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London Entertainment Resort: All Discussion

I'd be watching this very carefully if I was Merlin.

They really do the minimum they can get away with in terms of what their direction is.

They're just carbon copy amusement parks nowadays with some incomplete themes and less and less cohesion.

Imagine if they'd build Towers from scratch?

Doesn't even bear thinking about.
 
TheMan said:
I'd be watching this very carefully if I was Merlin.

They really do the minimum they can get away with in terms of what their direction is.
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See, I think this.. but then you can go Germany and Heide does exactly the same even with rampant competition.

So maybe it won't have too much of an impact. I mean like.. Lightwater and stuff still exist even though we have Alton Towers in the land, and Paramount being added would just be like a Lightwater to towers comparison surely?
 
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See, I'm hoping it'll be less of a 'theme park' and more of an entertainment complex (like what was mentioned a few posts ago). As it would certainly give Merlina kick in the backside but also not really impact attendance so much that they just give up entirely.
 
thefatone said:
See, I think this.. but then you can go Germany and Heide does exactly the same even with rampant competition.

So maybe it won't have too much of an impact. I mean like.. Lightwater and stuff still exist even though we have Alton Towers in the land, and Paramount being added would just be like a Lightwater to towers comparison surely?
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Heide-Park are only really in competition with Hansa-Park and one or two of the Danish parks. It's very much a regional theme park.

Europa-Park, for example, the largest park in Germany, do not advertise in the Hamburg area whatsoever.
 
BenBowser said:
See, I'm hoping it'll be less of a 'theme park' and more of an entertainment complex (like what was mentioned a few posts ago). As it would certainly give Merlina kick in the backside but also not really impact attendance so much that they just give up entirely.
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An entertainments complex with little to no theme park aspect would not cause Merlin any worry at all. Conversely a good new theme park would not cause Merlin to give up on their current parks.

I'd imagine any new form of Paramount park would have a very minimal impact on guest numbers at Towers. There would be more of an impact on Chessie and Thorpe although not so much to cause huge amounts of concerns. It's hard to know how Merlin would react to a new theme park opening but I think they are a big enough company to cope with it pretty well. Would it cause them to up their game? Maybe. I don't think they'll be overly worried at the moment though.

:)
 
Even if Merlin gave up Towers would survive, too much hardware in the park with a cemented reputation and brand.
 
I personally think its great competition, Merlin are quite lazy when it comes to an 'experience' these days. Themes are lacking and not to the standard of the past. Just think you could get from central London to the park in 15 minutes! I use HS1 a-lot and the public transport infrastructure in the area means its so easy to get to and from. Just take a look at Europes biggest shopping center, Bluewater, minutes from the proposed park but has on average 60 buses and hour visiting!

Chessie is the big looser but Thorpe may suffer if there are any big attractions. I believe that the 'Towers' will loose a-lot of southern visitors if the the price point remains similar.

Dont forget that Dreamworld is opening up and again hop on HS1 and in less than 45 mins your have a vintage park to see!
 
While the Dreamland project is a good thing it will have zero impact on the Merlin theme parks.

I would imagine the paramount park will be like Universal Studios Singapore which seems to be a mix of the Orlando/Hollywood Universal studio parks and elements of Islands of Adventure with more defined themed lands rather than an overall studios theme. I think it will be more theme park than a studio experience with a mix of universal style dark rides (the proposed spanish park planned a Mission Impossible spiderman/transformers style ride) and more traditional theme park style rides/coasters (again the Spanish park planned a themed Vekoma mine train).
 
I doubt this project will ever really get off of the ground and even if it did, it probably wont be as good as the marketing men would like us to think. I can't imagine them doing much damage to Alton Tower's customer base and probably the same for Thorpe Park.
 
Youdontneedtoknowmyname said:
I doubt this project will ever really get off of the ground and even if it did, it probably wont be as good as the marketing men would like us to think. I can't imagine them doing much damage to Alton Tower's customer base and probably the same for Thorpe Park.
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On the contrary, I believe if anything the Merlin parks (particularly the London-based resorts) will be the hardest hit by Paramount. Should the park essentially be 'Universal Studios in Britain', it'd be hard to see it not being a success. Brits love the idea of going to the Disney/Universal parks, with many thousands going to Orlando just for that reason. The option of being able to go without leaving the country will be hugely appealing, and would certainly take revenue away from other parks in the area.

So long as they have the right IPs, and a transport infrastructure which ensures easy access from Central London, then it should be a hit.
 
AshleeKel said:
On the contrary, I believe if anything the Merlin parks (particularly the London-based resorts) will be the hardest hit by Paramount. Should the park essentially be 'Universal Studios in Britain', it'd be hard to see it not being a success. Brits love the idea of going to the Disney/Universal parks, with many thousands going to Orlando just for that reason. The option of being able to go without leaving the country will be hugely appealing, and would certainly take revenue away from other parks in the area.

So long as they have the right IPs, and a transport infrastructure which ensures easy access from Central London, then it should be a hit.
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I am totally with Ashlee with the cost of visiting somewhere like Towers nowadays if a family can only afford one trip would they make it save up a little more and have a more "Universal" style experience, (it will inevitably be a higher ticket price if it's as big as it seems), or go to Towers/Thorpe/Chessie?

It's incredibly cleverly located as well because you can visit from all over Europe, which Europa Park proves will happen even for an independent with enough high quality attractions.

Britain needs, and deserves a park of this quality. Merlin should hang their heads in absolute shame that they've treated our parks and industry with such utter disrespect and disdain.

I hope this a huge body blow to them once it gets built and Varneys cut and paste park nonsense.
 
AshleeKel said:
On the contrary, I believe if anything the Merlin parks (particularly the London-based resorts) will be the hardest hit by Paramount. Should the park essentially be 'Universal Studios in Britain', it'd be hard to see it not being a success. Brits love the idea of going to the Disney/Universal parks, with many thousands going to Orlando just for that reason. The option of being able to go without leaving the country will be hugely appealing, and would certainly take revenue away from other parks in the area.

So long as they have the right IPs, and a transport infrastructure which ensures easy access from Central London, then it should be a hit.
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In the London centric view point it seems ideally placed but quite a lot of the population will live a long way from this park. If the theming is good and the rides are good it will be what we need, but it won't have the Orlando effect as you can build what you like in this country but you can't change the weather.

I'm not going to speculate on the quality of theming when they haven't yet secured all the funding.
 
Dave said:
In the London centric view point it seems ideally placed but quite a lot of the population will live a long way from this park.
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That's true, but I'm not just thinking about British tourists. For a park like this to survive it would need a lot of international guests, and as London is by far the most visited city in the UK it's easy to see foreign guests being interested in what is essentially Universal UK.
 
Also, given that Ebbsfleet International station isn't too far from the proposed site of Paramount Kent, there's the potential for the Eurostar to stop there to give international visitors another way of visiting the park.
 
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