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Tags: Big Things / Australia Travel / → All Tags
Beware The Big Penguin
Australia’s obsession with Big Things--over-sized oranges, frogs and bananas spring to mind--is something we still don't understand, but we somehow adore. So we're sending sympathy down to Tasmania where they're going through a Big Thing crisis.
The problem is that someone's suggested the Big Penguin on Tasmania's northwest coast might be made from deadly asbestos. While some headlines scream "Penguin poisoned thousands," the real story is simply that they're doing some testing. If it turns out there's truth to the asbestos rumor, they'll have to consider removing the penguin.
But never fear: The Big Penguin would be replaced. Remember, Australia really, really loves its Big Things. And maybe while they're at it they could make it a bigger Big Penguin?
Related Stories:
· Asbestos Scare Prompts Big Penguin Test [ABC]
· Big Things coverage [Jaunted]
· Tasmania Travel coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: michalki]
Tags: Publicity Stunts / Cruises / Carnival Cruises / Big Things / Videos / → All Tags
Carnival's Piñata Breaks Record, Doesn't Break Open
After having a ball in Dallas, Carnival Cruise Lines brought its outsized publicity machine to Philadelphia this weekend, with an attempt at the record for world's largest piñata. While the company did get a Guinness nod, Carnival postponed the actual smashing of the burro because of "safety concerns." What an enormous let down!
Still, smart of the cruise line to not endanger the dental and overall health of the more than 10,000 people who showed up to watch the piñata meet its fate--and get a share of 8,000 pounds of candy.
The piñata will eventually get what's coming to it, though: Carnival promises the smashing will be part of a new ad campaign hyping its enormous ships. When exactly will filming commence? Carnival hasn't set a date.
Related Stories:
· Carnival Breaks Record for World’s Largest Piñata [Official Site]
· Carnival Hyping Enormous Ships With Enormous Gimmicks [Jaunted]
Tags: Publicity Stunts / Cruises / Carnival Cruises / Big Things / Videos / → All Tags
Carnival Hyping Enormous Ships With Enormous Gimmicks
If your cruise line boasts a 3,006 passenger vessel so big it can't transit the Panama Canal, it would make sense that your publicity stunts involve big things. Carnival Cruise Lines took two record-breaking, 36-foot-wide beach balls to the streets of Dallas recently, dropping them off buildings into a crowd of thousands.
Next up is a piñata smashing in the streets of Philadelphia on November 2. The six-story candy carrier will be suspended above the intersection of South Broad Street and Washington Avenue and destroyed with a wrecking ball. Carnival will be filming the fun for a commercial, as 8,000 pounds of sweets shower the crowd.
Related Stories:
· Possible Phillies Parade Displaced by Giant Piñata [Philly Edge, via]
· Cruises coverage [Jaunted]
Tags: Weird / Big Things / → All Tags
Weird Travel: Connecticut Gets World's Largest Jack-in-the-Box
One sure-fire way for flyover towns to put themselves on the tourism map is to create the largest ____ in the world. Doesn't matter what it is, as long as it's the largest. Texas is better at this than most states--and Australia has loads of big things--but lowly Connecticut is getting in on the game with the world's largest jack-in-the-box.
The super toy belongs to Bill Ziegler, known to residents of Middletown, Connecticut as the town's most notable eccentric, the owner of Wild Bill's Nostalgia Center.
Wild Bill just happened to have a 600-pound clown head and a 33-foot silo both lying around unused, so really, what else was he going to do with them? Bill explains how his monstrous creation should change the face of Middletown:
Tags: Dubai Travel / Buildings / Big Things / → All Tags
World Record Travel: Dubai Tower to Break Own Record
We are kind of over Dubai and its endless artificial constructions. And we're wondering, if you've already built the world's tallest building, why would you feel the need to go and build yet another one?
In case we're missing something, we thought we should let you know that the new one will be called the Nakheel Tower, and with 200 floors it'll reach something like two-thirds of a mile into the sky--the kind of building even Superman probably can't leap over. It'll take at least ten years to build the Nakheel--and the forty "small" 90-floor towers that will surround it.
Given that world bragging rights for tallest towers are apparently pretty valuable, the developers won't say exactly how high it'll be... only that it'll be more than 3,281 feet. Perhaps whoever guesses the correct height wins a jar of jellybeans?
Related Stories:
· Dubai Plans to Top Its World's Tallest Tower [Fox News]
· The Incredible Morphing Skyscraper [Jaunted]
· Dubai Screaming Out for More Bridges [Jaunted]
[Photo: Michael Foley]
Tags: Big Things / Australia Travel / → All Tags
Big Things Travel: The Big Orange Auction Is Coming
Remember how we mentioned that the future of Australia's Big Orange was bleak? You can all breathe a sigh of relief because it seems like there's a solution--but not one to please citrus fruit lovers.
The Big Orange (and the land and water around it) is up for auction on October 29, and one idea being kicked around is that the Big Orange could be turned into the Big Golf Ball. Liquidator Des Munro came up with the idea, saying:
I think that could be an icon for the area because that area's such a mecca for golfing people.
It'll be at least a month before we know the Big Orange's fate. And then it might be goodbye to one Aussie tourist icon, and hello to an even stranger one.
Related Stories:
· Big Golf Ball Suggested as Landmark [ABC]
· Big Orange Not Big Money-Spinner [Jaunted]
· Big Things coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: thepurpleempire]
Tags: Australia Travel / Big Things / Animals / → All Tags
Big Animal Travel: Battle Over Big Frog Down Under
All around Australia you'll find odd big things, like the Big Banana or the Big Potato, and this year the town of Yungaburra in Queensland has added another: a Big Frog.
But it's proving controversial. A local artist made the giant sculpture for the top of the local Frog's Takeaway and gas station complex, and now the council says it's not approved and must be taken down.
Plenty of Yungaburra residents support the frog--fair enough, in a town where there are more frogs than people--but we have to wait and see whether or not we can add it to our list of Big Stuff to see in Australia.
Related Stories:
· Town Fights to Keep Its Big Frog [news.com.au]
· Big Things Coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: Cairns Post]
Tags: Dubai Travel / Attractions / Big Things / Fountains / → All Tags
"Breaking" News: More Zany Stuff Coming to Dubai
The emirate known for ridiculous stuff, Dubai, will soon be home to one of the world's biggest fountains. It's going up in front of the Burj Dubai and is slated to be finished by 2009.
The as-yet-unnamed fountain will be 25 percent larger than the one in front of the Bellagio in Las Vegas; that makes it 900 feet long with jets that shoot water more than 500 feet in the air. Like the massive fountain in Vegas, this one will feature a light and sound show timed to the water.
There is even a contest open to name the fountain--though it's only open to UAE residents. If that includes you, enter your idea here for a shot at $27,000.
Related Stories:
· Emaar Brings Water, Light, Music Spectacle to Burj Dubai [Official Site, via]
· Dubai Travel coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: Diario del Viajero]
Tags: Hotels / Luxury Travel / Donald Trump / Dubai Travel / Big Things / → All Tags
Trouble over Trump Burj Knockoff
The developers of the Trump Ocean Club in Panama City just obtained a protective order against Dubai's Jumeirah Group from a Panamanian court. The Ocean Clubbers say they've faced "veiled threats of legal action" from the Middle Eastern luxury hotel chain because Jumeirah feels that Trump's new $220 million tower copies the design of their flagship Burj Al Arab in Dubai.
The Trump Ocean Club, pictured at right, does look a lot like the Burj, at left, but you'd think Jumeirah would be flattered. The Burj Al Arab's sail-style construction has been described by critics as the "pinnacle of tackiness," so it's no surprise that Trump would admire the design. Besides, it's not like the Trump folks copied the Burj's amazing rooftop tennis court.
Jumeirah hasn't tried to sue yet, and we doubt they actually will: This whole thing smells like a Trump publicity stunt. Selling your place as a Burj knockoff is probably a lot easier than getting mega-rich tourists excited about Panama City.
Related Stories:
· Trump Ocean Club [Official Site]
· Trump Project in Panama Goes to Court [IHT]
· Trump Tower Developer Gets Order of Protection [La Prensa]
[Photo: IHT]
Tags: Big Things / Australia Travel / → All Tags
Big Orange Not Big Money-Spinner
If you travel around Australia and order an orange juice on the way, the chances are good that at some stage you'll be drinking Berri. This famous brand of juice is backed up by one of those ridiculously over-sized food sculptures the Aussies are renowned for: That's right, near the town of Berri, you can visit the Big Orange.
That is, you can at the moment. But the Big Orange, one of Australia's most recognized big things, is under threat. Apparently numerous owners in the past decades have struggled to attract enough visitors to the South Australian town to make running the Big Orange worthwhile; the current owner is thinking of selling.
There are a few ideas in the pipeline: There's one potential buyer who's considering moving the Big Orange to a more profitable site. Perhaps even a Jaunted reader with a spare A$100,000 (that's less than $95,000) could be the new owner of the Big Orange? You'd have to be ripe for a few juicy jokes though.
Related Stories:
· Big Orange May Find New Home [ABC]
· Big Banana Just Got Bigger [Jaunted]
· Koalas--Scary When Big [Jaunted]
[Photo: joshnunn]
Tags: Turkmenistan / Monuments / Attractions / Big Things / → All Tags
Turkmenistan Plans to Move Dead-President Tower
Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
--P B Shelley, "Ozymandias"
Not even a giant self-portrait in sculpture can assure immortality, as fans of the late president of Turkmenistan are discovering. Saparmurat Niyazov's reign as president for life abruptly ended in 2006 with his death, and now a 246-foot-tall tower with a rotating gold statue of him at the top is facing exile from the center of the capital city of Ashgabat, says Reuters.
The new president's rationale for moving the tower, known as the Arch of Neutrality, is that it belongs on Neutrality Avenue, in the south of the city. But it's hard not to see the symbolism of removing a very prominent statue of the man who called himself "Turkmenbashi," or "Leader of all Turkmen," marking the final chapter of his 21-year reign.
Related Stories:
· Turkmenistan to Move Gold Statue [Reuters]
· Ding-Dong! The Dictator's Dead! [Jaunted]
· Turkmenistan: It's Not Kazakhstan [Jaunted]
[Photo: lonebiker2007]
Tags: Dubai Travel / Attractions / Big Things / Legoland / Wendy Perrin / → All Tags
Legoland Coming to Dubai
Oh, hell yes. Legoland is coming to Dubai. Now we finally have a reason to go!
Given that recent developments include bridges and a replica of a French city, it's about time for something more appealing to the kids--and those of us who act like kids. The new park, scheduled to open by 2011, will have just about everything you want:
Similar to the existing four Legoland Parks at Billund, Denmark; Germany; Windsor and California, Legoland Dubailand [will feature] more than 40 interactive...kid-powered rides, cool building challenges, spectacular Lego models, interactive attractions, family-friendly coasters and shows.
Now the only drama is figuring out how you'll get your kids to behave on the long-haul to Dubai. Lucikly, mom-travel expert Wendy Perrin has some tips on that.
Related Stories:
· New Legoland Park in Dubai [Press Release, via]
· On Holiday with Lego Blocks [Jaunted]
· Prepare for the New Lyon (Not in France) [Jaunted]
[Photo of Legoland Windsor: garybembridge]
