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More PR mastery from Britain's Thorpe Park

By Robert Niles
Published: March 1, 2011 at 9:47 AM
I've never been to Thorpe Park in the United Kingdom (heck, I've never been to England at all), but I'm amazed and amused by some of the just awesome news stories the park manages to generate.

Thorpe Park

You just can't top Thorpe Park's recent PR masterpiece, where the park claimed to have moved a new water ride due to paranormal activity on its original site.

Really? It's not enough to say that construction had to be moved because of ancient stone coffins in the ground. (That would be enough to creep me out, thankyouverymuch.) Thorpe Park went all in with tales of ghosts, objects being moved and (my favorite) Ouija boards going haywire.

Well played.

This past week, the park got into the news again, with reports about British pilots criticizing the park's decision to theme a new ride to a plane crash.

Thorpe Park's located not too far from Heathrow Airport, and local reporters got pilots to speculate whether others pilots might confuse the ride with an actual wrecked airplane on the ground. (I suppose we're to think "Gosh, that ride must look so realistic!" and immediately book our visits.)

Now Thorpe just needs to bring it all together with a backstory of ghosts from victims of the crash haunting the park's ticket booths... which is why you need to buy yours in advance online.

Or something like that. :^)

Readers' Opinions

From Paul Jeffs on March 1, 2011 at 9:57 AM
Thorpe is easily my favorite UK park.
It has some great rides, complemented by some good themeing, my favorite being the KFC next to Tidal Wave which has a boat crashed through the roof into the restaurant!
From Joshua Counsil on March 1, 2011 at 2:43 PM
Now that's creative advertising. Which park had the resort hotel split up into loud and quiet sections because of too-loud sex complaints? I believe that was in the U.K., too.
From 98.14.59.201 on March 1, 2011 at 8:46 PM
I heard about that with the hotel forget the location. THis is realy good alton towers is another park that just loves to get into the news with them handing diapers out ot gusts as they went on one of there coasters because gusts were having accidents on the ride. Now it is these types of stories that make me want to visit a park like this
From Rob P on March 2, 2011 at 8:47 AM
See my February 8th discussion thread if you want to read the Press report on the "paranormal" activity at Thorpe Park.
From Rod Whitenack on March 2, 2011 at 9:22 AM
This sounds like what's going on at Kentucky Kingdom, formerly Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom, where the park will not be able to reopen until 2013 due to "The Phantom" who has apparently been haunting the park and creating animatronic wereapes to do his bidding. The rock band KISS has been called in to investigate.

That, and a Sasquatch has apparently moved into old Chang operating house.

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