Universal Orlando extends package deal

Universal Orlando extends package deal

ORLANDO — Universal Orlando Resort has extended a deal allowing families to book a three-night package and receive two additional nights free. Packages begin at $689 and include accommodations at a hotel near Universal and unlimited theme park admission to both Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure.

The package can be booked until March 29 for stays any time between now and Oct. 8.

Guests can also upgrade to one of three on-site AAA Four Diamond hotels at Universal, with packages starting at $1,144. In addition, guests of the Loews Portofino Bay Hotel, Hard Rock Hotel and Loews Royal Pacific Resort receive free Universal Express access, which allows them to skip the regular lines at most theme park attractions.

For more information, visit www.universalorlando.com.

Grand Canyon gift shop now a visitor center

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — A century-old gift shop at the popular South Rim of the Grand Canyon has been converted into a visitor center that incorporates the building’s history.

The family-owned Verkamp’s Curios gift shop closed in September after operating at the Grand Canyon since 1906.

The closure ended the Verkamp family’s three-generation run at the canyon that began with its patriarch’s selling souvenirs out of a tent in 1898.

Now the Verkamp’s Visitor Center has displays that explain what it’s like to live at the Grand Canyon and the Verkamp family history.

Freedom Museum to close location

CHICAGO — The McCormick Freedom Museum will close its location on Chicago’s Michigan Avenue and instead take its displays on the road.

McCormick Foundation officials said it would shutter the 10,000-square-foot museum located in the Tribune Tower on March 1.

The $10 million museum opened in April 2006 to help visitors understand freedoms with a special focus on the First Amendment.

Museum officials say they have hosted 200,000 visitors over three years. They say 100,000 of those visitors came last year after they dropped the $5 admission fee.

Foundation president David Grange says losing the permanent location is a disappointment but that the decision to go mobile is more cost effective.

Columbia Gorge Hotel closes after 78 years

HOOD RIVER, Ore. — The Columbia Gorge Hotel, a grand Mediterranean-style hotel built in 1921, has closed.

The owners, Boyd and Halla Graves, were quoted in The Oregonian newspaper as saying that they have health problems, a $4 million mortgage, no financing and no sales prospects.

The 39-room hotel was built as the “Waldorf of the West” and was known for its Sunday brunches.

Guests could stroll by the top of a 208-foot-tall waterfall that cascades into the gorge.

Over the years those who stayed there included Rudolph Valentino, Shirley Temple, Calvin Coolidge and Franklin Roosevelt.

Associated Press