Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Today

Holiday Travel Season Picks Up; Georgia Aquarium Opens With Much Fanfare

Aired November 23, 2005 - 10:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(WEATHER UPDATE)
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's go to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. Reporter Kim Martinez from our affiliate KTVK is there.

Hello, Kim.

KIM MARTINEZ, KTVK CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Daryn. It's busy here, as well. But things are running smoothly.

We're going to pan over and show you curbside outside of terminal two, right here. You can see lots of cars. Lots of brake lights where people are getting out of their cars and unloading their bags on their way to their Thanksgiving holidays.

Out at terminal four, which is really our busy terminal out here, 70 percent of our flights leave from there, it is much, much busier there. We have lines, hundreds of people in lines outside the Southwest ticket counter. And U.S. Airways flies out of there as well.

So it is hustling and bustling here. People are waiting only about 20 minutes in line, though. So the folks here at Phoenix Sky Harbor doing a great job.

Parking, however, two of our major lots full. About half the parking spaces taken up at this point. So it is very busy.

They tell us that about 500,000 people will move in and out of Phoenix Sky Harbor by the time of the weekend is over. So definitely one of our biggest travel days here -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Absolutely. Hopefully it will keep going just as smoothly and you continue to have the great weather.

Kim, do me a favor. Say happy Thanksgiving to all my old friends at KTVK, my old station.

MARTINEZ: You know I'll do that. And Arnold Espinoza (ph), I don't know if you remember him...

KAGAN: I do know Arnold.

MARTINEZ: He said to tell you hi and happy Thanksgiving.

KAGAN: That means Arnold's behind the camera there. Arnold, thank you. Happy Thanksgiving, and you guys have a great holiday.

It's a lot of reason to celebrate here in Atlanta. They have opened this incredible facility across the street from us at CNN. It's the Georgia Aquarium. The biggest aquarium in the world. We're about what, five hours from the closest ocean.

Chad Myers is inside. Last we checked still dry. But very excited about what's taking place over there. He's going to give us a tour in just a bit. We will go for that swim after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: As I said, we are watching you, America. Let's check in, in Portland, Oregon.

Here's reporter Mark Glyzewski. Happy holidays.

MARK GLYZEWSKI, KPTV CORRESPONDENT: Happy holidays to you, too.

KAGAN: Tell us what it looks like there in Portland.

GLYZEWSKI: Yes, it's off to a great start, really. We had a rush about two hours ago But now we're seeing a lull. But you can see some of the travelers making their way through. Most of the people I've spoken this morning are really taking things in stride, but when you look at PDX at large, the administrators here are expecting to see one of the busiest travel seasons ever. In fact, when you add in the Christmas holiday, they're expecting to see numbers that will be the highest in its history.

And we're talking about some two million travelers expected to pass through here within the next several weeks, dealing with both holiday weekends.

And on average, on a daily basis you're talking about 48,000 passengers.

So it's definitely a large number of travelers passing through here. But you can see they are going through smoothly.

One thing we can tell you about, TSA -- they have really ramped up the efforts here as well at the security checkpoints. We saw four separate lines allowing people up to that checkpoint. So they're trying to shuttle people through.

We've seen some really big backups in the past year over the years, but things are off to a great start, Daryn.

KAGAN: Yes.

Well, hopefully things will continue to go smoothly there in Portland -- a beautiful place to get to and spend the holidays.

Mark Glyzewski from our affiliate KPTV, thank you.

Now, right across the street, downtown Atlanta, the Georgia Aquarium. Fish not on the menu to eat but certainly on the menu to check out.

Chad Myers has that wonderful assignment.

Hey, Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, good morning.

It is a really great assignment. And the best part is actually watching the kids. The kids just enjoy this so much.

We're standing in front of the big aquarium, the big exhibit. There are five other exhibits -- the cold (ph) exhibit, the piranha exhibit and so on.

But this is the big tank. This is the whale shark tank that you will hear so much about, making this the largest aquarium in the world -- 6.1 million gallons in this tank here. It's almost like a 126-foot high definition TV set, because you don't even realize that it's real. And the kids are up there right along the glass. And there's a big grouper coming to this guy right here.

And there are more than 3,000 fish in this tank all by itself.

We'll keep talking here because eventually the whale sharks will come by. The whale sharks are Ralph and Norton from "The Honeymooners" -- you recognize those names. But the big sharks -- actually they're fish.

But the whale sharks themselves, that's the big draw. When the whale shark will swim by, all the kids light up and this place gets really loud.

The reason why he's not here now, Daryn, is because this place is a football field long and a half football field wide. It is big enough to put 217 buses stacked three deep all the way through this.

So there is plenty of room for all the fish here to live in harmony. And it's funny, they don't eat each other. But I guess they're very well fed.

KAGAN: Hey, Chad, let me just jump in here, because while we're waiting to see the whale sharks live we're looking at tape of them so we know exactly what we're looking for.

MYERS: It's hard to know what we're looking for. And that's one of the things that -- you know, it's hard to criticize the aquarium on its first or second day open, but there's not a lot of information on -- not a lot of signage, if you will.

KAGAN: About what you're looking at?

MYERS: That's actually on purpose. They don't -- if you want to have this an educational experience, you can go pick up things at the information desk and bring it with you.

They didn't want big signs to get in the way of seeing the fish. This is supposed to be an experience -- oh, here comes a scuba diver, too.

This is supposed to be an experience that you just enjoy yourself. You don't necessarily have to learn something. Although I like to learn something everywhere I go, so I did pick up the information packet and it was quite great.

Take a look to the left. Can you get all the way to the left almost to the pole, if you keep -- my camera man is going to keep pulling to the left. The scuba diver here right before you -- I don't even know if you can get the angle or not -- but they are in there, they're cleaning the place.

There are over 5,000 volunteers on a daily basis, Daryn, that come through here, keep the place clean, scuba divers.

KAGAN: There he is.

MYERS: Here he comes.

Now we can see he's going forward. But because he's here that's actually keeping the whale sharks away from the screen.

KAGAN: OK.

MYERS: But they'll definitely be back.

KAGAN: He's kind of ruined the neighborhood there.

MYERS: Yes, let's pan to the right here just a little bit. We're going to go all the way back down and into the crowd.

You would think that this is a place where people would come and spend 15, 20 seconds and keep moving -- no way. This is a one-hour exhibit for everybody because the scene keeps changing over and over and over. Different fish will come by, and it's quite an experience, Daryn.

KAGAN: Chad, quick question for you.

I hear that in some ways they're a victim of their own success -- all the national publicity, that the Web site's been overloaded and it's tough to get through on the phones.

Have they addressed those problems?

MYERS: Well, you know, you can still walk straight up to the ticket counter right now and still get in.

There's a maximum of 5,000 people in at any one time. When you get to that 5,000 maximum, then they're going to start putting people in line, they're going to start queuing them up outside.

But, yes, they have had such international publicity, not just national publicity here -- this being the biggest aquarium ever.

Bernie Marcus actually visited 30 other aquariums across the globe in 17 days, with all the other founders of this place, looking for the best things in all of the other best aquariums. And he tried to put all of those things in just one place, and this is it. This is the Georgia Aquarium.

KAGAN: It looks great. I'm looking forward to checking it out. Chad, thank you.

MYERS: All right, you're welcome, Daryn. We'll be back throughout the afternoon.

KAGAN: OK, we'll look forward to more...

MYERS: And, you know, if I have 30 more seconds, here comes the whale shark right through the middle of the screen.

KAGAN: You know, when a whale shark shows up, you know, they get the screen.

MYERS: There it is.

KAGAN: Yes.

MYERS: He's the star. And that is Ralph.

KAGAN: That is Ralph? How do you know?

MYERS: Ralph has a little "J" on top of his belly.

KAGAN: Ah, very good. OK, thank you.

And thank you to Ralph and the scuba diver. Thanks to all of them.

We're talking shopping just ahead. A retailer -- get this -- might be giving you cash to come through their doors. We'll tell you more about that after this break.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

(WEATHER UPDATE)

KAGAN: We're going to go to the movies.

It was a huge hit on stage. But will "Rent" now transfer on to the big screen?

"Mr. Moviefone" joins me next with his picks of holiday movies.

CNN LIVE TODAY is back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILLY BOB THORNTON, ACTOR: Hey, Roy, you still alive in there? You didn't asphyxiate yet, did you? JOHN CUSACK, ACTOR: What's that, Roy?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: OK. It's called "Ice Harvest," a dark comedy starring John Cusack and Billy Bob Thornton. It opens this week on the big screen.

Turkey and movies, that's what we think of when we think of Mr. Moviefone -- turkey.

There he is.

RUSS LEATHERMAN, "MR. MOVIEFONE": Well, gobble, gobble, Daryn.

KAGAN: Russ Leatherman.

Hey, Russ, happy Thanksgiving.

LEATHERMAN: Happy Thanksgiving to you.

It's a great time for movies, no doubt about it.

KAGAN: It is.

What about a great time for "Ice Harvest"? Did you like it?

LEATHERMAN: Well, I think it's OK.

It is a very dark comedy. You have Billy Bob Thornton. It's sort of the "Bad Santa" of the Thanksgiving weekend. I think this is one of those movies that if you like "Bad Santa," if you like your movies dark and racy, you'll appreciate this movie. Otherwise, you may want to steer clear. It's not exactly what I would call holiday fare.

KAGAN: OK.

Moving on to "Rent," one of the most popular and successful musicals on Broadway. They're now trying to put it on the big screen.

LEATHERMAN: Well, they are. And they did a really good job.

This is one of those movies that people will be completely divided about. If you like the musical, you will like the movie. It's got Rosario Dawson, Taye Diggs. And it's really well done. It's brought to the big screen in a big way.

But if you didn't appreciate it that much on stage, you won't like the big screen adaptation. It's not the movie that's going to transform you.

But I have to tell you, the singing is good. It's a good movie.

KAGAN: Is that your cell phone that's on, Russ?

LEATHERMAN: Yes. Can you hang on one second?

(LAUGHTER)

Hello and welcome to Moviefone.

Sorry about that.

KAGAN: Let's not be taking calls in the middle of the segment.

Tell them to hold on.

"Pride & Prejudice" -- I'm a huge -- do you need to turn it off?

LEATHERMAN: Do you believe that this is happening to me?

KAGAN: How many times?

LEATHERMAN: It's unbelievable.

OK. Go ahead.

"Pride & Prejudice."

KAGAN: "Pride & Prejudice," Jane Austen. I love these movies. Some Austen purists out there not that happy with this version. I don't know that you would know that kind of...

(LAUGHTER)

LEATHERMAN: What are you saying, Daryn?

I got to tell you, I loved this movie.

I think if you're looking for something...

KAGAN: You did?

LEATHERMAN: I did. I think if you're looking for something to do...

(CROSSTALK)

LEATHERMAN: I'm telling you, this is a romantic story.

KAGAN: That's why I'm surprised that you liked it.

LEATHERMAN: I tell you, Daryn, it's a beautiful movie almost every way.

We really don't see movies like this made anymore. And so I think this is one of the movies you can grab crazy Aunt Mabel (ph), the entire family, they're going to enjoy sitting through it.

Keira Knightley is fantastic. I think you might see some Oscar nominations for this movie. I loved it.

KAGAN: OK.

And then finally in our last minute you have kind of your overview, movies you might have talked about before.

But if you're going to the movies, what are your top picks?

LEATHERMAN: Well, I got to tell you, if you've got kids in the household, you're looking for something to do, I think you should go see "Dreamer."

KAGAN: "Dreamer."

LEATHERMAN: "Dreamer."

"Chicken Little" has been in theaters forever. But this is a beautiful little movie. Little Dakota Fanning takes a horse to the big race.

KAGAN: Oh, yes, the Dakota Fanning horse movie.

LEATHERMAN: Yes. It's a terrific movie.

Now, if you're looking for -- you have kids a little older, you're looking for action, I say take them to "Zathura." It's got all the action of Harry Potter and some kids who can actually act in this movie, so I love that movie.

We also have "Walk the Line," Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon. You've heard all the hype. It's all true. Go see it. You're going to love this movie.

And if you're lucky enough to live in New York or Los Angeles, do not miss the new George Clooney movie "Syriana." Could be the best movie of the year. You'll see Oscar nominations. One of my favorites.

KAGAN: OK.

Go answer your phone.

LEATHERMAN: Yes, no problem. Hang on one second.

Show times are 5:45, 6:45 and 7:30.

(LAUGHTER)

KAGAN: Happy Thanksgiving, Russ.

LEATHERMAN: Have a great holiday, Daryn.

KAGAN: Yes.

We'll see you after the holidays. Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com