Are you active in the military? We’ve got a treat for you. Anheuser-Busch theme parks are offering free entrance to you, our heros! So, if you are active, and want to visit a park with your family from now until the end of the year (2011), check this out and enjoy!

(Directly from Hero Salute web site)

FREE ADMISSION SUMMARY
Any active duty, activated or drilling reservist, or National Guardsman is entitled to free admission under the Here’s to the Heroes program. He or she need only register, either by clicking here

and submitting his or her information or in the entrance plaza of participating parks, and show a Department of Defense photo ID. As many as three direct dependents of military personnel also are entitled to free admission. Dependents may take advantage of the offer without their service member, though an adult must accompany minor dependents, and dependent ages 10 and over must present valid dependent I.D.

Busch Gardens Williamsburg, SeaWorld San Antonio and Sesame Place are seasonal operations that will remain closed until spring 2011. Military personnel interested in visiting those parks should check operating schedules. Click herefor Busch Gardens Williamsburg. Click here for SeaWorld San Antonio. Click here for Sesame Place. The remaining parks, SeaWorld Orlando, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay and SeaWorld San Diego are open year round.

Valid for one complimentary single-day admission per person, per year, during the regular operating schedules at one of the following: SeaWorld Orlando, San Diego, or San Antonio, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay or Williamsburg, Sesame Place, Water Country USA, Adventure Island. Not valid at Discovery Cove and Aquatica. Christmas Town at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, Va. is not included as part of this program.

The San Diego Zoo has released their 2012 ticket pricing. 2012 is just around the corner, and price changes across the theme parks have started to take effect. The San Diego Zoo increased ticket prices for both adult and child tickets by $2 each.

San Diego Zoo Ticket Prices:
2012: Adult: $42.00  -  Child: $32.00
2011: Adult: $40.00  -  Child: $30.00

If you are reading this in 2011, you’ll get the benefit of continuing to save $4 per ticket for both adults and children! $38 and $28 for San Diego Zoo tickets on Kijubi. That’s nearly 10% off regular admission price.

Consider it a holiday gift from Kijubi!

WATCH AULANI COME TO LIFE

We’ve all been patiently (or for some of us who’ve been studying our brains out for the past 9 months, impatiently) awaiting summer, and guess what? It’s finally here! I’m ready to hit the beach… how’s about you? I can tell by the look in your eyes that you need some fun in the sun, and luckily Kijubi has plenty of that.

For all you radical L.A. dudes and dudettes who’ve wanted to learn to surf since you saw The Endless Summer, handle it already with a few surf lessons in Santa Monica. Now is the time to learn, especially since the world might come to an end on October 21st (Kijubi is not to be held liable for such predictions). You don’t want to miss out on the opportunity to heavily increase your level of coolness by knowing how to shred those gnar gnar waves, bro.

Looking for a weekend getaway that won’t require you to pull from the kids’ college fund? Escape to Catalina Island via the Catalina Express from Dana Point and Long Beach, or Catalina Flyer from Newport Beach. Once there, you’ll be overwhelmed by the number of things to do, both thrilling and relaxing. As a friend of the Kijubi family, please take our advice and snorkel the insanely beautiful waters of Lover’s Cove in Avalon. We offer a 2 hour snorkel tour where the first hour is guided and the second is not, so you have a chance to explore on your own. Do it… please. It’s for your own good.

Holler at our East Coast family! Must feel good to finally let the scarves loose, peel off the peacoats and kick off the boots. It’s time to pull out the sunglasses, tank tops and flip flops and relax on a yacht in the Atlantic whilst sipping champagne and reading a good book. If you’re in or around New York, I highly recommend booking one of our dining or sightseeing cruises – there’s plenty to choose from!

We’ve got thousands more fun, summer activities all over the world that I’d love to share with you, but there’s really not enough time in the day and I should get back to work. To be continued!

Aha! Disney has done it yet again with a completely new and sensational parade. Mickey’s Soundsational Parade is all new at the Disneyland Resort. From a marching band to Mickey blasting away at the drums like the pro he is, the parade is, simply put, outstanding. The talent in the parade is top-notch, the music includes most of the classics we all love, and the colors are brilliant.

Ready to go to Disneyland and enjoy this masterful parade? Get your own discounted Disneyland tickets and go smile.

Here are a couple of videos that will give you an in-depth, inside look at what you can expect to see at the parade:

Under the sea <ta ta ta ta> Under the sea!

Disney has done it again with their undersea adventure with Ariel. The Little Mermaid Undersea Adventure ride at Disney’s California Adventure is now open to the public after more than 20 years following the release of the movie. We had the opportunity to enjoy this wonderful new ride the day before it opened up to the public and want to share it with you. Check out the pics below, and when you are ready to go, buy your Disneyland tickets here.

Check out the FIRST LOOK video:

Ah, it’s summer time once again and we have a whole new set of Disneyland tickets available. Not only do we have new discount Disneyland tickets available for sale, but there are a whole bunch of new attractions that have recently opened up at the parks. These include The Little Mermaid, a brand new Star Tours in 3D, and a magical (and AMAZING) new parade. More to come on all of these soon. For now, here are the new ticket prices:

Not long ago, Julia Dimon from Outside Television approached Kijubi looking for adventure. The decision was canyoneering in Los Angeles. Here is a repost of her blog about her canyoneering experience along with the awesome Outside Television video:

Drive just 20 minutes from downtown Los Angeles and you’ll find yourself in Rubio canyon. A with a series of waterfalls that cascade across the San Gabriel mountains, it’s the perfect spot to try canyoneering! Now, for those like me who are new to the sport, a simple explanation of canyoneering is when you rappel into a canyon, down waterfalls using ropes, harnesses and other technical climbing gear.

I sucked up my long-time fear of heights to join up with Travis McDaniel, co-owner of Alpine Training Services (ATS), for an exciting afternoon of canyoneering. ATS has been offering instructional courses and guided canyoneering, rock climbing, mountaineering, photography, and kayaking adventures throughout the Western U.S. for the last 11 years. They are also one of the largest film rigging companies in Hollywood and have worked on shows like The Amazing Race, the Biggest Loser, and The Bachelor. Today, they deal with what maybe one of their most challenging clients…Julia.

After dividing our gear and packing our waterproof bags, we hiked 45-minutes along a trail that went from scenic, with impressive views of the LA city skyline, to steep.

Nature’s Stairmaster had me hiking up a nasty incline, past narrow passages, patches of poison oak, landslide paths and loose rocks. It sure got the blood pumping and was a great way to prep for the heart-stopping decent in my near future.

Travis clipped me into a series of safety ropes and showed me the basics of how to repel. First decent was the ‘big one’; a 100ft waterfall named Tha-La-La.

I peered trepidaciously over the side of the waterfall. Bad idea. The drop was drastic and if anything went wrong, I would surely plummet to my death, cracking my skull open and turning even my hardest bones into talcum dust. One who doesn’t like heights, should never look down. I did. Panic stricken, I wasn’t sure I could go through with the descent. The only problem is that once in the canyon, there’s no easy way out…but down. A calm Travis, who has no doubt seen plenty of wide-eyed terrified tourists in his time, assured me that the equipment can hold a “stupid amount of weight.” The key is to keep one hand on the break line, breathe, trust the equipment and enjoy.

I gave myself a little pep talk and slowly lowered myself over the edge, keeping my feet out in front of me. Walking down the waterfall proved to be difficult because of the freezing cold water rushing towards me and the slippery rock face. True, I did stumble, slip and scrape myself a few more times than I’d like to admit and yes – I did
blurt out a steady stream of expletives you can’t say on TV (we were filming this as an Urban Adventures segment for Outside Television) – but I was slowly starting to get the hang of it. Travis yelled some more words of encouragement as I lowered myself down.

Once closer to the bottom, I allowed myself to enjoy the scenery and was impressed at the distance I’d rappelled. As a pool of freezing cold water washed over me, so did a great feeling of accomplishment. I dropped into thigh-high water, unclipped my carabineers and threw up my hands in celebration. I was alive!! Whoo hoo!! Having just completed the first and largest of the six waterfalls, it would only get easier from here.

If you’re looking for a fun day trip that will challenge you mentally, physically and give you one hell of an adventure, canyoneering may be for you! The most amazing thing is how close this wild stretch of rugged nature is to downtown Los Angeles! Be sure to bring lots of water, snacks, a lunch and a dry change of clothes for after. You will get wet!

To book a canyoneering adventure go to Kijubi.com, an online booking engine that offers fun activities all over the US. http://www.kijubi.com/Detail-391/Full-Day-Canyoneering-Adventure-Los-Angeles,California

Last week we had the opportunity to offer the Kijubi API to developers taking part in the OpenTravel North America Forum Tnooz THack event in Las Vegas. Five teams spent about 10 days hacking some sort of application using any of 10 APIs, including HotWire, TravelPort, RezGo, TourCMS, and Kijubi. We were incredibly happy to see that 4 of the 5 teams used the Kijubi API. We liked the apps put together by PocketVillage and Pegasus the most!

Four members of the panel judged each presentation and awarded 1st and 2nd place based on a set of criteria.

Along with opening the Kijubi API to the hackers, we also took part in the THack event. Kijubi created an app that allows any group of people to create a road trip and add all of the things to do along the way. The hack is not currently live, but we can tell you that KIJUBI WON 2ND PLACE! And, the 1st place winner also used the Kijubi API.

We would like to thank Daniel Teichman, the Kijubi hacker who created both the Kijubi API and the hack. Check out this (6 min) video of Daniel making the pitch:

Thank you OpenTravel and TNooz for putting together such an exciting event.

Kijubi coding? We know we have been… A LOT!

Late last week Kijubi launched a new API for distribution partners. The JSON/Serialized PHP API allows partners to search and filter through more than 5,000 activities in over 100 destinations worldwide and currently available on Kijubi.com. Partners receive a commission for every sale made through their links.

The API is being launched in conjunction with a Tnooz THack event happening at the Open Travel Alliance North America Forum in Las Vegas April 25-27. Kijubi’s API is among some of the biggest companies in travel, such as HotWire and TravelPort.

Not only is Kijubi’s API in the event, but Kijubi is also entering as a developer. The mashup/hack we are putting together will allow people to create and collaborate on a road trip directly on Facebook using Google Maps, HotWire, and Kijubi content. FUN! We’ll let you know when the mashup/hack is done, so you can enjoy it with your friends, on us.

If you are a developer, a travel related website, or just want to get into a new business, we would love to know what you can come up with.

Check out the new Kijubi API, documentation, and examples at api.kijubi.com.

Happy coding!