American tosses family of 20 off Hawaii flight?

Yup — a family of 20 (10 adults + 10 kids) were tossed off a recent American flight from Salt Lake City to Hawaii – via DFW — apparently a couple of the kids were wearing their masks below the nose along with one adult who was wearing a very “slim” mask.  AA later rebooked the group on a Delta flight to Hawaii — which leaves to question the “why” for the entire no fly incident in the first place?

Will COVID testing spread to domestic flights?

Maybe — the current administration is doing initial groundwork to explore the potential of requiring domestic air travelers to pass a COVID test prior to any travel — this might be on airport “quick” tests or testing 3-4 days prior to any travel. Although there are benefits from such a program, air carriers see this as another “kink” in bringing passenger traffic back to semi-normal.

Disney’s Jungle Cruise Attraction is Getting an Update

https://www.mynews13.com/fl/orlando/attractions/2021/01/25/disney-jungle-cruise-attraction-update

What You Need To Know

  • Disney to update its Jungle Cruise attraction
  • Changes will make the attraction more inclusive
  • Storyline will also be changed 
  • Jungle Cruise at Disney World and Disneyland will be updated

Walt Disney Imagineers will be making changes to the attraction’s story to make it more inclusive, with enhancements that “reflect and value the diversity of the world around us.” The revamped storyline will have riders following a skipper and his passengers “as their journey goes awry.” The changes will include the addition of an animatronic skipper within the attraction. But the live, wise-cracking skippers will remain.

In a blog post, Disney shared concept art previewing of the changes that will be made. One of the renderings shows a group of explorers that will be more diverse—with women and people of color among the group. More details about the changes coming to the attraction will be released at a later date.

Disney has made a few updates to some of its older attractions to remove outdated depictions. In 2018, Disney revamped its Pirates of the Caribbean ride to remove the “bride auction” scene, replacing it with a scene featuring a female pirate named Redd. And just last year, Disney announced plans to reimagine its Splash Mountain attraction by removing the characters inspired by Song of the South” and giving it a theme inspired by the animated film, The Princess and the Frog.

Jungle Cruise has been criticized in the past for its stereotypical depictions of indigenous people.

“As Imagineers, it is our responsibility to ensure experiences we create and stories we share reflect the voices and perspectives of the world around us,” said Carmen Smith, executive of creative development and inclusion strategies at Walt Disney Imagineering, in a statement. “With Jungle Cruise, we’re bringing to life more of what people love—the humor and wit or our incredible skippers, while making needed updates.”

The updates will be made to the Jungle Cruise attraction at both at Disney World in Florida and Disneyland in California. Disney expects the changes to be completed later this year.

Is Medical Tourism the next wave of COVID Travel?

Could be — Florida is a “hot” medical tourism destination for travelers from South America as it seems easier to use a US friend or relative to secure a vaccine appointment — and, if you want to venture farther, India is taking advantage for the medical tourism travel market with their over supply of their own vaccine!  The TC says “stick with the science and the USA”!!

MAHALO HAWAII … Hawaii Expects To Lift COVID Testing Requirement For People That Have Been Vaccinated

Hawaii’s Lieutenant Governor, an emergency room physician responsible for the state’s arriving passenger testing program, says to expect the testing requirement for arriving passengers to be lifted this spring for those who have been vaccinated.

https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2021/01/19/state-hopes-exempt-vaccinated-travelers-quarantine-testing-by-spring/