Kalahari Resort adds entertainment features

Kalahari Resort adds entertainment features

WISCONSIN DELLS, Wis. — A six-story Ferris wheel, multilevel go-cart track, carousel and laser tag are all part of a $20 million, 110,000-square-foot addition at the Kalahari Resort in the Wisconsin Dells.

The Indoor Theme Park expansion comes as Kalahari says it is experiencing an uptick in regional travel.

The new addition also has 24 lanes of bowling, an 18-hole miniature golf course, climbing walls, private party rooms and a sports bar.

Admission for the indoor park is $19.95 for resort guests and $29.95 for others.

For more information, visit www.kalahariresorts.com.

Dominican Republic offers free subway rides

SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO — The Dominican Republic is offering free rides as it unveils a controversial new subway system.

Transportation official Diandino Pena says 10 trains with the capacity to carry 650 people each will run for a test period of two weeks before officials temporarily halt the service to make adjustments for traffic and demand as needed.

President Leonel Fernandez has been criticized for spending more than $710 million to build the country’s first subway line even as a quarter of the population lives in poverty.

Obama family rents home in Hawaii for holiday

KAILUA, Hawaii — The Obama family rented an oceanfront home for their Christmas holiday vacation in a laid-back neighborhood over the mountain from downtown Honolulu where the president-elect grew up.

The five-bedroom wooden-frame house sits on almost an acre of land fronting Kailua Beach. The white sand in front of the house is public land, just like all beaches under state law.

The home was originally built in 1934 for Harold K.L. Castle, the landowner who developed much of Kailua after World War II. It was renovated in 2005.

Photographs from a 2007 real estate listing show a stone-encircled swimming pool and an open-air sitting room with views of a grassy lawn and the ocean. City tax records show a Houston man bought the property in 2008 for $9 million.

New Encore Vegas site has theme of Sinatra

LAS VEGAS — Entrepreneur Steve Wynn has opened a new $2.3 billion resort and casino in Las Vegas called Encore, with an Italian restaurant themed on the late crooner Frank Sinatra.

The restaurant, which is named for the singer, has Sinatra memorabilia and photos of him on display.

Sinatra’s daughter Tina said the family had rejected similar plans from 12 restaurateurs.

She said they agreed to Wynn’s proposal because “he was his friend, and he loves and protects us.”

Wynn and Sinatra worked together and were friends in the early ’80s, when Sinatra sang for Wynn at the Golden Nugget hotel-casinos in Las Vegas and Atlantic City, N.J. The public caught glimpses of the pair’s relationship through a series of humorous commercials promoting the Nugget casinos. Wynn was usually the butt of jokes, treated as a bellhop or other low-level employee by Sinatra.

For more information, visit www.encorelasvegas.com.

Associated Press