| Theme parks look to keep the magic alive and Man caught trying to board flight with loaded handgun |
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Whether the Jaws site will, indeed, boast a Diagon Alley or the Dursleys’ hometown is unknown, but whatever takes the big fish’s place will no doubt adhere to the new rules of theme-park development: Boosting admission is a good thing, but boosting the sale of food, beverage and merchandise is where the real magic happens.“The real success story with Harry Potter is not necessarily the increase in admissions but rather the increase in merchandise sales for Universal,” said Chad Emerson, the author of several books on theme parks. “The wands and butterbeer are driving the popularity of that attraction.“If they replace Jaws with an attraction that can sell widgets that people want to buy, that’ll go a long way toward the balance sheet of investing in it,” he told msnbc.com.Rob Lovitt is a longtime travel writer who still believes the journey is as important as the destination. Follow him at Twitter. [Read the full article] >>>for people who fly, consider this tonight. the last ten years have been the safest decade ever for travel on u.s. airliners. the associated press analyzed government data and found there were 153 aviation fatalities in the last decade, including acts of terrorism. that's two deaths for every 100 million passengers on commercial flights.The past 10 years have been the best in the country's aviation history with 153 fatalities. That's two deaths for every 100 million passengers on commercial flights, according to an Associated Press analysis of government accident data.The improvement is remarkable. Just a decade earlier, at the time the safest, passengers were 10 times as likely to die when flying on an American plane. The risk of death was even greater during the start of the jet age, with 1,696 people dying " 133 out of every 100 million passengers " from 1962 to 1971. The figures exclude acts of terrorism. [Read the full article] CLEARWATER, Florida — Authorities in Florida say a Pirate-themed cruise ship carrying about 100 passengers has run aground on New Year's Eve.Public safety officials in Clearwater said Saturday night that crews responded at the Memorial Causeway Bridge when the cruise ship, known as the Pirate's Ransom, ran aground. A second vessel attempted to take some of the passengers to shore also ran aground. Police and fireboats were taking passengers to shore late Saturday night.A city press release says a 77-year-old woman was examined at the scene but refused treatment. There were no immediate reports of injuries.Authorities said fog is believed to have been a factor in the ships running aground. Clearwater is located on Florida's Gulf coast.Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. [Read the full article] 
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