Missouri 2008 Official Vacation Planner - (Page 27) H&R Block’s new World Headquarters National World War I Museum at Liberty Memorial restored to its original grandeur; spacious guest rooms show off flat screen TVs and whirlpool tubs. The hotel’s famous Drum Room restaurant, once a hot spot for jazz greats, is again 1940s cool. “Vintage hip” is also the decor of the new Aladdin Hotel by Holiday Inn, a boutique hotel that took a page from the past with unique room renovations and the reopening of the Zebra Room restaurant. Theatre. This delightful 320-seat theater is connected to the new H&R Block World Headquarters, 17 stories of office space and a waterfall-themed atrium wrapped in an impressive oval glass tower. If the Power & Light District sounds like a Taking Center Stage Once Again Downtown historic theaters have reinvented themselves. The esteemed Music Hall retained its circa 1935 opulence amid seating enhancements and stage expansion. Mainstreet Theatre, a vaudeville and movie house of the ’20s, is now Main Street Theatre, the high-tech showpiece of AMC Theatres. This flagship movie theater (most recently named Empire Theatre) has been hopped up with digital projection and sound on all screens, parlor seating, a bistro and coffee bar. The new kid on the theater scene is the intimate and ultramodern Copaken Stage, the second venue for the Kansas City Repertory c i t y - w i t h i n - a - c i t y, it is. This urban zone was designed as a place for people to w o r k , p l a y and l i v e . Ballroom, Basketball and Big Glass Bowl Yes, this city has glass! Even the new Kansas City Convention Center Grand Ballroom, one of the 10 largest convention center ballrooms in the United States, boasts novel floor-to-ceiling glass walls (and a water-theme nod to this “City of Fountains”). Kansas City’s glass buildings are attractions unto themselves, catching and reflecting natural light by day then transforming into glowing sculptures by night. The most massive glass structure to rise thus far is the Sprint Center, the downtown venue for major sporting events and concerts. A bowl sheathed in various sizes, shapes and shades of glass pieced together like a puzzle, the 18,500-seat arena offers a city view and close-to-the-action seating. The Sprint Center is poised to host more than 100 events a year, including the Big 12 Conference men’s and women’s basketball championships in 2008. Given Kansas City’s love and long history of college basketball, it’s only natural that new “hoops” attractions make their home here. Sharing a lobby with the Sprint arena is the College Basketball Experience, where basketball icons and highenergy interactive exhibits engage and entertain. The facility also houses the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. www.VisitMO.com 27 KANSAS CITY CONVENTION AND VISITORS ASSOCIATION JEN MELLARD http://www.VisitMO.com
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