Happy Birthday, Baby! Bring on the ‘Dirty Dancing’ Vacation Packages.

Travel Blog  •  Eva Holland  •  10.26.07 | 3:32 AM ET

imageTalk about a niche market. This summer, the ‘80s chick-flick classic “Dirty Dancing” celebrated its 20th anniversary with a brief return to theaters, a revival of the musical in London’s West End and an anniversary-edition DVD with plenty of bonus footage. (Dare we ask: Where are they now?)

Of course, the tourism industry wasn’t going to be left out of the action. The Guardian’s Sarah Bourn reports that Virginia’s Mountain Lake Hotel—where, for those of you who are keeping track, the dance lessons and the Houseman cabin scenes were filmed—is now offering special themed packages that include group dance classes and a “Dirty Dancing” trivia night.

Earlier in the anniversary season, another Guardian travel writer checked out North Carolina’s Lake Lure, the film’s other main location. Catherine Quinn stayed in the resort that stood in as “Kellerman’s” in the movie. “To this day the film still has a significant ability to fill rooms at the hotel and so a number of changes have been made to accommodate fans,” she writes. “A full refurbishment last year saw an expansion of a special Dirty Dancing area in the lobby, where the movie rolls constantly on a small TV next to stacks of memorabilia. Fans can buy T-shirts, books, pens, posters, and browse valuable signed prints of the film.”

Of all the anniversary coverage I’ve seen, the headline on Quinn’s story takes the prize for best “Dirty Dancing” pun: “Nobody puts Baby in a cabin.”

Related on World Hum:
* ‘The Darjeeling Limited’: A New Wanderers’ Classic?
* Rambo in Burma: ‘This is a Hellhole Beyond Your Wildest Dreams’

Tags: Pop Culture Travel, News and Briefs

Eva Holland is co-editor of World Hum. She is a former associate editor at Up Here and Up Here Business magazines, and a contributor to Vela. She's based in Canada's Yukon territory.


1 Comment for Happy Birthday, Baby! Bring on the ‘Dirty Dancing’ Vacation Packages.

Princess Cruises 07.02.08 | 11:09 AM ET

That sounds like a nice place to visit. I am very found of the movie and I’d surely love some dance lessons. I know love stories such as the one in the movie are not real but who knows, maybe I’ll meet someone there and fall in love.

Commenting is not available in this weblog entry.