Friday Travel Ticker: Flight attendants wanted

American Airlines says it will post job openings for 1,500 flight attendants next month, to replace the 2,205 attendants who accepted a $40,000 buyout. It will start hiring in December and put the new staff in training beginning in January. It’s the first time the company has hired flight attendants in 11 years . . . . Disney will use Twitter, blogs, websites and other social media to let park visitors know what’s happening in a new program featuring weekly surprise themes and events. Guests also might be asked to vote on which characters they’d like to see or be sent on scavenger hunts. Each “Limited Time Magic” theme will last a week . . . . . Ready for ski season? Ski Dazzle Los Angeles celebrates its 49^th year at the L.A. Convention Center, Nov. 15-18. Info: https://skidazzle.com . . . . In Colorado, ski season has already begun. Arapahoe Basin opened this week amid blowing snow, reportedly the first ski resort in the nation to open for the 2012-13 season . . . . Yosemite’s Mirror Lake Loop hiking trail reopened Thursday. The five-mile loop, closed since 2009 due to a large rockfall from Ahwiyah Point near Half Dome, follows Tenaya Creek around Mirror Lake in Yosemite Valley . . . . With views of the ocean, a new $5.5-million spinning roller coaster will debut at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk next summer. Meanwhile, the area is boasting of a leap in lodging this summer. For June, July and August, Santa Cruz County occupancy reached 79%, an increase of 9% over the previous year. By comparison, the national occupancy increased 2.4% and the state showed a 3.9% in that same period . . . . . To celebrate the 26-foot tall Marilyn Monroe statue in downtown Palm Springs -- the one formerly on display in Chicago -- the nearby Hyatt Regency Suites Palm Springs is offering the “Some Like It Hot Package.” Prices begin at $259; (760) 322-9000 and request offer code SLIHPS . . . . U.S. visits to Britain were down 10% in August, but U.S. visits to Europe were up 7.6% for the month. VisitBritain, the nation’s tourism bureau, stresses that the real benefits of the Olympics will be seen next year . . . . The Great Dickens Christmas Fair & Victorian Holiday Party returns to San Francisco’s Cow Palace on Nov. 23 (the Friday after Thanksgiving) and continues for five weekends. A Bay Area tradition since 1970, the fair features more than three acres of exhibition halls transformed into an old-world English Christmas card. Info: www.dickensfair.com . . . . 125 Red Ribbon Week Flags are flying along Santa Barbara’s State Street through Oct. 26. Sponsored by the Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse and the Fighting Back Coalition, they symbolize a commitment to a drug-free community . . . . Travel quote of the day: “A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.” ( Lao Tzu)

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chris.erskine@latimes.com