Tag: the Titanic

Titanic Museum Attraction wraps up centennial year with fireworks

Posted by Erin Freeman – October 11, 2012

Fireworks at the Titanic Museum Attraction in Pigeon Forge, TennesseePigeon Forge, Tenn. – A year of paying tribute to the 2,208 souls aboard Titanic comes to a dramatic and energetic conclusion this Thanksgiving at the Titanic Museum Attraction in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. The night sky will be filled with a major fireworks show on November 22, 2012, to celebrate the lives and legacies of the ship’s passengers, crew and rescuers. It will be the largest fireworks event on the Smoky Mountain Parkway since the Titanic Museum Attraction’s grand opening in 2010.

“We wanted to end the Titanic Centennial year on a note of celebration and hope,” said John Joslyn, expedition leader of the first private exploration dive to Titanic and co-owner of the Titanic Museum Attraction. “We knew a fireworks show such as the one that helped open the museum in 2010 was the perfect way to provide a celebration in honor of the passengers and crew rivaling anything they could have hoped for if they had arrived safely in New York a century ago.”

The Thanksgiving fireworks provide an opportunity to reflect on the sense of hope and wonder each passenger and crew member must have felt as they climbed aboard Titanic. It also provides an opportunity to look forward to that same sense of hope and wonder found in the Christmas and holiday season. The annual tradition of a magical snowfall from the ship’s bow will be renewed on Thanksgiving weekend and continue every Saturday in December. Father Christmas, dressed in a style most familiar to the children aboard Titanic in 1912, will also be visiting the Pigeon Forge museum on those magical snow days to greet the museum’s guests.

This year’s holiday exhibit also includes a collection of antique dolls from the Civil War to the early 1900s. The vintageFather Christmas visits the Titanic Museum in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee dolls represent Christmas memories that would have been familiar to passengers of any age aboard Titanic.

Visitors to the Titanic Museum Attraction will also be able to view thousands of holiday lights, Edwardian-period decorations, costumed merry-markers, and a magical Gift Shoppe brimming with original, one-of-a-kind gifts.

“Every day, but especially at Christmas, we remember and honor the men, women and particularly the children who sailed on the Titanic. At this special time, our guests truly experience what it was like onboard the ship in 1912, and how it might have looked on a Christmas voyage almost 100 years ago,” says Joslyn.

The winter events continue at Titanic Museum Attraction into January with the return of the attraction’s annual national ice carving competition on Saturday, January 19, 2013. The competition, held under the auspices of the National Ice Carving Association, is an exciting one-day event attracting world-class professional and amateur carvers competing before a crowd of wonder-struck children and adults alike.

Information about these and other winter events at Titanic Museum Attraction can be found online at www.titanicattraction.com. The Titanic Museum Attraction in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, opens daily at 9 a.m. Reservations are strongly suggested since many days sell out entirely. Passengers may purchase tickets online at www.titanicattraction.com or by phone at (800) 381-7670.

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Titanic Museum Attraction: Cedar Bay Entertainment, LLC owns and operates the Titanic Museum Attraction in Branson, Missouri, and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. A privately owned-and-operated entertainment and development company, Cedar Bay is headquartered in Branson, Missouri, the site of its first Titanic Museum Attraction. Since its opening in 2006, Titanic Branson has welcomed more than 5 million “passengers” aboard the museum. Titanic Pigeon Forge opened in 2010 and has already welcomed 2 million visitors. For additional information about the museums, visit www.titanicattraction.com or call 800-381-7670.

Media: For high resolution digital images, museum and exhibit tours, interviews and additional information, contact Shane Rhyne at (865) 584-0550 or srhyne@ackermannpr.com.

Titanic Museum Attractions’ centennial commemoration wins marketing honors

Posted by Erin Freeman – October 8, 2012

Branson, Mo. – Titanic Museum Attractions’ year-long commemoration of the centennial anniversary of RMS Titanic’s maiden voyage captured the imagination of visitors from around the world and has earned awards within the tourism industry. The attractions received the 2012 Missouri Tourism Marketing Campaign Award at September’s statewide tourism conference.

The award recognized Titanic Museum Attractions’ ability to draw worldwide media coverage during the year, including visits to the Tennessee and Missouri locations by USA Today, CNN, CBS’ Sunday Morning, and Fox News’ Fox and Friends. The museum attractions were also featured this year in media coverage by major media outlets such as the New York Times, People Magazine, and the Associated Press.

“This is a great honor for both Titanic Branson and Titanic Pigeon Forge,” said John Joslyn, co-owner of the attractions and co-leader of first private expeditions to Titanic’s final resting place. “While the award is presented by the state of Missouri, it represents how the two attractions were able to coordinate their efforts to make the best possible impact in both Missouri and Tennessee.”

The Marketing Campaign Award is presented annually by the Missouri Tourism Commission and the Missouri Division of Tourism at the Missouri Governor’s Conference on Tourism. Winners are selected based on their ability to create a positive impact on tourism visitation and economic impact.

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Titanic Museum Attraction: Cedar Bay Entertainment, LLC owns and operates the Titanic Museum Attraction in Branson, Missouri, and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. A privately owned-and-operated entertainment and development company, Cedar Bay is headquartered in Branson, Missouri, the site of its first Titanic Museum Attraction. Since its opening in 2006, Titanic Branson has welcomed more than 5 million “passengers” aboard the museum. Titanic Pigeon Forge opened in 2010 and has already welcomed 2 million visitors. For additional information about the museums, visit www.titanicattraction.com or call 800-381-7670.

Media: For high resolution digital images, museum and exhibit tours, interviews and additional information, contact Shane Rhyne at (865) 585-0550 or srhyne@ackermannpr.com.

Titanic Museum Attraction bridges generations in centennial tribute event

Posted by Erin Freeman – April 5, 2012

PIGEON FORGE, Tenn. and BRANSON, Mo. – The last of Titanic’s original survivors are gone, but the desire to connect with the tragedy’s heroes and victims 100 years later is as strong as ever. The Titanic Museum Attraction is bridging the gap between centuries through the only formal U.S. ceremonies and tribute to the ship, its passengers and crew. The tribute program will be staged on Saturday, April 14, at the Titanic Museum Attractions in Missouri and Tennessee under the watchful eyes of children and grandchildren of those aboard the ship 100 years ago, providing a living connection one of the 20th centuries most captivating stories. The program will begin at noon (Central) at Titanic Museum in Branson, Missouri, and 8:30 p.m. (Eastern) at Titanic Museum Attraction in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

“A Night to Remember: An Original Musical Tribute to Titanic” is a professionally-staged production including the inspiring voices of choirs, the haunting sounds of bagpipes, and comforting words of tribute in honor of the 2,208 people aboard the ship a century ago.

“We wanted the ceremonies to be respectful of the memory of those who were aboard, regardless of their fate,” said John Joslyn, co-owner of the Titanic Museum Attraction and co-leader of the first private expedition to visit the ship’s final resting place on the ocean floor. “We are honored by the many descendants of the ship’s crew and passengers who have chosen to attend our ceremony.”

While many living descendants of Titanic are most commonly found among the great-grandchildren of the ship’s passengers and crew, grandchildren are becoming a rare breed. Rarer still is a living child of the descendants, but Branson will host one of the few remaining children of the ship’s original passengers and crew when Pearl Leemhuis takes her seat at the museum’s ceremonies. Pearl’s mother, Bertha Lehmann was a 17-year-old passenger leaving Switzerland to join her family in Iowa.

Among the descendants attending the tribute in Pigeon Forge will be the grandson of Charles Lightoller, the most senior Titanic crew member to survive the disaster. Timothy Lightoller and his wife are making the trip from their native Scotland to be a part of the tribute.

One of the ship’s most famous passengers, Margaret Brown—known to many as “the unsinkable Molly Brown”—will be represented in Pigeon Forge by her granddaughter, Helen Benziger. Descendants of Isidor and Ida Straus will also be present to pay respects to their ancestors who perished aboard the ship. Isidor Straus was the co-owner with his brother of Macy’s Department Store in New York.

The tribute ceremonies will include performances by choirs, musicians and children as well as a parade of flags, poetry readings, and the lighting of an eternal flame in remembrance of the people aboard Titanic.

Tickets to “A Night to Remember: An Original Musical Tribute to Titanic” are available through the Titanic Museum Attractions in Missouri and Tennessee. Visitors may purchase tickets by phone at (800) 381-7670. In addition to museum admission and the musical production, ticket holders will receive limited edition memorials dedicated to the ship’s history, including a DVD containing video tributes of the personal stories of selected passengers and crew.

The Titanic Museum Attractions – the home base for the U.S. RMS Titanic 100 Year Anniversary Commemoration

The Titanic Museum Attractions are located in Branson, Missouri, and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Together, the two museums represent the largest permanent monuments in the world dedicated to the memory of Titanic. The museums, immediately recognizable for their ship-shape design, are home to hundreds of artifacts from the ship and its survivors. “Passengers” experience what it was like to walk the hallways, parlors, cabins and Grand Staircase of the Titanic while surrounded by artifacts and exhibits that tell the story of the ship’s history and fate.

Since its opening in 2006, Titanic Branson has welcomed more than 5 million “passengers” aboard the museum. Titanic Pigeon Forge opened in 2010 and has already welcomed 2 million visitors. For additional information about the museums, visit www.titanicattraction.com

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Editors:  For more information, for high-res museum photos, or to schedule interviews or visits to the museums, please contact Rick Laney or Shane Rhyne at (865) 584-0550.