Nerdsticks
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I personally wouldn't have quipped about Burton as much if they didn't parade him around like the next Wardley, or if he didn't call himself the Rollercoaster King.
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2026: General Discussion
I personally wouldn't have quipped about Burton as much if they didn't parade him around like the next Wardley, or if he didn't call himself the Rollercoaster King.
Squiggs
TS Team
I think one thing to remember is that the work produced by John Burton for Merlin is effectively the first few years of his career, whilst the work John Wardley did for Tussauds was the final 25 years or so of his career.
It is therefore a loss for Merlin, as they are losing John Burton just as he's getting into his stride and learning his trade. What they've lost is the calibre of work he'd be producing in 10 or 20 years, once he'd learnt all the tricks of the trade and how to navigate the Merlin corporate structure to get the best bang for a buck.
And this is the fundamental problem that Merlin has, their staffing model only supports people at the start of their career, but with seemingly no way to retain employees towards the end of their career, when in many cases they will be producing their best work.
It is effectively a manifestation of the same issue that seems to be occurring in the park's tech services. It takes significantly more junior employees to replace the institutional knowlege of a well established member of staff.
It is therefore a loss for Merlin, as they are losing John Burton just as he's getting into his stride and learning his trade. What they've lost is the calibre of work he'd be producing in 10 or 20 years, once he'd learnt all the tricks of the trade and how to navigate the Merlin corporate structure to get the best bang for a buck.
And this is the fundamental problem that Merlin has, their staffing model only supports people at the start of their career, but with seemingly no way to retain employees towards the end of their career, when in many cases they will be producing their best work.
It is effectively a manifestation of the same issue that seems to be occurring in the park's tech services. It takes significantly more junior employees to replace the institutional knowlege of a well established member of staff.