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Merlin Entertainments: General Discussion

Are there any discounts for MAP for the “This is Holland” attraction. I work for an airline and Amsterdam is a go-to day trip in the summer months, so it would be good to try this out
 
I’m not sure there’s a single entity to attribute poor decisions and implementation across the RTPs. We’ve had poor additions and adjustments made at both park and Merlin level.

Along with all the daft and short-lived IPs apparently foisted onto the parks, there’s the poor quality “upgrades” made to many attractions, such as the terrible lighting in Duel and Hex.

In reality that needs a thorough overhaul of how the business is managed so that we get away from short term fads propping up otherwise failing parks along with preventing amateurish additions and changes to existing attractions. It does feel like there’s already been a change to loosen the purse strings so let’s hope a change in CEO can bring along a change in culture, investment and the treatment of staff.
 
venny said:
I’m not sure there’s a single entity to attribute poor decisions and implementation across the RTPs. We’ve had poor additions and adjustments made at both park and Merlin level.

Along with all the daft and short-lived IPs apparently foisted onto the parks, there’s the poor quality “upgrades” made to many attractions, such as the terrible lighting in Duel and Hex.

In reality that needs a thorough overhaul of how the business is managed so that we get away from short term fads propping up otherwise failing parks along with preventing amateurish additions and changes to existing attractions. It does feel like there’s already been a change to loosen the purse strings so let’s hope a change in CEO can bring along a change in culture, investment and the treatment of staff.
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I'd argue that the chasing of IP's started arguably from the late Tussauds days and Merlin simply carried on from there.

There are many issues issues made by many and when Merlin have been cheap, they have also wasted industrial scale money on the likes of DBGT and Galactica just for an example and they have to realise sooner that they have to change the way things are run sooner than later.
 
I will say this, Haunted House makeover and Nemesis re-track. If that isn’t Nick Varney doing his bit for the park on the way out then nothing is.

He’s protected 2 of the first projects he worked on for the foreseeable future when they could of been butchered or removed for “new”

Not a chance it’s a coincidence
 
We certainly didn’t see this scale of investment in RTPs whilst Merlin were listed and Varney was effectively head honcho. Since Merlin have been owned by Kirkbi there’s been a noticeable uptick in capex for projects. My view is that the strategy adopted by Varney during being listed resulted in a vicious cycle of low RTP investment and cuts to generate margin. It was a timid strategy.

Kirkbi have clearly allowed that shift in strategy by not having to please the markets in the same way and possibly by directive to invest in the parks more. Since it must have been a Varney strategy to underinvest in the years before, I am nowhere near convinced that it was him who drove this renewed investment since.

What might be a possibility is that in that capex boost initiated by Kirkbi, Varney has directed some of the money to a couple of pet projects as a sort of swan song on the way out.
 
rob666 said:
Yes there is...
The whole company has changed hands and is changing direction...and you credit it all to the guy who is on his way out.
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He said this in April…

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But I’m sure he had nothing to do with it…


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We cannot know for sure, but it seems extremely likely that the work on Duel for next year and the Nemesis re-track in 2024 are Varney's parting gift to Alton Towers. Maybe they would have both happened anyway, but I suspect he ensured their approval.
 
In a change of events, the Blackpool Tower eye will be open this weekend! Apparently the maintenance work has been delayed so they have decided to open it.
 
Mike Vallis has been appointed Managing Director for Resort Theme Parks - taking up the position from his previous role as Divisional Director of the UK Midways.
 
The Discovery Pass is still good value I think if you have weekdays off.

But the others you now need at least 7-10 visits a year to make it worthwhile, the days of only needing to go 3-4 times (so each park once) to make a pass worthwhile are long gone and I think thats a good thing overall. Fewer guests paying more to get in should mean shorter queues.
 
jon81uk said:
The Discovery Pass is still good value I think if you have weekdays off.

But the others you now need at least 7-10 visits a year to make it worthwhile, the days of only needing to go 3-4 times (so each park once) to make a pass worthwhile are long gone and I think thats a good thing overall. Fewer guests paying more to get in should mean shorter queues.
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I'd agree if the things weren't so frequently discounted one way or another.
 
I had a discovery pass last year, it expired a month or so ago. I was really surprised that as it approached expiry I didn't get a single bit of communication from them encouraging me to renew. No renew offer, not even a reminder. Not that I was going to, but that's not the point!
 
pluk said:
I had a discovery pass last year, it expired a month or so ago. I was really surprised that as it approached expiry I didn't get a single bit of communication from them encouraging me to renew. No renew offer, not even a reminder. Not that I was going to, but that's not the point!
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My pass expired last month (I renewed it bang on a month after the expiry) and never got anything from them saying to renew. Got a welcome back email the day after I did renew though.
 
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