Here`s a surprise: ”The spread of gambling in America`s heartland was probably the single most significant new travel development in 1991,”
according to an organization that picked 11 new attractions in the U.S. for its Top 10 list.
Weissmann Travel Reports, of Austin, Texas, a destination information service for travel agencies, put the riverboat casinos in Davenport and Sioux City, Iowa, and Alton and Peoria, Ill., at the top of the list.
Other popular choices:
2. Carnegie Science Center, Pittsburgh, with 40,000 square feet of exhibit space on more than six acres, including OMNIMAX theater, a planetarium and a World War II submarine exhibit.
3. National Civil Rights Museum, Memphis, presenting persons and issues that shaped the movement in the 1950s and `60s.
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4. Seattle Art Museum, designed by Robert Venturi as representative of Western, Asian, African and American art.
5. New York City`s Museum of Radio and TV, highlighting media`s progress over the years.
6. A tie between Universal Studio`s Back to the Future ride and Disney`s Muppet-Vision 3-D at the Disney/MGM Studios, both in Orlando.
7. The Museum Center at Union Terminal, Cincinnati, with interactive exhibits winding through time, from the Ice Age to the era of classic cars.
8. Arizona Biltmore Hotel, Phoenix, which recaptures Frank Lloyd Wright`s original vision, emerging as a cross between split-level ranch and Aztec temple.
9. Sea lions on Pier 39, San Francisco, with pier promoters offering nature talks in conjunction with the Marine Mammal Center.
10. New York City`s Planet Hollywood, filled with movie memorabilia and emerging as the Hard Rock Cafe of the `90s.
Honorable mention: The Recyclery, Milpitas, Calif., for its museum-classroom displays, from a 100-foot-long Wall of Garbage to a high-tech materials recovery center.