Cypress Gardens park in Florida to become Legoland

Legoland will open a new park in Florida in 2011 on the site of the old Cypress Gardens attraction, which closed last fall. Merlin Entertainments, the owner and operator of Legoland, said Legoland Florida would include resort facilities with accommodations, along with more than 50 rides, shows and other attractions, including Lego models and interactive [...]

Lenders threaten to auction Whistler ski resort

The Whistler ski resort, home to next month’s Olympic downhill, could be auctioned off in the middle of the Games after creditors moved to auction off the assets of Intrawest LLC. A public notice of foreclosure has been posted in newspapers by the company’s lenders, which include Lehman Brothers and Davidson Kempner Capital Management, saying [...]

Universal Studios resort in South Korea to open in 2014

Developers of a Universal Studios theme park and resort in South Korea said Tuesday the project is slated to open in early 2014 after being delayed by the global financial crisis. Plans for Universal Studios Korea Resort, billed as the largest such Universal project in Asia, were originally announced in May 2007 amid hopes it [...]

Plan a winter weekend in Big Sky

You know you’re in Big Sky, Montana, when: 1. You have the slopes to yourself Big Sky may not share the glory of the glitzy resort towns in Colorado and Utah, but with more snow and open space, this undersung skiing nirvana can rest on its own laurels. From the top of 11,166-foot Lone Peak [...]

Winter travel may be picking up as economy thaws

Some people look at the stock market while others scan the latest unemployment figures. But Rob DeRocker has an unusual barometer for measuring the strength of the American economy. He calls it “Dianna’s Fancy.” Dianna’s Fancy is a 1,700 square foot condo in St. Croix, Virgin Islands. Each winter, DeRocker rents the condo out to [...]

Skiing East vs West: It’s not just ice vs powder

Long before settling amid the soaring peaks of southwestern Colorado, where she helped create a ski experience unlike any other in North America, Jen Brill learned to carve turns on blue ice at some of the better known ski resorts in the East. “I remember seeing sheets of ice for hundreds of feet and just [...]

Southern skiers reveling in snow blast

Skiers in North Carolina have an unusual treat this year: The Blue Ridge Mountains are dressed in winter white from an early snowstorm coating native rhododendrons in iridescent crystal ice and creating a solid base on the slopes. The ski resorts and snow guns are going full bore. The largest and best known ski areas [...]