Merlin Magic Making still exists just not based at Alton Towers anymore.
Suppose we will have to wait and see the direction of the park with new VP
- News all the latest
- Theme Park explore the park
- Resort tour the resort
- Future looking forward
- History looking back
- Community and meetups
-
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. - Thread starter Craig
- Start date
- 27th - 28th September. 3rd - 5th, 10th - 12th, 17th October - 2nd November
2025: General Discussion
Suppose we will have to wait and see the direction of the park with new VP
jon81uk
TS Member
The Studios North that was at Alton Towers was mainly just a prop-making studio. Studios North had nothing to do with Alton Towers or the VP/Director of the park. The actual creative direction is mainly under John Burton and I assume his office is down in Acton (west London, Merlin Magic Magic main office). Any management of Merlin Magic Making would have been headed up from the Acton office (not sure if MMM has another major office, there is some stuff in County Hall).
Basically similar to Disney Imagineering creating new attractions is separate to the park operations team maintaining them, Merlin Magic Making creating new attractions is separate to the park operations team.
Good to know rid awls awfully pieced together as everything else.
You’re basically a caretaker.
Zero say over fundamentals related to F&B
Zero say over fundamentals related to capex expenditure
Zero say over fundamentals of entertainments/events as it’s now outsourced
Zero say of hotel bookings as it’s outsourced to charlatans (I think still)
Zero say over theming/improvements as majority of local team has been made redundant
Ride maintenance is driven by H&S mainly anyway
Zero say over merch as it’s driven group wide
Zero say over marketing as it’s driven group wide and has faced enforced cuts
Zero say over MAP arrangements
Zero say over a 5-10 year plan as you won’t be there that long
It’s a poisoned chalice with all of the blame and none of the actual control that matters
I’ve seen headteachers with more fundamental control over the direction of their organisation
It’s like running a cinema in a chain. Zero say over then fundamentals. You pull the shutters up and turn it on. The rest of it generally takes care of itself.
They don’t know what they’re doing, and this the final throws of a dying organisation. Ruined by financialisation and mismanagement
I suspect Paultons and Drayton have started the job and Universal will finish it
The whole things just tragic
Go somewhere that deserves your support
Don’t give them your money
Let them hear on trip advisor and google reviews
Thing is Alton is a good park but it could be an excellent park with the right investment and overall looking after the park so much untapped potential.
I want Merlin out they haven't got a clue.
Problem with the UK and this links with Merlin the focus shifted way too much in favour of the business a not the customers
jon81uk
TS Member
Merlin run their own hotel bookings, its not Holiday Extras any more.
The existance of Studios North made little difference to the park really, they would have still needed to sort out the budget to pay them, now they need to sort out the budget to pay an external contractor instead of an internal one. Might even be cheaper.
Not sure this is any different to 20 years ago, the director would have their merchandise team manage it anyway.
How do you know they have so little control over the direction of the organisation? The advert makes it clear they have a lot of the control & responsibility on meeting the business goals. But as with a lot of very senior manager roles, you are not the one doing things, you are managing stakeholders to get them done, to meet the needs of goals set by other stakeholders.
Last edited:
You could have a say over whatever you wanted but if they’re not being back up with the cold hard cash that’s needed it’s all relatively pointless really isn’t it.
On a side note if anyone is travelling to the park Friday - Sunday this week and travelling through Uttoxeter way especially then give yourselves far more time. It’s the LIV gold tournament at JCB so 20 thousand are travelling to that daily.
Paulton's is not a children's park Twin lakes and Gulliver's are children's parks its a family that does cater to everyone. I doubt Drayton could either even during Drayton during its golden era no way could it compete with Alton Towers during its golden era
I’ve explained which parts they have no control of due to pre agreed contracts and/or it’s not in the advert.
“Control responsibility” isn’t a thing and doesn’t make sense.
I don’t think they’re the one doing everything, that’s in no way the point I’m making.
jon81uk
TS Member
Sorry there was an and missing, it should be control and responsibility.
But the advert does state "able to align operations with business goals and pivot efficiently when required", "full P&L responsibility" and makes it clear you need "Stakeholder management skills" and "a collaborative style, thriving in a matrix structure".
Its pretty clear what you have control and responsibility for and where you need to manage stakeholders and work with other managers globally in a matrix system.
But again this is pretty normal in most major businesses, you would always need to work collaboratively to manage stakeholders. The days of one person deciding what to do and getting it done are behind us. Unless you are Elon Musk in which case the leaders try to implement what he wants but it usually messes up the profits anyway, proving that giving one person all the power isn't great.
I think generally most people going for this level of role in many organisations will know roughly what to expect and that they don't get to just do what they like as they have to work in a matrix of other managers. You'd hope that the advert stating they have responsibility for profit and loss means they can aggressively manage some of the contracts like Aramark to get more profit but probably not. But they do have responsibility for the operations of the park and the profit.
Last edited:
jon81uk
TS Member
But that would (likely) be a different job description for a different role, (likely) without as much focus on matrix management. You can't compare a massive corporate structure to a family owned one and most applicants for the role would know that. So hard to say its a poisoned chalice if you know what you are applying for. Bianca is moving on to another large corporation too.
At Paultons they are owned by the Mancey family, Lawrence Mancey is Marketing and Technology Director, James Mancey is deputy managing director, so I expect Gary Johnson their Park Operations Manager has a very different role to the Merlin parks as he is working alongside the owners. The Mancey family also get stuck in to more day-to-day tasks as well, Lawrance took photographs for the marketing of Ghostly Manor, I'd expect Alton Towers would pay a photographer instead of the marketing manager just doing it, family owned businesses work differently.
I'm not doing the Mack family research but its likely similar that the owners are also the managers at Europa, although probably a bit less hands on.
I'm not talking about which style of ownership, management and leadership produces the better customer experience. Just that the applicant for a job with a large corporation should already know what to expect as it is part of a large corporation. Same as a Tesco store manager knows its a different role to running a family owned corner shop. Its not the "final throws of a dying organisation" any more than any other big corporation.
Last edited:
It seems like a bit of an odd job description, but job descriptions often are. When a job description seems a bit odd though, I do sometimes wonder whether a business has already got someone in mind for the role.
A few days ago they released a job advert for an engineering manager where the only required qualification was an NVQ (although there were a number of other qualifications they said were desirable, and I think it’s very unlikely that they would hire an engineering manager with just an NVQ. Whoever gets the job could well be very qualified).
For this they’re saying a business or management degree is an essential requirement. A lot of the CEOs or general managers of theme parks around the world don’t have management degrees (that’s pretty clear from LinkedIn).
No one’s saying they should give the job to a random enthusiast, or that you don’t need business acumen to run a theme park, or that they should hire a vice president who hasn’t managed significant budgets before. But it’s a slightly odd thing to have as an absolutely essential requirement.
It is probably true though that in the family owned attractions you get a lot more general managers with engineering qualifications, whereas in the corporate world it does tend to be business, marketing, finance or legal qualifications.
A few days ago they released a job advert for an engineering manager where the only required qualification was an NVQ (although there were a number of other qualifications they said were desirable, and I think it’s very unlikely that they would hire an engineering manager with just an NVQ. Whoever gets the job could well be very qualified).
For this they’re saying a business or management degree is an essential requirement. A lot of the CEOs or general managers of theme parks around the world don’t have management degrees (that’s pretty clear from LinkedIn).
No one’s saying they should give the job to a random enthusiast, or that you don’t need business acumen to run a theme park, or that they should hire a vice president who hasn’t managed significant budgets before. But it’s a slightly odd thing to have as an absolutely essential requirement.
It is probably true though that in the family owned attractions you get a lot more general managers with engineering qualifications, whereas in the corporate world it does tend to be business, marketing, finance or legal qualifications.
Decided by who?
Sorry if this is the wrong place to post but had a quick question.
Looking to go to Alton Towers soon but trying to find a quiet day. Currently looking at Wed 8th October. My thoughts are during the week, schools are all in and before Halloween. However, website is saying Scarefest begins late September?
Is the above date a safe bet, i know there is no guarantee but just want to make sure im not missing anything obvious.
Looking to go to Alton Towers soon but trying to find a quiet day. Currently looking at Wed 8th October. My thoughts are during the week, schools are all in and before Halloween. However, website is saying Scarefest begins late September?
Is the above date a safe bet, i know there is no guarantee but just want to make sure im not missing anything obvious.
AltonLover123
TS Member
scarefest is running