Hershey Park…count your days.
The central Pennsylvania amusement park is currently under fire after making an absolutely blasphemous reply to one user on Twitter/X. Now, could the remark very well have been an honest mistake? Of course. But I just know some poor social media team employee is bawling their eyes out right now, and it’s not because of the iconic country music singer’s passing.
The legendary “Jolene” singer, whose remarkable career spanned nearly seven decades and embodied the very definition of the word “iconic,” sadly passed away yesterday, sending fans around the world into mourning. An artist can rarely have this sort of cataclysmic touch on people from all walks of life, but Parton was truly a one-of-a-kind figure who managed to unite everyone— hence why her shocking death has taken over the internet.
Just hours after her passing was announced, Hersheypark found themselves in a less-than-optimal crossfire after they were caught bragging about their ticket prices underneath a user’s tweet who shared they wanted to visit Dollywood in the East-Tennessee native’s honor. User @lonzoswrld posted a snapshot of Dollywood’s online ticketing site stating, “And she kept the prices reasonable in this economy. Lemme support the estate.”
Spoken like a true villain, Hersheypark responded to the photo of Dolly’s $99.99 ticket prices and stated. “Our summer tickets are $49.99.” Believe me, my jaw was on the floor when I saw that clap-back too.
Finally, someone from the PR team had the decency to step in with their original tweet being removed and since clarifying in a new post: “We sincerely apologize for this error. A reply clarifying our ticket price in another conversation was posted without seeing the context of this chain, so we removed quickly to avoid any confusion or insensitivity over intent.”
They included a screenshot of the tweet from the thread they allegedly were responding to where a user was stating that Hershey’s summer ticket prices were $100 in the 2012-2015 era. I guess they were just attempting to promote their half-off deal, but I still feel like we should’ve read the whole thread and realized the original context was referring to Dollywood before hitting reply.
Understandably, many online were upset by the timing of the response, as well as what appeared to be an unnecessary jab at Dolly’s beloved Pigeon Forge park, pointing out: “now’s not the time”
Normally I would say all publicity is good publicity, but unfortunately I don’t think that’s the case with this one— unless you’re really desperate for those $49.99 tickets. As for Parton’s fan-beloved theme park, Dollywood opened its doors following its founder’s tragic death today, operating largely as if it were business as usual.
In a video statement from the Parks & Resorts President Eugene Naughton, he shared, “She’s alive and well here. I know a lot of people are concerned that things are gonna change without Dolly being present here, and I just want to assure you it’s not.” Ensuring, “The show must go on.”