Travel briefs
KAPOLEI, Hawaii -- Seventy years after his first ride on Hawaii surf, Mickey Mouse is finally coming back to the islands.
Disney's plan for a Hawaii hotel complex is far from another Disneyland, both in distance and concept. But Walt Disney Parks & Resorts' first venture in the islands will add 830 hotel and vacation time-share rooms, a fantasy-laden water play area and an 18,000 square-foot spa to the rapidly expanding Ko Olina resort on West Oahu.
The complex is expected to be completed in 2011.
It'll be the first such complex for Disney away from a theme park, combining a 350-room hotel with 480 vacation villas on one of Ko Olina's four man-made lagoons, which already feature a Marriott hotel and timeshares, a luxury condominium project and wedding chapels.
Disney has several themed resort hotels near Disneyland in California and Disney World in Florida, but it never has built a hotel and time-share complex that will stand on its own. Hawaii has no full-scale amusement park.
The timeshare units will be part of the 350,000-member family-oriented Disney Vacation Club, which has eight other resorts.
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. -- Chattanooga-area officials are working to lure tourists to lesser-known Civil War sites over the next few years as the region looks ahead to the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, which begins in 2011 and runs for four years.
The Southeast Tennessee Tourism Association has plotted dozens of historic sites on a driving tour and produced a brochure highlighting some lesser-known Civil War landmarks.
The brochure, "Tennessee's Civil War Trails, Fighting for the Rails," identifies 47 sites in a 10-county region. Details at www.southeasttennessee.com (click on ''Civil War Trail'').
North Georgia already has driving tours similar to the Southeast Tennessee trail. The Blue and Gray Trail guide, created by the Historic High Country Travel Association, directs motorists to about 60 sites, including battlefields, national park units and museums in Chattanooga and Northwest Georgia.
BOULDER, Colo. -- A tour company is offering a sweepstakes to win a series of once-in-a-lifetime wildlife expeditions to Antarctica, the Falklands, Tanzania, the Galapagos, the Amazon, Machu Picchu and the polar-bear country of Manitoba, Canada.
Natural Habitat Adventures' "Wild Wonders Sweepstakes" runs through Feb. 28. You can enter daily at www.nathab.com/wildwon ders. The winner gets five nature expeditions for two, including airfare, over a period of five years. Details on each trip included in the contest are at www.nathab.com.
The company offers conservation travel to the World Wildlife Fund and has won honors for its ecotours from Travel + Leisure, National Geographic Adventure and Conde Nast Traveler.
AP