Satu lagi wisata yang dapat kita dikunjungi di Bandung, Jawa Barat. Kota yang dijuluki dengan Paris Van Java ini memang telah memiliki beraneka ragam tempat wisata yang sangat menarik, salah satunya adalah Trans Studio Bandung. Siapa yang tidak kenal dengan obyek wisata satu ini. Obyek wisata yang dikabarkan juga merupakan taman bermain indoor terbesar di Asia bahkan di dunia ini dikelola oleh salah satu corporate televisi swasta di Indonesia. Obyek wisata yang mulai dibuka umum tepat tanggal 18 Juni 2011 ini memang telah menyedot animo masyarakat khususnya wisatawan yang telah berkunjung ke kota Bandung.
Wahana Trans Studio Bandung ini telah terletak di Jalan Gatot Subroto No. 258, Bandung, Jawa Barat, Indonesia. Obyek wisata yang buka mulai pukul 10.00-22.00 WIB pada hari Senin-Jum’at dan 09.00-22.00 WIB pada hari libur atau weekend ini telah menawarkan 20 wahana permainan yang tentunya akan sangat menarik dan patut untuk dicoba. Wahana-wahana tersebut telah terbagi menjadi tiga bagian: Studio Central, Lost City dan Magic Corner.
Ada beberapa wahana yang dapat kita dinikmati. Bagi wisatawan yang lebih menyukai tantangan ekstrim atau memacu adrenalin bisa mencoba beberapa wahana ini:
Yamaha Race Coaster
Roller Coaster terekstrim ketiga di dunia ini akan membawa wisatawan menahan nafas untuk beberapa saat karena Anda akan dibawa dengan kecepatan lebih dari 130 km/jam dengan ketinggian sekitar 40 meter dengan posisi kembali terbalik seperti saat pertama.
Giant Swing
Wahana yang memacu adrenalin ini juga merupakan pendulum raksasa yang diayun di atas ketinggian 30 meter.
Vertigo
Hampir sama dengan Giant Swing, Vertigo juga merupakan kincir putar yang akan memberikan tantangan bagi pengunjung berputar 360 derajat di atas ketinggian sekitar 40 meter.
Negeri Raksasa (Jack and The Bean)
Mengikuti cerita si Jack yang mencuri ayam emas milik raksasa di atas ketinggian dan dijatuhkan dari lantai lima atau setinggi tigabelas meter akan membuat jantung Anda serasa terhenti sejenak.
Dunia Lain
Di lokasi ini Anda juga akan dibawa mengelilingi gua Belanda yang sangat menyeramkan dan menegangkan, Ambulan berhantu dan berbagai macam perwujudan hantu lainnya akan siap membuat Anda menjerit ketakutan.
Tidak semua wahana di Trans Studio Bandung bersifat menantang. Ada juga wahana yang diperuntukkan bagi anak-anak dan keluarga, diantaranya adalah:
Pulau Liliput
Wahana ini dikhususkan untuk putra-putri Anda dimana di lokasi ini juga terdapat beberapa arena bermain dan berpetualangan yang menyenangkan bagi putra-putri Anda.
Si Bolang
Wahana ini juga akan menyuguhkan petualangan menarik. Anda beserta keluarga bisa mengelilingi seluruh provinsi di Indonesia bersama tokoh Bolang.
Dunia Anak (Kiddy’s Land)
Wahana ini telah menampilkan beberapa permainan yang tentunya akan sangat menyenangkan bagi buah hati Anda, diantaranya Tea Cup, Jump Around, Mini Bumper, dll.
Science Center
Wahana ini telah menyuguhkan keajaiban dari ilmu pengetahuan yang tentunya akan dapat menambah wawasan Anda dan juga buah hati Anda. Pengunjung juga dapat langsung mempraktekkan beberapa alat peraga yang terdapat di wahana ini.
Jelajah
Di wahana ini, wisatawan juga dapat merasakan sensasi berpetualang di rimba hutan Afrika dan bertemu dengan orang Indian dan di akhir perjalanan Anda akan merasakan sensasi terjun dari air terjun setinggi tigabelas meter yang siap membasahi pakaian Anda.
Skypirates "Zeppelin"
Wahana ini juga akan membawa wisatawan untuk dapat berkeliling di hampir seluruh area Trans Studio Bandung dengan menggunakan kapal udara dari ketinggian sekitar duabelas meter.
Marvel Superheroes The Ride 4D
Tokoh-tokoh pahlawan terkenal bisa Anda saksikan dalam pemutaran film pendek berdurasi sekitar sepuluh menit dengan kecanggihan empat dimensi. Sehingga pengunjung serasa dibawa dalam setiap adegan di film tersebut.
Amphitheater
Inilah salah satu pertunjukan terbaik kelas dunia yang telah dihadirkan oleh Trans Studio Bandung. Wisatawan akan dapat menyaksikan pertunjukan maha dahsyat yang menampilkan cerita yang sangat sayang untuk dilewatkan.
Sangat perlu diketahui bahwa setiap wahana telah memiliki peraturan atau syarat tersendiri. Jadi, pengunjung senantiasa diharapkan untuk dapat mematuhi setiap aturan yang terdapat di setiap wahana permainan. Bagi pengunjung yang ingin menikmati keseluruhan permainan tersebut dapat membeli tiket masuk seharga Rp 150.000 pada hari Senin-Jum’at dan Rp 200.000 pada hari libur atau weekend. Bagi wisatwana juga disediakan tiket VIP yang tentunya akan sangat membantu dalam menikmati setiap permainan karena dengan VIP card ini Anda akan mendapatkan antrian yang berbeda dan lebih cepat. Untuk menadapatkan tiket VIP ini, wisatawan diharuskan menambah biaya sebesar Rp 250.000,-.
Di area ini juga telah tersedia berbagai macam outlet yang menjual makanan dan minuman. Selain itu, terdapat juga beberapa outlet yang menjual souvenir atau oleh-oleh khas dari Trans Studio Bandung. Namun pembelian di setiap outlet di area Trans Studio Bandung ini tidak dapat menggunakan uang cash. Setiap pembayaran untuk makan, souvenir dan lain sebagainya menggunakan kartu yang telah diisi ulang sebelumnya. Kartu tersebut bisa didapatkan ketika membeli tiket masuk dengan biaya sebesar Rp 10.000. Untuk dapat menggunakan kartu ini dalam setiap transaksi, pengujung terlebih dahulu harus mengisi ulang di outlet-outlet yang telah disediakan di seputar area Trans Studio Bandung dengan maksimum pengisian Rp 1.000.000,- (Mega Cash yang tidak terdaftar) dan Rp 5.000.000,- (Mega Cash terdaftar).
Dean Skelos, Albany Senate Leader, Aided Son at All Costs, U.S. Says
Over the last five years or so, it seemed there was little that Dean G. Skelos, the majority leader of the New York Senate, would not do for his son.
He pressed a powerful real estate executive to provide commissions to his son, a 32-year-old title insurance salesman, according to a federal criminal complaint. He helped get him a job at an environmental company and employed his influence to help the company get government work. He used his office to push natural gas drilling regulations that would have increased his son’s commissions.
He even tried to direct part of a $5.4 billion state budget windfall to fund government contracts that the company was seeking. And when the company was close to securing a storm-water contract from Nassau County, the senator, through an intermediary, pressured the company to pay his son more — or risk having the senator subvert the bid.
The criminal complaint, unsealed on Monday, lays out corruption charges against Senator Skelos and his son, Adam B. Skelos, the latest scandal to seize Albany, and potentially alter its power structure.
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Preet Bharara, the United States attorney in Manhattan, discussed the case involving Dean G. Skelos and his son, Adam.Credit Eduardo Munoz/Reuters
The repeated and diverse efforts by Senator Skelos, a Long Island Republican, to use what prosecutors said was his political influence to find work, or at least income, for his son could send both men to federal prison. If they are convicted of all six charges against them, they face up to 20 years in prison for each of four of the six counts and up to 10 years for the remaining two.
Senator Kenneth P. LaValle, of Long Island, who serves as chairman of the Republican conference, emerged from a closed-door meeting Monday night to say that conference members agreed that Mr. Skelos should be benefited the “presumption of innocence,” and would stay in his leadership role.
“The leader has indicated he would like to remain as leader,” said Mr. LaValle, “and he has the support of the conference.” The case against Mr. Skelos and his son grew out of a broader inquiry into political corruption by the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara, that has already changed the face of the state capital. It is based in part, according to the six-count complaint, on conversations secretly recorded by one of two cooperating witnesses, and wiretaps on the cellphones of the senator and his son. Those recordings revealed that both men were concerned about electronic surveillance, and illustrated the son’s unsuccessful efforts to thwart it.
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Adam Skelos took to using a “burner” phone, the complaint says, and told his father he wanted them to speak through a FaceTime video call in an apparent effort to avoid detection. They also used coded language at times.
At one point, Adam Skelos was recorded telling a Senate staff member of his frustration in not being able to speak openly to his father on the phone, noting that he could not “just send smoke signals or a little pigeon” carrying a message.
The 43-page complaint, sworn out by Paul M. Takla, a special agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, outlines a five-year scheme to “monetize” the senator’s official position; it also lays bare the extent to which a father sought to use his position to help his son.
The charges accuse the two men of extorting payments through a real estate developer, Glenwood Management, based on Long Island, and the environmental company, AbTech Industries, in Scottsdale, Ariz., with the expectation that the money paid to Adam Skelos — nearly $220,000 in total — would influence his father’s actions.
Glenwood, one of the state’s most prolific campaign donors, had ties to AbTech through investments in the environmental firm’s parent company by Glenwood’s founding family and a senior executive.
The accusations in the complaint portray Senator Skelos as a man who, when it came to his son, was not shy about twisting arms, even in situations that might give other arm-twisters pause.
Seeking to help his son, Senator Skelos turned to the executive at Glenwood, which develops rental apartments in New York City and has much at stake when it comes to real estate legislation in Albany. The senator urged him to direct business to his son, who sold title insurance.
After much prodding, the executive, Charles C. Dorego, engineered a $20,000 payment to Adam Skelos from a title insurance company even though he did no work for the money. But far more lucrative was a consultant position that Mr. Dorego arranged for Adam Skelos at AbTech, which seeks government contracts to treat storm water. (Mr. Dorego is not identified by name in the complaint, but referred to only as CW-1, for Cooperating Witness 1.)
Senator Skelos appeared to take an active interest in his son’s new line of work. Adam Skelos sent him several drafts of his consulting agreement with AbTech, the complaint says, as well as the final deal that was struck.
“Mazel tov,” his father replied.
Senator Skelos sent relevant news articles to his son, including one about a sewage leak near Albany. When AbTech wanted to seek government contracts after Hurricane Sandy, the senator got on a conference call with his son and an AbTech executive, Bjornulf White, and offered advice. (Like Mr. Dorego, Mr. White is not named in the complaint, but referred to as CW-2.)
The assistance paid off: With the senator’s help, AbTech secured a contract worth up to $12 million from Nassau County, a big break for a struggling small business.
But the money was slow to materialize. The senator expressed impatience with county officials.
Adam Skelos, in a phone call with Mr. White in late December, suggested that his father would seek to punish the county. “I tell you this, the state is not going to do a [expletive] thing for the county,” he said.
Three days later, Senator Skelos pressed his case with the Nassau County executive, Edward P. Mangano, a fellow Republican. “Somebody feels like they’re just getting jerked around the last two years,” the senator said, referring to his son in what the complaint described as “coded language.”
The next day, the senator pursued the matter, as he and Mr. Mangano attended a wake for a slain New York City police officer. Senator Skelos then reassured his son, who called him while he was still at the wake. “All claims that are in will be taken care of,” the senator said.
AbTech’s fortunes appeared to weigh on his son. At one point in January, Adam Skelos told his father that if the company did not succeed, he would “lose the ability to pay for things.”
Making matters worse, in recent months, Senator Skelos and his son appeared to grow wary about who was watching them. In addition to making calls on the burner phone, Adam Skelos said he used the FaceTime video calling “because that doesn’t show up on the phone bill,” as he told Mr. White.
In late February, Adam Skelos arranged a pair of meetings between Mr. White and state senators; AbTech needed to win state legislation that would allow its contract to move beyond its initial stages. But Senator Skelos deemed the plan too risky and caused one of the meetings to be canceled.
In another recorded call, Adam Skelos, promising to be “very, very vague” on the phone, urged his father to allow the meeting. The senator offered a warning. “Right now we are in dangerous times, Adam,” he told him.
A month later, in another phone call that was recorded by the authorities, Adam Skelos complained that his father could not give him “real advice” about AbTech while the two men were speaking over the telephone.
“You can’t talk normally,” he told his father, “because it’s like [expletive] Preet Bharara is listening to every [expletive] phone call. It’s just [expletive] frustrating.”