I never heard anything about it. You can’t run a park like that based only on word of mouth. Even the Disney parks advertise.
They reined in their ad spending, concentrating on markets within a half day drive, thinking that the “stay-cation” trend, due to gas prices, would drive attendance. It didn’t, or not enough, if so. Late spring and early summer, my area had heavy advertising for it. I’m near Greensboro, NC.