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London Entertainment Resort: All Discussion

Matt N said:
I have actual news to report once again! Public consultations are beginning on 27th July, and they will run until 21st September. They will be held online and will include webinars, telephone surgeries (I don’t know what these are?) and online Q&A sessions.

Here’s a Blooloop article talking about this, while also offering a few other interesting bits of info about the project: https://blooloop.com/news/the-london-resort-public-consultation/

Exciting stuff! Do you guys think I would be allowed to ask a question or two, as they’re online, as I must admit, I have some things I’d be very interested to know?
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You could try asking questions but really these consultations are for local residents.
 
Public consultation is public consultation.
As well as freaks, geeks and happy clappers, most of us are the general public as well.
Most...
 
@Rob & I went to a public consultation for this back in like... 2014. Anyone can go, anyone can ask a question.

This timing is quite something! The entire world is facing a huge economic downturn in the coming 12 months or so, and so full steam ahead with this seems bizarre!
 
Sazzle said:
This timing seems incredulous! The entire world is facing a huge economic downturn in the coming 12 months or so, and so full steam ahead with this seems bizarre!
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Rather ironic, isn’t it? To me, the COVID situation seemed like the perfect scapegoat to put the brakes on the project, and I was even unsure whether it would still go ahead at the start of the pandemic, but I’d argue that they’ve just slammed the pedal down over the last month or two, and as such, we’re probably seeing the most we’ve seen in over 5 years from this project!

I suppose the world will probably have recovered to some degree by 2024, however; even in the worst case scenarios, unemployment, GDP and the general economy are nearly back to normal, if not completely back to normal, by 2024.
 
rob666 said:
So this happened six years ago, is happening again, and that is massive progress?
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I mean, it’s the first time since 2014 that this has happened, and according to the timeline they have on their website, these are late stage public consultations whereas the 2014 ones were early stage public consultations. I can fetch their timeline from somewhere if you’d like.

Also, it’s worth remembering that the project has been significantly amended since 2014, as well as having had various management changes, so while the project is the same project, it is also very different in many ways to the initial proposals.
 
I hate to continue to poke fun at this project but has it not dawned on anyone that they could probably buy Thorpe Park and spruce it up to be one of the best theme Parks in Europe for half what this project is set to cost.

And Merlin would probably be happy to sell it too as they clearly have no idea how to turn the park's fortunes around despite its strong ride hardware.

This to me is why I think this London Resort is a total sham. The answer is staring them in the face and at half the cost. Thorpe could be transformed into an amazing resort with a lot less hassle than this new park would be to build.

The money just isn't there.
 
Thorpe is too small and doesn't have the transport potential. Its capacity is about 14,000 - way too small time and hence the limited options available to Merlin.
 
Tom said:
Thorpe is too small and doesn't have the transport potential. Its capacity is about 14,000 - way too small time and hence the limited options available to Merlin.
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It's smaller, yes, but it has quite a lot going for it too. The amount of red tape they need to go through with the planned project, that's if they ever have the capital to build anything is ridiculous.

Phantasialand is tiny but is a fantastic profitable theme park that is extremely well ran. No reason why Thorpe couldn't be the same.

I have less than zero confidence this 'company' are even legit anyway. Sounds like a massive swindle and wishful thinking to me.
 
WillPS said:
Is Thorpe Park actually unprofitable? I doubt it...

(Although it is certainly a lot shorter on development space.)
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It’s been commonly mooted as the least successful of Merlin’s RTPs, but whether that translates to losses or not I’m not 100% sure.
 
Matt N said:
It’s been commonly mooted as the least successful of Merlin’s RTPs, but whether that translates to losses or not I’m not 100% sure.
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It’s only ever rumour but it’s believed to struggle financially compared to the other RTP’s
 
In theory if Thorpe Park ever wanted a big expansion they could build a multistory car park and build on part of the current car park. Like Disneyland did to build California Adventures.

This isn't something Merlin would do as the cost would be very high and only viable if they had a reason for such a large expansion. But in the case we are disscusing here it could be an option for a big brand driven investor.
 
Didnt Disneys car park cost a hundred million dollars?
A lot to spend before new rides are put in.
Thorpe just needs a good clean up and managing properly!
 
Multi-stories aren’t cheap, but certainly for the Florida parks the costs are considerably higher give the fact you effectively build everything on swampland!

Anyway, back to London Resort.
 
Multi story car parks might not be cheap but they are cheaper than brand new 5bn resorts I'd imagine. :)

Anyway this is just my idea. They clearly think this new park on the banks of thames is a goer. Be amazing for us all if it did but I honestly think there's more chance of pigs flying that this amount of investment coming in these very troubling times.
 
If this happens, which it won't, but if it does, they could build a coaster over the Thames to Tilbury and out do any of the standard efforts of derelict, dystopian, apocalyptic and decaying theming that Merlin have put all their efforts into over the last couple of decades.

What an opportunity.
 
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