The viral post that Pleasure Pier in Galveston is about to triple in size was a hoax.
GALVESTON, Texas — If you surf social media enough, you may have seen a post about Pleasure Pier in Galveston being bought by Six Flags, with expansion plans to triple in size.
Sounds great, right? Just one problem – if you believed it, you were taken for a ride, according to a post on Pleasure Pier’s Facebook page.
The original post, which went up last week, was shared more than 1,200 times as of Monday morning. It appears to be a ‘breaking news’ graphic from a media outlet called HNN8.
Pleasure Pier addressed it on their social pages on Friday, saying that the info wasn’t true. They did, however, extend an invitation.
“Heard the rumor? Yeah, us too. Just to clear it up: Six Flags didn’t buy the Pleasure Pier, but if they want to come ride our coasters, we’ll save ’em a seat,” Pleasure Pier posted.
Later on Friday, the person who originally posted the info about the sale that never happened came clean, calling the hoax “One of my best ones yet” with the hashtags #parody #comedy.
We also reached out to Six Flags for comment. They also said there’s no truth to the post.
So what can you believe about the Pleasure Pier? The Landry’s-owned entertainment and dining venue opened in 2012, according to its website. There are 16 rides, lots of games, retail shops and plenty of food options.
Before Landry’s bought it, the Flagship Hotel sat on the pier. It opened in 1965, four years after Hurricane Carla damaged it. It was there until 2008, when it was damaged by Hurricane Ike.
The original Pleasure Pier was built in 1940 as a recreation venue for the U.S. military during World War II.