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Merlin Entertainments: General Discussion

Wavemaker wins a $34 million global advertising contract with Merlin Entertainments, as they extend their partnership.

wavemakerglobal.com

Wavemaker wins $34m global remit as Merlin Entertainments extends partnership - Wavemaker Global

Wavemaker has been appointed as global media consultancy partner for Merlin Entertainments, a global leader in location-based, family entertainment. Alongside the $24m UK business Wavemaker retains, the media agency has additionally won the $34m planning and buying across EMEA and the US.
wavemakerglobal.com wavemakerglobal.com
 
Merlin have appointed a new director as of the end of November.

Whilst there hasn’t been a press release about this, a quick google shows Amy McPherson appears to have had previous roles at Marriott Hotels until retiring in 2019. She is also on the board of Royal Caribbean.

Perhaps Merlin have added her to the board for some expertise on the accommodation side of the business. We know from Towers that it needs work.

MERLIN ENTERTAINMENTS LIMITED filing history - Find and update company information - GOV.UK

MERLIN ENTERTAINMENTS LIMITED - Free company information from Companies House including registered office address, filing history, accounts, annual return, officers, charges, business activity
find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk
 
I'm not sure if it’s been mentioned elsewhere on this forum, but Kidzania in London has closed. When it opened Kidzania said they were planning to open two in London and one in Manchester within 5 years. Only one ever opened. Presumably there would have been economies of scale if they’d got the three that the one didn’t have. Kidzania uses a franchise model, so these weren’t run by the Kidzania parent company.

A lot of the Kidzania’s are in countries with much cheaper labour than the UK, which might have affected their business model.

It sounds like Kidzania London has been plagued with issues, and the feedback on Trip Advisor isn’t exactly glowing. As the place struggled to break even there were cutbacks with cusomers often finding attractions closed. The website does include quite a few job vacancies, suggesting management turnover was an ongoing issue for them.

I don’t want to say too much in case we go into libel territory, but it does also sound like there were significant financial irregularities with the franchise and social media has quite a lot of comments from ex-staff complaining about how poorly managed the place was, although you could argue that staff who’ve just lost their jobs might not be in the best place to give balanced feedback.

I’d say the biggest rivals to Merlin in the midway market are Ripley Entertainment (who run Ripley’s Odditoriums) and Kidzania, so this does mean that Merlin now largely has the London midway market to themselves.
 
I remember about 10 years ago (when I guess Kidzania was new). I was a ride operator at the time and a few people left to work there. I can only imagine it went downhill since then, as back then it was seen as real competition to Merlin's attractions.
 
It sounds like there were specific issues with Kidzania in London and the Trip Advisor comments support that. At the same time, Ripley’s Believe It Or Not and Kidzania have both failed in London, when they’ve succeeded in lots of other places. Merlin does operate so many attractions in the London area, it probably is hard for one offs to compete against that. If I were a rival company to Merlin, I'd be very weary of the London market.
 
Hasbro has struck a deal, with Merlin Entertainments and the Lego Group, to bring Peppa Pig themed attractions and rides to Merlin operated parks.

The deal is unconnected to Peppa Pig World at Paulton's Park.

The first sites will be in Denmark, as part of Duplo world, and a new park in Germany, located next to Legoland.
www.theguardian.com

Peppa Pig to make Lego debut and expand global theme parks

Hasbro signs deal with Lego Group and Alton Towers operator Merlin Entertainments
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
 
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I'm sort of confused what is new about this deal other then the announcement of the Peppa Pig Duplo area at Legoland Billund. There has been the Peppa Pig world's of plays, areas in Heidi Park and Gardaland and the park in Florida (and news about Texas and Germany Peppa Pig parks) for ages now
 
Aardvark747 said:
I'm sort of confused what is new about this deal other then the announcement of the Peppa Pig Duplo area at Legoland Billund. There has been the Peppa Pig world's of plays, areas in Heidi Park and Gardaland and the park in Florida (and news about Texas and Germany Peppa Pig parks) for ages now
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That’s all this is, the deal is for using Peppa Pig within duplo areas of Legoland Parks. It’s separate from the existing Peppa parks and play attractions that Merlin already have the rights to (except in the UK).
 
Aardvark747 said:
I'm sort of confused what is new about this deal other then the announcement of the Peppa Pig Duplo area at Legoland Billund. There has been the Peppa Pig world's of plays, areas in Heidi Park and Gardaland and the park in Florida (and news about Texas and Germany Peppa Pig parks) for ages now
Click to expand...
The announcement is more about the creation of Lego/Duplo Peppa Pig sets, but they've clearly used the opportunity to promote the Merlin Entertainments partnership too. Given that KIRKBI own controlling interests in both Lego and Merlin, a double announcement makes a little sense. I suppose it's also a statement of intent going forward.
 
MattL27 said:
With enough money, I can assume they could take that away from Paultons quite easily
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Really? I don't know, it's such a big IP i'd be astonished if Paulton's don't have it locked down, especially considering what an integral part of the park it is... to many the park IS Peppa Pig World.

And it's not like they can just rebrand the area.
 
Merlin have announced that from 31st January 2024, the parks will revert to height-based free admission as opposed to age-based free admission:

At the moment, the parks seem to resort to “free admission for under 3’s”, but the new policy will be:
  • Free admission for guests under 0.9m at Alton Towers, Chessington and Legoland Windsor.
  • Free admission for guests under 1.2m at Thorpe Park.
The midway attractions will remain age-based, allowing free entry for under 2’s.

I think this is a good move, personally. Seeing as most rides have height restrictions rather than age restrictions, basing it on height is fairer in the theme parks, in my opinion.
 
I think the problem with the change is that you could in theory have a child hit 0.9m early but still not really be able to ride those type of attractions.

Mine is projecting to hit 0.9m when she turns 2. Not a suitable age to ride Runaway Train for example, even accompanied.

Free admission to those under 1.2m to Thorpe is hilarious though.
 
Benzin said:
I think the problem with the change is that you could in theory have a child hit 0.9m early but still not really be able to ride those type of attractions.

Mine is projecting to hit 0.9m when she turns 2. Not a suitable age to ride Runaway Train for example, even accompanied.

Free admission to those under 1.2m to Thorpe is hilarious though.
Click to expand...
Not a suitable height to ride RMT either!
It does also show just how little there is at Thorpe for children these days, the main rides would be Rumba Rapids, Storm Surge and Flying Fish.
 
Thameslink Rail said:
Not a suitable height to ride RMT either!
It does also show just how little there is at Thorpe for children these days, the main rides would be Rumba Rapids, Storm Surge and Flying Fish.
Click to expand...

Yep, i'm not planning on taking my son to TP until he's 1.4m as its pointless otherwise.... which on his current projections is age 14 :(

Agree that height restrictions make much more sense than age though. And ultimately it's up to the parent/carer to determine what is suitable. Just because someone is technically tall enough doesn't mean a ride will be appropriate for them. I've said numerous times that it stuns me that Storm Chaser at Paulton's has a 1m requirement, it's a far more intense ride than most of the 1.2m equivalents across the Merlin parks.
 
Benzin said:
I think the problem with the change is that you could in theory have a child hit 0.9m early but still not really be able to ride those type of attractions.
Click to expand...
Are they still young enough to be interested in CBeebies? I recall that AT keeping free admission for under 3s was driven by BBC Worldwide (now BBC Studios) even though Merlin wanted to move to it being under 2s only.
 
Thameslink Rail said:
Not a suitable height to ride RMT either!
Click to expand...

When did THAT happen?

jon81uk said:
Are they still young enough to be interested in CBeebies? I recall that AT keeping free admission for under 3s was driven by BBC Worldwide (now BBC Studios) even though Merlin wanted to move to it being under 2s only.
Click to expand...

It's one of those things with development being so varied for babies. As said mine is turning 2 later this year and even now she's already around 80cm before even turning 18 months, whereas others might be a short arse forever, like my friend who can ride Jellikins because they're under the max height limit.
 
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