Park Service creates travel itineraries

Washington — Parents, teachers, and other trip planners looking for educational itineraries may be pleased to learn the National Park Service has done some of their homework for them.

The Park Service has created a Travel Itinerary Series featuring destinations drawn in part from the National Register of Historic Places. Atlanta recently became the 25th theme area in the series; the nearly 70 sites are as diverse as the Fox Theatre, Oakland Cemetery, the Stone Mountain Historic District and the Dixie Coca-Cola Bottling Plant.

New itineraries this year will include “Lewis and Clark Expedition,” “Three Historic Nevada Cities” and “Aviation History.” The itineraries and links to hundreds of sites are at www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel.

Hong Kong Disneyland under construction

Hong Kong — The Walt Disney Co. broke ground last month for Hong Kong Disneyland, a theme park scheduled to open in 2005-2006. The 310-acre site on North Lantau Island will include the park, two hotels and retail, dining and entertainment outlets. The park, a joint venture between Disney and the Hong Kong government, is expected to eventually draw 10 million visitors per year.

Skinny theater seats squeeze out Americans

London — London’s West End theaters survived the post-Sept. 11 tourism slump but now face a problem with the bottom line — their skinny Victorian seats are too narrow for chunky American bottoms.

That’s the opinion of British lawmaker Chris Bryant, who told the House of Commons in early February that London’s “wonderful shows” were being let down by woeful buildings.

“The seats were built for backsides of a Victorian era, not of a modern era — or indeed an American size — and many of the bars are dingy and overpriced and haven’t seen a lick of paint since Oscar Wilde was last there,” Bryant said.

Most of London’s major theaters were built in the 19th century. The Old Vic, built in 1818, said its seats were a “standard size” of about 18 inches. A stagehand at the Theater Royal Haymarket, which dates from 1821, estimated seat width at 20 inches.