Features
Allison Udy: bucket-list Lapland trip, coach drivers and more
GTO Allison Udy on the uniqueness of her group and how a coach driver can make or break a trip.
We round up a selection of new attractions, hotels and exhibitions planned for 2018, and highlight those all-important opening dates that organisers should put in their diaries.
With the end of 2017 rearing its head, it’s time to start looking ahead to what 2018 will bring, including new exhibitions, theme park ride launches and new hotels.
1. Blackpool Pleasure Beach is in the process of constructing a new £16.25million rollercoaster for spring 2018. The ride, previously referred to as ‘Construction 2018’, now with the name ICON, will feature 15 interactions with the park’s other rides and tunnels.
www.blackpoolpleasurebeach.com
2. Bolton Museum has announced that its new Egyptology gallery will open to the public in 2018. The gallery will consist of several sections, including Land & People, Eternal Egypt, Beliefs, Tomb of Thutmose III, and the Reflections area. During which, visitors will be able to explore the history and lives of Egyptians and reflect on why Boltonians are similar.
www.boltonmuseums.org.uk/museum
Pictured: Terracotta Wariors.
3. The Terracotta Warriors will return to the UK only in 2018 as part of a major new exhibition to be staged at Liverpool’s World Museum. The exhibition will be the first time in more than 30 years that Class 1 National Cultural Treasures from the tomb of China’s first Emperor, Qin Shihuangdi, will be brought to a museum in the UK outside London.
4. It’s been confirmed that The Great Exhibition of the North, an exhibition celebrating the North of England, will take place in Newcastle and Gateshead between June and September 2018. Plans for the event include three walking circuits around Tyneside focusing on arts, design and innovation which will guide visitors to venues and attractions.
Pictured: View of Westminster Abbey and London.
5. A gallery and museum space are being built in Westminster Abbey, with plans to open in 2018. The new gallery will run 70-feet above the abbey floor and display a number of collections reflecting the abbey's 1,000-year history. Groups will get to see highlights such as the Liber Regalis, a 14th century illuminated manuscript setting out the order for Coronations, and the Westminster Retable, said to be England's oldest altarpiece.
6. New plans for an £8.5 million hotel at the Eden Project in Cornwall have been unveiled. The two-block hotel has been designed to blend into the countryside, and includes prominent timber poles, cladding the outside of its two blocks. Construction is likely to start in late 2017, with an opening date forecast for April 2018.
7. In Wiltshire, Longleat plans to build a new 240-room hotel, with a water park and business conference facilities on the edge of its estate near Warminster. Details on when the hotel will open are yet to be announced.
