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Legoland Windsor

Merlin just making up silly excuses yet again to mask that they are one of the worst park operators around.

On my visits to Legoland, the reliability, operations and everything has been amongst the worst I have ever seen it. Rides closing constantly and frequently with pretty much every major attraction experiencing at least one lengthily shut down a day.

Most of it isn’t the fault of front line staff. They are just overworked with little morale and support and given silly and over the top restrictions.
 
Plastic Person said:
"Oh no, attendance is down at the park."
"Yes, probably something to do with the underwhelming box office performance of The Lego Movie 2."
"OK, any ideas how to get things back on track?"
"How about an area themed to The Lego Movie 2?"
"Sure."
Click to expand...
Except, of course, plans for the new area will have predated the financial statement by many, many years


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
So let me get this right. ...... Merlin reckon that the poor attendance this year at legoland is due to the poor box office takings for the lego movie 2? Errrrr...... nothing to do with : poor customer service, poor operations, ride availability, a new attraction being one that Alton Towers has had for 19 years, and I can go on..... what planet do these head office bigwigs live on? Oh people will watch the movie in the hundreds and then jump into the car and drive to Windsor because they are in the mood for lego????? Or are they " bricking it" because they have spent a fortune on a massive advert in the trailer for the movie and no one has seen it so won't visit legoland. They probably have all read trip advisor instead.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't the statement about all Legoland parks, not just Windsor.

As I said before blaming the Lego Movie is rediculouse. But blaming it all on very specific Windsor problems is taking the argument to the other extreme.
 
Lego as a brand is doing amazing numbers. Still the number one toy in the world. By far.

This is just excuses from a poorly performing company who are only concerned about profit and nothing else. Six Flags and Merlin are both an absolute joke these days. They have totally lost touch with reality and their customers. Just treat them like cash dispensers.
 
I guess this is the problem with everything now. Customer service adds too much to the cost base. With the increase to the living wage and an ever increasing importance to drive down costs customer facing staff have been been cut, hours reduced, levels of operation reduced or replaced by younger (cheaper) inexperienced staff and worse impersonal unreliable technology has been utilised too. All this has resulted in the customer feeling you don't really give a s**t about us so not using the shop, service or in this case a theme park . When will the powers that be wake up rather than continuing to walk into further decline coming up with ever sillier excuses terrorism, odd poor day of weather, brexit and now poor box office takings for a movie whatever next? My idea is sack off the overpaid guys who come up with these cost cutting measures and lame excuses and plough the money into investment and improved attractions and operations. The visitors would arrive and spend and the turnaround / transformation can begin.
 
themeparkfan said:
I guess this is the problem with everything now. Customer service adds too much to the cost base. With the increase to the living wage and an ever increasing importance to drive down costs customer facing staff have been been cut, hours reduced, levels of operation reduced or replaced by younger (cheaper) inexperienced staff and worse impersonal unreliable technology has been utilised too. All this has resulted in the customer feeling you don't really give a s**t about us so not using the shop, service or in this case a theme park . When will the powers that be wake up rather than continuing to walk into further decline coming up with ever sillier excuses terrorism, odd poor day of weather, brexit and now poor box office takings for a movie whatever next? My idea is sack off the overpaid guys who come up with these cost cutting measures and lame excuses and plough the money into investment and improved attractions and operations. The visitors would arrive and spend and the turnaround / transformation can begin.
Click to expand...

I agree but is it too late? The money needed would be vast to change things around. The whole ethos from the top to the bottom would not be customer quality lead. I bet very few members of staff have an enthusiasm and service based focus deep within them. The lack of new attractions and poor themeing just show the investments they have made will be short term.
 
I have some rather interesting news for you all; according to Theme Park Worldwide, Legoland has filed for planning permission to build its 3rd roller coaster in 2020:

I know it only looks small, but I think this is fantastic news for the park, especially considering that their last coaster opened in 2004 (and that particular ride was even removed in 2009, so if you're talking operating coasters, their newest was built in 1999)! I wonder what ride type it will be?

For reference, the ride will be located in Duplo Valley.
 
Maelstrom said:
Looks like the same layout as the Ba-a-a express at Europa park. A Mack rides kids coaster
Click to expand...

Good point. Not a bad choice if it is, for this type/scale of ride.

Given its increasing popularity and very apparent inability to deal with its crowds, LLW needs as many high capacity rides as it can get. This clearly isn’t one, but at least it’s a ride.
 
Maelstrom said:
Looks like the same layout as the Ba-a-a express at Europa park. A Mack rides kids coaster
Click to expand...
venny said:
Good point. Not a bad choice if it is, for this type/scale of ride.

Given its increasing popularity and very apparent inability to deal with its crowds, LLW needs as many high capacity rides as it can get. This clearly isn’t one, but at least it’s a ride.
Click to expand...
It might be worth noting that this ride has a catwalk according to the application, whereas Baaa Express doesn't; that could potentially mean a different ride type...
 
Or different H&S requirements.

Mind you, I’d imagine this Mack hardware is at the high end of the price scale for these ride types, so perhaps it isn’t.
 
In terms of who Merlin has worked with on junior coasters in the past, I'm also afraid to say that Mack aren't on the list. They have worked with:
  • Gerstlauer on coasters for Legoland California and Legoland Deutschland.
  • Zierer on coasters for Legoland Billund, Legoland Dubai, Legoland Malaysia and Heide Park.
  • Zamperla on a coaster for Alton Towers.
 
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