ORGANISERS of the controversial Lapland New Forest have relaunched their website with a new marketing ploy telling visitors: “It’s you that makes it beautiful.”
The new-look site has ditched photos showing a winter wonderland, that were not taken at Lapland New Forest, and instead used images of how the park looks at night.
Despite thousands of complaints from angry visitors who paid hundreds of pounds for family visits, the Christmas theme park, billed as “the place where dreams really do come true”, is battling to remain open.
In a bid to bring in new customers, after taking more than an estimated £1m in bookings from around 50,000 people up to Christmas Eve, organisers are now promoting the park as: “Lapland New Forest… It’s you that makes it beautiful.”
In a change to what was previously online, the website shows how the tunnel of light should appear against a backdrop of snowy trees and also how a heavily criticised nativity scene appears in a night time setting.
Visitors to the park previously took their own pictures during the day, which showed poorly decorated trees and the nativity poster on a large board at the end of a muddy wasteland.
When the Daily Echo visited the site yesterday, it looked almost deserted with just a handful of people milling around.
Defending the attraction against the thousands of complaints after people paid £30 a head or £100 for a family of four ticket, the altered website says they plan to add more pictures soon and that the online booking facility has been suspended due to “severe technical problems”.
The website now advises families to arrive at 5pm to see the lights and says the funfair rides are now free.
More than 2,000 people complained to Trading Standards after angry parents were forced to wait three hours to see Santa, became involved in fights with staff, and claimed the park was a rip off which did not provide the attraction advertised on its website.
More than 2,000 people complained to Trading Standards after angry parents were forced to wait three hours to see Santa, became involved in fights with staff, and claimed the park was a rip off which did not provide the attraction advertised on its website.
A spokesman for Consumer Direct yesterday confirmed that cancelling pre-bought tickets would “depend on the goodwill of the company”.
He added that calls had increased by 40 per cent.
Meanwhile the RSPCA has confirmed no animals are being mistreated at the attraction and that it has no plans to take any further action unless there is new information.
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