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Kent, England | The London Resort | Entertainment Complex

Yes, this project is not in doubt. It is happening...just slowly.
 
I reckon that once Paramounts is built, Merlin are gonna sell off their theme parks and just keep their midway attractions as they make more money.

The amount of midways Merlin are building now, kinda leads me to believe that they are preparing.
 
I can see that happening with Chessington but not the rest, plus they actually have nothing to sell as Merlin don't own the park land they pay rent to Blackstone.

Yes I know they are part of the same company etc but they do operate as a separate one.

Really do hope this park does go ahead and I think it will.
 
Me too!

For me on the train its 15 mins to Kings Cross and 17 minutes to Paramounts. So I'll be at the park in half an hour. RESULT!!! :D

To think, Port Aventura didn't even cost a billion pounds to build. Paramounts has over 3 times its budget. It's gonna be mental!
 
Brilliant, I can walk to this from my house...except it's not going to be a theme park, it's basically a shopping centre/cinema/hotel complex with some rides. </cynic> :(

The houses are being built over three areas: Eastern Quarry (which I think is the second quarry next to Bluewater), Ebbsfleet station and the Swanscombe peninsula. 15,000 houses is not very many at all, so I wouldn't worry that these will take space away from any potential park. In fact, I'd say it even makes the park more likely to go ahead, because it perhaps suggests homes around the peninsular for future workers.
 
Mysterious Sue said:
Brilliant, I can walk to this from my house...except it's not going to be a theme park, it's basically a shopping centre/cinema/hotel complex with some rides. </cynic> :(
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This is also my concern after seeing the concept art that was released ages ago. The actual park looks like it's the smallest part of the project. I hope we're wrong.

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It's interesting really I didn't think this was going ahead it will be good because there will be more coaster creds hopefully or it could be like my hometown rainham where a theme park was originally being built I will have a theme park nearer to me than adventure island that's ok I guess.
 
marc said:
^Yep it's a shame Disney never got built there :)
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If that was built there I think the rainham and purfleet would be dead but still I think it would work more now with the rejuvenating process that rainham and purfleet are going through.
 
My work is where it would have been, but the land was already reserved for the new a13 and the channel link only we did not know it at the time.
 
Yh a lot of things of happened in rainham in the past 10 years rumor has it that the council were planning to make a permanent fair in a park next to tescos but I think swanscombe should go ahead really. But someone on a Facebook group said it was going to be a year late.
 
Screaming Coasters said:
I reckon that once Paramounts is built, Merlin are gonna sell off their theme parks and just keep their midway attractions as they make more money.

The amount of midways Merlin are building now, kinda leads me to believe that they are preparing.
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I'd say you're right that Merlin's midway expansion is without a doubt their most sound long term plan, but I don't think any of those singular attractions currently make more money than, I would have thought, any of their parks. The reason I think that is simply down to attendance. A busy day at one of the London attractions is less than half a busy day at even their least popular parks. Even with their year round opening, I can't see it evening out.

That said - what makes Merlin's midways special is that they dominate the tourist market with their combo ticket offerings. So you end up with a family visiting 3 or more of their attractions in one day. I suspect the cost of running Dungeons is really high, but the others are probably less costly to run than the parks?

So maybe you're right, I dunno. But I don't think Merlin will sell off their parks, because Paramount will be a completely different market. And if they play their cards right, they could set themselves up now to offering what Paramount won't in other ways.

They could start by becoming a real resort in the South by offering park hoppers and a free shuttle bus for hotel guests and park hopper ticket users between their southern attractions. I don't know why they haven't already done this as it's very similar to the Midway expansion in London, or any major city. Perhaps because there's no current park competition?

I think they'd do well do build a stand alone indoor leisure centre/waterpark in Surrey..........
 
I think that merlin will just take out chessington but solely i think that merlin do better with the midway than the theme parks. im surprised that george osbourne is all for this unless he has been paid to say that he is all for it.
 
In terms of the 'local parks' to where Paramount will be, in my opinion, they're safe.

Thorpe Park offers a high concentration of thrilling rides packed into a small area. Paramount won't have that, it'll be more concentrated on the whole family market with a few higher thrill rides.

Chessington is based on a much younger audience but also had the zoo to boot, Paramount won't have the zoo to boost interest.

Now what WILL change is events at parks. Paramount has the opportunity to complete change what you know of special events at Theme Parks in the UK. Creating much more substantial events, which in turn, will affect the other parks at this given time.
 
I can't wait to see what their halloween events gonna be like!!!

Joey said:
Screaming Coasters said:
The amount of midways Merlin are building now, kinda leads me to believe that they are preparing.
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I'd say you're right that Merlin's midway expansion is without a doubt their most sound long term plan, but I don't think any of those singular attractions currently make more money than, I would have thought, any of their parks. The reason I think that is simply down to attendance. A busy day at one of the London attractions is less than half a busy day at even their least popular parks. Even with their year round opening, I can't see it evening out.
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Funny you say that, because today I was told by a manager about just this. The parks make up about 27% of Merlins revenue, 33% goes to their midway and Legoland Resorts make up the rest.

If there is an escape plan, the most likely parks to go is Thorpe Park and Chessington. They both hang on threads.

Saying that though. I won't spill the beans, but look out for Merlins aggressive marketing this year for Thorpe Park. Its so dumb, but pure genius!!
 
Screaming Coasters said:
I can't wait to see what their halloween events gonna be like!!!

Joey said:
Screaming Coasters said:
The amount of midways Merlin are building now, kinda leads me to believe that they are preparing.
Click to expand...
I'd say you're right that Merlin's midway expansion is without a doubt their most sound long term plan, but I don't think any of those singular attractions currently make more money than, I would have thought, any of their parks. The reason I think that is simply down to attendance. A busy day at one of the London attractions is less than half a busy day at even their least popular parks. Even with their year round opening, I can't see it evening out.
Click to expand...

Funny you say that, because today I was told by a manager about just this. The parks make up about 27% of Merlins revenue, 33% goes to their midway and Legoland Resorts make up the rest.
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Well of course, because of their 100 attractions, only 5 of them are non-Lego theme parks.

Considering theme parks make up 5% of their attractions, 27% revenue is a huge chunk. There's like 80 Midway attractions, so for them to make up only 33% that's pretty crap.

I highly doubt those stats are accurate anyway, or at least not up to date. No disrespect for you or the "manager".
 
Does that take into account the year pass as I'm sure no one on here would bother if the parks were not included. So overall revenue would be down.

If they want the parks to do better then do a better job and make them better.

For me if this park happens will be a step in the right direction and could lead to other companies investing in the UK. Merlin could finally be challenged in the UK, which will be a good thing.

We might get a good 4d show which will show people how they can be done, we might get a fully themed coaster and a high quality dark ride.

My problem with Merlin is they could do so much better than they do.
 
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