn
Posted on 02/01/2018, 1:30 PM
The first fully immersive Cartoon Network cruise ship is currently in the works. We'd like to tell you the plans are being cooked up in Dexter's Laboratory, but in fact the project is a joint effort of the Turner company, which owns the animation-dominated cable channel, and the Singapore-based Oceanic Group. Dubbed the Cartoon Network Wave, the 11-deck, 2,000-passenger ship will have colorful ...
Legoland Coming to New York (Assembly Required)
Posted on 01/30/2018, 2:00 AM
A new Legoland theme park is being built, plastic brick by plastic brick, in the town of Goshen, New York, located about a two-hour drive north of New York City. Expected to open in 2020, the resort will feature themed lands, rides, and shows inspired by the beloved interlocking toy blocks, the company's boxy, humanoid characters, and the popular series of animated Lego movies. The New York pro...
Strange Japanese Ferris Wheel Reopening After Nearly a Decade
Posted on 01/09/2018, 9:00 PM
It sure doesn't look like it, but the structure pictured above is actually a Ferris wheel. The oblong oddity adorns the Don Quijote discount shopping center along the Dotonbori River in Osaka, Japan. Opened in 2005, the ride hasn't been operational since 2008, when a mechanical problem put it out of commission. But fielding questions about the Ferris wheel for nearly a decade has finally persuade...
Days When You Can Visit U.S. National Parks for Free in 2018
Posted on 01/04/2018, 9:00 AM
Each year, the National Park system throws open its gates for a few days and spreads the good word by admitting everyone without charging entry fees. It's a great way for low-income families, students, and seniors to experience the parks, and hundreds of thousands of Americans take advantage of the invitation annually. The Department of the Interior has announced the free days for 2018—and they'v...
It's Here: Donald Trump Robot Unveiled at Disney's Hall of Presidents
Posted on 12/19/2017, 1:15 AM
About six months behind its usual post-election refurbishment schedule, Walt Disney World has unveiled its Audio-Animatronic version of the current president of the United States, including a short recorded monologue by him about the American spirit. The attraction officially opens to the public on Tuesday, December 19. The Hall of Presidents, running since 1971 when Richard M. Nixon was in the ...
In January, Learn to Ski—for Less—in Michigan
Posted on 12/19/2017, 12:30 AM
It might surprise you to learn that Michigan has one of the highest concentrations of ski areas in the United States. There are around 40 places to hit the slopes in the state. According to the Detroit Free Press, only New York has more (take that, Colorado and Vermont). In January, 28 ski areas across the state are banding together to offer affordable introductory packages for downhill skiing...
