McKinley Beach April Fool's Day Joke Dupes Thousands

McKinley Beach is getting a lot of attention because of an April Fool’s Day joke that has gone terribly wrong.

On March 31^st the Kelowna based resort posted on Facebook that the lakefront community had received an unbelievable offer from Walt Disney Parks. And unbelievable was exactly what it was…except thousands of people believed it.

Photo Credit: McKinley Beach

“As of yesterday afternoon, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, the international conglomerate owner of Disneyland and Disney World Parks, purchased the remainder of the McKinley Beach property,” said McKinley Beach in its Facebook post. “The intention behind the purchase of the remaining 900 acres of land is to bring Disney Park and Resort's very first micro-park to Canada. While the park will feature popular Disney rides such as Pirates of the Caribbean, the Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain, and Space Mountain, the park's planning committee is looking to add some 'Canadian Flare' to what will become Canada's largest amusement park.”

Immediately people went crazy for the announcement, which could actually have been a possibility since Disney already has Kelowna on its radar with companies such as Club Penguin based here.

People were upset to hear it was all a joke (Photo Credit: Screen Grab/McKinley Beach)

“An inside rep from the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts real estate and development department stated ‘we've had our eye on the Okanagan Valley for quite some time. Its placement outside of the crowded west coast makes it an ideal place to create a destination hot spot and the 'House of Mouse' is looking forward to moving into Kelowna, particularly the McKinley Beach property which features some great diverse landscape to work with,’” McKinley Beach goes on to say.

Thousands of people saw the post and shared the post on social media (Photo Credit: Screen Grab/McKinley Beach)

Well it was a big whoops on their part, because people actually believed this and shared the newly announced development nearly 10,000 times. More than 20,000 comments were generated and the breaking news story went viral. But with the April Fool’s Day joke, like most, comes backlash. Once the company said it was just a joke and not real, people became angry and upset that they had been duped.

McKinley Beach explains to fans that it was all in good humour (Photo Credit: Screen Grab/McKinley Beach)

“Many of you may have seen our April Fool's today regarding Disneyland Parks and Resorts purchasing the McKinley Beach land. Sadly, Mickey Mouse will not be taking up residence in the Okanagan Valley any time soon. Yes, it was an April Fool's, and yes, we totally cheated by putting it up a day early (after all, it was April 1st somewhere today),” said an updated statement.

McKinley Beach isn’t the first company to come under fire for a clever April Fool’s Day prank, and they surely won’t be the last. But for those hoping for a little bit of Disney right here in the Okanagan, they’ll have to wait.