Museums & Attractions
- Opening in summer 2012, the Dinos Alive exhibit at Sandusky, Ohio’s Cedar Point amusement park will include 50 life-size animatronic dinosaurs that will roar and move. The largest of which, the Ruyangosaurus, will stand nearly 40 feet tall and 72 feet long. The exhibit was produced by Dinosaurs Unearthed, a travelling exhibition company that creates prehistoric dinosaur experiences at museums, science centers and zoos around the world and will cost approximately $1 million to build. The attraction will offer special group rates. For more information, visit www.cedarpoint.com.
- The 79-acre Missouri Botanical Gardens will welcome the 12-week Lantern Festival: Art by Day, Magic by Night exhibition this spring. The festival features 26 larger-than-life lanterns from China. Made of silk and steel, the installations vary from lotus flowers to terracota warriors and will be illuminated each night. On display in the U.S. for the first time, the exhibit runs May 26 through August 19 and highlights the ancient tradition of lantern-making. As 2012 is the Chinese Year of the Dragon, a 137-foot long dragon will welcome visitors at the entrance to the gardens. For more information, call 314.577.5100 or visit www.mobot.org/lanternfestival.
Destination Dispatch
- Wisconsin’s former Hotel Sierra Green Bay changed its name to Hyatt on Main in November. The 241-room hotel has 17 meeting spaces and adjoins the 43,630-square-foot KI Convention Center. For more information, call 920.432.4555 or visit www.greenbay.hyatt.com.
Kudos
- Hilton hopes to send 1 million bars of soap to countries in need next year through a new partnership with Global Soap Project, which sorts, filters and remolds leftover soap into 4-ounce bars and sends them to developing countries in an effort to promote hygiene and sanitation. The Global Soap Project partners with 300 hotels throughout the country and has distributed more than 25 tons of soap to vulnerable communities in 15 countries since 2009. Hilton will also donate $1.3 million to the project over the next three years, allowing them to purchase more processing equipment and increase their weekly soap output from 10,000 bars to 50,000. For more information, visit www.globalsoap.org.