Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Vacation Theme Continued

Foreign Policy has a list of some of interesting vacation destinations: the world's worst theme parks:
  1. Grutas Park in Lituania: experience a gulag, have some nasty borscht (is there any other kind?), and soak in the Stalinism (the kind before Obama turned it into a fine art).  The kids get to ride the Gulag train.  
  2. Shijingshan Amusement Park in Beijing. "blatant example of Beijing's disregard for intellectual property" or a celebration of China's expertise in 21st century piracy?  You make the call.  "A near replica of Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle graces the center of the park, and visitors are greeted by costumed employees in stuffed Donald Duck and Minnie Mouse outfits. Lawyers for the Walt Disney Co. complained back in 2007, but these rip-off artists don't pick favorites: Among the rides are Jurassic Adventure and Spinning Batman roller coasters. Given the legal wranglings, it's not surprising that the owners have taken down the website. It's a shame, as the URL (www.bs-amusement-park.com) really hit the nail on the head."
  3. Love Land, South Korea.  Honeymoon destination for a country with a very low birthrate, apparently.  It turns out that the loss of Sun and Jin might have been far more traumatic for the future of South Korea than it was for Lost watchers as they probably would have had another kid or two if not for Smokey's evil scheme.
  4. Dickens World. Kent, England.  Who needs the Wizarding World of Harry Potter when you "Stop by Peerybingles Pawnbrokers or tour Marshalsea Prison for a charming afternoon in the squalor, poverty, and disease of late 1800s London?"   
  5. La Caminata Nocturna, Mexico. Simulate illegally entering the US.  Really: "Border Patrol agents emerge out of the darkness in pickup trucks, sirens blaring, firing guns loaded with blanks -- while visitors run for cover, ducking behind cacti, and scrambling under fences."

Where is Westworld when you need it?

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