The Queen Mary sailed the seven seas from 1936 to 1967 and has had a very interesting life both at sea and docked at Long Beach California. The vessel had served in World War II and even accidentally sank one of her escorts the HMS Curacoa. Adolf Hitler even had the equivalent of $25000 bounty on her for anyone who could sink her. She was just about on her way to Japanese scrap merchants in when a bid for her to be parked at Longbeach California was approved. In 1971 she opened to the public as a hotel and tourist attraction and didn’t fare to well. Disney took control of her during the 80’s with plans for turning her and the site into a new theme park which would have been similar to Tokyo’s Disney Sea, this didn’t go a head and a few later owners went bust trying to come up with new plans. Today the Queen Mary open as a hotel and function centre and various tours, there are plans are drawn up to turn the area into a large entertainment complex similar to Universal Studio’s city walk with cafes, small attractions and a tourist precinct.
for more information: http://www.queenmary.com/
