Volume 3, No. 14. July 25, 2003
New Arrivals
It’s
a hotel!
Blackpool Pleasure
Beach in Blackpool, England, announces the arrival of The Big Blue Hotel, June
13, 2003. Measurements: 72 family suites, 22 executive rooms, 20 standard rooms,
two luxury suites, with a business center, conference facilities, gym, 140-seat
restaurant and a dedicated children’s check-in desk.
Chic and tradition. For the grand opening of the first new hotel built on Blackpool’s
promenade in almost 25 years, Britain’s “it girl” of the moment,
Tara Palmer-Tomkinson a Royal-connected celebrity famous for being famous, provided
the official proclamation and ribbon-cutting moment. “She’s renowned
for being hip, chic, stylish but approachable—just like The Big Blue Hotel,”
said Sarah Dornford-May, the park’s public relations manager.
The
press attending the Big Blue opening, however, knew the real it girl of the
day was Blackpool Pleasure Beach Chairwoman Doris Thompson. The day before at
a tea with Queen Elizabeth II, the 100-year-old Mrs. Thompson learned she was
receiving an Order of the British Empire. Decorum dictated she couldn’t
acknowledge the OBE until the Queen made it public on June 14. The media also
knew of the honor, but while reporters were embargoed from publishing the news
they tried to get advance interviews with Mrs. Thompson. She, however, never
wavered in her secrecy, telling them, entirely honestly, that the only member
of her family with an OBE was her son, Geoffrey Thompson, Blackpool Pleasure
Beach’s managing director.
Nevertheless,
her OBE gave Mrs. Thompson the long-awaited pleasure of trumping her son. In
the hierarchy of Queen’s honors, the OBE is higher than the Member of the
British Empire, and Mrs. Thompson already had an MBE. Now, not only has Mrs.
Thompson matched Geoffrey's OBE, she carries two titles to his one.
The Big Blue Hotel concludes 6 million Sterling Pounds (US$9.6 million) worth of investments at Blackpool Pleasure Beach for the 2003 season that included the Fruit Shoot mini space shot by Moser, new steam locomotive trains on the 1932 Magic Mountain, a new fleet of cars for the park’s Grand Prix, and a revived Eclipse circus musical show.
THE LOOP is written and produced by Eric Minton, Minton Enterprises, LLC. To see more examples of Eric Minton's work and Minton Enterprises services, visit www.ericminton.com.
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LLC
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