My summer trip

As a woman who really loves to travel all around the world during the summer, the truth is that I often end up wondering where I should go next and enjoy my summer vacations. In fact, this summer I am really looking forward to travel to Thailand so that I can discover a bit more about this fantastic country that really fascinates me with the amazing cultural diversity and the beautiful cities!

Keeping this in mind, I have already been doing some research and I found some amazing deals on Accor Hotels in Bangkok. Personally, I believe that Bangkok is definitely the city I am going to choose to spend some weeks during this summer because I really love the markets on the city, the nigh life in Bangkok, the botanical parks, the enormous gardens, etc! Furthermore, there are many other interesting attractions for me to see on the city but I would like to save some space for the surprise effect so I am going to travel without programming them in advance. In what relates to the Hotels and the amenities that I am getting in there, I would personally love to go to the spa and the relaxation massages so that I can recover some energy and get ready for a new year of work!

So, would you like to travel to the Asian Pacific this summer? If that’s the case, then you definitely need to visit the link above and see with your own eyes how incredible is the possibility of saving up to 60% when booking on-line between 23 - 29 June, for stays between July 10 and September 30, 2009. Could we really ask for more?

Recession is taking people to the zoo

When considering your favorite destinations in your own city, do the city zoo come to your mind as one of your favorite? Well, it may not be but the truth is that an increasing number of people are now taking the most out of the zoo because they can't affor a bigger travel as you will be able to witness by reading the msnbc.com article just below:

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CINCINNATI - To draw visitors, zoos count on gentle giraffes rolling out their long tongues to grasp treats, stingrays gliding through a pool to be petted and the playful tussling of tiger cubs. This year they're also getting help from the recession.

Zoos in cities including Cincinnati, St. Louis, Baltimore, Kansas City, Mo., and Memphis, Tenn., report higher attendance as consumers look for affordable entertainment closer to home.

"We are trying to be more careful in our spending, and this is a great way to do that and be with family," said Noelle Bragg, 42, of Springboro, about 35 miles from Cincinnati. "Gas prices are rising again, and we don't have to drive far to have a really good time."

Bragg, her son and nephew had just finished feeding a giraffe at the Cincinnati Zoo.

More than 58 percent of 120 members of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums responding to an April survey reported attendance increases year-over-year.

Attendance at the Cincinnati Zoo rose 34 percent — to more than 372,000 visitors — in the first five months of this year.

At the Saint Louis Zoo, which charges for some attractions but not admission, attendance jumped 13 percent to 1.2 million visitors as of June 4. The increase surprised zoo officials, who had planned for a potential drop in visitors because of major road construction.

While certain exhibits — such as Zoo Babies in Cincinnati and a rain forest exhibit in Kansas City — help push the numbers up, the bad economy also pushed visitors through the gates.

"It's difficult to know exactly, but we're speculating that the economy is a factor," said Eric Miller, senior vice president at the Saint Louis Zoo. "Also, when people are stressed, they seem to turn more to family events and entertainment. A lot of zoos saw an upturn after 9/11."

Zoos say memberships allowing unlimited visits annually and benefits such as discounts for special events are appealing to economy-minded consumers. The Cincinnati Zoo's household memberships were up more than 6 percent to about 47,000 by the end of May.

Sarah Anderson, of Cincinnati, her husband and 1-year-old son have visited the zoo six or seven times this year on their membership.

"If our son gets cranky, we can go home and not feel like we've wasted our money," Anderson, 26, said as she pushed her son in a stroller at the giraffe exhibit.

Attendance has grown even as some zoos deal with funding cuts.

The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore reports about the same number of visitors as last year but the 2009 season is shorter. The zoo closed longer this winter to offset state funding cuts and prevent staff reductions.

Attendance climbed to more then 54,000 in April — the first full month of operation — compared with nearly 48,000 last April, and family memberships were up about 10 percent, zoo spokeswoman Jane Ballentine said.

The Kansas City Zoo's budget was cut 20 percent last year, while attendance has increased about 32 percent over the first five months of 2008 and memberships are up about 8 percent. The zoo cut staff and is closing an hour earlier to help reduce labor costs.

The zoo is using the economy in its marketing.

"All our ads talk about the value of zoo visits to families," Director Randy Whistoff said.

Zoos say another financial attraction for consumers is that many zoos around the country honor each other's memberships with free or discounted admission.

General admission can range from $6 to more than $20 for adults and $3 to more than $15 for children depending on the zoo, but the average basic admission runs about $10 to $13 for adults and $6 to $8 for children, said Steve Feldman, spokesman for the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

Many zoos offer higher priced "best value" admissions that cover parking and admission to attractions that might not be covered by general admission. At the San Diego Zoo, a one-day "best value" ticket that includes unlimited use of zoo buses and an aerial tram costs $35 for adults and $26 for children.

While the Memphis Zoo also reported higher attendance — up 16 percent to more than 410,000 — the Denver Zoo and the North Carolina Zoo are tracking about the same as last year. Officials say that's still good news amid continual weekend storms in Denver and concern about natural falloff from the high turnout for last year's debut of a new elephant and rhino exhibit.

"We're happy that we're holding our own when a lot of other attractions are losing attendance," said North Carolina Zoo spokesman Tom Gillespie. "We seem to be getting more local people staying closer to home this year."

If there's a downside for zoos, it may be in visitors' spending once they arrive.

"We've seen a little softening on the gift side of concessions and more conservative spending on private parties and company picnics," said Denver Zoo spokeswoman Ana Bowie. "I think people are trying to be more frugal."

Bragg's mother appreciates the chance to keep the wallet closed once through the gates.

"You don't have to spend anything extra if don't want to. You can even bring your own snacks," said Virginia Giron, of Centerville. She brings her daughters, grandchildren and great-grandchildren to the Cincinnati Zoo on her annual membership, which cost about $150.

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Finding the best electrician services

When considering the things that I love the most in my life, my house is definitely one of them! As a matter of fact, I really do my best in order to make sure that my house is always maintained with the best gardening and electrician services, so that I can feel confident about my house whenever I invite someone to dinner in my house.

Keeping this in mind, it took me years to find reliable, high quality and guaranteed electrician services in my area but I personally believe that I finally found the ideal Atlanta Electrician services, as you will be able to witness when you visit the website to which I have linked just above. Moreover, all those electrician services are provided by experienced electricians who have already deal with a wide range of situations in their jobs, making sure that they will also be able to solve any problem that you may find at home too!

So, do you live in Atlanta and are you looking for specialized services in safety inspections, site lighting, generators, new wiring, pole setting and ceiling fan installation amongst many others? If that’s the case, then I am sure that you will benefit from a visit to the website to which I have linked above and the great and high quality services provided by the company.

Museum celebrates the life of Walt Disney

Who has never heard about Walt Disney and his creations? Well, I am sure that we have all grown up watching his movies and discovering the adventures of Mickey Mouse and many other amazing characters that we know from the series! Keeping this in mind, a museum is now honoring the life of the man who started it all as you may discover by reading the msnbc.com article just below:

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SAN FRANCISCO - He's the reason adults of a certain age can't stop themselves from finishing the song line beginning "M-I-C-K-E-Y," the force causing untold legions to see marching mops when they hear the rousing strains of "The Sorcerer's Apprentice."

But the story of Walt Disney the man sometimes gets forgotten in the telling of his legend. Descendants of the 20th-century innovator hope to fix that disconnect with The Walt Disney Family Museum, opening this fall in San Francisco.

"My dad's story is an inspirational story," Disney's daughter, Diane Disney Miller, said. "I want people to understand his character and how he pursued his career."

And have fun.

"Our museum will be entertaining," she said. "That's what dad was all about."

Since Disney's death at 65 in 1966, some of the coverage of the man behind the mouse hasn't been the happiest thing on Earth, starting with the oddly persistent falsehood that his body was cryogenically frozen. He was cremated and buried.

Meanwhile, the icon has become so distinct from the person that some younger people think "Walt Disney" is a made-up corporate character, said Richard Benefield, founding executive director of the new museum.

Even for those who know, the story can get confused.

"People remember very specific things about Walt and it's bits and pieces and you don't necessarily remember them in a collective way," Benefield said.

Seeing Disney's work in one place — the cutting-edge animation, the theme parks, the technological advancements — "the order of magnitude is pretty outstanding," he said.

Still under construction, with an opening date of Oct. 1, the museum will feature 10 galleries, starting with Disney's beginnings on a Missouri farm. Among the artifacts is the form on which a 16-year-old Disney lied about his age (changing his birth date from 1901 to 1900) to train as a Red Cross ambulance driver in World War I France; he arrived as the war ended. Exhibits include listening stations and more than 200 video monitors as well as interactive displays.

The museum consists of three historic buildings that have been redesigned and upgraded by Page & Turnbull of San Francisco, with interior architecture and installations by the Rockwell Group. It is set in the Presidio, a former Army base with sweeping views of the Golden Gate Bridge. That puts it, said Benefield, "in the center of the animation universe right now" with Lucasfilm Ltd. to the north and Pixar to the east.

Across the San Francisco Bay, Pixar co-founder John Lasseter is delighted about the new venture.

"Not only will it be a great illustration of Walt's life and career, but also his impact on entertainment and the medium of animation," said Lasseter, who studied under former Disney artists at the California Institute for the Arts, where he earned a film degree, and worked as a Disney animator early in his career. "I really think it will become one of the must-see places in San Francisco."

Exhibits highlight Disney innovations from synchronizing sound to a cartoon to fully capitalizing on the marvels of Technicolor to developing the multiplane camera to add depth to "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," which was dubbed "Disney's folly" until it opened to wild acclaim.

The Oscar statuettes — one full size and seven little ones — awarded to that film will be on display. In all, Disney won a record 32 Academy Awards.

"His ideas were way beyond what was being done in Hollywood. He kept pushing the technology of animation and that is something that at Pixar we've always been doing as well," notes Lasseter, chief creative officer of Pixar and Disney Animation Studios.

(The Walt Disney Co. bought Pixar in 2006. The Disney Co. is collaborating on the project, but the $110 million museum, co-founded by Miller and her son Walter E.D. Miller, is an independent project fully funded by the Walt Disney Family Foundation.)

The story of Walt Disney is one of lows as well as highs and Benefield said the museum won't shy away from the former. "We're just putting it out there," he said.

After the success of "Snow White," the movie "Fantasia" (1940) got mixed reviews — years later it would become a success — and nearly bankrupted the studio. Then came a strike at Disney Studios followed by the war years when the company was essentially taken over by the military. The museum will deal with the strike, which was bitter, and includes Disney's testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee.

Although it's not finished yet, what looks to be a visually arresting feature of the museum deals with Disney's fascination with trains, a hobby that eventually led him to create Disneyland. Visitors walking down a spiral ramp will pass a track suspended from the roof holding the "Lilly Belle," the 1/8 scale-model train Disney ran on a half-mile track around his home.

Disneyland would become the model of a modern theme park. It was also the place where a young Lasseter learned comic timing, telling "wonderful bad jokes" as a captain of the Jungle Cruise ride.

"What is so great about this museum is really teaching people about the man behind the name, the man behind all this great work," Lasseter says. "What I'm so excited about is for people to learn how creative this guy was and what an innovator he was."

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