When Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky came third on a list of most disappointing US tourist attractions, it didn’t try and bury the news.
In fact, the public information team saw it as a great excuse to have some fun and try a new line of PR.
With a tongue-in-cheek retort posted on their Facebook page, they compiled visitors’ negative reviews to create a peppy ad that went viral.
"Come experience what has disappointed millions of people for over 225 years!" it began.
"You can be disappointed by a 'dry hole with very few stalagmites and stalactites' or discover nothing 'other than trees'."
It also embraced the other labels of being 'very dark' and having 'nothing cool' to see.
Posted by MammothCaveNPS on
The post garnered unprecedented traction, getting over 100,000 likes, 9,000 comments and nearly 31,000 shares on Facebook.
Kentucky Heritage Council - SHPO commented: "Here to congratulate you on winning the Kentucky Cave Wars AND the internet!"
While other followers got on board with the deadpan humor:
Mark Thornberry wrote: "I've been disappointed in the place since I was 6. 61 years of being let down (pun fully intended). I don't know why I keep coming back. I'm mean, it just takes forever for anything to change in that hole."
Other people took a serious approach. Bruce Goodwin commented: "People are too used to sensory overload when they are on vacation. Too much disneyworld, epcot, seaworld, bright lights and flashy things. I went thru mammoth cave 25 years ago when it hadnt been too long since I moved out of chicago and i found mammoth cave very interesting and awesome in the sense of being in awe. We are becoming a nation of zombies, addicted to cell phones and only look up when there is the next big thing or flashy lights to attract us. We need to get back to discovering the natural beauty of our country before its gone."
It’s true that bad news travels faster than good news: the story has been picked up by news agencies including The Washington Post and Forbes.
“We saw the article and thought that the best response would be to lean into the ‘designation’ and have a little fun with it,” Mammoth Cave public information officer Molly Schroer told Forbes.
“People have not only come to the defense of Mammoth Cave, but many have also shared their memories of their own visits over the years, which we love to see.”
The new study, which WHET TV station said was conducted by gaming website JeffBet, examined websites such as Google and Tripadvisor searching for one- to three-star reviews and then searched for words like “disappointment” and “subpar” to identify dissatisfied visitors.
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