If the initial statement made by BPB felt like it had some thought put into it and perhaps encouraged people to share their memories of the ride (rather than the "it's progress, deal with it" attitude), they probably wouldn't be recieving as many emails!
Absolutely do not disagree with this. They should have been quicker on the press release and handled it better. To defend them a little though, they're a really good amusement park business owner - not so good on the PR front. I'd rather they spent more time being good at what they're meant to be doing than throwing money and effort into something that crops up once every ten years or so.
Yes, brand and PR are important, but they're not Ford or Gucci or even Merlin (who could do with spending a little less on **** PR and shipping containers and more on looking after their amusement parks ) - they're a stolid, working amusement park business in the grim North of England. They've irked a handful of people who will still go to ride Icon this year. I see what they should have done, but I can understand why they didn't - they didn't need to - there were pies to eat, stout to drink and rides build.