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2025: General Discussion

Bowser said:
Went to the Water Park today. Was a bit weird going all that way and not going to the theme park but that's the way it is in the RAP era sadly.

They've made a few minor adjustments. The jacuzzi area has been painted red and renamed (think it was Lava Lagoon, unless it was already called that).

A few new water features too.

The overall temperature seemed a little cooler too. Not awful but noticeable.

Staff were great, a few went out of their way to check Bowser Jr was ok.

The place was absolutely HEAVING! They seem to have completely abandoned any capacity, it was reminiscent of a Wuhan pool party in the lazy river.

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The Waterpark desperately needs something new it hasn't changed much since it opened a trapdoor slide as much as I dislike them would be a nice addition
 
Hid said:
The Waterpark desperately needs something new it hasn't changed much since it opened a trapdoor slide as much as I dislike them would be a nice addition
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I read that thinking "which trapdoor slide? I can't remember seeing one!

Commas are useful things! :). (This is not criticism by the way. I'm not perfect with grammar. It just made me laugh!)
 
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Smiley said:
It's somewhere in https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...-practices-cma207/unfair-commercial-practices

There are also EU laws covering it, and I'm not sure whether we have adopted them. These are sort of an extension of UTCC 1999 and Consumer Rights 2015 and more recently. So yes, it's illegal.
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The link you've provided, first of all, is mostly guidance. Breach of only a few paragraphs actually count as an offence / being illegal.

The link you've provided also makes no mention of, or even suggestion of, dynamic or personalised pricing being illegal. It is also not illegal to use a person's web browsing history, provided that they have consented to be tracked, to dynamically offer them different prices.
 
GooseOnTheLoose said:
The link you've provided, first of all, is mostly guidance. Breach of only a few paragraphs actually count as an offence / being illegal.

The link you've provided also makes no mention of, or even suggestion of, dynamic or personalised pricing being illegal. It is also not illegal to use a person's web browsing history, provided that they have consented to be tracked, to dynamically offer them different prices.
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IANAL - but I think it falls into discriminatory pricing. I'm sure there are dozens of caveats and "escapes" - e.g. to raise the price due to "increased interest" but that should apply to all customers in the same "bucket".
 
Smiley said:
IANAL - but I think it falls into discriminatory pricing. I'm sure there are dozens of caveats and "escapes" - e.g. to raise the price due to "increased interest" but that should apply to all customers in the same "bucket".
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it is an interesting one, but there may be no discrimination (although AI and these things often do have a side effect of discrimination) but if you knew that someone often brought 100 bottles of water, then using historical data then you will know they are loyal customers for that price, but if someone walked in, checked the price of water and then walked out each week you may lower the price for the person checking the price but not buying things to convince them to buy, nothing that is discriminatory by nature, but it can sometimes cause discrimination.
 
Smiley said:
IANAL - but I think it falls into discriminatory pricing. I'm sure there are dozens of caveats and "escapes" - e.g. to raise the price due to "increased interest" but that should apply to all customers in the same "bucket".
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Discriminatory pricing isn't illegal, unless you're discriminating against a protected characteristic (as defined in Equality Act 2010).

Charging someone more because they're using an iPhone is completely legal. Charging someone more because they're black, or gay, or disabled, or Christian, or a man, or a woman, etc is not legal.
 
Does this not in itself prove that outsourcing entertainment is not a bad thing, as has been repeated around here as if it were the apocalypse? Seeing as theme parks and brands with some of the best entertainment on the planet do it, I suspect a few opinions might change now the words 'Disney' and 'Europa Park' are stood next to the same company associated with Merlin.

It is just how Merlin may implement it that is worrying. Not the outsourcing itself, which has been proven from some of the best parks for a long time, that it CAN work really well.
 
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DistortAMG said:
Does this not in itself prove that outsourcing entertainment is not a bad thing, as has been repeated around here as if it were the apocalypse? Seeing as theme parks and brands with some of the best entertainment on the planet do it, I suspect a few opinions might change now the words 'Disney' and 'Europa Park' are stood next to the same company associated with Merlin.

It is just how Merlin may implement it that might is worrying. Not the outsourcing itself, which has been proven from some of the best tuing parks, for a long time, CAN work really well.
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It is sad for the Job losses however this can only be good thing.

Disney and Europa do make you wonder how good quality they can be. Also I really hope this doesn't change Alton Towers Fireworks display if there is one thing Towers sure know what to do is put on a fantastic fireworks display.

Might even consider Towers to have the best fireworks display in the world
 
owenstreet7 said:
Speaking of entertainments, Merlin have outsourced the entertainments for Alton Towers, Chessington, Legoland Windsor and the US Legoland parks to RWS Global who already partner with Disney, Europa Park and Hershey Park.

There is a post from Attraction Source


From: https://x.com/AttractionSc/status/1912198965358911794?t=ZSdvjoiZVUfzn-c5aI_5PQ&s=19


Here is Merlin's press release on this: https://www.merlinentertainments.bi...to-deliver-premium-entertainment-experiences/
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Just a note to keep discussion regarding this to Alton Towers in this topic. For discussion about the implications across the other parks in the Merlin portfolio, please utilise the Merlin Entertainments topic.
 
DistortAMG said:
Does this not in itself prove that outsourcing entertainment is not a bad thing, as has been repeated around here as if it were the apocalypse? Seeing as theme parks and brands with some of the best entertainment on the planet do it, I suspect a few opinions might change now the words 'Disney' and 'Europa Park' are stood next to the same company associated with Merlin.

It is just how Merlin may implement it that might is worrying. Not the outsourcing itself, which has been proven from some of the best parks for a long time, that it CAN work really well.
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I agree. You get what you pay for, and it depends on what Merlin is paying/expecting RWS to provide. I guess we shall find out later this year!

For one, I'm looking forward to seeing if Scarefest gets more of a shake-up.
 
Hid said:
It is sad for the Job losses however this can only be good thing.

Disney and Europa do make you wonder how good quality they can be. Also I really hope this doesn't change Alton Towers Fireworks display if there is one thing Towers sure know what to do is put on a fantastic fireworks display.

Might even consider Towers to have the best fireworks display in the world
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Fireworks have always been outsourced anyway. The creative direction came from the park, but the delivery didn't. You'll either see a marked improvement, or no noticeable change, as the creative direction may now be centralised.
 
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