Merlin - destined for mediocrity?

[GooseOnTheLoose]

I didn't really expect much to change this year. With catering and restaurants being managed by Aramark, who normally provide food to prisoners and school children, I don't see why it would have!

Aramark only provide catering service to some private prisons in this country, it's about 4. They do, however, provide services to Everton Football Club, Warner Bros. Studio Tour: London, MoD, various Universities and colleges, event & conference catering, 2012 London Olympics (dated reference, but thought it worth mentioning) and Birmingham Botanical Gardens, just off the top of my head.

Catering issues appear to be concentrated on Aramark at Alton Towers, suggesting it's a local problem rather than a wider company one.

 

[havaska]

Aramark offer a product at a price all the way from fine dining to awful burgers to what we see at Alton Towers.

Merlin have decided to go for the cheapest option and that is why we have what we have.

It’s all about money.

 

[Enter Valhalla]

I beg to differ. Taking away entrance hosts, and clearly not having enough staff to open all rides on time is an issue. Imagine if there were the rumoured 3 flats opening, and Horizon?

Rides opening late is usually as a result of planned staggered openings, not unavailability of staff. I don’t agree with mass staggered openings, but the original post was about the levels of staffing at each ride, which is mostly good.

The only exception I can think of is some of the flats at Chessington such as Seastorm and Blue Barnacle, which you’ll often see one man operated even on busy days. This is poor, but I’d say this is the exception, not the rule. Large coasters, dark rides and water rides are very well staffed and the flat rides at Thorpe all run on 2-3 staff members, so the one man operating of busy rides seems to just be a Chessington issue. (Obviously I’m not including one man op rides like teacups and frog hoppers which never get long queues anyway, they’re perfectly justified being one man op’d)

 

[GooseOnTheLoose]

Merlin have decided to go for the cheapest option and that is why we have what we have.

Merlin don't contract their food and beverage service in, they contract it out. Aramark pay Merlin to be there. Merlin, in this instance, haven't gone for any option at all. Aramark UK have decided to serve at the lower end, to protect profits, and Merlin don't appear to be demanding a higher quality product.

 

[jon81uk]

Rides opening late is usually as a result of planned staggered openings, not unavailability of staff. I don’t agree with mass staggered openings, but the original post was about the levels of staffing at each ride, which is mostly good.

Its both, some rides are planned to open late (such as the rapids) but very often rides are opening late as there are not enough technical staff to get them ready on time.

Merlin don't contract their food and beverage service in, they contract it out. Aramark pay Merlin to be there. Merlin, in this instance, haven't gone for any option at all. Aramark UK have decided to serve at the lower end, to protect profits, and Merlin don't appear to be demanding a higher quality product.

But that is the point, Alton Towers could demand a higher quality, they could tie the contract to guest satisfaction, they could insist on minimum menu standards. The brands operated belong to Merlin but they don't seem to care about protecting them.

 

[QTXAdsy]

Everyone always say that one of the biggest flaws in the UK theme park scene is that it is just a monopoly and that is true given how that's caused the stagnation of the Merlin parks, however ironically when you think it, it had been their own fault of resting on their laurels for so long that it has by accident led for places like Paultons and Drayton to begin a comeback in which they should be in a place nowhere near Merlin however given how far the latter have lowered the bar, it has only encouraged the other parks to rise to that bar.

Hell, you'd be forgiven to think that Merlin committed suicide with their monopoly by giving their parks a chance and given how they'll likely be, on current projections, be in a far solid place come 2030, Merlin will have no one to blame but themselves for possibly being knocked off their perch and that's nit including the Universal juggernaut hanging overhead.

 

[GooseOnTheLoose]

Everyone always say that one of the biggest flaws in the UK theme park scene is that it is just a monopoly and that is true given how that's caused the stagnation of the Merlin parks, however ironically when you think it, it had been their own fault of resting on their laurels for so long that it has by accident led for places like Paultons and Drayton to begin a comeback in which they should be in a place nowhere near Merlin however given how far the latter have lowered the bar, it has only encouraged the other parks to rise to that bar.

Hell, you'd be forgiven to think that Merlin committed suicide with their monopoly by giving their parks a chance and given how they'll likely be, on current projections, be in a far solid place come 2030, Merlin will have no one to blame but themselves for possibly being knocked off their perch and that's nit including the Universal juggernaut hanging overhead.

Merlin does not have a monopoly on the UK theme park industry, not has it ever had. It has been the largest operator, but falls massively short of having a monopoly, or even behaving like a monopolist.

A monopolist has so much power that they control the industry's price of the product, the servicing and production contracts around the product, and the consumer has no other choice.

Merlin doesn't have industry control over pricing. Entry prices have broadly stayed consistent for the past 20ish years of operations, increasing just under the inflation rate. Their product has got cheaper, not more expensive. Merlin's pricing also doesn't affect the pricing strategy of their competitors, with Paulton's, Blackpool and Drayton regularly being more expensive to visit than a Merlin park.

Merlin does not have exclusive contracts with suppliers, nor do they control how much that contract is worth. Other parks in the UK can, and do, go to the same attraction providers as Merlin and pay the same price as everyone else. Merlin does not have purchasing power to bully their suppliers.

A monopoly means that you don't have another choice, there aren't any other parks one can visit. This isn't the same as not having any other parks of a similar and consistent high production quality.

Merlin isn't the only seller and there are close substitutes.

A monopoly ensures that there are high barriers to entry. Either the costs of starting up are too high, or government intervention makes it impossible, or the essential resources are controlled by the monopoly. Whilst there hasn't been a new park, of considerable note or size, opening in the UK during Merlin's existence, there have been expanding existing players and a new one attempting to enter the market, with Universal.

Lack of innovation is perhaps the one usual telltale monopoly sign which ought to be considered, but even that doesn't hold up to much scrutiny. The level of Merlin investment in their parks fell off a cliff edge when they went public, which is typical for a company that's just floated. The Smiler crash ended up being a financial drain, caution was exercised and significant capital went on the payouts and defence cases. Merlin going private again, provided a corporate shakeup and signs of investment. A worldwide pandemic, shaking the entire entertainment and leisure industry out a hold on investments too. Merlin aren't not investing because they're a monopolist, they haven't been investing because at a corporate level they've been distracted and a mess for about 10 years.

Merlin isn't a monopoly. It's a overgrown entity which is starting to struggle from growing too quickly, at the expense of consistency and quality.

 

[Matt N]

I think the current issues with the Merlin parks in the UK are multi-faceted, but there are two key contributing causes, in my view.

The first, as many have said, is the lack of competition. I’m not sure it’s quite as much of a factor as some make out, as there are other locations where one operator monopolises the market and similar issues haven’t arisen (legacy Cedar Fair in the US state of Ohio, for example), but I think it must be a factor to some degree. The fact that the European Merlin parks are apparently run quite differently would suggest that their lack of meaningful competition in the UK must make them have a different mindset with regard to how they run the parks to some extent.

The second theory I have, however, is that the Resort Theme Parks (in the UK’s case, these are Alton, Thorpe, Chessington and Warwick Castle) are simply not a core priority for Merlin as a business. If you look at the UK parks, I feel that Legoland is the one that generally seems to get the most generous treatment from Merlin and seems to suffer from the least problems, and I think that isn’t really any coincidence. The number of Merlin attractions has grown exponentially since the Tussauds acquisition in 2007… yet the number of Resort Theme Parks (RTPs) has stayed exactly the same. The RTPs simply are not a priority for Merlin, with most of their growth ideas and love being targeted towards Legoland parks and midway attractions. They basically cling onto the RTPs as a vehicle to sell more annual passes and have no real vested interest in expanding or growing this division of their business in the manner that they are doing with Legoland parks and midway attractions. RTPs are a much more complex beast than the relatively cookie-cutter Legolands and midways, requiring much more investment and having much less growth potential. As such, it’s understandable that they might be a lower priority for Merlin as a company.

 

[owenstreet7]

I think the current issues with the Merlin parks in the UK are multi-faceted, but there are two key contributing causes, in my view.

The first, as many have said, is the lack of competition. I’m not sure it’s quite as much of a factor as some make out, as there are other locations where one operator monopolises the market and similar issues haven’t arisen (legacy Cedar Fair in the US state of Ohio, for example), but I think it must be a factor to some degree. The fact that the European Merlin parks are apparently run quite differently would suggest that their lack of meaningful competition in the UK must make them have a different mindset with regard to how they run the parks to some extent.

The second theory I have, however, is that the Resort Theme Parks (in the UK’s case, these are Alton, Thorpe, Chessington and Warwick Castle) are simply not a core priority for Merlin as a business. If you look at the UK parks, I feel that Legoland is the one that generally seems to get the most generous treatment from Merlin and seems to suffer from the least problems, and I think that isn’t really any coincidence. The number of Merlin attractions has grown exponentially since the Tussauds acquisition in 2007… yet the number of Resort Theme Parks (RTPs) has stayed exactly the same. The RTPs simply are not a priority for Merlin, with most of their growth ideas and love being targeted towards Legoland parks and midway attractions. They basically cling onto the RTPs as a vehicle to sell more annual passes and have no real vested interest in expanding or growing this division of their business in the manner that they are doing with Legoland parks and midway attractions. RTPs are a much more complex beast than the relatively cookie-cutter Legolands and midways, requiring much more investment and having much less growth potential. As such, it’s understandable that they might be a lower priority for Merlin as a company.

That is an interesting take on it

Before COVID, the resort theme parks are invested in on 3 year cycles and it is a sign that we may be getting that back again to some degree for major investments.

Chessington seems to have received regular investments each year since 2021 except for 2024 which was a break after Jumanji and there's a consultation on Thursday.

Alton Towers is getting Project Ocean next year with potentially one or two other flats.

Thorpe Park, we don't know their plans yet but they seem to be looking at the Slammer site and potentially the beach. This afternoon, an RMC seems to have been teased after an interview with their commercial and marketing directors: https://blooloop.com/theme-park/opinion/thorpe-park-marketing-thrill-seekers/

There is a possibility the resort theme parks may be going back to more steady investment cycles again which is a cause of optimism.

I think I may have a slightly different answer to it after Thursday's consultation depending on what they're doing.

 

[QTXAdsy]

To quote about the lack of competition above, it does make you wonder what if we still had a healthy UK theme park scene in which BPB wasn't a busted flush and Drayton hadn't nearly committed suicide during the 2000s to 2010s, you have to wonder how Merlin would have worked their parks and if they'd be in a better place compared to now.

Obviously the Smiler incident really affected Merlin in ways that still affect the company today for if the incident hadn't happened then that's always an interesting what if moment there.

However it just seems that from a Towers perspective is that there isn't really a long term plan in place, yes I'm aware of the LTDP that we had a few years ago but who's to say they're still following that plan? It seems that now the only plan is trying to keep the park's suriving and fix out the negligent that has been affecting the park after all these years which I'm afraid is the only plan they have right now and honestly unless they have an actual long term plan, then it's not a good look all things considered.

 

[Enter Valhalla]

I don’t agree at all with the argument that the RTPs are only there to sell annual passes. The RTPs, in the UK at least, have had loads of investment. Hyperia, Mandrill, Wickerman, the upcoming project at Alton (sorry I don’t follow AT closely enough to know much about that one). This is heavy investment, there’s no other way of looking at it.

I agree with nearly all the negativity about operations, poor upkeep and lack of maintenance, but to say that Merlin just hang on to the RTPs as assets rather than investing, simply isn’t true. There’s been loads of investment into them, especially since Mr Varney’s departure.

 

[Matt.GC]

There is already intense competition though? They're competing with zoos, cinemas, foreign holidays, seaside trips, historical monuments, theatres, ice rinks, and city breaks to name but a few. There's loads of competition fighting for people's leisure time and money. Other than the AT version sold in Towers Trading, there is no monopoly.

That's why there's been aggressive gate entry and annual pass pricing for many years now. They're competing for your time and money with other leisure activities. That's why the product is so oversold. The marketing suggests that you can be immersed in this magical world, riding big world class roller coasters - just like those ones abroad, all for a price that's little more than a few games down Hollywood Bowl and a Pizza Hut afterwards.

But the reality when you actually turn up is, of course, far different.

They could sell Alton Towers to a completely different operator to introduce this "competition" that everyone seems to keep oversimplifying and I bet you it would make hardly any difference to Thorpe Park. This isn't as simple as choosing Asda or Sainsbury's, Sky or Virgin, Scottish Widow or Aviva.

 

[GooseOnTheLoose]

I don’t agree at all with the argument that the RTPs are only there to sell annual passes. The RTPs, in the UK at least, have had loads of investment. Hyperia, Mandrill, Wickerman, the upcoming project at Alton (sorry I don’t follow AT closely enough to know much about that one). This is heavy investment, there’s no other way of looking at it.

I agree with nearly all the negativity about operations, poor upkeep and lack of maintenance, but to say that Merlin just hang on to the RTPs as assets rather than investing, simply isn’t true. There’s been loads of investment into them, especially since Mr Varney’s departure.

The investments you've highlighted would be of note if they were in the same resort, but they're not. They're spread over three very different parks.

Hyperia is Thorpe's second attraction of note in 12 years. There are people who are tall enough to ride Hyperia, who weren't born when The Swarm first opened.

Wickerman is Alton Towers' only major new development since it opened in 2018, 6 years ago.

Mandrill Mayhem is Chessington's first new coaster in 19 years, the last being Dragon's Fury in 2004.

In the oft idolised, through rose tinted glasses, Tussaud's period each of these parks would have something new, to promote, every single year. Just take a look at what Alton Towers did in the 10 years following Nemesis:

1994 Nemesis & Toyland Tours
1995 was Energizer and the Old MacDonalds Farm retheme
1996 saw the hotel and Storybook Land
1997 Ripsaw and Nickelodeon Outta Control (RIP)
1998 Oblivion
1999 Ug Land retheme & FROG HOPPER!
2000 Hex
2001 Submission
2002 Air
2003 Splash Landings
2004 Spinball Whizzer
2005 Rita

"All of the investments" that you're seeing now are still very much of the Varney era, they are his last parting gifts. He always had a soft spot, having started his career at Towers.

This isn't as simple as choosing Asda or Sainsbury's

I've always preferred Waitrose.

 

[Enter Valhalla]

There is already intense competition though? They're competing with zoos, cinemas, foreign holidays, seaside trips, historical monuments, theatres, ice rinks, and city breaks to name but a few. There's loads of competition fighting for people's leisure time and money. Other than the AT version sold in Towers Trading, there is no monopoly.

That's why there's been aggressive gate entry and annual pass pricing for many years now. They're competing for your time and money with other leisure activities. That's why the product is so oversold. The marketing suggests that you can be immersed in this magical world, riding big world class roller coasters - just like those ones abroad, all for a price that's little more than a few games down Hollywood Bowl and a Pizza Hut afterwards.

But the reality when you actually turn up is, of course, far different.

They could sell Alton Towers to a completely different operator to introduce this "competition" that everyone seems to keep oversimplifying and I bet you it would make hardly any difference to Thorpe Park. This isn't as simple as choosing Asda or Sainsbury's, Sky or Virgin, Scottish Widow or Aviva.

I’m not sure I agree with this. Paultons Park has developed a very clear strategy in recent years of looking at what Merlin do badly, and then doing the opposite.

That’s clearly them thinking that the best way to compete with Merlin is by playing on their weaknesses. If the four Merlin parks were run by separate operators, we’d see much more of this sort of marketing. They’d be constantly trying to outdo each other and that would be raise standards for all of them.

 

[GooseOnTheLoose]

I’m not sure I agree with this. Paultons Park has developed a very clear strategy in recent years of looking at what Merlin do badly, and then doing the opposite.

Paulton's Park don't look at what Merlin are doing at all, and they're certainly not doing the opposite. They're focussed on growing their small family park, without distractions. Nothing about Paulton's Park's strategy screams that they're "competing" for anything.

That’s clearly them thinking that the best way to compete with Merlin is by exposing their weaknesses. If the four Merlin parks were run by separate operators, we’d see much more of this sort of marketing. They’d be constantly trying to outdo each other and that would be raise standards for all of them.

Sorry, what marketing? Paulton's Park aims itself at young families in the south for all of its marketing. It knows it's a regional park, albeit with aspirations of becoming something bigger, but it's not pretending to be something it's not, or that others try and force it to be.

Paulton's Park doesn't "expose" Merlin's weaknesses, actively or passively. They're not trying to outdo Merlin either.

Paulton's Park is a lovely little young family park which is starting to make modest investments, after many years of quietly stuffing the piggy bank. That's all. It's certainly not the second coming of Wardley.

 

[Matt N]

For clarity, I wasn’t suggesting that Merlin don’t invest into the RTPs. I think in general, they haven’t been bad at all at putting major CAPEX into the parks. They have been somewhat weaker at interim years between major investments in recent times, though; the historic “medium” years seem to have been a bit of a thing of the past at many of the parks in the last 5-10 years or so.

I think Merlin’s weaknesses, however, lie more in OPEX than CAPEX.

Maybe my previous phrasing was poor; I was more referring to the OPEX side of things. If RTPs were a core corporate priority for Merlin, then they may have stumped up more money to invest into improving ride availability, improving aesthetics, maintaining a high quality food offering, improving preventative maintenance and such. They aren’t going to let those things slip in the priority groups, the company’s golden geese so to speak; Merlin’s golden geese are Legolands and midways, so the company will naturally be more focused on these attractions and have more OPEX money to allocate to them to allow them to prosper. If the RTPs are not a growth priority for Merlin, though, then they might be more inclined to let things slip and be a bit tighter on the purse strings for them.

 

[GooseOnTheLoose]

Merlin’s golden geese are Legolands and midways

I can assure you that the geese at Legoland Windsor are not golden, and are in fact Canada geese. Bloody immigrants. Coming over here, stealing our geese's jobs.

 

[Matt N]

I can assure you that the geese at Legoland Windsor are not golden, and are in fact Canada geese. Bloody immigrants. Coming over here, stealing our geese's jobs.

Possible poor choice of words there, sorry… I was thinking of the old adage of “goose that laid the golden egg” being a key success area for a business.

 

[Enter Valhalla]

Paulton's Park don't look at what Merlin are doing at all, and they're certainly not doing the opposite. They're focussed on growing their small family park, without distractions. Nothing about Paulton's Park's strategy screams that they're "competing" for anything.

Sorry, what marketing? Paulton's Park aims itself at young families in the south for all of its marketing. It knows it's a regional park, albeit with aspirations of becoming something bigger, but it's not pretending to be something it's not, or that others try and force it to be.

Paulton's Park doesn't "expose" Merlin's weaknesses, actively or passively. They're not trying to outdo Merlin either.

Paulton's Park is a lovely little young family park which is starting to make modest investments, after many years of quietly stuffing the piggy bank. That's all. It's certainly not the second coming of Wardley.

Are you kidding me? They literally say on their website and on social media “we have super short queues, you don’t need fastrack here”. You’re honestly trying to tell me that you don’t think that’s an indirect reference to other theme parks, namely Merlin?

 

[GooseOnTheLoose]

Are you kidding me? They literally say on their website and on social media “we have super short queues, you don’t need fastrack here”. You’re honestly trying to tell me that you don’t think that’s an indirect reference to other theme parks, namely Merlin?

Disney parks are synonymous with needing to book a fast pass, in order to ensure any place on the ride at all, they created the concept. Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Drayton Manor Park & Zoo, Gulliver's, Flamingo Land all have fast/speedy/lightning passes. Merlin are not the only operators who sell a fast track type system.

You can state the benefits and virtues of your product, or offering, speaking directly to the customer, without having to compete or compare.