• ℹ️ Heads up...

    This is a popular topic that is fast moving Guest - before posting, please ensure that you check out the first post in the topic for a quick reminder of guidelines, and importantly a summary of the known facts and information so far. Thanks.

2025: General Discussion

Ash said:
I assume at this point Project Horizon may of been a test to see if they’d get the planning for the Mincraft ride. And for reasons only known to Merlin. They went with Chessington.

I’d argue if they wanted to make a big splash with such a major IP you’d put that at the biggest parks. Whether they’ve made the right choice in the long term only time will tell.

I’d also argue it shows maybe where Alton’s ranking/thinking is within Merlin given recent cuts, levels of investment etc.

Although I’m not sure Minecraft lends itself to a land with the size/variety that TWODW could offer. I still stand by a miniature legoland could be perfect with the variety of rides, Merlin already have a connection, it’s distance from Windsor and ability to have “crossover” with the Discovery centre in Manchester but offer something different.

It could arguably be a 365 land and broadly speaking rights itself:

Driving school = Lego retheme
GG = Ninjago/Laser Raiders
Dungeons = Pirate Falls/Fairytale Brook
4D cinema = Lego Studios Cinema
Project Horizon = The Dragon or IP
Add in Ferrari Build and Race in the old showroom Add in a couple of Frog Hoppers

They could even… (and I’m just saying)… retheme Hex to Monster House Party and enter from the fire exit via TWODW. Turning the “front” part of the Hex queue into a shop or something else and partition it off.

But im way off topic and have arguably committed blasphemy.
Click to expand...

I don’t think Merlin really rank their parks like that, Towers cash investment has been quite high (I think we forget because 4 expensive projects have been refurbishments due to previous neglect).

Chessington will be getting money because of Paultons, if I’m honest the only park that seems to be neglected a bit is Thorpe, other than Hyperia their investment has been pretty low over the last decade.
 
Ash said:
I assume at this point Project Horizon may of been a test to see if they’d get the planning for the Mincraft ride. And for reasons only known to Merlin. They went with Chessington.

I’d argue if they wanted to make a big splash with such a major IP you’d put that at the biggest parks. Whether they’ve made the right choice in the long term only time will tell.

I’d also argue it shows maybe where Alton’s ranking/thinking is within Merlin given recent cuts, levels of investment etc.

Although I’m not sure Minecraft lends itself to a land with the size/variety that TWODW could offer. I still stand by a miniature legoland could be perfect with the variety of rides, Merlin already have a connection, it’s distance from Windsor and ability to have “crossover” with the Discovery centre in Manchester but offer something different.

It could arguably be a 365 land and broadly speaking rights itself:

Driving school = Lego retheme
GG = Ninjago/Laser Raiders
Dungeons = Pirate Falls/Fairytale Brook
4D cinema = Lego Studios Cinema
Project Horizon = The Dragon or IP
Add in Ferrari Build and Race in the old showroom Add in a couple of Frog Hoppers

They could even… (and I’m just saying)… retheme Hex to Monster House Party and enter from the fire exit via TWODW. Turning the “front” part of the Hex queue into a shop or something else and partition it off.

But im way off topic and have arguably committed blasphemy.
Click to expand...
Come 2030ish we'll have a big new shiny theme park (that all vloggers will live at) devoted to nothing but IPs so I'd rather keep Towers unique by having little to no major IPs and having its own set of them as it currently has.

Their own IPs clearly work - look at the marketing of Nemesis Reborn - I don't know of another theme park that has invested so much into one of its rides to create a backstory, brand, IP and just iconic worldwide status (granted a lot of that is down to the ride experience itself). If Nemesis was IP based from 1994 and every 10 years had a new IP slapped on it I bet we wouldn't be so fond of it now and I wouldn't be surprised if Towers would've scrapped it instead of retracking it.

I'm glad Minecraft went to Chessington to be honest. Start to bring in big brand IPs to Towers and it'll loose what's left of its magic. I mean can you imagine Hex or Curse rethemed to Ghostbusters? It was bad enough when there was Cadbury and Fanta sponsorships (that reminds me, I wonder if we'll see sponsorships returning this year after what they announced last year?). The whole place would become cheap and tacky in my mind.

If Towers went that way, I'd liken it to how Disney parks on the whole have gone in my opinion. Disney have stripped out a lot of unique, magical, Disney-esque rides and experiences only to replace them with [movie] IPs, granted some of the rides look incredible (Rise of the Resistance). My one and only visit to Disneyworld was in 2013 just as they'd bought Star Wars so there was next to nothing of the current IPs around the place. Looking at the park now (and their others around the world) I feel they are losing/lost the Disney magic to a degree and are just turning into Marvel-land or Star Wars World.

I fear Towers would go exactly the same way if big IPs were forced on them - they'd become the poor man's Universal GB. I think Merlin should see Universal coming here as a reason to make Towers even more unique by offering something different [to Universal] and "British" - after all Universal will probably just be copy and paste IPs from its other parks. And by saying British I'm not being overly patriotic or xenophobic, but I mean keep it British with our unique style of doing things and our sense of humour etc.
 
Last edited:
Trouble is - IP and brands sell.

Originality doesn’t in this day and age. It’s time will come again. People will get bored of the copy and paste formula.

Already seeing it in town centres for instance.
 
Jb85 said:
Trouble is - IP and brands sell.

Originality doesn’t in this day and age. It’s time will come again. People will get bored of the copy and paste formula.

Already seeing it in town centres for instance.
Click to expand...

Wickerman sold well so there is still a place for non-IP’s, I think IP’s do sell well and I think the strategy for Chessington is IP heavy but up to now outside of the junior offering Towers has mostly avoided IP’s and is doing fine.
 
Jb85 said:
Trouble is - IP and brands sell.

Originality doesn’t in this day and age. It’s time will come again. People will get bored of the copy and paste formula.

Already seeing it in town centres for instance.
Click to expand...

Efteling, Europa. Phantasialand... in fact pretty much every notable European theme park is devoid of IP outside of the Spanish ones.
 
Wicker-Man, The Smiler, Nemesis, Oblivion have become IPs known even by non enthusiasts - they’re not required unless it’s a full immersive world of Disney or Universal proportions.
 
Bowser said:
Efteling, Europa. Phantasialand... in fact pretty much every notable European theme park is devoid of IP outside of the Spanish ones.
Click to expand...
Europa Park certainly isn’t devoid of IPs! They have a huge ride and area themed around Arthur and the Invisibles, they love doing VR things on CanCan Coaster with all manner of random IPs, and they also have a lot of sponsorships (including Silver Star sponsored by Mercedes, Voletarium sponsored by Eurowings and Wodan sponsored by Mustang Jeans, to name just a few!).

I honestly think Efteling and Phantasialand are the outliers in not having any external IP within them. Parc Astérix is built primarily around the IP of Astérix, Plopsaland de Panne is built around the IPs of Plopsa, Gardaland has IPs, Heide Park has IPs, PortAventura has IPs, Holiday Park has IPs… most parks in Europe have external IP to at least an extent.

Let’s also not forget that the most visited park in Europe by some margin is Disneyland Paris… a park built primarily around Disney IPs.

I personally don’t get the hatred for IPs around these parts. If executed poorly, sure, but if executed well, I don’t see why an IP theme can’t be every bit as good as a non-IP one, if not better.
 
Matt N said:
Europa Park certainly isn’t devoid of IPs! They have a huge ride and area themed around Arthur and the Invisibles, they love doing VR things on CanCan Coaster with all manner of random IPs, and they also have a lot of sponsorships (including Silver Star sponsored by Mercedes, Voletarium sponsored by Eurowings and Wodan sponsored by Mustang Jeans, to name just a few!).

I honestly think Efteling and Phantasialand are the outliers in not having any external IP within them. Parc Astérix is built primarily around the IP of Astérix, Plopsaland de Panne is built around the IPs of Plopsa, Gardaland has IPs, Heide Park has IPs, PortAventura has IPs, Holiday Park has IPs… most parks in Europe have external IP to at least an extent.

Let’s also not forget that the most visited park in Europe by some margin is Disneyland Paris… a park built primarily around Disney IPs.

I personally don’t get the hatred for IPs around these parts. If executed poorly, sure, but if executed well, I don’t see why an IP theme can’t be every bit as good as a non-IP one, if not better.
Click to expand...

Isn't Plopsa their own character? If so i don't think that qualifies in the conversation as i assumed people were discussing bringing in external IP rather than developing their own but perhaps it has an origin i'm not aware of.

Good shout on Asterix, i forgot about that! I was thinking more along the lines of Walibi, Energylandia etc ( I did say the Spanish parks have notable IP).

Does seem there are more than i initially thought but i suppose the difference then is the European ones are typically more niche and national so they feel less garish than bringing in big global IP which i imagine is what people are more concerned about.
 
Bowser said:
Isn't Plopsa their own character? If so i don't think that qualifies in the conversation as i assumed people were discussing bringing in external IP rather than developing their own but perhaps it has an origin i'm not aware of.

Good shout on Asterix, i forgot about that! I was thinking more along the lines of Walibi, Energylandia etc ( I did say the Spanish parks have notable IP).

Does seem there are more than i initially thought but i suppose the difference then is the European ones are typically more niche and national so they feel less garish than bringing in big global IP which i imagine is what people are more concerned about.
Click to expand...
Plopsa/Studio 100 is a TV channel, isn’t it? So the park, by its very nature, started with external IP. Things like House of Anubis, Heidi, Wickie and such are TV shows, not to mention that the park now has Ride to Happiness, which incorporates an IP outside of Plopsa’s catalogue entirely in Tomorrowland.

Admittedly it’s not quite the same, but Energylandia also has lots of sponsorships… to give just a few examples, they have Pepsi Hyperion and the Toffifee log flume, from memory.
 
Bowser said:
Isn't Plopsa their own character?
Click to expand...
The Plopsa brand is a combination of the brands Kabouter Plop and Samson which are Studio 100 IPs that are well known in Belgium. Both are kids programmes and are their older most well known brands of Studio 100.

One is about a gnome with a Wiggles like format and the other is about a dog and their owner.
 
Dave said:
Wickerman sold well so there is still a place for non-IP’s, I think IP’s do sell well and I think the strategy for Chessington is IP heavy but up to now outside of the junior offering Towers has mostly avoided IP’s and is doing fine.
Click to expand...
Wicker Man is an interesting one because it is associated with folklore and IP, at a distance, so it at least has popular cult recognition. It may not be based on the 1973 film, but shares many of the same elements.
Matt N said:
I personally don’t get the hatred for IPs around these parts. If executed poorly, sure, but if executed well, I don’t see why an IP theme can’t be every bit as good as a non-IP one, if not better.
Click to expand...
If you don't already hold the rights to an IP, you end up spending a decent chunk of a project's budget securing and licencing a recognisable one. Often the end product suffers as a result. Thorpe Park has at least three recent projects which bears this out; Black Mirror Labyrinth; I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here... Maze; Derren Brown's Ghost Train.

You could possibly throw in The Walking Dead: The Ride too.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top