DOLLYWOOD’S NEWEST ADVENTURE
If you didn’t make it out to Dolly Parton’s Dollywood theme park this summer you may want to start planning your trip for next year. By then construction on a new $5 million raft ride equipped with water guns to soak targets, other riders and bystanders will be complete.
If you like thrill rides and are working your way up the skilled marksman ladder then the River Battle ride is one you won’t want to miss. It sends eight passengers on rafts down a 500-foot channel lined with more than 100 targets. You can take aim at large-scale talking animals such as beavers, skunks, otters, bears (some of which shoot water back at you), and at other passengers on your raft or (best of all, and perhaps the easiest targets) park guests who are allowed to stand along the edge of the ride.
It may be hard to believe, but Dollywood is considered Tennessee’s top tourist attraction with more than 2 million guests traveling to the amusement park annually.
BAGGAGE HELP IN ROME
Finally, good news for you travelers headed to Rome. The country’s transport minister just announced that extra staff would be added to improve the chaotic baggage-handling system at Rome’s main airport.
Last week, thousands of bags were left unloaded at the Leonardo da Vinci airport at the peak of the holiday travel season causing passengers to stand in obscenely long lines to claim their luggage. But, according to news reports, beginning tomorrow 80 workers will be added to the staff to unload the bags that have been sitting at the airport.
And more good news for you folks who are planning to fly to Rome in the future… airport officials announced that other measures including the continuous monitoring of the conveyor belts to avoid blockages would go into affect by the end of the month.
Currently baggage handling at the Italian airport, which sees about 110,000 passengers a day, is operated by outside companies. Airport officials say they will be carefully monitoring their work over the next few months to see if they are in need of an overhaul as well.