Disney announces new coaster, space ride

Lake Buena Vista, Fla. — Walt Disney World officials marked the fifth anniversary of Animal Kingdom last month by announcing plans to build a new coasterlike ride for the park, which has lagged behind its sister parks in attendance.

The “Expedition Everest” ride will open in 2006.

Disney officials also announced that its NASA-inspired “Mission: Space” ride would open Aug. 15 and that the much-delayed opening of the first phase of the Pop Century Resort would be Dec. 14.

Animal Kingdom opened in 1998 to much hoopla. At 500 acres, it is Disney’s largest park and boasts a large menagerie of exotic animals.

New exhibit recalls beach segregation

Conway, S.C. — A new exhibit captures the heyday of Atlantic Beach — a time the historically black beach town was segregated even in the surf.

The exhibit, “The Black Pearl: A Celebration of the Times and Lives of Atlantic Beach, South Carolina,” is on display at the Horry County Museum in Conway.

It includes photos and postcards from the 1940s and 1950s and features transcripts of interviews with town residents. The exhibit reflects life in the town when segregation extended into the ocean with ropes in the surf dividing Atlantic Beach and North Myrtle Beach.

“But intertwined with it is the fun times,” said historical society president Sherry Suttles. “It’s almost because it was segregated and closed off from the rest of the world that it spawned this wonderful, vibrant life in the streets.”

Cruise line interested in Mississippi Gulf Coast

Gulfport, Miss. — The State Port at Gulfport, which serves as the temporary dock for the Carnival Cruise line ship Conquest, is being considered by another cruise line, said Don Allee, the port’s executive director.

The Conquest has been using the State Port at Gulfport for once-a-week cruises since March 9 because the rising Mississippi River and low-slung power lines made it unsafe to dock at New Orleans.