Ripley Entertainment Inc. is an entertainment and

edutainment Educational entertainment (also referred to as edutainment) is media designed to educate through entertainment. The term was used as early as 1954 by Walt Disney. Most often it includes content intended to teach but has incidental entertainmen ...

holding company owned by the

Jim Pattison Group The Jim Pattison Group is a Canadian conglomerate based in Vancouver. In a recent survey by the Financial Post, the firm was ranked as Canada's 62nd largest company. Jim Pattison, a Vancouver-based entrepreneur, is the chairman, CEO, and sole ...

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, for ...

, Canada. The company has its headquarters in an

unincorporated Unincorporated may refer to: * Unincorporated area, land not governed by a local municipality * Unincorporated entity, a type of organization * Unincorporated territories of the United States, territories under U.S. jurisdiction, to which Congress ...

part of southern Orange County,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

, near

Orlando Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures re ...

, at an office complex near the intersection of Sand Lake Road and

John Young Parkway State Road 423 (SR 423), known for most of its length as John Young Parkway, and Lee Road east of Orange Blossom Trail, is a four- and six-lane surface road in the U.S. state of Florida. SR 423 runs from SR 408 north to U.S. Routes 17/ 92 (US ...

. Originating with a small daily newspaper cartoon drawn by

Robert Ripley LeRoy Robert Ripley (February 22, 1890 – May 27, 1949) was an American cartoonist, entrepreneur, and amateur anthropologist, who is known for creating the ''Ripley's Believe It or Not!'' newspaper panel series, television show, and radio show, ...

, which debuted in 1918, the company now operates more than 90 attractions under a dozen brands worldwide. The daily Believe It or Not! cartoon that catapulted Ripley to fame in the 1920s is still printed and runs in hundreds of newspapers in more than 40 countries and in dozens of languages. The 32 Ripley’s Believe It or Not! museums that house its signature collection of oddities in various countries have received more than 100 million visitors since 1933.

Publishing interests

''Ripley Entertainment Inc.'' established Ripley Publishing Ltd to produce the Ripley's Believe It or Not Annual and other books.

Holdings

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

Attractions * Louis Tussaud's Wax Museums: In the summer of 2004, Ripley's bought the Palace of Wax museum in

Grand Prairie, Texas Grand Prairie is a city in Dallas, Tarrant, and Ellis counties of Texas, in the United States. It is part of the Mid-Cities region in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It had a population of 175,396 according to the 2010 census, making it ...

, rebranding it as the United States' first Tussauds'. *

Ripley's Aquarium of Canada Ripley's Aquarium of Canada is a public aquarium in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The aquarium is one of three aquariums owned-and-operated by Ripley Entertainment. It is located in downtown Toronto, just southeast of the CN Tower. The aquarium h ...

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, Canada *Ripley's Aquarium of Myrtle Beach -

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina Myrtle Beach is a resort city on the east coast of the United States in Horry County, South Carolina. It is located in the center of a long and continuous stretch of beach known as "The Grand Strand" in the northeastern part of the state. Its ...

, U.S. *Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies -

Gatlinburg, Tennessee Gatlinburg is a mountain resort city in Sevier County, Tennessee, United States. It is located southeast of Knoxville and had a population of 3,944 at the 2010 Census and a U.S. Census population of 3,577 in 2020. It is a popular vacation res ...

, U.S. *

Ripley's Believe it or Not! ''Ripley's Believe It or Not!'' is an American franchise founded by Robert Ripley, which deals in bizarre events and items so strange and unusual that readers might question the claims. Originally a newspaper panel, the ''Believe It or Not'' fea ...

Odditoriums - 32 locations in Australia, Canada, China, Denmark, India, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, Thailand, U.K., and U.S. * Ripley's Haunted Adventure - three locations in US and one in Thailand *Ripley's Mini-Golf and Arcade - Gatlinburg, Tennessee, U.S. *Ripley's Moving Theater - various locations. *Ripley’s Red Train Tours -

St. Augustine, Florida St. Augustine ( ; es, San Agustín ) is a city in the Southeastern United States and the county seat of St. Johns County on the Atlantic coast of northeastern Florida. Founded in 1565 by Spanish explorers, it is the oldest continuously inhabi ...

, U.S. *Ripley's Mirror Maze -

San Antonio, Texas ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_ ...

Ocean City, Maryland Ocean City, officially the Town of Ocean City, is an Atlantic resort town in Worcester County, Maryland along the East Coast of the United States. The population was 6,844 at the 2020 U.S. census, although during summer weekends the city hosts b ...

. All U.S. *Ripley's Davy Crockett Mini-Golf -

, U.S. *Ripley's Old McDonald Mini-Golf - Sevierville, Tennessee, U.S. *

Ride the Ducks Ride the Ducks was a national duck tour operator and eponymous tourist attraction in some parts of the United States and Guam. It had made use of amphibious vehicles, nicknamed "ducks", to provide tours of cities by boat and by land. Ride the ...

- Branson, MO

References

About Ripley Entertainment

External links

Ripley Entertainment website
{{Authority control Entertainment companies of the United States Companies based in Orlando, Florida Jim Pattison Group Ripley's Believe It or Not!