Park reverses outside bottle ban

Park reverses outside bottle ban

ORLANDO, Fla.

Universal Orlando Resort is reversing its policy of banning bottled drinks from being brought into its theme parks from the outside.

Universal spokesman Tom Schroder said last week that the theme park resort has gone back to its original policy of allowing outside drinks like bottled water into the parks.

The outside-drink ban was short-lived, only lasting several days.

Schroder says the ban was intended to be temporary as the resort reviewed its procedures.

Universal in the past had allowed visitors to bring in small snacks and water.

Cruise ship to sail Great Lakes in July

SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich.

As hard as it may be to imagine the nearly ice-covered Great Lakes as a Caribbean-like cruise ship destination, that’s just what they’ll be when summer comes to the world’s largest fresh water system.

Great Lakes Cruise Co. says it will begin offering itineraries between Montreal and Chicago in July on the M.S. Saint Laurent.

The ship has 105 staterooms, considerably smaller than many of the mega-vessels that cruise the Caribbean because of size limitations imposed by the Great Lakes’ lock system.

The company says the Saint Laurent leaves Montreal July 5, with stops that include Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario It’s to arrive July 14 in Chicago.

Geography quiz

Q. Vancouver, British Columbia, is at roughly the same latitude as the capital of which tiny European country?

A. Luxembourg. Luxembourg City and Vancouver sit at about 49 degrees north latitude. The entire country is just under 1,000 square miles.

Park ends public dolphin feedings

ORLANDO, Fla.

Guests at SeaWorld’s theme park in Orlando, Fla., will no longer be allowed to feed the dolphins.

Visitors in the Dolphin Cove area recently were still able to touch and pet any dolphins that approached them, but the park was no longer selling $7 trays of fish to entice the aquatic mammals.

Starting this month, guests will be able to buy 10-minute packages — starting at $15 a person — that include touching the dolphins and having photos taken with them under a trainer’s supervision.

A SeaWorld spokeswoman told the Orlando Sentinel that the new program is similar to popular ones in SeaWorld’s San Diego and San Antonio parks.

Combined dispatches