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February 23, 2001/Shevet 30, 5761, Vol. 53, No.21
Tourists flock to theme park
JOYCE MOED CHARMAN
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - For Dawn Short and Jennifer Willis, the wait to visit a newly opened "messianic Jewish" theme park was worth it.
Ticket sellers bluntly told Short and her friend Willis when they arrived on Feb. 17 that the Holy Land Experience park was too crowded to accept more guests.
But instead of heading home, Short, a Methodist, and Willis, a Pentecostal, spent some time in Orlando and returned to the park in the afternoon.
"We were determined to get in," said Short, who made the two-hour drive from her home to Orlando after reading about the religious theme park in a local newspaper.
The two women eventually got in. Short says she learned more about the Bible in just two hours in the park than she did in years of Bible school.
Since the newest addition to Orlando's theme park row opened Feb. 5, some 30,000 visitors have bypassed the world's most famous mouse to visit the Holy Land Experience, a controversial park that tries to re-create biblical times through stage productions and a Middle Eastern marketplace.
The $16 million theme park, which mixes Jewish and Christian symbols, has sparked heated attacks from some Jewish leaders. They assert that the park's founder - a Jew who embraced Jesus - has created a giant proselytizing tool.
But a protest, planned on the park's opening day by the Jewish Defense League, fizzled. Many local leaders say the best action Jewish groups can take against the Holy Land Experience may be no action at all.
Instead, Levine said, Jewish groups should focus their efforts on education.
Park founder Marvin Rosenthal says he never intended to hide the fact that it is a Christian amusement park.
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