CitySights DC - Night Tour

Admission to KSCVC includes all of the exhibits, attractions, the IMAX theatre tickets and a very comprehensive bus tour to the Apollo/Saturn V Center.  It is easy to spend a full day at KSCVC, particularly if you would like to add on 'Lunch With an Astronaut*' or one of the special interest guided tours. Hotels are plentiful in nearby Titusville or the Cocoa Beach area, just south of Cape Canaveral. *Additional fee, to be paid direct at KSCVC. Gatorland Fun Zone Gator Gully Splash Park: For over half a century, Gatorland has been creating fond vacation memories for millions of visitors who have entered through its gaping gator mouth entrance. Families, friends and employees alike have ventured through the glass double doors on their way to a journey through this natural, low-tech adventure. Allie's Barnyard: Drop by Allie's Barnyard and say hello to some of the cute and cuddly barnyard critters that call Gatorland home. Say hello to Gracie, a friendly goat who just loves to eat from your hand, and Harley the Macaw who just might say hello back! Express Railroad: Making its debut in 1965, the original Gatorland Iron Horse gave visitors a glimpse of the south end of the park as it carried passengers over alligators and by the animal displays on its journey back to the station. After 35 years of loyal service carrying millions of passengers, the old Iron Horse was finally retired in 2000 and a new station was built. Very Merry Aviary: Gatorland's Very Merry Aviary, home to the colorful and friendly Lorikeets, is a great place to get upclose to nature. These brightly colored parrots, native to the Western Pacific and East Indies area, are specially adapted to a diet of pollen, nectar, and fruit. Great Shows Gatorland has been entertaining people with fun, exciting and educational shows about dangerous and unusual animals for years! Where else can you help a gator wrestler pick out the gator they are about to wrestle or have an up-close experience with really cool reptiles or see crocs and gators jump high in the air for food? No where! So come and share the adventure at all of our fun shows. The Gator Jumparoo Show: Thrills and chills abound as some of the largest alligators in the world actually jump four to five feet out of the water to retrieve food in this famous one-of-a-kind show. Learn more about alligators and crocodiles and their awesome powers. Watch as giant alligators jump high enough out of the water to actually snatch food from the trainer's hand. A must see for the entire family! The Gator Wrestlin' Show: Gatorland® offers a unique alligator wrestling show done "Florida Cracker" style in a shaded 800 seat stadium. Gator wranglers catch a 6 to 8 foot alligator by hand and climb onto the snapping animal's back to point out survival features to the audience. After doing stunts that only a few are brave (or foolish) enough to try, the alligator is rolled over and put to sleep...only to be awakened by a tickle! Upclose Encounters Show: You never know what kind of animal you might be introduced to next at the Upclose Encounters Show! You'll get to meet fascinating creatures from around the globe as well as Florida's native wildlife - including some of the most dangerous snakes alive. Critters On The Go Show: The newest entertainment experience at Gatorland features the softer side of the animal world and is hosted by either Miss Vera, trail boss Gabe or one of the Gatorland Entertainers. Check out these interactive animal encounters where you and the little ones can oohh and aahh at some of the park’s cute and cuddly critters! Currently these encounters are done on the move so keep your eyes peeled for Vera, Gabe, and the gang, as you stroll through the park.

Shearwater is a classic Newport-style schooner yacht, only recently recognized as a national landmark in 2009. The vessel was built by Rice Brother Corporation in East Boothbay, Maine, back in a time when yachting was a rare combination of elegance and adventure; Rice Bros. were well known for building luxury pleasure yachts and produced some 4,000 hulls over a period of 64 years. The keel was laid down on January 4, 1929 and a news clip from the Boothbay Register reflects alongside a photograph "Tyler Hodgon at the old Tide Mill is getting out timbers for the schooner to be built at Rice’s. Vessel to be built of native white oak." Traditionally built from hand-hewn native white oak, she was the last boat to be constructed at that yard - likely due to the ensuing Great Depression brought on by the Stock Market Crash that occurred later that autumn. East Boothbay was a small coastal town with shipbuilding being its only industry. About 40 workmen were employed for the construction of SHEARWATER. Her designer Theodore Donald Wells was born in Hudson Falls, N Y on October 22, 1875. He was a naval architect and marine engineer, a member of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers and also the Institute of Naval Architects London. His education included post-graduate work at the University of Glasgow in Scotland. He began his career as a member of the firm Herreshoff and Wells, N. Y. City in 1902. Working with Herreshoff no doubt had an influence on his designs, which bear similarities to many of the famous Herreshoff designed yachts of that time. From 1903 to 1907 he worked for Wintringham and Wells and then began practicing his profession under his own name. Mr. Wells joined the Navy Department in March 1917 and became Superintending Constructor of the Baltimore District U. S. N. Notable yachts designed and constructed under his supervision are "Viking" a 272 foot steel motor yacht built for George F. Baker in 1929 by Newport News and "Karina" a three masted schooner built for Robert E. Tod in 1932 by Staten Island Shipbuilding. Mr. Tod was a well-known offshore yachtsman as was his former yacht ‘Thistle", which competed in the Emperors Cup ocean race. SHEARWATER was launched on May 4, 1929 and photographs in the Boothbay Register reflect her graceful and elegant lines. Her first Captain, Leon Esterbrook of Edgarton, MA, arrived to take charge of the fitting out. Her owner Charles E Dunlap was a member of the Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club, Oyster Bay, NY and this became SHEARWATER’s first homeport after her completion in late September 1929. It was there in Oyster Bay that she first started to thrill those who sailed in luxury aboard her and those who were privileged to crew her on race day. Since her launching and documentation in Lloyd’s Register of American Yachts in 1929, she has had a colorful history and has been carefully maintained and restored to standards that few contemporary vessels are able to match and is truly a piece of American Maritime History. On November 7, 1942 SHEARWATER was requisitioned by the War Shipping Administration and became a member of The United States Coast Guard’s Coastal Picket Patrol during World War Two. She was painted gray and bore the numbers CG67004. Based at Little Creek, Virginia she patrolled the waters east of the Chesapeake Bay entrance and south towards Cape Hatteras. Her skipper during that period reflected on how they used their free time while out on submarine patrol to race against other yachts and in his own words "sailed in tandem with the schooner Lord Jim, racing in and out of port, up and down the east coast and winning." She was designed and built as a gaff rigged schooner but during this period was changed to a Marconi rig. She carries over 2,550 square feet while under full sail. A true veteran world cruiser, she first transited the Panama Canal in July 1946 and in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s completed a two and a half-year global circumnavigation. In December 1971 Mrs. John B. Thayer of Rosemont, wife of a former trustee and treasurer, donated SHEARWATER to the University of Pennsylvania’s Institute of Environmental Medicine. She was used by the university as a laboratory for research on physiological responses to the stresses of living and working underwater. Captained by James Shearson, she was fitted with compressors, generators, monitoring instruments and a small decompression chamber. She has participated in many Ancient Mariner and Classic yacht races in U S waters as well as racing in the Bay of Islands in New Zealand while on her circumnavigation in the early 1980’s. It is rumored she was once dismasted in the famous Newport to Bermuda race. She was last raced by the current owners in San Diego in May 1995 in the American Schooner Cup and finished second overall. She entered the yacht charter industry in 1966 whilst on the West Coast sailing to the Channel Islands and was again used to generate income to keep her shipshape while owned by the University of Pennsylvania. During the chartering industry’s infancy in the Caribbean, SHEARWATER was known as the " Queen of the Fleet". Today she continues this tradition offering the most unique sailing experience and has passed rigid Coast Guard inspections and can carry up to 49 passengers. We welcome you to join us for an excellent opportunity to experience the ambiance of a vintage sailing vessel while delighting in the splendors of The Manhattan sky-line, the Statue of Liberty or the beauty of the oceans beyond.

Take advantage of prime photo opportunities with unobstructed views in every direction aboard Blue & Gold Fleet’s 60-minute Bay Cruise Adventure! Sail past the famous PIER 39 sea lions and along San Francisco’s historic waterfront, revealing the city’s fascinating skyline. This comfortable San Francisco Bay Cruise tour has both indoor and outdoor seating with full narration describing major landmarks as you sail by them. You haven’t experienced San Francisco until you’ve taken a Bay Cruise. A free multi-language audio tour is now available in nine languages: English, Spanish, Mandarin, Italian, French, Japanese, Korean, German and Taiwanese. Please bring your Wi-Fi enabled device to access the tour.

SHEDD AQUARIUM EXHIBITS UNDERWATER BEAUTY – A SPECIAL EXHIBIT Our living world is full of wonder. Celebrate with us the unbelievable beauty living in our oceans, lakes and rivers in a new special exhibit at Shedd Aquarium: Underwater Beauty. Get a glimpse of the grandeur beneath the waves as 100 species from around the world come together in an evocative new space. What is beauty? Spark your curiosity as you see all the ways beauty moves and coexists. Watch sea jellies pulse, eels ribbon and a rainbow come alive with reef fishes. Feel the rhythms, embrace the colors and savor the patterns found only underwater. Experience a world worth celebrating – and saving. Waters of the World Travel the world in 80 habitats. Dive into Oceans, from coastal kelp forests to the seafloor. Explore the self-contained ecosystems of Islands and Lakes. Visit Rivers—big and small—and learn more about our local waters in the new At Home on the Great Lakes exhibit. Meet hundreds of amazing animals, from tiny mantella frogsto a a giant octopus, from a Grand Cayman blue iguana to Nile knifefish, and from moon jellies to sea stars. We even have map turtles, in case you get lost. Caribbean Reef Take a 360-degree tour of an underwater reef community. Follow a green sea turtle. Peek at a moray eel in a rocky crevice. Watch regal rays glide by. Get eye-to-eye with parrot fish and sharks. Visit Caribbean Reef, Shedd’s award-winning 90,000-gallon circular habitat in the grand rotunda. Amazon Rising Take an exotic journey in the Amazon, home to one-third of all living things. Watch out for anacondas and piranhas, spiders, rays and a camouflaged caiman. In churning river channels, still lakes and even flooded treetops look for tetras, turtles and fruit-eating fish called tambaqui. See how the region’s animals, plants and people adapt to the water’s dramatic annual rise and fall. Abbott Oceanarium The Abbott Oceanarium immerses you in the vibrant coastal ecosystem of beluga whales, Pacific white-sided dolphins, sea otters and sea lions. You’ll also find a host of fishes and invertebrates that make their homes where freshwater flows into the ocean or where tides turn seascapes to landscapes and back again each day. Use our self-guided map to discover how animals are linked to each other, their homes and you. Polar Play Zone Kids have a place at Shedd that they can call their own—Polar Play Zone. It’s cool as ice and twice as nice! The penguins think so, too. Play! Splash! Pretend! What would you like to be? A sleek sliding penguin? A deep-sea explorer? How about both? In Polar Play Zone, you can slip into a penguin suit and try being a bird in the Icy South play area. From there, head to the Icy North to explore the belugas’ Arctic waters in a kid-sized submarine. Don’t forget to shake hands—or is it arms?—with colorful sea stars in the touch pools. In Polar Play Zone, you’ll learn about polar opposites—big and small, fast and slow, shallow and deep, even north and south—while you play. The Oceanarium Aquatic Presentation​ is included however based on available seating and remaining show times at the time of guest arrival. (2018 Aquatic Presentation Schedule) Stingray Touch (seasonal experience) is included. Open late May through October. 4D Experience is not included however the 4D experience tickets may be purchased at the theatre for $3.00 per -person Pets are not allowed in the aquarium    

Additional Info: Visiting Gulliver’s Gate Location: 216 West 44th Street New York, NY 10036 (between 7th & 8th Avenue) Hours of Operation: Open Daily. 10am - 8pm. Duration: There’s a lot you’ll want to see at Gulliver’s Gate and we want your guests to take their time enjoying our miniatures. A typical visit is 1.5 to 2 hours but you are welcome to stay as long as you’d like! Inclusions: Your ticket includes general admission, a lanyard & key that will allow you to interact with our models (i.e. turn on lights, move cars within our models, etc.), and a complimentary map. Guests have 6 months from the date of purchase to redeem their ticket.

Highlights of your day will include: Hollywood
       Hollywood Boulevard (TCL Chinese Theatre, Hollywood Walk of Fame, Dolby Theater) (*Approximately 30 minutes)
       The Hollywood Sign
       The Hollywood Bowl
       Miracle Mile
       La Brea Tar Pits
       L.A. County Museum of Art (LACMA)
       Melrose Avenue
       Farmers Market/The Grove (*Approximately 1 hour)
       Paramount Studios
       CBS Television
Beverly Hills
       Rodeo Drive (*Approximately 15 minutes)
       City Hall
West Hollywood
       Sunset Strip
Downtown L.A.
       Olvera Street (*Approximately 15 minutes)
       Chinatown
       Staples Center
       Walt Disney Concert Hall
       Microsoft Theater
       Cathedral of Our Lady *Times and locations may vary depending on events or traffic conditions