Author: andres@davidperry.com

Global Winter Wonderland Makes Its U.S. Premiere

California’s Great America Parking Lot, Santa Clara

November 25 – January 2, 2012


Traditional Chinese Lantern Festival Is Inspiration for New Holiday Event Spectacular giant lanterns depict iconic landmarks and holiday themes “Wonderland” dishes up international cuisine and live entertainment and celebrates holiday traditions from around the world

www.globalwonderland.org

12 October 2011 San Francisco, CA: Want to see the world without leaving California? Then take a journey to the San Francisco Bay Area for the Global Winter Wonderland (www.globalwonderland.org). Making its historic United States’ debut, this family-friendly festival of lights lets you travel the world in just one day.

From November 25 – January 2, gigantic illuminated lanterns depicting the world’s greatest architectural achievements such as the Taj Mahal, the Eiffel Tower, Chichen Itza, and the Golden Gate Bridge, will light up the sky from the parking lot at California’s Great America in Santa Clara. Some of these structures are more than 50-feet tall and span nearly 100-feet wide. In addition to iconic landmarks, the festival will showcase other amazing lanterns in the Holiday Village and Chinatown exhibit. More than 40 in all, these eco-friendly lanterns, made from beverage cans, bottle caps, CDs, porcelain dishes and metal flatware, were designed by the same team of engineers who built lanterns for the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing.

Covering more than nine acres, the Festival will also feature a dinosaur maze, carnival games, international cuisine, arts and crafts, live entertainment, and celebrations of holiday traditions from around the world. There’s truly something for everyone. It promises to be the family event of the holiday season. Created by the International Culture Exchange Group (ICEG) the Global Winter Wonderland offers a fun and entertaining opportunity for guests to experience the rich cultures of the world, right here in California.

“I wanted to bring the best of the world to families right here in the Bay Area,” said Huang, President of International Culture Exchange Group, the organization producing the event. “When people learn about each other’s cultures, and more importantly are invited to share in those cultures, real international understanding takes place.” 


Education through entertainment is an important part of the Global Winter Wonderland experience. Visitors will learn about holiday traditions of various cultures and how these celebrations differ as well as how they are similar.

“This truly is a global village,” says Huang.

The centerpiece of the Global Winter Wonderland is a 33-foot tall Christmas Tree Lantern. The tree and all the lanterns will be lit in a special ceremony on opening day, Friday, November 25, the day after Thanksgiving. Tickets can be ordered online at www.globalwonderland.org or by phone 1 (888) 768-7469.

What: Global Winter Wonderland

Where: Located in the Parking Lot of Santa Clara’s Great America 4701 Great America Parkway Santa Clara, CA

When: November 25 – January 2, 2012. Hours: Sunday-Thursday, 4 p.m. to 10 p.m.; Friday-Saturday 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. Adults $12; Children (5-12) and Seniors (62+), $10; Children 4 & under Free.

HALLOWEEN FRIGHT FROM A TO Z AT THE WAX MUSEUM AT FISHERMAN’S WHARF

www.waxmuseum.com

27 October 2011 – San Francisco, CA: From angels to zombies, on Halloween day children in costume get free admission to the Wax Museum at Fisherman’s Wharf (www.waxmuseum.com) with Halloween treats and a special creepy crawly Halloween display in our lobby. Whether you talk like a pirate or walk like an Egyptian, you’ll find a companion among the Wax Museum’s underground galleries of characters. Visitors on Halloween day will be greeted in the cobweb-draped lobby by figures such as Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, and a special celebrity witch. Descend into the Museum’s dungeons and feel the chill in the Chamber of Horrors, take a seat in the electric scare chair, count the Frankensteins, get creeped out by Count Dracula, and see what happened to the tourists who didn’t make it out alive! Open daily from 10am to 9pm. the Wax Museum is located at 145 Jefferson Street, San Francisco, in the heart of Fisherman’s Wharf. For full information, visit www.waxmuseum.com

As you wander the galleries, try your hand at various arcade games: see into your future with Rajah the Mystic Oracle, test your passion factor, and slip into a photo booth to record your visit. From Friday afternoon through the weekend, you can explore the Wax Museum shop downstairs to browse through souvenirs and memorabilia related to the museum’s celebrity displays, or make a wax cast of your own hand.

The Wax Museum features one of the foremost collections of wax figures in the world, where the magic of 50 years of wax artistry transports you through time. The Wax Museum is “home” to a legion of notorious characters, with over 250 internationally-known personalities past and present in fabulous scenes, representing a millennium of history and fantasy, from King Tut’s Magnificent Tomb to the Yellow Brick Road, from royalty and presidents to today’s pop celebrities.

The Wax Museum shows all aspects of life from the ignoble Chamber of Horrors to the inspiring Hall of Religion, including the historic Library of U.S. Presidents, the spectacular recreation of King Tut’s Tomb and the unique Palace of Living Art, where the world’s most famous masters and their masterpieces come to life through the magic of wax artistry. The most popular part of the wax museum tour is The Gallery of Stars, where a galaxy of brand new stars, such as Leonardo Di Caprio, Johnny Depp and Will Smith, join such classics as Humphrey Bogart, Marilyn Monroe and John Wayne.

Opened by Thomas Fong in 1963 as the largest wax museum in North America, the Wax Museum is one of the most popular landmarks in Fisherman’s Wharf. Many scenes were designed and sculpted by Fong’s son Ronald, who co-directed the family business in partnership with his father from its inception. Rodney Fong, representing the third generation of the Fong family, now runs most of the day-to-day operations of the family business. Like his father and grandfather, Rodney has the energy and vision to keep the museum a favorite of San Franciscans and visitors. In September 1998, the historic 100-year-old San Francisco landmark that for 35 years was The Wax Museum Entertainment Complex was torn down to make way for the current showplace, beginning a new era for the now 48-year-old attraction.

For full information and directions visit www.waxmuseum.com

Media Contact: David Perry, DP&A, Inc. / (415) 693-0583 / news@davidperry.com

Bay Area Science Festival opens with FREE Science Discovery Day at Cal State East Bay

Saturday, October 29, 11:00 am–4:00 pm

Unleash your inner scientist at the Bay Area Science Festival!

Presented by Chevron and UCSF

Cal State East Bay Hayward, Science Buildings, 25800 Carlos Bee Blvd, Hayward, CA 94542. Parking in lots D, E, F, & G, closest to the North & South Science Buildings.

FREE EVENT

www.bayareascience.org

The Bay Area Science Festival gets underway with this celebration of science, technology, engineering and math, with experiments, hands-on activities, games, exhibits, lectures, and more. Highlights include: Chemistry Magic Show; Robots in Action; Geophysical Exploration; Fossil Casting; Mathematical Puzzles; Statistics Fun House; Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s Fun with Science Program, and more! Dr. David Dearborn, scientist at Lawrence Livermore Lab, talks on “Avoiding Armageddon: Diverting Asteroids with Nuclear Explosives,” taking a look at the asteroid impact threat to earth and the development of the ability to divert such objects through nuclear explosives.

The first annual Bay Area Science Festival—October 29-November 6, 2011—brings together an unprecedented brain trust of the region’s scientific and educational partners to produce one of the largest science-based events ever held in the United States. Featuring more than 100 fun, interactive science and technology events at local venues from Oakland to Orinda, Santa Rosa to San Mateo, San Francisco to San Jose, the Bay Area Science Festival includes provocative lectures, hands-on activities, exhibitions, tours of cutting-edge facilities, guided hikes and neighborhood stargazing. Events, dates and times are subject to change.

The Bay Area Science Festival also presents Science Discovery Day in the North Bay at Infineon Raceway on Saturday, November 5 from 11am to 4pm; and in San Francisco at AT&T Park on Sunday, November 6 from 11am to 4pm. For a complete schedule of events, visit www.bayareascience.org

Bay Area Science Festival — Halloween Haunts and Happenings at the Exploratorium

Sunday, October 30, 12:00 noon–4:00 pm

Unleash your inner scientist at the Bay Area Science Festival!

Presented by Chevron and UCSF

Exploratorium, 3601 Lyon Street, San Francisco, CA 94123

FREE with Museum Admission

www.bayareascience.org

Enjoy creepy crawlers–human and non-human–at the Exploratorium’s Halloween Haunts and Happenings! See giant insects, tarantulas, blood-sucking leeches, maggots and much more. Dress up in your Halloween costume and join a variety of spine-tingling activities. Decorate a sugar skull, creep through a Graveyard of Dead Science Ideas and admire predatory plants in the Garden of Carnivorous Plants. Creep into the McBean Theater to see spooky and silly animation from the 1930s to the 1950s, including Betty Boop’s Halloween Party (1933), Bugs Bunny in an evil scientist’s castle in Water, Water Every Hare (1952), and Felix the Cat haunted by spooky pranks in Switches Witches (1928). There is a small fee for the sugar skull making, but otherwise all activities are included in admission to the Exploratorium.

The first annual Bay Area Science Festival (www.bayareascience.org)—October 29-November 6, 2011—brings together an unprecedented brain trust of the region’s scientific and educational partners to produce one of the largest science-based events ever held in the United States. Featuring more than 100 fun, interactive science and technology events at local venues from Oakland to Orinda, Santa Rosa to San Mateo, San Francisco to San Jose, the Bay Area Science Festival includes provocative lectures, hands-on activities, exhibitions, tours of cutting-edge facilities, guided hikes and neighborhood stargazing. Events, dates and times are subject to change.

For a complete schedule of eventsm visit www.bayareascience.org

Bay Area Science Festival celebrates Zombie NightLife at California Academy of Sciences

October 27, 6pm-10pm

Unleash your inner scientist at the Bay Area Science Festival!

Presented by Chevron and UCSF

California Academy of Sciences, 55 Music Concourse Dr., San Francisco,CA

Cost: $10 members / $12 non-members

www.bayareascience.org

Just days before Halloween, NightLife will be a night to dismember, overrun with zombies! Take a crash course in zombie neuroscience with Zombie Research Society’s Brad Voytek. Join horror maven and hostess Peaches Christ for her Zombie Drag Show and Costume Contest (un-dead attire encouraged!). Dance at Miss Misery’s “Zombie Prom”. Undead makeup artists will be on hand to channel your inner zombie. In the planetarium, catch the Life and Death of Stars at 6:30pm and discover how some stars live on as “zombies” in the after-life, followed by two showings of Life: A Cosmic Story. Music by DJ Tomas Diablo.

The first annual Bay Area Science Festival (www.bayareascience.org)—October 29-November 6, 2011—brings together an unprecedented brain trust of the region’s scientific and educational partners to produce one of the largest science-based events ever held in the United States. Featuring more than 100 fun, interactive science and technology events at local venues from Oakland to Orinda, Santa Rosa to San Mateo, San Francisco to San Jose, the Bay Area Science Festival includes provocative lectures, hands-on activities, exhibitions, tours of cutting-edge facilities, guided hikes and neighborhood stargazing. Events, dates and times are subject to change.

For a complete schedule of events, visit www.bayareascience.org