Vacations Blog

There’s about to be more magic in Orlando.

Universal Orlando Resort and Warner Bros. have finally revealed the “first-ever details about the incredible scope of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.”  Not the least of which is that the land will open in spring 2010.  That’s soon!
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter will be an addition to Universal’s Islands of Adventure park, which is already AWESOME (it’s all Marvel characters though, which leads me to wonder what talks are underway between Universal and Marvel’s new owner Disney).  The Spider-Man ride alone is worth the price of admission.

And the Dr. Suess stuff.

Harry Potter’s new land is obviously based upon the stories and characters of J.K. Rowling and promises to remain “faithful to the visual landscapes of the films.” Read More »

Oh, the places you’ll go!
There is fun to be done!
There are points to be scored.
There are games to be won.

Dr. Seuss (Theodore Seuss Geisel), Oh, The Places You’ll Go! (1990)

The Grinch and Max

It starts earlier every year. The Christmas sales. The Christmas music. The Christmas decorations. By the day after Thanksgiving, we’ve all given in to Black Friday sales, twenty-four hours of Christmas music, and planning nonstop until December twenty-fifth.

One thing that’s usually welcome amid all the holiday chaos (at least for families with kids) is Christmas specials on TV. Santa. Rudolph. Frosty. Even the Grinch is welcome this time of year.

The Grinch of course was created by Dr. Seuss in How the Grinch Stole Christmas, one of the forty-four books Theodore Geisel wrote under the pen name Dr. Seuss. Geisel became such a well-known author that his books (from 1937’s And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street to 1990’s Oh, The Places You’ll Go!) have been translated into over twenty languages. Geisel also won a Pulitzer Prize, three Academy awards, and his works have provided the material and inspiration for television specials, Hollywood films, and a Broadway musical.

The Cat in the Hat watching over his creator, Dr. Seuss

For true fans of Dr. Seuss, a vacation to New England wouldn’t be complete without visiting the Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden in Geisel’s hometown of Springfield, Massachusetts. Located in a quadrangle of museums, the bronze works were sculpted by Geisel’s step-daughter, Lark Grey Dimond-Cates, for the Springfield Library & Museums Association. Among the characters in the quad are Horton the Elephant, Sam-I-Am, Yertle the Turtle, the Grinch with his dog Max, and the Cat in the Hat looking over Dr. Seuss himself.

The Sculpture Garden is accessible year-round. The adjacent Springfield Museums are the George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum, the Springfield Science Museum, the Connecticut Valley Historical Museum, and the Museum of Fine Arts. Hours and admission fees for the museums are available at the Springfield Museum website.