Maritime Museum to offer workshops

Maritime Museumto offer workshops
The Maritime Museum of Sandusky will host two workshops in November.
Glen Bernhardt, a wildlife biologist with the National Wildlife Research Center, will present an "ordinary things" workshop about birds, animals and nature on Lake Erie at 1 p.m. Nov. 2 at the museum.
Meanwhile, Virginia Neuman will speak about the history of the Neuman Boat Line at 1 p.m. Nov. 16 in the museum. The boat line includes the Endeavor and the Challenger, which have carried thousands of people to and from Kelleys Island for many years.
To make seating reservations call (419) 624-0274.
The 7,500-square-fool museum is at 125 Meigs St. across from Battery Park in downtown Sandusky.
Walt Disney Worldoffers ticket deals
In an unusual step, Walt Disney World said it would offer discounts to those who buy certain multiday park passes in advance instead of waiting until they get to the gates.
The "advance purchase savings" program was begun in September for select Park Hopper, Park Hopper Plus and Ultimate Park Hopper tickets. For instance, a 4-Day Park Hopper for visitors 10 or older is $199 if purchased at the gate; in advance, the pass is $192, for a savings of 3.5 percent. The 5-Day Park Hopper for the same age group is $229 at the gate, $217 in advance, a savings of about 5 percent.
While those savings may not seem large, they are unusual in that Disney World has seldom offered discounting directly to its guests.
Most ticket discounting usually comes through preferred suppliers -- big-volume travel agencies such as AAA and American Express -- able to provide small discounts as part of packages. A few online brokers offer similar savings.
The discount program is intended to attract visitors to the Disney theme parks, whose attendance declined after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. This year, Disney cited attendance as the reason for forgoing its usual spring increase in admission prices.
Discounted passes can be purchased online at www.disneyworld.com; over the phone by calling (407) 934-7639, or through travel agents. Park Hopper passes allow holders to move freely among Disney World's four big theme parks and related attractions. Descriptions of the passes can be found on the Web site.
New resort and spais anything but typical
At first glance, the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort & amp; Spa, opened recently in the high desert 11 miles southeast of the Phoenix airport, seems be a typical resort hotel: 500 guest rooms, two 18-hole golf courses, four swimming pools, four restaurants and, of course, a large spa.
But the $170 million project, which sprawls over 1,200 acres, is unusual because it is on an Indian reservation, includes an equestrian center and celebrates the culture of its owners, the Pima and Maricopa peoples, who together form the Gila River Indian Community.
The building's artwork is by Native Americans, and educational programs focus on their culture. A boat ferries guests from the hotel to the resort's golf courses and the Wild Horse Pass Casino along a 21/2-mile re-creation of the region's Gila River, lined with indigenous plants.
Introductory room rates, through Jan. 7, start at $179, subject to availability. Regular published rates range from $99 to $550, depending on the season.
For more information, call (602) 225-0100 or visit www.sheraton.com/wildhorsepass.
Railroad museumhas Disney's train
A 1/8-scale model train that once steamed around the back yard of Walt Disney's Holmby Hills, Calif., estate is featured in "The Happiest Train on Earth," opened recently at the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento.
The exhibit, running through March 31, focuses on the entertainment magnate's fascination with rail, which helped inspire the design of Disneyland. Celebrities such as actress Mary Pickford and artist Salvador Dali rode or ran Disney's home train, which included a caboose he handcrafted, along 2,615 feet of track and tunnels.
Also at the museum through September 2003 is a preview exhibit of more than 100 toy train cars and other objects selected from thousands donated by the family of former San Diego bank executive Thomas W. Sefton. Highlights include a rare 1930s Lionel Transcontinental Limited train set and a Buddy L outdoor railroad -- a "push train" made in the 1920s and '30s that ran on back yard tracks.
The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Admission is $3 for adults, free to ages 16 and under.
For more information, call (916) 445-6645 or visit www.californiastaterailroadmuseum.org on the Web.
Toy Hall of Famemoves to Rochester
SALEM, Ore. (AP) -- Goodbye Barbie. See ya Slinky. So long Silly Putty. Wear a hat Mister Potato Head.
You're all headed to Rochester N.Y., the new home of the National Toy Hall of Fame.
That city's Strong Museum purchased the Hall of Fame from A.C. Gilbert's Discovery Village in Salem, where it has been since 1998.
"There is a sense of loss, but at the same time we know the Toy Hall of Fame, the National Toy Hall of Fame, will be able to reach its potential at the Strong Museum," says Pam Vorachek, executive director of Discovery Village.
In its new location, the Hall of Fame will be a gateway attraction for a $26 million wing opening at the Rochester museum in 2005.
Salem's Hall of Fame was founded in 1998 by Ed Sobey, an author and educator who was Discovery Village's interim director at the time.
Children from throughout the country each year are asked to submit nominations for their favorite toy. A selection committee of local and national educators, civic leaders and toy industry representatives picked the toys to be inducted and displayed.
A total of 26 playthings have been honored, ranging from the Erector Set the first year to the jigsaw puzzle this year.
But the Hall of Fame never became the tourist draw that organizers had hoped.
"It got a huge amount of attention once a year, but it didn't drive attendance the rest of the year," Vorachek says.
Tallest airport tower
Orlando, Fla.'s airport may be only the 34th-busiest in the nation in terms of air traffic, but it now is No. 1 in a more visible category -- it has the tallest air-traffic-control tower. Late this month, the Federal Aviation Administration will dedicate a new Orlando tower that rises 345 feet, 126 feet higher than the old one. Among the country's other tallest towers are those in Miami, at 320 feet, and Denver and Houston, at about 300 feet. Tall towers are the order at many big airports, said FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen, because controllers must be able to see over other airport development or potential construction that might obstruct the view.
Combined dispatches