London Entertainment Resort: All Discussion

[jon81uk]

Well will Brexit stop Brits from going to Disneyland Paris?

It might stop some, I'm not sure how much hassle visas etc will become yet. But it might be a factor for some people.

But for Europeans they may choose to go to Disneyland where travel may well be easier (particularly for those already within Schengen) instead of travelling over to the UK and dealing with our hassle

 

[Swarm Chris]

I believe Nick Varney suggested a tanked pound after a worst case Brexit could enable in-bound tourism, where holiday makers can get a lot more for their Euro. London Resort would actually be ideally suited to that situation.

 

[Benjsh]

Well will Brexit stop Brits from going to Disneyland Paris?

You can't compare this park to Disney though. Disney is one of the best loved and best known brands in the entire world. People flock to their parks because they love the brand and the films more so than anything.

London Resort won't get the same draw. Nobody can compete with Disney.

 

[Matt N]

In terms of transport concerns, it would appear that the developers of the London Resort are keen for people not to arrive by car; a massive boat terminal is being built across the Thames in Tilbury, and they’re also now on about a Crossrail extension to Ebbsfleet (if you’re wondering, Crossrail is some new line they’re building for the London Underground) with this project being one of the main justifications, so many of your concerns regarding roads in the area should hopefully be allayed by this as well as the road improvements they’re apparently making.

 

[Benjsh]

In terms of transport concerns, it would appear that the developers of the London Resort are keen for people not to arrive by car; a massive boat terminal is being built across the Thames in Tilbury, and they’re also now on about a Crossrail extension to Ebbsfleet (if you’re wondering, Crossrail is some new line they’re building for the London Underground) with this project being one of the main justifications, so many of your concerns regarding roads in the area should hopefully be allayed by this as well as the road improvements they’re apparently making.

I don't think the boats are a bad idea persay but they certainly won't be accessible for me in Manchester will they? I will still need to travel down to London by train, bus or car and then take a ferry up the Thames.

Driving is the only economical option for anyone north of the M25

 

[SuperMuscleMan]

As I mentioned earlier it's no other way round for us down south to AT.

However I think urban areas on lines such as Bham, Milton Keynes will easily get the train to it via HS1. I think the boats are more for tourist in London.

I don't think the boats are a bad idea persay but they certainly won't be accessible for me in Manchester will they? I will still need to travel down to London by train, bus or car and then take a ferry up the Thames.

Driving is the only economical option for anyone north of the M25

 

[Jonathan]

In terms of transport concerns, it would appear that the developers of the London Resort are keen for people not to arrive by car; a massive boat terminal is being built across the Thames in Tilbury, and they’re also now on about a Crossrail extension to Ebbsfleet (if you’re wondering, Crossrail is some new line they’re building for the London Underground) with this project being one of the main justifications, so many of your concerns regarding roads in the area should hopefully be allayed by this as well as the road improvements they’re apparently making.

Erm, I hate to be a pedant, but Crossrail isn't a new Underground line. It's a part of the National Rail network, and the Underground is considered separate to that. It's not helped by the fact that they've decided to call the route the Elizabeth line, which certainly adds to the confusion. I do apologise - it just mildly annoys me when people get that wrong. In all seriousness, IF this goes ahead, then Crossrail being extended to Ebbsfleet could certainly help with access to the resort, and relieve pressure on the roads.

 

[Ian]

Having great transport links may sway some people, and be great for those in and around London and Kent, but the deciding factor for families with a motorist will always come down to price and time. It’s one thing to build it, it’s another for people to actually want to use it.

I’m based in the West Midlands. If I can get one of the infrequent direct services down to Marylebone it takes a good couple of hours and can sometimes cost around £70 for one person. Then there’s also time to factor in crossing London to get over to Ashford. It all soon adds up for a family of four, and pretty much means you will have to stop over down south in order to get anything like a full day at the park. I’d hate to have to make the journey with children in tow, and I know lots of people and families who are reluctant to use services like the Tube, as it can be quite a daunting and overwhelming prospect when you’re not a regular user.

I know I for one would always sooner hop in the car and drive down, which could be done on one tank of fuel and give the flexibility to travel at whatever time works for me.

 

[QTXAdsy]

Everyone is moaning about how to get down from the Midlands or the North...

You are all forgetting Scotland! All serious though would be a damn long trek to get there unless there is a better railway connection as domestic air travel does seem IMO be on the way out in these eco minded times.

 

[Matt N]

I don't think the boats are a bad idea persay but they certainly won't be accessible for me in Manchester will they? I will still need to travel down to London by train, bus or car and then take a ferry up the Thames.

Driving is the only economical option for anyone north of the M25

I think the motive behind the boats idea is to take some of the strain off of the Resort site itself and the surrounding area. The port for these boats would be based in Tilbury, with a car park beside it, so you could drive from Manchester to Tilbury and get onto a boat to the Resort as almost a sort of park-and-ride type thing, but in boat form. I think the bulk of visitors will probably still travel directly to the Resort by car, however; I fully appreciate that this is easier for most UK visitors, and if I’m able to visit when it opens, I will most probably do the same, as I’m based in Gloucestershire (a solid 3-4 hour drive from where this is being built)

Although with 35% of visitors supposedly coming from abroad, I should think that some of the alternative forms of transport, such as the new rail exchange they’re building, may well get a fair bit of use too. I’d wager that a pretty substantial percentage of Disneyland Paris’ British visitors probably come via the Eurostar, for example.

Erm, I hate to be a pedant, but Crossrail isn't a new Underground line. It's a part of the National Rail network, and the Underground is considered separate to that. It's not helped by the fact that they've decided to call the route the Elizabeth line, which certainly adds to the confusion. I do apologise - it just mildly annoys me when people get that wrong. In all seriousness, IF this goes ahead, then Crossrail being extended to Ebbsfleet could certainly help with access to the resort, and relieve pressure on the roads.

Ah right; my apologies @Jonathan! I must admit I’m not that knowledgeable on the UK rail network... this should still hopefully provide good connections between the London Resort and London city centre, however, as am I correct in saying that Crossrail will still be serving the London area?

I do apologise; I was only led to that conclusion because Wikipedia described it as a “suburban passenger service crossing London from west to east”, and the Elizabeth line certainly sounds like something you’d have on the Underground.

 

[Vik]

I think the motive behind the boats idea is to take some of the strain off of the Resort site itself and the surrounding area. The port for these boats would be based in Tilbury, with a car park beside it, so you could drive from Manchester to Tilbury and get onto a boat to the Resort as almost a sort of park-and-ride type thing, but in boat form. I think the bulk of visitors will probably still travel directly to the Resort by car, however; I fully appreciate that this is easier for most UK visitors, and if I’m able to visit when it opens, I will most probably do the same, as I’m based in Gloucestershire (a solid 3-4 hour drive from where this is being built)

But you then create an issue with the road network the other side of the Thames. The road network around this area too being pretty snarled up a lot of the time along the A13, lakeside as well as surrounding roads, plus one minor incident and the whole area becomes gridlocked for hours. This isn't just confined to peak hours. From the M25, along the A13 to the Tilbury turnoff can be painfully slow at times.

Not sure why anyone coming from the M25 Southbound would take the option to drive to Tilbury to get a Ferry over when it would be far easier and much quicker just to carry on over the bridge, come off at the next junction and be pretty much there?

Getting to the resort by Public Transport from Essex will not be easy either. If you want to get the train, you have to go in to London, then back out again, and it's very expensive, and very time consuming, when if you live just the other side you could see the actual resort. There is a bus that runs from Lakeside to Bluewater, but that runs hourly and not very late, so that would have to be improved substantially. You can't walk across the bridge; if you want to cycle, then you have to request transport across in a van. That leaves the Tilbury Ferry, and even if it does get the massive upgrade it needs to cope with any peak demand, you are back to the issue of getting people to Tilbury and most likely snarling up an already very congested road network.

 

[SuperMuscleMan]

Having great transport links may sway some people, and be great for those in and around London and Kent, but the deciding factor for families with a motorist will always come down to price and time. It’s one thing to build it, it’s another for people to actually want to use it.

You mean ebbsfleet? Although Ashford is on the HS1 line.

I’m based in the West Midlands. If I can get one of the infrequent direct services down to Marylebone it takes a good couple of hours and can sometimes cost around £70 for one person. Then there’s also time to factor in crossing London to get over to Ashford. It all soon adds up for a family of four, and pretty much means you will have to stop over down south in order to get anything like a full day at the park. I’d hate to have to make the journey with children in tow, and I know lots of people and families who are reluctant to use services like the Tube, as it can be quite a daunting and overwhelming prospect when you’re not a regular user.

I know I for one would always sooner hop in the car and drive down, which could be done on one tank of fuel and give the flexibility to travel at whatever time works for me.

 

[Mr Pearse]

I hardly doubt this if it actually happens will actually get the number of overseas guests. For that you need a well established named park/ip to stand a chance. So unless you have something to tempt overseas guests then I doubt they will bother when they could easily and probably cheaper to go to Disneyland. They can build the most unbelievable park but if you stick a ton on outdated or unknown ips around the park then it’s not going to attract the overseas crowd.

 

[Thameslink Rail]

So really they need to find IPs that are known worldwide and are considered "British"
I remember BBC IPs were being discussed in the early stages and Dr Who and Sherlock would be good fits.
Any others come to mind?

 

[Mr Pearse]

So really they need to find IPs that are known worldwide and are considered "British"
I remember BBC IPs were being discussed in the early stages and Dr Who and Sherlock would be good fits.
Any others come to mind?

As much as it would be nice I doubt even a doctor who ride will bring people in. The sort of ip and brands that would tempt more people to the park are vastly out of the price range for most parks or are already taken by other parks.

 

[Tim]

Universal are the only real rivals to Disney. They have the IPs and the thrill focused edge that set them apart from Disney. They also have Harry Potter which is probably the only British IP that would have massive appeal in Europe.
I can't think of any other company that have the same pulling power and offer something Disney don't. Paramount have ok IPs but nothing nearly as exciting as Disney or Universal.

 

[SuperMuscleMan]

Originally the star trek brand was going to be used. However I doubht that would be apart of it. Harry potter but that's taken. I could see Peter rabbit and friends for the kids area? Is that Sony?

Aardman would be the only studio with world wide characters. Shaun the sheep would possibly have the biggest overseas appeal (huge in China and Japan).

 

[Benjsh]

Universal are the only real rivals to Disney. They have the IPs and the thrill focused edge that set them apart from Disney. They also have Harry Potter which is probably the only British IP that would have massive appeal in Europe.
I can't think of any other company that have the same pulling power and offer something Disney don't. Paramount have ok IPs but nothing nearly as exciting as Disney or Universal.

Transformers is paramount isn't it? Although I'm not sure what their contract is like with Universal.

Top Gun, Nina Turtles, Star Trek, SpongeBob, Mission impossible are some of the others that have been mentioned as possible.

I agree though....none are Disney level really.

 

[Spark]

Id much rather they throw the money into LWV, investment is always needed in the north, the park is established and it would cost them a fraction of what it would to develop this

 

[Benjsh]

Id much rather they throw the money into LWV, investment is always needed in the north, the park is established and it would cost them a fraction of what it would to develop this

There's no money there for them. This isn't about the theme park for them surely. Theme parks don't make big enough profits to cover 4 to 5bn outlay. This is about the concert venue, shops, hotels etc. That's where the money is for the investors. If this was just a theme park and nothing more I don't think we'd even have any plans.