Travel Tips & Trends

> Get more for free this year in Denver
> RVers gather for nation's biggest rally
> Musical roller coaster opens
> The Great Wall of China
> Disney for free
> Hawaii turns 50
> Yellowstone's "Bombs" get an upgrade
> Family lanes at airports
> Educational travel trends

Get more for free this year in Denver

The Denver Museum of Nature & Science will host 12 free days for Colorado residents in 2009, four more than in previous years. "We hope that by adding a few extra free days to our schedule, our museum will be more accessible to the community during a time when people are watching their budgets," says George Sparks, the museum's president and CEO.

Museum Free Days are made possible in part through funding from the Scientific & Cultural Facilities District (SCFD), the small sales tax paid by metro area residents and visitors that supports an array of local scientific and cultural organizations. "Local residents are paying into the SCFD all the time, whether they realize it or not. Our free days give them a return on that investment," said Sparks.

In 2009, the Museum will hold free days on March 18, April 19, May 31, June 10, July 13, August 12, September 13, October 4, November 2 and November 22. The remaining free days were held in January and February.

RVers gather for nation's biggest rally

Thousands of recreational vehicle enthusiasts will gather in Albuquerque this April for the largest RV rally in the nation. This year marks the tenth anniversary of the event formerly known as the Great North American RV Rally, now called simply The Rally. Held from April 17-20, the event is expected to attract 4,500 RVs and 10,000 people per day. Organizers spend two years of pre-planning to stage this mini city and two weeks to set it up, and more than 300 companies are scheduled to exhibit.

Activities on the program include more than 30 seminars each day on topics ranging from engine performance to better communication between couples who share the confined space of an RV. Nightly concerts, a dog show, a golf tournament and tours to attractions in the surrounding area round out the weekend.

For more information, visit www.TheRally.com.

Musical roller coaster opens

In the never-ending race for new thrill rides, Universal Orlando Resort has unveiled the first roller coaster with personalized music tracks and editable video. The "Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rockit" coaster will open this spring at the Universal Studios Florida theme park.

Other roller coasters have incorporated music, but on Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rockit each rider will be able to choose from a number of different popular music tracks in a variety of genres. With speakers in each headrest, every individual on the coaster can be listening to a different music track. At the same time, video cameras will capture every second of the ride, which riders can then download, edit and customize with special effects to create their own music video.

The coaster will be Orlando's tallest at 17 stories high, and will also feature the world's first non-inverting loop, lighting effcts at night and speeds up to 65 mph.

For more information on Universal Orlando, including preferential rates for AAA members, talk to your travel agent.

The Great Wall of China

Since 1972, UNESCO's World Heritage Centre has identified 878 sites around the globe "considered to be of outstanding value to humanity." One of the best known is the Great Wall of China.

The epic structure we know today was built during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), replacing older walls to the north that dated as far back as 221 BC, the start of the Qin dynasty. Inside: China. Outside: northern tribes eager to invade.

Thewall snakes across roughly 4,000 miles from Shanhaiguan (about 185 miles east of Beijing) to Lop Nur in remote northwestern China. The best-preserved and most heavily visited section is Badaling, located about 40 miles north of downtown Beijing.

A few miles away is Badaling Remnant, a broken section of the wall still in its original condition. Mutianyu, Simatai and Jinshanling sections are some of those which are farther from Beijing and have their own distinctive character, usually with fewer visitors into the bargain.

The easiest way to visit the Great Wall of China is on an escorted tour—for more information, talk to your travel agent. No, you can't see it from the moon (a beloved myth), but you can climb one of its watchtowers and gaze out over an enduring empire.

Disney for free

Throughout 2009, visitors get free admission on their birthday at Walt Disney World in Florida or Disneyland in California. Pre-registration on the Disney website, www.disney.go.com, is necessary to get the free pass (click on "Parks"), and identification with proof of birth date will be checked at the gate.

Hawaii turns 50

This year marks Hawaii's 50th anniversary of statehood, making it a great time to visit one or more of these very different islands. Each of the five major islands has its own distinct flavor and activities.

Oahu offers the city experience, with Honolulu's dining, shopping, museums, palaces and the memorial at Pearl Harbor. Hiking to the crest of Diamond Head offers an awe-inspiring panorama and Waikiki Beach has been an icon for decades. Lush and wild Kauai is known as the Garden Isle. Its attractions include Waimea Canyon, dazzling tropical rainforests and the Na Pali coast where dramatic cliffs rise 4,000 feet above the thundering surf.

Sights on Hawaii's Big Island range from eruptions of molten lava on Kilauea (the world's most active volcano) to dramatic snow-capped peaks. The Big Island has few sandy beaches but a huge variety of climates and terrain. Mauna Loa is the largest volcano on earth, reaching a height of over 13,000 feet.

"Unspoiled" is a frequent description of Lanai, one of the smaller islands of Hawaii. Here, the Garden of the Gods features boulders strewn across a stark crimson landscape. In Hulopoe Bay, dolphins and whales can be spotted in the surf, and rare turtles and seals along the shore. In Luahiwa, ancient petroglyphs adorn the rocks.

Maui is unsurpassed for diving and other water sports. Its beaches range from brilliant white sand to volcanic black. Trek through a bamboo forest scouting for rare tropical birds, or take a glass-bottom boat tour to see vibrant marine life. For more information on Hawaii, talk to your travel agent.

Yellowstone's "Bombs" get an upgrade

Visitors to Yellowstone National Park this winter will be able to experience the park in upgraded snowcoaches. Two new 14-passenger shuttle buses and one new 12-passenger ADA-accessible bus, all with tank—like rubber tracks over their tires for winter use, have joined the fleet. The park's historic Bombardier snowcoaches—called "Bombs" by their drivers—will also receive an upgrade, with new catalytic converters and fuel injection systems to bring them up to 21st-century standards of fuel efficiency.

The Bombardiers—10-passenger, bright yellow, dome-shaped snow vehicles—have been lumbering down Yellowstone's snow-covered roads for more than 50 years. The Bombardier snowcoach was born in 1922 in Valcourt, Canada, when 15-year-old Joseph-Armand Bombardier built a vehicle with four skis, a Ford engine and a rear-mounted propeller. In 1936 he created the first Bombardier B-7, designed to carry seven passengers. Many variations upon the design were constructed in the 1940s and 1950s, including extended models for 15 or 18 passengers. In 1959 Bombardier introduced the first open-cab machine for just one rider, called a Ski-Dog. A typo on a company memo produced the name Ski-Doo, which stuck.

In 1955, West Yellowstone residents Harold Young and Bill Nicholls received a permit from the National Park Service to begin winter touring operations in the park with two Bombardier R-12 snowcoaches. Today, snowcoach transportation and tours are available daily in winter to a variety of park locations. For more information about visiting Yellowstone National Park, talk to your travel agent.

Family lanes at airports

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has added family lanes to all airport security checkpoints. The lanes allow slower travelers-families, people carrying items that need additional screening, those unfamiliar with air travel procedures and travelers with special needs—to go through security at their own pace.

Those traveling with liquids, gels and aerosols within TSA's 3-1-1 limits (three-ounce containers that all fit into a single one-quart zip-lock bag) are not required to use the family lanes and will experience no change to their screening procedures. People carrying medically necessary liquids, gels and aerosols in excess of the three-ounce limits will be directed to the family lanes. Liquid explosives are still a relevant security concern to the TSA. Restrictions on liquids, gels and aerosols in carry-on luggage have been in place since August 2006, and will be reviewed by the fall of 2009.

For more information on checkpoint security, please visit www.tsa.gov.

Educational travel trends

According to a recent survey conducted by TripAdvisor, 73% of U.S. participants said they plan to visit a national park in 2009—up from 62% one year ago.

The survey also found that 36% of travelers plan to engage in an educational activity while on vacation in 2009 and 87% intend to visit an historic site. Both figures are up from 2008.

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