Need to know: Rafting, Disneyland Electrical Parade, nation’s best airports

Rain raises rafting hopes

For all the trouble it has brought to this state in recent weeks, this storm season also has California river-runners feeling pretty good. The abundant rainfall has leading outfitters hoping for a stellar spring and perhaps a longer summer of rafting. George Wendt, founder and president of the rafting company OARS, expects great things for the Tuolumne River, and Bill McGinnis, founder and president of Whitewater Voyages, has similarly high hopes for other rivers, including the Kern, the nearest major river-rafting destination for Southern Californians. The company’s trips on the Upper Kern will begin in mid-April. OARS, Whitewater Voyages and most outfitters plan to start working the Tuolumne in March or April.

-- Christopher Reynolds Parade moves

Less than eight months after the debut of the new and improved Electrical Parade at Disney’s California Adventure, the popular attraction is being boxed up and shipped to the Magic Kingdom in Florida. The long-running parade will reclaim its former name, the Main Street Electrical Parade, when it premieres there in June. No word yet on whether the parade will return to California. Disney heralded the return engagement of the Electrical Parade to California Adventure in June 2009 as part of the Anaheim resort’s Summer Nightastic promotion. California Adventure is expected to debut its new World of Color nighttime show in the spring.

-- Brady MacDonald Detroit on top

Detroit may get dissed as a city, but people love its airport. LAX? Not so much. Those are the results, released last week, of a J.D. Power & Associates satisfaction study of North American airports. It showed that people who use the Motor City’s airport (pictured above) found it best of 19 big ones (LAX ranked 18th); Kansas City, Mo., was rated best among mid-size airports, and Indianapolis was tops in the small category, which included Bob Hope and John Wayne at Nos. 16 and 17, respectively, in the pack of 24. (Last in that category: San Jose.) Respondents rated accessibility, baggage claim, check-in, baggage handling, terminals, security, and food and retail. That satisfaction correlates to spending: A happy passenger is a happily spending passenger. Those who don’t like an airport spend about $14; those who do, about $6 more.

-- Catharine Hamm Coffee sherpa

Why settle for a plain old thermos of hot coffee when you can have the Cafe Chalet for more civilized sipping on the go? Organized neatly inside a padded zippered faux leather thermal bag are a sleek brushed stainless steel 0.75-liter vacuum flask, two stainless steel travel mugs with lids, a sugar/creamer container, two cotton napkins and a stainless steel spoon. Elastic straps and netting hold everything in place. The bag measures 14 by 7.5 by 4 inches deep. Just add coffee and maybe some doughnuts, bagels or croissants. Picnic Plus Cafe Chalet is $40, various retailers, including www.amazon

.com.

-- Judi Dash