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What changes to operations should we expect post Covid-19?

Burbs said:
They won't be opening until government advice mentions they can. There's no use speculating otherwise. In Merlin's case it'll be the moment they're not told they can't, I'm sure. :p
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Apparently, Merlin have mentioned multiple times that they are preparing for a 4th July reopening provided government advice allows, as that’s what the provisional plan currently implies.
 
Matt N said:
Apparently, Merlin have mentioned multiple times that they are preparing for a 4th July reopening provided government advice allows, as that’s what the provisional plan currently implies.
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Yes. As mentioned several times parks will open as soon as they safely can. They will want to earn money! To all those saying they won't ever open this season I think you're all being way too pesamistic.
 
If the chief bean counter decides there is no money in opening for the season, the park will not open.
Peak season is where the money is made, if they cant open early July, they wont open.
 
rob666 said:
If the chief bean counter decides there is no money in opening for the season, the park will not open.
Peak season is where the money is made, if they cant open early July, they wont open.
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But given Merlin tried to open the parks pretty much until lockdown measures were imposed, I’d suggest that if they can open, they will, and March is a far less popular time than summer, on the whole. Which is why I expect that they are currently preparing for a 4th July reopening, as that’s what the government’s provisional plan dictates.

As for the money side of things; the parks that have opened so far seem to be doing fairly well, so I definitely think there’s generous profit to be had if Alton decides to open up.
 
I do think Merlin aren’t getting enough credit for their handling of this. If you look at the poorly run parks, like Europa Park and Phantasialand, they have lots of live shows which can’t run now because of the Cornavirus. Merlin clearly did some crisis management planning a few years ago, realised that there might be a pandemic, and cut their shows well in advance. It was very clever of them.
 
Matt N said:
But given Merlin tried to open the parks pretty much until lockdown measures were imposed, I’d suggest that if they can open, they will, and March is a far less popular time than summer, on the whole. Which is why I expect that they are currently preparing for a 4th July reopening, as that’s what the government’s provisional plan dictates.

As for the money side of things; the parks that have opened so far seem to be doing fairly well, so I definitely think there’s generous profit to be had if Alton decides to open up.
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In that situation they will but only merlin parks have the full financial backing to reopen when they want. Some of the independent or smaller run parks don’t have that luxury and have to weigh up the options. Yes being open for summer season will be nice but running at 30% capacity and getting only 2 months of summer income. And even then it will never be how much they could take on a normal summer season. These are the things to think about away from merlin yes they can open but can they afford to open. In effect they are opening for 2 months as the trade isn’t that high in September onwards. Once they lost the Easter/may season that’s what makes the dent.
 
Funcone said:
I do think Merlin aren’t getting enough credit for their handling of this. If you look at the poorly run parks, like Europa Park and Phantasialand, they have lots of live shows which can’t run now because of the Cornavirus. Merlin clearly did some crisis management planning a few years ago, realised that there might be a pandemic, and cut their shows well in advance. It was very clever of them.
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To describe Europa Park (& to a lesser extent Phantasialand) as "poorly run" is a joke. Europa Park in particular runs with a level of efficiency that Merlin can only dream to aspire to. This is before you add on the quality of the ride offering / theming / hotels at both parks. When will you see "4 Star Superior" quality hotels & food at a Merlin Park? Never.

As to the shows - Merlin cut them for one reason only... money.
 
Kraken27 said:
To describe Europa Park (& to a lesser extent Phantasialand) as "poorly run" is a joke. Europa Park in particular runs with a level of efficiency that Merlin can only dream to aspire to. This is before you add on the quality of the ride offering / theming / hotels at both parks. When will you see "4 Star Superior" quality hotels & food at a Merlin Park? Never.

As to the shows - Merlin cut them for one reason only... money.
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I think you missed the joke :)
 
I doubt they will even break even with 30% capacity after they pay out all the over costs that would of the park was at 100% capacity. Simple matter is it’s good the parks will open but it will mental trying to get tickets over the summer months with passholders having to prebook tickets alongside people booking normal tickets. With only 30% possibly it will be impossible to get tickets on certain days. It will be easier to get a supermarket delivery slot then actually get a ticket for a theme park during certain weeks. But that’s the reality of the situation.
 
Mr Pearse said:
I doubt they will even break even with 30% capacity after they pay out all the over costs that would of the park was at 100% capacity. Simple matter is it’s good the parks will open but it will mental trying to get tickets over the summer months with passholders having to prebook tickets alongside people booking normal tickets. With only 30% possibly it will be impossible to get tickets on certain days. It will be easier to get a supermarket delivery slot then actually get a ticket for a theme park during certain weeks. But that’s the reality of the situation.
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I'd love to know where this "30%" has been pulled from - does seem somewhat pulled out of thin air to me, but both here and on the MAP holders FB page it's being taken now as gospel...

But regardless. We know that the parks can make a profit at 30% capacity, as they open mid-week during low season. Not every day of course, but Mondays, Fridays etc., and I doubt very much their attendance equates to 30% of their full capacity. Being fully business-driven, we know that they wouldn't open on such days if there wasn't profit to be made.
 
I suspect the 30% has come from Disneyland Shanghai as that was the publicly stated cap they put on visitor numbers.

Of course that doesn’t mean Merlin will do the same. But for Towers that is around 7.5k guests. Certainly profit making territory.
 
Just because a park’s open, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s making a profit. The biggest reason for opening a park when it isn’t profitable, is that you simply wouldn’t get enough staff if you were only open for weekends and school holidays. It comes down to factors like the level of unemployment in the area and the kinds of employer you're competing against. There might be other factors, for example it can be easier to do certain types of staff training when it’s quiet.

I do agree though that most parks can make an operating profit with 30% capacity. It might be different for a big resort park with a large night time show, parade etc, but for a regional park it should be profitable at 30% capacity.
 
As Shanghai Disney managed to fill its 30% capacity on a number of days, I’d suggest that Towers should have no problem making a reasonable amount of profit. I’d wager that there were probably few days last season where the park got above 7,500 guests, and the park still made a generous profit last year according to Merlin, so I’d suggest that profit-making territory is actually quite a low percentage of park capacity.

Besides, Merlin may opt for a different percentage. I know the Orlando parks are initially allowing 50%, for example.
 
Matt N said:
As Shanghai Disney managed to fill its 30% capacity on a number of days, I’d suggest that Towers should have no problem making a reasonable amount of profit. I’d wager that there were probably few days last season where the park got above 7,500 guests, and the park still made a generous profit last year according to Merlin, so I’d suggest that profit-making territory is actually quite a low percentage of park capacity..
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Matt, I know it's customary to acknowledge and pay heed to your trademark optimism, but at this stage, you're pulling figures out of thin air (to be polite).
 
Plastic Person said:
Matt, I know it's customary to acknowledge and pay heed to your trademark optimism, but at this stage, you're pulling figures out of thin air (to be polite).
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To be fair, people on both sides of this argument are.

Think it’s foolish for anyone not working in the industry to assume that parks categorically will or will not make a profit at various attendance levels.


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