Bird’s Eye View Of EPCOT Reveals Stunning Expansion

Disney is adding a brand new section to the existing France pavilion inside the World Showcase at EPCOT. This new expansion will debut Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure attraction at Walt Disney World. Fans are eagerly anticipating an opening date for Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure and the rest of this new addition.

While we do not yet have an official opening date, we do have some incredible bird’s eye view photos of this new land, thanks to pilot and photographer, Jonathan Micheal Salazar (@TheDisneyPilot on Instagram).

We have been keeping a close eye on the expansion coming to the France pavilion. Disney has opened a small portion of the new area which contains restrooms and what will be home to a new grab-and-go snack window called, Le Creperie De Paris.

Thanks to these photos we can see the beautiful Ratatouille-themed fountain that will be directly outside of Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure attraction entrance. Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure is an attraction that can be found at Disneyland Paris, EPCOT is bringing this beloved attraction to the U.S.

You also get a sense of how large this new area will be when it opens for guests. Additionally, you can see the backside of the temporary structure that is separating the new courtyard from the recently opened walkway.

As you can see from the aerial photos, the Disney Skyliner also offers great views of the courtyard, so be sure to look outside your window next time you travel on the Skyliner to or from EPCOT!

So, when will the expansion of the France pavilion and Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure open?

Disney has stated that Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure will open with the rest of the France expansion in 2021. While we still do not have a date, we hope to see one as we get closer to the 50th anniversary of the Walt Disney World Resort.

Disney has even added a sign under the revealed archway for the upcoming Ratatouille attraction saying “opening 2021”!

Source: https://insidethemagic.net/

Kaua'i Rejoins Hawai'i's Safe Travels Pre-Travel Testing Program Starting April 5

Beginning April 5, Trans-Pacific travelers visiting Kaua'i may bypass the state's 10-day travel quarantine by participating in Hawai'i's Safe Travel's Pre-Travel Testing Program. Travelers will no longer have to stay in an Enhanced Movement Quarantine (EMQ) or Resort Bubble property in order to receive a quarantine exemption.

Before visiting Hawai'i's Garden Island, here's what you need to know:

Take a pre-travel test from one of the State of Hawai'i's Trusted Testing and Travel Partners within 72 hours from the final leg of departure from the Continental U.S. to Kaua'i (or first point of arrival to Hawai'i if traveler has a layover on another island).

Tests taken from any other lab will not be accepted. Approved Trusted Testing Partners can be found at: https://hawaiicovid19.com/travel-partners/

Create a Safe Travels account and complete the mandatory State of Hawai'i Travel and Health form: https://travel.hawaii.gov/

Upload your negative test results to your Safe Travels account before traveling to Kaua'i. COVID-19 test results may also be printed and provided by hardcopy. Travelers arriving without uploading or providing a hardcopy of their negative test result will not be accepted and be placed in a mandatory 10-day quarantine. Wearing masks are mandatory while on Kaua'i.

While post-travel tests are not mandatory, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) continues to advise travelers to take a pre- and post-travel test as an added safety measure. The following Kaua'i hotels have committed to supporting post-travel testing to its guests:

Grand Hyatt Kaua'i Resort & Spa

The Cliffs at Princeville

The Club at Kukui'ula

Timbers Kaua'i at Hōkū'ala

Sheraton Kaua'i Resort at Coconut Beach

The Point at Po'ipū

Hanalei Colony Resort

Kōloa Landing Resort

The Westin Princeville Ocean Resort Villas

Sheraton Kaua'i Resort & Villas

Marriott's Kaua'i Beach Club

Marriott's Waiohai Beach Club

Marriott's Kauai Lagoons – Kalanipu'u Suite Paradise

"Kaua'i businesses are excited and ready to welcome back visitors safely," said Sue Kanoho, Executive Director of the Kaua'i Visitors Bureau.

The Hawai'i State Department of Health also encourages all travelers to download the free, AlohaSafe Alert app to get COVID-19 exposure notifications and help keep Kaua'i safe and healthy.

For more information and to download the AlohaSafe Alert app, please visit: http://www.alohasafealert.org

For more information about the State of Hawai'i Safe Travels program requirements, please visit: https://hawaiicovid19.com/travel/getting-to-hawaii/

For more information on COVID-19 on Kaua'i and the travel rules, please visit: http://www.kauai.gov/COVID-19

German Museums Tentatively Reopen As Virus Restrictions Ease

COLOGNE, Germany (AP) — More than 100 Andy Warhol originals have been hanging on the walls of Cologne’s Museum Ludwig since mid-December with nobody to view them after coronavirus restrictions shut down galleries across the country.

That changed on Tuesday as the doors were opened to limited numbers of guests, after authorities eased restrictions to allow some museums, galleries and certain other cultural venues to begin receiving visitors again.

“We’ve been working on this exhibit for three and a half years and for the last few weeks it was ready, but couldn’t be shown,” curator and museum director Yilmaz Dziewior told The Associated Press.

“You can imagine how happy we all are here at that house that finally the audience for whom we created the exhibition can also see it.”

Museums throughout Germany closed at the beginning of November as coronavirus cases increased. Under new regulations, museums in areas with fewer than 50 new infections weekly per 100,000 residents can open without major restrictions, other than standard mask, hygiene and distancing rules.

When the rate is between 50 to 100 as in Cologne, tickets are being limited to online purchase and restricted in numbers. For the Warhol exhibit they quickly sold out through Sunday. A new batch will go on sale Monday so long as the coronavirus numbers don’t change dramatically.

The ex­hi­bi­tion was organized by the museum in concert with London’s Tate Mod­ern in col­lab­o­ra­tion with the Art Gallery of On­tario, Toron­to and the As­pen Art Mu­se­um, Col­o­ra­do.

It seeks to illuminate the influence of Warhol’s immigrant background and his own homosexuality through his works, as well as how he dealt with death and religion, the museum said.

“Just as his celebri­ty por­traits and Co­ca-Co­la bot­tles held a mir­ror up to Amer­i­can so­ci­e­ty, Warhol stands for a di­verse, queer coun­ter­cul­ture that found its ex­pres­sion not least in his New York stu­dio, the Fac­to­ry,” the museum said in its description of the exhibition.

Cologne resident Karl Eiband was one of the lucky ones who got tickets to Tuesday’s opening of the exhibit, and said that for him it restored a little piece of one of the many things he has been missing during the pandemic lockdown.

“Like my evening beer, I miss art,” the 44-year-old said. “And since I don’t have the resources to hang a tiny Warhol in my living room, I visit the Museum Ludwig because it’s my living room for culture and art.”

The exhibit, “Andy Warhol Now,” runs through June 13.

At Dubai Airport, Travelers’ Eyes Become Their Passports

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Dubai’s airport, the world’s busiest for international travel, can already feel surreal, with its cavernous duty-free stores, artificial palm trees, gleaming terminals, water cascades and near-Arctic levels of air conditioning.

Now, the key east-west transit hub is rolling out another addition from the realm of science fiction — an iris-scanner that verifies one’s identity and eliminates the need for any human interaction when entering or leaving the country.

It’s the latest artificial intelligence program the United Arab Emirates has launched amid the surging coronavirus pandemic, contact-less technology the government promotes as helping to stem the spread of the virus. But the efforts also have renewed questions about mass surveillance in the federation of seven sheikhdoms, which experts believe has among the highest per capita concentrations of surveillance cameras in the world.

Dubai’s airport started offering the program to all passengers last month. On Sunday, travelers stepped up to an iris scanner after checking in, gave it a good look and breezed through passport control within seconds. Gone were the days of paper tickets or unwieldy phone apps.

In recent years, airports across the world have accelerated their use of timesaving facial recognition technology to move passengers to their flights. But Dubai’s iris scan improves on the more commonplace automated gates seen elsewhere, authorities said, connecting the iris data to the country’s facial recognition databases so the passenger needs no identifying documents or boarding pass. The unusual partnership between long-haul carrier Emirates, owned by a Dubai sovereign wealth fund, and the Dubai immigration office integrates the data and carries travelers from check-in to boarding in one fell swoop, they added.

“The future is coming,” said Major Gen. Obaid Mehayer Bin Suroor, deputy director of the General Directorate of Residency and Foreign Affairs. “Now, all the procedures have become ‘smart,’ around five to six seconds.”

But like all facial recognition technology, the program adds to fears of vanishing privacy in the country, which has faced international criticism for targeting journalists and human rights activists.

According to Emirates’ biometric privacy statement, the airline links passengers’ faces with other personally identifying data, including passport and flight information, retaining it for “as long as it is reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it was collected.” The agreement offered few details about how the data will be used and stored, beyond saying that while the company didn’t make copies of passengers’ faces, other personal data “can be processed in other Emirates’ systems.”

Bin Suroor stressed that Dubai’s immigration office “completely protects” passengers’ personal data so that “no third party can see it.”

But without more information about how data will be used or stored, biometric technology raises the possibility of misuse, experts say.

“Any kind of surveillance technology raises red flags, regardless of what kind of country it’s in,” said Jonathan Frankle, a doctoral student in artificial intelligence at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. ”But in a democratic country, if the surveillance technology is used transparently, at least there’s an opportunity to have a public conversation about it.”

Iris scans, requiring people to stare into a camera as though they’re offering a fingerprint, have become more widespread worldwide in recent years as questions have arisen over the accuracy of facial recognition technology. Iris biometrics are considered more reliable than surveillance cameras that scan people’s faces from a distance without their knowledge or consent.

Despite concerns about overzealous surveillance in the UAE, the country’s vast facial recognition network only shows signs of expanding. Last month, Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who also serves as Dubai’s ruler, announced the country would begin trials of new facial recognition technology to cut down on paperwork in “some private sector services,” without elaborating.

During the pandemic, the skyscrapper-studded city of Dubai has advanced an array of technological tools to fight the virus in malls and on streets, including disinfectant foggers, thermal cameras and face scans that check for masks and take temperatures. The programs similarly use cameras that can record and upload people’s data, potentially feeding the information into the city-state’s wider biometric databases.

California OKs Reopening Of Ball Parks, Disneyland

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California has cleared a path for fans to hit the stands at opening-day baseball games and return to Disneyland nearly a year after coronavirus restrictions shuttered major entertainment spots.

The state on Friday relaxed guidelines for reopening outdoor venues as a fall and winter surge seemed to be ending, with COVID-19 infection rates, hospitalizations and deaths plummeting and vaccination rates rising.

New public health rules would allow live concerts at stadiums and sports arenas to reopen with limited attendance April 1. Amusement parks also will be permitted to reopen in counties that have fallen from the state’s purple tier — the most restrictive — to the red tier.

In all cases, park capacities will be limited, and COVID-19 safety rules such as mask-wearing requirements will apply.

The move followed a week of milestones, with California ramping up vaccinations for the poorest neighborhoods, counties reopening more businesses and Gov. Gavin Newsom passing a measure aimed at encouraging schools that have restricted students to online learning to reopen classrooms this month.

“Steady opening is consistent with the data. As cases decline, we want to return to work and school,” said Dr. Jeffrey Klausner, clinical professor of preventive medicine at the University of Southern California. “Outdoor activities in particular have always been low risk. Opening these sites makes sense.”

The reopening can’t come too soon for Kenny King Jr., a resident of Pleasant Hill in the San Francisco Bay Area who became an annual Disneyland passholder a decade ago. He typically takes his family to the Southern California park five times a year, but the last visit was just over a year ago for his birthday.

King, 38, said he’s excited to return with his 8-year-old daughter, who had just started enjoying rides such as Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Space Mountain, and to take his 2-year-old son, who was mesmerized by the lights and sounds when he visited last year.

“That’s something that we just made our family thing — Disney trips,” King said. “We’ll sit there at the house sometimes and we’ll be like ‘man, I just miss Disneyland.’ ”

Also applauding were the thousands of workers who were laid off by Disneyland, Universal Studios Hollywood, Knott’s Berry Farm and other big locations. Ten thousand lost their jobs alone at Disneyland and its related attractions in Orange County, not to mention the knock-on effect to nearby restaurants and hotels.

Andrea Zinder, president of the local United Food and Commercial Workers Union that represents Disney workers, said employees are “excited to go back to work and provide Californians with a bit more magic in their lives.”

Most of the major theme parks are in Southern California, which is still in the purple category. However, Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties were expecting to reopen within the next few weeks as their COVID-19 numbers fall.

Only 16 of 58 counties currently are in the red tier, and two small counties are in the orange tier. None are yet in the yellow tier, the lowest and least restrictive.

Theme parks in the red tier will be limited to 15% capacity.

Outdoor sports will be limited to 100 people in the purple tier but will increase up to 67% in the yellow tier.

The San Diego Padres, Los Angeles Angels and Oakland Athletics all announced they will have fans in the stands for opening day April 1. The Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants both start their seasons on the road and said they would announce their plans later.

Teams and event organizers can only sell tickets regionally in the purple tier. In the other tiers, teams and organizers can sell tickets to anyone living in California. No concessions will be allowed in the purple tier, while in others, concession sales will only be available at seats.

Richard Haick of San Pablo, California, already bought ticket vouchers for the Oakland A’s return and hopes to take his 10-year-old son to a game soon. His son plays Little League baseball and is very excited to attend games.

“It’s nice to have, even in a reduced capacity, some sense of normal,” said Haick, a 45-year-old photographer.

The quicker pace of reopening is tied to a new plan to vaccinate California’s most vulnerable residents. Once 2 million people across 400 ZIP codes in the most disadvantaged neighborhoods receive at least one vaccine dose, it will be easier for counties to exit the state’s most restrictive tier. Once 4 million people in those neighborhoods are vaccinated, counties will be able to open up even more.

It all puts California in a drastically different position than a year ago, when Gov. Gavin Newsom imposed the statewide stay-at-home order that restricted travel, shuttered businesses and forced millions of people onto unemployment. California still has among the most severe restrictions of any state and continues to discourage out-of-state visitors.

The state is pinning its hopes of a full reopening on inoculating enough of its 40 million residents to halt widespread COVID-19 infections.

More than 10 million doses had been given only three months since the first shot was given, the Department of Public Health said.

Just over 3 million people have been fully vaccinated, or about 10% of the population 16 and older.

There are hopeful signs. This week, the seven-day average rate of positive results from tests dropped this week to 2.2%, a record low.

Although pressure has been building to reopen the economy, health officials said the changes in guidelines were a cautious and measured rather than a wholesale approach.

“We will .... keep our foot on the brake, not the gas, our eyes on the road, hands on the wheel and navigate based on data and science,” said Dr. Mark Ghaly, secretary of the state Health and Human Services Agency.

By ADAM BEAM and KATHLEEN RONAYNE
___
Associated Press writer Janie Har in San Francisco contributed to this story.

The Difference Between Two Flexible Travel Insurance Options, Cancel And Interruption For Any Reason Coverage

By: Jeremy Murchland, Seven Corners President

Whether it be for work or leisure, over the course of the past year, frequent travel has come to a standstill due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. With the recent development of a long-awaited vaccine, many are eager for mobility and hopeful to begin making travel arrangements for the upcoming year as the world tries to return to a sense of normalcy.

However, as 2020 revealed the unpredictability of the pandemic, travelers may still be reluctant to book trips due to lingering uncertainty. Travelers need assurance that they and their wallets will be protected when booking their next trip. That’s why the travel insurance industry offers protection plans that allow for cancellation or interruption of travel plans for any reason. As the world is becoming more restless to get back on our feet, Cancel for Any Reason (CFAR), and a newer benefit, Interruption for Any Reason (IFAR), are great additions to coverage plans that can provide customers with the confidence they need to book their next trip during these trying times.

Seven Corners, a global travel insurance company, has experienced an increase in calls from customers asking how CFAR and IFAR could be of benefit. Our team put together frequently asked questions and answers regarding what CFAR and IFAR are, what they cover and how they can be useful when preparing for a trip.

What is CFAR?

CFAR is an optional benefit offered on certain trip protection plans that allows travelers to cancel trips for any reason not otherwise covered. Customers will be reimbursed up to the maximum benefit amount shown in the schedule of benefits for the unused, forfeited, prepaid non-refundable payments or deposits for the travel arrangements you purchased for your trip, when you cancel your trip 48 hours or more before your scheduled departure date for any reason not otherwise covered by the policy.

When is CFAR beneficial?

CFAR can help travelers if they must cancel trips due to change of mind, financial hardships or reluctance to travel due to lingering concerns over COVID-19. Most especially, since the onset of COVID-19, travelers want the option to cancel their trip if they become fearful about traveling. Fear is not a covered reason for trip cancellation, so CFAR is the only way to ensure you can cancel if you’re afraid to travel. Additionally, if travelers are nervous about planning international trips such as honeymoons, spring break plans or destination weddings due to COVID-19 concerns, CFAR may be a good option.

What is IFAR?

IFAR, Interruption for Any Reason, is an important option for coverage plans in today’s travel climate that gives travelers the option to interrupt their trip once it has already begun. IFAR is being added to plan designs in response to the large increase in travelers purchasing CFAR during the COVID-19 outbreak of 2020.

When is IFAR Beneficial?

IFAR could be beneficial to travelers for a variety of reasons. Here are a few examples:

Three days into the first leg of your trip you have a disagreement with your host and want to leave, so you decide to go to your next destination early.

You are traveling and learn your dog at home is ill, and you wish to return home early.

You have a falling out with a friend with whom you are traveling and want to come home early.

You have an unexpected financial crisis and want to go home early.

You receive a call while traveling and learn your house was destroyed by a fire or tornado, and you want to return home immediately to see what remains and take appropriate next steps.

You are not comfortable with the steps your resort is taking regarding COVID-19, so you decide to return home early. With IFAR coverage, if one must interrupt their trip, travelers will be reimbursed up to the maximum benefit amount shown in the schedule of benefits for the additional transportation cost to either:

Join your trip if you must depart after your scheduled departure date or travel via alternate travel arrangements; or Rejoin your trip from the point where you interrupted your trip to the next scheduled destination; or Transport you to your originally scheduled return or final destination of your trip.

What is the difference between IFAR and CFAR? You should add CFAR to travel plans if you could potentially cancel your trip before you’ve departed, and CFAR typically requires you to cancel 48 hours or more before your scheduled departure date. IFAR comes into play after you’ve already departed on your trip but no sooner than 48 hours after departure.

Both CFAR and IFAR reimburse you for 75% of your nonrefundable and insured trip costs if you cancel or interrupt for a reason not otherwise covered.

What is the cost of CFAR and IFAR?

Travelers can expect most CFAR benefits to increase trip insurance costs by 40% to 50% because the plan now includes much wider coverage for trip cancellation. IFAR is a much less expensive option. With CFAR and IFAR, travelers can cancel or interrupt their travel plans for any reason they wish. The increase in price occurs because the insurance company now bears an increased risk.

How do I know if I qualify for CFAR or IFAR?

To qualify for CFAR and IFAR travelers must:

Purchase the benefit within the time sensitive period. This is typically 20 days after you make your initial trip deposit or payment. Insure the full cost of any subsequent arrangements added to your trip within 15 days of the date of your payment for them.

For CFAR, you must cancel your trip two or more days prior to the scheduled departure date of your trip. For IFAR, you must interrupt your trip 48 or more hours after the actual scheduled departure date.

It is important to note these benefits do not cover penalties associated with travel arrangements not provided by the travel supplier for the trip.

Effective March 1, Seven Corners is updating their RoundTrip plans to include optional IFAR. The new RoundTrip Choice plan will also include primary medical coverage for accidents and illnesses that occur on your trip and an increased amount of trip delay coverage. Both Choice and Basic have increased emergency accident and sickness medical coverage and additional covered reasons for trip cancellation and interruption.

CFAR and IFAR are beneficial travel insurance options for travelers eager to return to normalcy. With these flexible travel insurance benefits, travelers have a way to expand coverage for unforeseen cancellations or interruptions that could affect travel plans.

Mexico City Launches Latin America’s Latest Cable Car Line

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico City has launched the first of what it hopes will be several cable-car lines serving the poorer outskirts of the city of 9 million.

Thursday’s inauguration of the first leg of the “Cablebus” line marks the latest chapter in Latin America’s love affair with cable cars, which are seen in much of the world as largely for tourists and ski slopes.

The neighboring State of Mexico already has a cable car serving one northern Mexico City suburb, and the city’s own first line was also built on the poor, crowded north side.

Cable cars are seen as a cheaper, quicker way to bring public transport to poor communities located high up hillsides. Since they’re airborne, the car lines also don’t have as many difficulties with Latin America’s notoriously difficult issues of chaotic development, bad traffic and lack of rights-of-way.

By June, the line will run almost 9.2 kilometers (6 miles) from Cuautepec, a working class neighborhood on the northern edge of Mexico City, to the nearest subway and bus station. The stretch inaugurated Thursday covers just 1.7 kilometers (1.06 miles) of that route, to the neighborhood of Tlalpexco.

At present, officials explained, residents at the top of the hill in Tlalpexco have to board crowded, small vans that travel much more slowly. Plus, they don’t have the nice view the cable cars offer from their big windowed cars that can seat 10 passengers at a time. The cars run on electricity and can travel about 13 miles (20 kilometers) per hour, far faster than most traffic in the city.

“There are nearly a million inhabitants living in the area around the Cablebus, and they make their trips in small vans that descend through narrow streets, and that may take, from the highest point ... as long as 55 minutes or an hour,” Guillermo Calderon, director of the electrical transportation system Mexico City.

Traditional transport solutions like bus or subway lines are almost impossible here, both because there are no rights of way in the densely packed slums, and they are crowded along hillsides on steep 15-degree slopes.

Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said a second cable car line is being built in Iztapalapa, another working class neighborhood, to the east.

“Having the best transportation for the poorest parts of the city reduces inequality,” Sheinbaum said.

Cuautepec resident Evelyn Sánchez said that, like most people here, her biggest challenge is getting to the nearest subway station.

“It does take us a long time, and now with this, well now it is going to be a lot quicker,” Sánchez said.

The city of Medellin, Colombia, launched its cable cars in 2004. Since then, many other Latin American cities have followed suit, ranging from from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to La Paz, Bolivia.