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WTF Merlin?

Feel free to take this with a pinch of salt; just spoken to an old colleague who seemed to think the staff cuts were only expected to last until the end of this season.

It's quite obvious here this afternoon that some attractions are running with skeleton crew, but equally, aside from Nemesis station hosts trying to double up as batchers, not that noticeable on a quiet day.

In pleased to note Oblivion was on two station mode and the staff there seemed like they were enjoying themselves :)
 
ATR are now offering 200 pound referral for scarefest actors along with having active bonuses for coming into work, doesn't sound very promising for a good level of staff for scarefest
 
Hyperia was having issues on Monday, not sure if was was related to a stall risk, but they were only running one train for an hour then moved it back up to two. Managed to get two rides in before leaving at lunch, but the queue crawled.
 
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A team which has designed iconic Alton Towers rides for decades is facing an uncertain future. Merlin Entertainments is reviewing the future of its Merlin Magic Making (MMM) team.

It leaves 30 positions within the MMM theming production team at risk of redundancy. This includes staff within the workshop, digital, management and administration, and project management teams.
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Source: https://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/news/stoke-on-trent-news/crack-team-designing-alton-towers-9696609

It appears that there are uncertain times ahead for Merlin Magic Making.
 
Ah, you beat me to it.

Maybe I'm being over reactionary, but I interpret this as very bad news - and not just for the poor staff.

Look at the job that's been done on Nemesis, Alton Manor and to an extent Hex - I was looking forward to seeing the rest of the park slowly following.

If they want to save pennies that much, this is not how to do it - lose some of the red tape management staff.

I won't mention the woman by name, but it doesn't feel coincidental to me that the rides team she took over is continually short staffed.
 
For clarity, this appears to be referring to Studios North, the Merlin theming manufacturing studio based at Alton Towers, rather than the Merlin Magic Making design division.

Merlin Studios were apparently notorious for overcharging for theming compared to external suppliers, and they may not have the resources to build certain bigger bits of theming on site (I know some of the bigger recent theming jobs at Alton Towers were done externally; Wicker Man used Universal Rocks, for example).

This is thought to be why Alton has started using Leek Signs to make signs, for example. It’s thought that Merlin Studios would charge much more.

It is of course terrible for those who work there, but it may be that the company simply feels that outsourcing their theming manufacturing to external suppliers may be more optimal for them. This is not Merlin getting rid of Merlin Magic Making; this would simply be MMM using an external theming manufacturer rather than getting things done internally by Merlin Studios.
 
Thank you for posting that Matt.

I think a lot of people are seeing the article and reading it as "designers" being laid off, in the broad, public understanding of designer. That is, people who create the concepts, liase with parks, etc.

Studio North are "designers", but in the sense that they create and manufacture the designs already agreed by the creative staff and park.

There should be a question raised internally as to why Studios North is more expensive than external companies. Like, why is it more expensive to make things in house? I've always felt that with a company of Merlin's size, they should be able to manufacture some things - even like signage - at a rate that isn't wildly expensive compared to going to external companies. It does beg the question why it exists.

I don't know enough of the ins and outs to comment much beyond that. But the most important thing right now, regardless of what people think they know about the situation and what it means for the parks, is that people are losing their jobs, and that's a very sad place to be in.
 
Will said:
Maybe I'm being over reactionary, but I interpret this as very bad news - and not just for the poor staff.

Look at the job that's been done on Nemesis, Alton Manor and to an extent Hex - I was looking forward to seeing the rest of the park slowly following.

If they want to save pennies that much, this is not how to do it - lose some of the red tape management staff.

I won't mention the woman by name, but it doesn't feel coincidental to me that the rides team she took over is continually short staffed.
Click to expand...

Yeah, worth mentioning, the park operations and MMM ar entirely different entities. The woman who shall not be named will probably have very little say in the runnings of the MMM team here. She will have a say over in house design team, but MMM is a separate company. It's like Costa having a say in how fanta is operated because they're both owned by Coca-Cola.

Also worth mentioning that the MMM north studio didn't necessarily have the majority input into the recent projects. A lot of sub contractors and producers are bought onto these projects. Some substanial amount of work that a guest may be impressed by in Alton Manor or Nemesis Reborn may well have been produced by a sub-contractor that isn't MMM SN.

Prices going up is an ill-fated but regular symptom of most-any design studio. Salaries, pensions, maternity leave, so on. The longer a studio exists, the higher it's prices get until it locks itself out of competition.

But, ultimately I agree with the sentiments already said here. The saddest thing isn't the closure of the studio but the redundancies it will create, especially in the industries current climate.
 
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