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WTF Merlin?

Howie said:
Nice to see Merlin giving a dark, adult theme to a small family ride for a change. Why don't they do it more often?
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Alienating families again, Angry Birds Land will be ripped out soon. May as well just go 14+ for entry and put dicks all over the park.
 
^An over 14s only park would be suhhh-weeet! Children are the worst. In fact, make it over 18s only - even better.
What the hell, who's up for an over 40s only theme park?
 
Will said:
Probably nothing new in here, but my Dad was reading one of his finance magazines and showed me this article on Merlin's share value.
I don't envy any goons who bought into that campaign a few seasons back...
https://dzexi57u5vx1h.cloudfront.net/shares-magazine/2018/February/2018_02_22_sharesmagazine_youinvest.pdf?utm_source=Shares+magazine+220218&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Shares+magazine+220218&utm_term=Shares+magazine+-+High+street+boom+or+bust?&utm_content=123963&gator_td=SHMPBq58IWpLZpkOobRWXXX/2zHgk3r73Oy7MtNLC3euQ+7hJVqx8BWbUobFhfOxjG+b72vN9hB/Q92m41HTFUfYsicT6QiLuUxBN7YGpFmCGL7+IeZoyXIdn+2AtpynAMX+nbp10yWkr2BMzTV5Qo+/AECWrCQhC/OzR1xk0NBWmrXkX1cLBoQ5k3xvg6FaHGcU8I/G88u0uqcKAHlkuYWZziw7urjFr72qiQJ1LpXcLhiRuKTh3jOkuPgeeAFV04Lzu18diV88SaWeO1nxCQ==

Pg 18 onwards
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As far as I can tell, they're still making money, just not as quickly as forecast. The brand may have been overvalued, but it's not worthless. And it doesn't sound like the faults were anything they could have done anything about either.
 
DelPiero said:
As posted in the YAY! Merlin topic, Thorpe are extending opening in the summer for 10-10, fab.

But wait - Closing at 4pm in low season AND not open Mon/Tues/Wed for most of May.... WTF Merlin?
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Meh - I'm over midweek off peak closures now - 4 o clock closings are a bit pi$$y though!
 
While this cutting back on opening hours and operations will save Merlin money in the short-term, the long term affects are worrying, why would people keep going back to a park where half the attractions are being ripped out? I know that us UK and other European enthusiasts don't have much choice for riding large scale coasters, but as far as the 'experience' and atmosphere of a park I'd now rather go to a park like Blackpool Pleasure Beach, which 5 years ago I would have never thought possible (no disrespect to the Pleasure Beach) and somehow I feel that the GP may eventually feel the same way.
 
They don't seem to care about the long term, only short term, more immediate, profits.
 
Thecoasterrus said:
While this cutting back on opening hours and operations will save Merlin money in the short-term, the long term affects are worrying, why would people keep going back to a park where half the attractions are being ripped out? I know that us UK and other European enthusiasts don't have much choice for riding large scale coasters, but as far as the 'experience' and atmosphere of a park I'd now rather go to a park like Blackpool Pleasure Beach, which 5 years ago I would have never thought possible (no disrespect to the Pleasure Beach) and somehow I feel that the GP may eventually feel the same way.
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There are plenty of other European theme parks which offer large scale coasters and far better experiences than Merlin do. I haven't visited a Merlin Park/attraction for almost 2 years now because they are run like utter trash and I have no desire to give them any money anymore when they offer so little value for money in terms of customer experience. I would have agreed that the offering is a bit lacklustre in the UK, however Blackpool PB, Paultons Park and Fantasy Island are now all heavily investing in their parks and these parks offer far better experiences than the Merlin parks do(as well as having much nicer theming/atmosphere etc in Paultons). These parks are going to continue to expand and will hopefully soon separate themselves from the rest of the field in the UK scene.

Looking in the whole of Europe however, I struggle to see how there isn't much choice in terms of parks with large scale coasters. There's Phantasialand, Europa Park, Liseberg, Grona Lund, Efteling, Parc Asterix, Efteling, Tripsdrill and many more parks which offer great theming, atmosphere and experience as well as good coaster line ups. Not to mention Toverland and Walibi Belgium are now on their way up and heavily expanding too. IMO the likes of Gardaland and Heide Park are easily overshadowed by these other fantastic European parks and on the UK scene, Paultons and BPB easily overshadow the other merlin parks on the UK scene (thorpe, alton, chessington).

Merlin have just made a mess of their parks, especially Thorpe, which has such a lack of direction or any concept whatsoever of how to run a theme park. First, I'm a celeb, then angry birds land, then DGBTROTD, then Walking Dead: its just an utter mess and utter trash in my opinion too, I have absolutely no desire to go back there whatsoever.

There's two good things I can say about Merlin at the moment:

1. Heide Park are making an effort to restore Colossos instead of tearing it down.
2. The theming and effects on Wickerman actually look really nice(although we all know the effects aren't going to last long at a Merlin park).

However, neither of these factors makes me want to go back to a Merlin park in the slightest as the parks are so badly run with slow operations, oversold fasttrack etc that it's just not a fun day out anymore. Merlin parks have really lost their charm IMO since Merlin have taken over from Tussauds and I'd much rather visit better alternatives within the UK and European industry.
 
JammyH said:
There are plenty of other European theme parks which offer large scale coasters and far better experiences than Merlin do. I haven't visited a Merlin Park/attraction for almost 2 years now because they are run like utter trash and I have no desire to give them any money anymore when they offer so little value for money in terms of customer experience. I would have agreed that the offering is a bit lacklustre in the UK, however Blackpool PB, Paultons Park and Fantasy Island are now all heavily investing in their parks and these parks offer far better experiences than the Merlin parks do(as well as having much nicer theming/atmosphere etc in Paultons). These parks are going to continue to expand and will hopefully soon separate themselves from the rest of the field in the UK scene.

Looking in the whole of Europe however, I struggle to see how there isn't much choice in terms of parks with large scale coasters. There's Phantasialand, Europa Park, Liseberg, Grona Lund, Efteling, Parc Asterix, Efteling, Tripsdrill and many more parks which offer great theming, atmosphere and experience as well as good coaster line ups. Not to mention Toverland and Walibi Belgium are now on their way up and heavily expanding too. IMO the likes of Gardaland and Heide Park are easily overshadowed by these other fantastic European parks and on the UK scene, Paultons and BPB easily overshadow the other merlin parks on the UK scene (thorpe, alton, chessington).

Merlin have just made a mess of their parks, especially Thorpe, which has such a lack of direction or any concept whatsoever of how to run a theme park. First, I'm a celeb, then angry birds land, then DGBTROTD, then Walking Dead: its just an utter mess and utter trash in my opinion too, I have absolutely no desire to go back there whatsoever.

There's two good things I can say about Merlin at the moment:

1. Heide Park are making an effort to restore Colossos instead of tearing it down.
2. The theming and effects on Wickerman actually look really nice(although we all know the effects aren't going to last long at a Merlin park).

However, neither of these factors makes me want to go back to a Merlin park in the slightest as the parks are so badly run with slow operations, oversold fasttrack etc that it's just not a fun day out anymore. Merlin parks have really lost their charm IMO since Merlin have taken over from Tussauds and I'd much rather visit better alternatives within the UK and European industry.
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Yeah, I suppose there is a lot of variety in mainland Europe, but I still don't think parks like Blackpool Pleasure Beach and Paultons have enough hype around them yet, if Pleasure Beach invest in more major attractions after Icon, then they could easily become the best and most respected park in the UK, however I don't see this happening somehow.

Tussauds operated these parks much better than Merlin have, I really hope these parks outside of Merlin invest more, otherwise the UK amusement industry is on it's arse. I'm British and now I only really go to one UK park a year, I would rather save up and spend my money on going to some of the parks in mainland Europe.
 
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