
The World of Fake Vacation Destinations - electic
https://www.wired.com/2014/06/fake-snow-fake-buildings-the-bizarre-world-of-fake-vacation-destinations/
======
ido
Quite self righteous. People go to these resorts because they can't afford
(time and/or money-wise) going on an _actual_ exotic vacation.

Don't know about the indoors skiing in Dubai but I'm pretty sure the _Tropical
Island_ resort in Germany is less harmful to the environment than the
equivalent number of Germans flying many 1000s of kilometers to an actual
tropical island and back.

~~~
danso
I couldn't help but think that the photographer profiled here suffers from a
skewed perspective. As a professional photographer, he's used to traveling
internationally to do a shoot, so he might think of it as no big deal for a
New Jersey family to head out to the Adirondacks or Aspen for real skiing, as
opposed to going to the planned mega-mall with indoor slopes [0].

[0]
[http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2016/05/meadowlands_ski_par...](http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2016/05/meadowlands_ski_park_gets_big_name_to_run_indoor_resort.html)

------
danso
tl;dr: this is a short article about a book of photos of indoor resorts, such
as indoor skiing halls in Dubai, or indoor pools with tropical island decor.
Not particularly "bizarre" IMHO

~~~
jonathanfoster
Thanks for the TL;DR. I abandoned after the first paragraph because Wired
throws up a modal when using an ad blocker. The lead wasn't interesting enough
to disable the modal.

Edit: uBlock Origin blocks the modal, AdBlock doesn't.

~~~
danso
My tldr could have been a little more helpful, actually. The OP direct links
to an online gallery of some of the photos on the photographer's homepage:
[http://www.photography.at/_fake_holidays.html](http://www.photography.at/_fake_holidays.html)

------
rco8786
Odd that the authors biggest takeaway was environmental related.

------
Zigurd
> _“I am not sure what is better: going to the Alps, knowing that the skiing
> industry destroys nature in the mountains, or going to a skiing hall built
> in Dubai, in the desert.”_

Compared to the mining practices that creating the enormous tailings piles at
the former Molycorp mine adjacent to the Red River, the ski area farther up
the valley is very low-impact, and it's an impetus to clean up the Molycorp
site.

------
mxstbr
While the pictures are beautiful, I don't quite get the article. There's
nothing particularly bizarre about those destinations, it's just a different
way of experiencing certain things.

Rather than sit in a plane for 7 hours to get to the alps once a year, why not
stay in Dubai and go skiing every afternoon? Apart from the environmental
issues, that sounds quite reasonable to me.

~~~
rangibaby
Air travel is pretty bad for the environment too

------
mercurialshark
I guess the author is unfamiliar with Epcot.

~~~
jannotti
Oddly, the article addresses Disney, but does so by saying that the
photographer says there a difference. Except the difference is something about
being indoors? Surprise twist, there's actually no difference, but the man has
to sell books, or he won't be able to keep taking international vacations!

------
throwaway4891a
Recall, recall, recall.

------
db48x
"Here's the thing about ad blockers [...]"

Ugh; deleted.

~~~
electic
Use uBlock Origin. Works fine here. Not sure what you are using.

~~~
jonathanfoster
I'm using AdBlock and I saw the modal too. I'll give uBlock Origin a try
instead.

------
thePainOfLiving
Sign me up! I spend enough time trapped in this hell, enduring the satanic
trials of lost television remote controls and blinding optical mouse lasers
that any slim delusion is a breath of fresh air!

    
    
      *sob!*
    

Oh, scheduled DVR recordings of Game of Thrones, you're my only friend!

